US Cable Support > Comcast Cable TV > [HD] Get Ready for "Ultra-HDTV"

reply to telcodad

Re: [HD] Get Ready for "Ultra-HDTV"

reply to telcodad
And just in time for this year's Holiday Season:

Sony Unveils its First Consumer 4K TV
TV Technology - August 30, 2012
»www.tvtechnology.com/news/0110/s···v/215194

Also on CNET: »reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/···618.html

And on the Sony Store site: »store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores···r=S_4KTV

reply to telcodad
The latest news on Ultra-HDTV:

DirecTV commits to Ultra-HDTV
By Chris Forrester, Advanced Television - October 1, 2012
»advanced-television.com/index.ph···1/37560/

Also:

DIRECTV: All Channels Will Be HD In 2016
By Phillip Swann, TVPredictions.com - October 1, 2012
»www.tvpredictions.com/dhd100112.htm

I still wanna know if customer owned equipment will support this, especially current generation televisions because otherwise there would be no noticeable difference. This may not revolutionize the television industry like high definition and digital transmissions did.

I'm going to guess the only use for 4k HDTV's would be for huge corporations using them for like Cisco TelePresence or niche uses like product advertisements such as what McDonalds does for their menu items. Other uses could be for NOAA or The Weather Channel to use them for tracking weather events with color radar imagery, or even TV and movie studios and editors. It's the same thing when it comes to LG's 84 inch Ultra-definition 3D HDTV »gizmodo.com/5874802/massive-84-i···anything or Panasonic's 152 inch 3D HDTV »news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20007233-1.html
--
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Yeah, it doesn't look like 4K U-HDTVs will be big sellers for the next few years:

Forget 4K TVs for five years
By Brian Santo, CED Magazine - October 4, 2012
»www.cedmagazine.com/news/2012/10···ve-years

Something else to consider is if we truly want to watch tv with such high resolution and clearity. I mean even if there is content at 4k, would it be worth it? Not everyone looks good enough for HDTV let alone 4k. »youtu.be/gKR00HmhFjM

reply to telcodad
Latest news on this:

CEA Votes for Ultra High-Definition
Group approves plan for naming and defining the next generation 4K HD displays
By George Winslow, Broadcasting & Cable - October 18, 2012
»www.broadcastingcable.com/articl···tion.php

Well it looks like Netflix may be offering an Ultra-HD OTT resolution option sometime in the near future.

From today's cable news roundup item on the Light Reading Cable site (»www.lightreading.com/document.as···lr_cable ):

Netflix Partner Tries UltraHD on the Internet
By Jeff Baumgartner, Light Reading Cable - December 20, 2012

A video processing startup that counts Netflix Inc. as its marquee customer has launched a new version of encoding software that, it claims, is efficient enough to deliver UltraHD/4K video over the Internet (»www.canada.com/sports/eyeIO+Anno···ory.html). EYE IO LLC says its new H.264 software encodes 45 percent faster and trims down bitrates 26 percent versus its first generation, which Netflix is using to help keep its customers stay under ISP usage caps by delivering more efficient video streams. Now, EYE IO is trying to expand its targets so high-quality video can be delivered over a broader range of networks and bandwidth qualities. "The goal is to provide HD to the world over the Internet," company CEO and CTO and former Microsoft Corp. exec Rodolfo Vargas tells Light Reading Cable.

Netflix, which just signed a deal to stream Walt Disney Co. content, is the company's only announced customer, and EYE IO won't say if or when Netflix will upgrade to its 4K-capable platform. But execs do note that the company has "commercial relationships" with about 70 companies worldwide, including cable operators, telcos, satellite TV companies and other OTT players.

LG, Samsung and Sony are planning to show off new (but costly) Ultra-HDTVs next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas:

Report: Ultra HD pricing prohibitive for years
By Brian Santo, CED Magazine - January 4, 2013
»www.cedmagazine.com/news/2013/01···or-years

reply to telcodad
Ultra-HDTV, smULTRA-HDTV.

I'll be happy when Comcast is able to get plain ole HDTV right, and deliver my local TV broadcast channels in HD.

While the cable providers in adjoining towns are able to deliver local channels in HD; Comcast, for some odd reason appears to be unable to do so.

The HSI side of Comcast seems to have its act together. The TV-delivery side of Comcast appears to be lost in the tall grass. I'd offer them a compass, but I fear they would not know what to do with it.

reply to telcodad
The ITU has now given its initial approval to the new HEVC/H.265 video coding standard, which needs just half the bitrate of the current MPEG-4/H.264 one, helping to ease the bandwidth requirements for Ultra-HDTV:

ITU OKs Next-Generation Video Codec Standard
High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Promises to Use 50% Less Bandwidth Than MPEG-4
By Todd Spangler, Multichannel News - January 25, 2013
»www.multichannel.com/video/itu-o···d/141387

reply to telcodad
While Ultra-HD service is still a number of years away, it looks like DirecTV is continuing to prepare for it:

DirecTV files trademark applications for industry's first 4K network
Satellite TV provider trademarks 4KN, 4KNET, 4KNetwork, 4K
By Steve Donohue, FierceCable - February 27, 2013
»www.fiercecable.com/story/direct···13-02-27

FYI - The European satellite operator SES has now demonstrated transmitting Ultra-HD video with a data rate of "only" 20 Mbps, using the new H.265/HEVC compression/coding standard:

SES, Harmonic, Broadcom run first Ultra HD transmission using HEVC
By Steve Donohue, FierceCable - April 19, 2013
»www.fiercecable.com/story/ses-ha···13-04-19

The full SES press release: »www.businesswire.com/news/home/2···dard-SES

Impressive. They'll need to get it down to about 15Mbps to really fit into the existing channel bundling per QAM that cable MSOs are used to handling.

Well, maybe if the cable MSOs can squeeze it down a little bit more, by doing a 2:1 variable-bit-rate stat-mux kind of thing, they could bundle 2 Ultra-HD streams into a single 256-QAM video carrier/channel (with a data throughput of 38.8 Mbps)?

See: »Comcast Cable TV FAQ »What is QAM? (which SpHeRe31459 himself just recently edited - thanks!)
and: »Re: Picture quality question Comcast vs DirecTV

reply to telcodad
FYI - Saw this line at the end of an article about Peabody, MA getting ready for the franchise license renewal process for Comcast's services there:

quote:

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[Comcast spokesman Marc Goodman] also says Comcast is ready to offer “4K” television quality, accommodating new TV technology that provides a picture four times sharper than standard high definition.

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reply to telcodad
If you're considering buying a 4K Ultra-HDTV set soon, you may want to wait until ones with an HDMI 2.0 input become available:

HDMI 2.0 explained: Does 4K Ultra HD’s future hinge on a cable standard?
By Ted Kritsonis, Digital Trends - May 28, 2013
»www.digitaltrends.com/home-theat···plained/