Broadcast 4K at 60 frames per second gets closer

Elemental is first to show full framerate Ultra HD using HEVC

by hodg100
Our early experiences of 4K content have taught us at least one thing – higher framerates are going to be necessary to keep sports and action fans happy.
Whilst the broadcast standards bodies are yet to fully ratify the details for Ultra HD, the arrival of HDMI 2.0 gives us a clue as to where the manufacturers want framerates pegged – at least for the time being – by allowing for up to 60fps at a 3840 x 2160 resolution.

Elemental Technologies – a ‘supplier of video solutions’- is the first organisation that we know of that has reached the goal of delivering, what they term, full frame rate 4K Ultra HD during a demonstration at a special event held in London yesterday.
First live demo of 4K/60p using HEVC
All this has been made possible by Elemental’s implementation of the HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), with the Company showing impressive progress since the turn of the year. Elemental first announced support for the H.265 codec in January of 2013 and subsequently brought functional real-time HEVC video processing to NAB in April of this year and then demonstrated 10-bit 4K HEVC video processing at IBC in September.

Broadcast 4K at 60 frames per second gets closer

Elemental then progressed its HEVC functionality to achieve the world’s first real-time video processing of live 4K@p30 HEVC at the Osaka Marathon in October and now they’ve managed to nail 60 frames per second 4K HEVC.

At the demo, an Elemental Live video processing system received high bitrate 4K/60p AVC video in an MPEG-2 transport stream using professional sports content. The system was used to encode and deliver a 4K/60p HEVC output to a PC-based decoder with final rendering on an 84-inch Planar 4K television.
Bitrates claimed to be equivalent to existing HD
The question that naturally has to be asked is just how high the bitrates were used as whilst it’s nice to know how HEVC is progressing, the reality of it reaching our homes is, for now, dependent on how efficient the codec can become. Elemental says their HEVC implementation allows for delivery of 4K content at bitrates equivalent to HD content, so we’ve contacted them for the specific details.

Update: We spoke to Elemental who told us the bitrate used was only 14 Mbps (constant) so colour us very impressed!

“Unlike cinema, live sports are best viewed at higher frame rates. In 2014, we expect live sports to drive 4K Ultra HD adoption by those programmers and pay TV operators seeking to deliver a more compelling sports entertainment experience,” said Aslam Khader, chief product officer for Elemental. “With our HEVC implementation and software-defined architecture, Elemental gives customers a viable path to deliver Ultra HD TV services.”
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