DVB Broadcast Standards Agreed for 4K Ultra HD TV

Phase 1 specifications are ready to roll but what will Phase 2 and beyond bring?

by hodg100
The prospect of broadcast 4K TV just got that bit more real, although your existing Ultra HD TV won’t be able to receive it without external assistance.
Beyond that, future revisions of the standards will mean the technology deployed in existing 4K TVs will need to improve. The DVB-UHDTV Phase 1 specification was given approval during the 77th meeting of the DVB Steering Board. The spec includes an HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) Profile for DVB broadcasting services that draws from the options available with HEVC and will match the requirements for delivery of UHDTV Phase 1 and other formats.

The new DVB-UHDTV Phase 1 will, of course, allow images with four times the static resolution of the 1080p (3840 x 2160) HDTV format, at frame rates of up to 60 images per second. It will also see colour bit depth move upward from 8 bit to 10 bit but the specification does take into account the possibility that UHDTV Phase 2 may use higher frame rates. There was no mention of which colour space is being used for Phase 1, which suggests it will remain Rec.709 for the time being.
Most current TVs will struggle with the Phase 1 spec, never mind beyond that.
DVB Broadcast Standards Agreed for 4K Ultra HD TV

“HEVC is the most recently-developed compression technology and, among other uses, it is the key that will unlock UHDTV broadcasting,” said DVB Steering Board Chairman, Phil Laven. “This new DVB–UHDTV Phase 1 specification not only opens the door to the age of UHDTV delivery but also potentially sets the stage for Phase 2, the next level of UHDTV quality, which will be considered in upcoming DVB work,” he continued.

Existing 4K TVs won’t have the new DVB tuners necessary to receive the HEVC encoded transmissions, however, but owners of Samsung TVs with One Connect compatibility should be fine as they can upgrade their connectivity options without having to replace the entire TV.

On the question of supporting higher framerates than 60 frames per second, we’re not sure the current crop of Ultra HD LED LCD TVs is up to the job of representing that convincingly, but at least we know that 4K OLED is just around the corner, and that technology should fit the bill better.

It’s definitely a step in the right direction for 4K but don’t expect an Ultra HD Channel explosion just yet as the broadcast infrastructure is still some way off being ready for prime time.
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