Broadcasters hail Turkish UHD football first
October 26, 2015
By Colin Mann
Further details of the first Ultra High Definition (4K) broadcast in Turkey available to the end consumer have been revealed by partners involved in the exercise – TRT 4K – Mediapro Turkey-Turksat and Samsung. Seven Ultra HD cameras were used during the production of UEFA Europa League A Group Fenerbahçe- Ajax match on October 22. The broadcast was transmitted by European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to beIN Sport, BT Sports and Japanese NHK TV channels, and was also made available in UEFA headquarters.
In addition to the seven UHD cameras, four EVS XT3, 72 channels video mixer and 4K broadcast compatible equipment were used in the production. The set-up and the tests of the operation were achieved in three days. Twenty-five Spanish team members and 15 local Mediapro Turkey team members took part in the production.
In the broadcast with 50 FPS quality, the transmission to the end consumer was carried out via Turksat with 25 MHZ capacity. H265 (HEVC) encryption method was used for encryption of Ultra HD footage. According to Mediapro Turkey, the 4K broadcast, represents “a great advance” and a first-time production in Europe, in which the signal was sent directly to the satellite instead of being sent via fibre communication network and was made available free-on- air to the viewers without any encryption or subscription requirements. The co-operation will continue with production of a second UEFA match in 2015.
According to TRT General Manager Senol Göka, technological advances are at a great speed and it is difficult to catch up with these advances. “As Turkey, we follow the advances in broadcast closely and we do our best to apply them. TRT 4K will finalise its test broadcasting, and will start its normal broadcast streaming in 2016 January. We are already launching the tests of 8K,” he added.
Turksat General Manager Prof. Doctor Ensar Gül also emphasised the fact that Turksat pays great attention to satellite Technologies, while Samsung Turkey CEO Yoonie Jong said Samsung wanted to be a market leader in 4K broadcast. Mediapro Turkey CEO Selahaddin Koyuncu expressed his happiness for introducing the latest technological advance in the broadcasting sector to Turkish people with a production that got full marks from international broadcasters.