With so much hype built around 4K TV, those who are waiting for the channels to upgrade, have a reason to rejoice now, as the DVB Steering board has approved the Phase 1 specification of DVB-UHDTV for Europe.
After the upgrade, broadcasters will be able to deliver images with a resolution of up to 3,840 x 2,160 pixels at a 60Hz frequency over the air, which is almost 4 times the resolution currently offered.
Colour depth can be upgraded by up to 10 bits per pixel at phase 1 and hence, broadcasters can start making efforts to upgrade their channels to the newly approved specifications.
The ability to offer channels following a HEVC profile for DVB services with UHDTV capabilities is a milestone in the history of TV broadcasting.
DVB Steering Board Chairman Phil Lave said in a statement that HEVC is the latest compression technology which has several applications and now it has enabled UHDTV broadcasting, which also has made Phase 2 delivery, the next pedestal in UHDTV delivery a possible reality in the near future.
Currently, Netflix uses HEVC compression system to deliver its video streams. HEVC enables broadcasters to deliver four times better picture quality while only taking twice the bandwidth required for standard HD delivery.
Even though it has been approved now, people will not be able to view shows in UHDTV quality immediately as none of the set top boxes in use currently are capable of supporting it.
Broadcasters will have to make special set top boxes to support 4K television sets before actually beginning to broadcast channels in the upgraded quality. It could take some time as this new specification will have to be standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute before making it a reality.
I wish they would have just jumped to phase 2; 12 bit color and 120 fps. I wish 8 bit wouldn’t even be an option, just 10 bit and above.