Advanced Television

UHD Forum for the UK

August 1, 2013

The Digital TV Group (DTG), the industry association for digital television in the UK, has confirmed the launch of the UK UHD Forum. Co-chaired by Chris Johns, Chief Engineer, Broadcast Strategy at BSkyB and Andy Quested, the BBC’s Head of Technology for BBC HD and UHDTV, the group will co-ordinate UK requirements to build a knowledge base for the future interoperability of Ultra HD, and will work hand-in-hand with industry initiative FAME (Forum for Advanced Media in Europe) and other European standards organisations. The DTG will also work with broadcasters and the Digital Production Partnership to examine whether there is a requirement for a UK Ultra HD profile.

The UK UHD Forum builds on the successes of the DTG’s HD Forum, and its Emmy Award-winning predecessor the UK Widescreen Forum, which together ensured the UK was at the forefront of so many innovations.

According to the DTG, the displays of the future will not only have increased resolution, as with the ‘4KTV’ displays already on sale in the UK, but will go much further, bringing a sense of exceptional immersion and depth through advances in colour, frame rate and dynamic range, as defined in the ITU’s Recommendation ITU-R BT.2020 for Ultra HD.

The DTG considers it “vital” that the technology step-change demanded by Ultra HD be fully understood prior to any implementation of an ‘Ultra-HD Ready’ logo, to avoid the confusion still experienced by consumers to this day over ‘HD Ready’.

Richard Lindsay-Davies, Director General of the DTG said: “This is a real opportunity to re-invigorate the market and through collaboration generate the greatest economic value for the UK. In launching the UK UHD-Forum, the DTG is bringing together all relevant stakeholders to work towards the managed delivery of interoperable Ultra-HD services, networks and devices.”

 

Categories: Articles, Regulation, Standards, UHD, Ultra-HD/4K