4K Summit: Ultra HD to experience dramatic uptick in 2017


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| 07 November 2015





Don’t believe the hype or the pessimism: Ultra HD is set for a real take off in the 2017-2018 period according to the President of the Ultra HD Forum, Thierry Faultier.


The executive, also VP of Video Strategy for Harmonic, told delegates at the 4K Summit in Seville that services were about to come on-stream in 2016 and that dramatic changes were just about to happen in 2016, and by the year after around a fifth of homes in western Europe would have a set capable of Ultra HD reception. Moreover, a ‘decent amount’ of these sets would be UHD Phase II compatible. Phase I compatible sets would, he added, be at the vanguard of the market, taking off with VOD and over-the-top platform providers.

Faultier stressed that there were caveats to his expectations, especially related to HDR and HFR standards that may be in use. He warned that technology had to be backwards compatible at a display level and not with set top boxes. He identified other Phase II challenges such as broadcast decoders needing to support all combinations of technology, especially adaptive bit rate decoders. This would lead to a “very complicated period for chip manufacturers. Interoperability [is also] quite complex but is the sad reality of today,” he said.

One other issue that Faultier accepted could delay roll-out, and which may be attractive to broadcasters, would be providers adding HDR to HDTV feeds.