Noted film director Wim Wenders has praised television’s increased use of 4K content capture. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the beatification of Pope Paul VI in Rome – captured by Vatican TV in Ultra-HD and with technical support from DBW Communications – Wenders said the technology is crucial. “But 4K is unforgiving! Unlike His […]
Japanese telco NTT Plala is to start 4K/Ultra HD services on October 27th. The commitment emerged during MIPCOM’s 4K series of screenings and panels in Cannes. NTT Plala is a major Japanese ISP and was established in 1995 and is the latest enterprise to join what is now clearly a gathering rush towards 4K content […]
Research from Parks Associates finds more than 46 million households worldwide will subscribe to a 4K Ultra-HD pay-TV service by 2018. Pay-TV providers will deploy this service as
Gary Davey, Sky Deutschland’s EVP/Programming, said Ultra-HD will present broadcasters with new opportunities in how sports are televised. “Our 4K tests have caused us to completely rethink how we might cover soccer, for example.” Davey told delegates at the MIPCOM programming market in Cannes that the clarity and immersive detail of 4K meant that the […]
Netflix is to charge an extra $3 a month to new users in the US to view its 4K output, but the Ultra-HD content will be available for no additional fee when subscribing to its $11.99 ‘family’ bundle. “We decided to move 4K UHD video into our four-stream plan for new members who sign up […]
Openwave Mobility, a software innovator enabling operators to manage and monetise mobile data, is claiming to be the first company to provide optimisation for 4K Ultra-HD video on mobile networks. Openwave’s DynaMO is capable of optimising High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) to achieve optimum HD video playback on mobile devices. “Mobile video already accounts for […]
Technicolor has successfully trialled over-the-air 4K Ultra-HDTV transmissions using the USA’s proposed ATSC 3.0 specification. Technicolor used antenna towers owned by Sinclair Broadcast to carry out the tests. Technically the trial was the first-ever in the world to incorporate Scalable HEVC (SHVC) video coding, MPEG-H, audio and MPEG’s MMT A/V transport standard. The test was […]
American businessman, activist shareholder and investor Carl Icahn has written a wide-ranging open letter to Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, urging a share repurchase, suggesting its stock is undervalued, and has highlighted TV as a “large” market opportunity for the company. With Icahn’s company, Icahn Enterprises, which holds some 53 million shares in Apple, forecasting “robust” […]
KT Skylife, South Korea’s DTH broadcaster with more than 4 million subscribers, is to adopt an all-HD policy. Until recently it was carrying 104 HD channels, and now says it will offer 141 “full HD” channels by the end of this year, and dropping all standard definition channels in the process. “KT SkyLife has set […]
In an update of where Ultra-HD/4K is today, a study by IHS-Consumer Electronics & Video Technology says the technology has “hit the ground running, and is about 10 years ahead of where HD TV was just two years after standards ratification”. But IHS also issues a warning saying that