Attended Ultra-HD Demo!!!

[HD Man]

I had the opportunity to attend a Comcast/NBC Universal Ultra-HD demo at their Washington DC offices for a look at the next generation of HDTV; Ultra-HD (Super Hi-Vision as it’s known in Japan).

Washington DC was one of only seven venues, and the only U.S. location showcasing the Olympic footage in the Ultra-HD format. There will be also be public viewings in London, Scotland, and Japan.

Comcast/NBC Universal partnered with NHK of Japan to demo the technology, which has 16 times the resolution of current HD pictures. The prototype set had featured a 7680 × 4320 (33.2 megapixels) 85-inch LCD display and featured a 22.2 sound system!! Talk about impressive. Video was fed to the prototype screen at 360Mbit/s. The LCD display alone cost $10mil!!

NHK, which supplied most of the prototype equipment used for the demo, doesn't expect to roll out Super Hi-Vision services commercially until 2020, but I was sold!! It was like seeing HD for the first time and comparing it to an old analog broadcast.

The demo featured highlights of the 2012 Olympics and the display just SCREAMS with details and realism. You could see small faces in the background in full detail!! The demo had the finals of the recent men’s 100m race featuring Bolt, and you could CLEARLY see the face of the man in the stands who threw a bottle onto the track.

They showed a comparison to 1080p, and although the 1080p looked good, it was nothing compared to the Ultra-HD. The showed one street scene shot in 1080p from quite a distance away and then zoomed in on pedestrians crossing the street: you could CLEARLY make out the faces of the people, while the 1080p footage was grainy and had a lot of pixelization and you couldn’t clearly see the pedestrian’s faces.

I was allowed to take a couple of pictures but the engineer laughed saying my iPhone 4s wouldn’t come close to capturing all of the pixels on the display. I also attached a picture of the wiring, as the display used the equivalent of 16 HDMI connections to power the 16 sections of the display.

A very impressive demo and attendees were definitely sold on the technology!!

[ManUtd]

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

[Anthony P]

lucky guy

[figrin_dan]

I went to an earlier showing in London so got to see Rebecca Adlington (shown above) get the Bronze.

I felt the image quality was not quite what I was expecting. I was expecting pretty much reality but was still like watching a transmission. I think it might be to do with the frame rate of 60fps (not enough).

Still it coped with the water much better than HD and audio recorded at the swimming pool was mind blowing - each lap the crowd noise grew, on the last lap I had to check to see if people behind me were clapping.

Also the first 3 rows of seats were empty. I was told if I sat there "it wouldn't look very good". Odd.

[HD Man]

Originally Posted by figrin_dan

I went to an earlier showing in London so got to see Rebecca Adlington (shown above) get the Bronze.

I felt the image quality was not quite what I was expecting. I was expecting pretty much reality but was still like watching a transmission. I think it might be to do with the fps. 120 at a guess (not enough).

Still it coped with the water much better than HD and audio recorded at the swimming pool was mind blowing - each lap the crowd noise grew, on the last lap I had to check to see if people behind me were clapping.

Also the first 3 rows of seats were empty. I was told if I sat there "it wouldn't look very good". Odd.

I agree the 22.2 audio was awesome. Talk about feeling totally immersed...

I thought the picture quality was outstanding and a 'through the glass" kind of look, even though I don't know if you can really get away from that transmission feeling. It's funny how you mentioned the 1st three rows being empty, as the engineer at the demo I attended actually encouraged attendees to step closer and take a look at the picture from a distance of 10-12 inches (something you don't normally do, I know) but he wanted to show how small the pixels are. You could clearly pick out minute details on the display!! He also showed an example of one pixel and you could not see it at all.

I'm sure the technology will dramatically improve/change before you see it at your local retailer in 8 years or so, but one interesting footnote was when I asked about the power consumption of the demo. He said it used about as much power as what an average home uses in a month's time, so obviously they have some work to do on that end.

[smooththaboss]

sounds really cool

[Tok]

Cool. I could see this equipment being rolled into movie theaters and other commercial venues but the likelihood that this equipment is going to be in our living rooms in the next 20 years is low. We just transitioned to a new standard. Most small broadcasters balked at the cost for making the transition from a over a half century old technology to digital broadcasting.

