Huawei, China Telecom in 4K first
December 31, 2014
Communications technology specialist Huawei and China Telecom Sichuan have launched the first commercial 4K ultra-HD iTV network service in China. They have also jointly released a 4K ultra-HD intelligent smart set-top box (STB), making China Telecom Sichuan the first telecommunications company in China to use 4K STBs for carrying video services.
Huawei and China Telecom Sichuan first began their partnership to develop IP video services three years ago. According to the pair, by combining fibre broadband, 4K ultra-HD video capabilities, and a 4K ultra-HD network construction, the new 4K ultra-HD iTV service promises:
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Better quality of picture: With a 4K STB, customers can enjoy ultra-HD movies four times clearer than movies on HD STBs.
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Smooth experience of 4K video: End to end integrated 4K encoding, platform, CDN, network and 4K STB enable users to experience iTV services uninterrupted.
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Full guarantee with super network: The 4K network bearer solution supports display and forecast for end-to-end video quality, accurate fault positioning and rectification in case of faults.
In particular, Huawei and China Telecom Sichuan adopted the H.265 video coding standard for a better user experience, and also deployed leading technologies to optimise the code stream, coding quality, delay, and algorithm complexity. With 4K ultra-HD services requiring more intelligent processing than traditional service platforms, Internet Protocol TV and CDN platforms have also been integrated to achieve intelligent acceleration, distribution, and scheduling to safeguard 4K services.
Additionally, speed acceleration for metropolitan and backbone networks has enabled the entire network to transmit 100G optical services and 400G Internet protocol services. The tail end network is optimised to support 100M fiber to the home. In addition, China Telecom Sichuan has deployed an engineer-to-engineer network quality detection system to support visualized management of video services, which ensures the experience of 4K signals and thereby improves the user experience.