Again its cool, but don't believe the hype... The reality is that unless you are viewing a triple figure sized screen from fairly short distances that 1080 is just fine for the home environment.

I am guessing one reason they did not want people viewing in the first three rows is probably because some compression artifacts were visible. There is no way they could have sent that video in the uncompressed form over a network. The whole point of these hyperrealistic displays is to make them lifelike from inches away.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by CraigW

Most small broadcasters balked at the cost for making the transition from a over a half century old technology to digital broadcasting.

Not just small broadcasters. Large broadcasters also balked because they didn't believe and still don't believe that the move to HD gave them a single additional viewer or a single additional dollar in advertising revenue. And they are most definitely NOT going to do it again if it requires new transmitter equipment (for OTA broadcasters) or changes to production switchers, etc. If it's just cameras and recorders, you could see that phase in over time as they can move the current equipment to less important shows and buy new equipment on the usual replacement schedule for the more important shows.

Now having said that and comparing SDTV to HDTV, it's hard to believe that we might never have moved to HDTV, but it did not help the economics of broadcasters or production studios. It only helped the equipment manufacturers, etc.

[HD Man]

Originally Posted by CraigW

Cool. I could see this equipment being rolled into movie theaters and other commercial venues but the likelihood that this equipment is going to be in our living rooms in the next 20 years is low. We just transitioned to a new standard. Most small broadcasters balked at the cost for making the transition from a over a half century old technology to digital broadcasting.

Again its cool, but don't believe the hype... The reality is that unless you are viewing a triple figure sized screen from fairly short distances that 1080 is just fine for the home environment.

I am guessing one reason they did not want people viewing in the first three rows is probably because some compression artifacts were visible. There is no way they could have sent that video in the uncompressed form over a network. The whole point of these hyperrealistic displays is to make them lifelike from inches away.

Actually, there were no artifacts/pixelization at all Comcast/NBCU used Internet 2 to ship the video across the ocean and a dedicated Comcast fiber to take it the rest of the way. Ultra HD also chews up bandwith as the engineer said the camera being used spits out video at 48Gbit/s. The compressed transport stream (using H.264 compression for this demo) that was eventually fed to the 85-inch NHK/Sharp prototype 8K display still weighed in at 360Mbit/s.

The problems for Ultra HD I see are:

1) Bandwidth requirements: the average U.S. home only receives probably 5mps. The Google Fiber experiment in Kansas City will be interesting to watch unfold, but the cost of offering that throughout the country is staggering.

2) Power requirements: we were told the demo used as much energy as the average U..S. home does in a month.

3) Don't look for this technolgy on a set less than 80" or so.

4) Can't see U.S. broadcasters making the investment to offer such a service unless they could somehow monetize their investment. How many broadcasters are putting out 1080p?

Looks impressive though and it's a ways off but I saw a early demo of HDTV many years ago and similar issues came up, like the cost of the sets, transmission equipment, but look where we are now. Remember many years ago when HDTV sets "started" around $8K and went up to $20K for a larger screen. Thje industry has come a long ways since those days.

[Ray O. Blu]

Thanks OP. Interesting read.
It seems more like something that might be used at stadiums for a "Jumbotron" display. I bet Jerry Jones would like to upgrade to this ASAP!

[Abaddon22]

Awesome info, good read

[figrin_dan]

I have just read that the Olympics were recorded at a frame rate of 60fps. They all seem to be aware that this is too low and will be using 120fps instead. I look forward to seeing that in the future!

[Livelong420]

The broadcasting and power issues will be more easily handled as the technology develops. Every screen will end up similar to a retina display.

The output of that camera is staggering!

[Visionist]

It'll all be worth it when we can see the Joker's pasty face in the equivalent resolution it was shot in.

I expect IMAX branded televisions with 1:44 :1 aspect ratios to be available in ten or so years for mega money.

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by IoanIancu

At the London Olympics this summer NHK, the BBC, and Olympic Broadcast Services will demonstrate the next generation of television broadcasting, Ultra HDTV, with live pictures from five events, plus the opening and closing ceremonies, shown in theatres in London, Glasgow and Bradford in the UK, Washington, DC in the US, and Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. A prototype 145-inch Ultra HD plasma display panel that will be located at the International Broadcast Centre in London.