2017 is expected to be a big year for 4K, in part thanks to the industry’s HDR (high dynamic range) push, execs said during Cablefax’s recent webinar. HDR, a category of 4K that offers significant picture quality improvement, and Wide Color Gamut (WCG) capture and display a wider range of light levels and deeper colors, presenting lifelike dynamic video, according to John Ward, svp of content operations at AT&T. AT&T first tested HDR service in August, with AT&T Sports Net for coverage of the Colorado Rockies home game. Challenges for HDR include uncertainty around standards. “We all agree that HDR is the Holy Grail… But there’s a big discussion in the industry about what’s the dominant or selected HDR format,” Ward said. There’s also concern around backward compatibility. “The HDR format that wins out will need to be compatible with all of the existing 4K SDR (standard dynamic range) sets,” he said because many 4K TVs today are SDR capable but not HDR capable. It’s important that “whatever we do, we don’t break the already fragile ecosystem.” The company hopes to launch HDR later this year or early next year commercially to its entire customer base, according to Ward. As one of the first pay-TV providers offering 4K, AT&T plans to continue more coverage of golf, MLB, NBA and soccer along with more sports, special events and other programming. Through its DirecTV platform, AT&T currently offers three 4K channels: a curated channel featuring nature shows, Audience Network content and other original programming in 4K; a PPV movie channel and a special events channel that houses a wide array of live broadcast sports programming in 4K UHD. The past year saw AT&T collaborate with MLB Network to offer 4K broadcasts. It was a pretty important because it was the first time one broadcast was emanating all signals. That’s imperative because it’s just not economical for ongoing side-by-side production, Ward said. Working with MLB and using encoders that included Ericsson and Envivio, the telco aired 23 games in 4K in 2016. AT&T also worked with NBCU during the Rio Olympics to provide 17 days of coverage in 4K, with Ward crediting the broadcasts with helping to add subs. There’s no doubt that HDR creates the “wow” effect, especially when compared to HD, said Ian Trow, senior director of emerging technology & strategy at Harmonic. And HDR goes hand-in-hand with WCG. To gain the full benefit, HDR needs to be implemented along with WCG, Trow said. He noted HDR10, an open standard supported by a wide variety of companies, forms the base expectation of anyone purchasing an HDR capable UHD TV set. However, he said only 10% of the screens shipped in 2016 are HDR capable, rising to 20% in 2017, making the early adopters of non-HDR capable UHD screens a potential problem for broadcasters juggling with HDR workflows. That’s why lots of HDR content being offered is largely restricted to Blu-Ray, where interoperability and large bit rates can be easily managed compared with live TV. Paul Gagnon, director of TV sets research at IHS said HDR has “a clearly beneficial impact to consumers, and has benefit beyond 4K.” However, confusion in HDR labeling poses a risk to consumer adoption, not just for HD, but UHD more broadly, he said. Gagnon noted many TV sets in the market today are marketed as HDR-enabled or “ready to play back HDR content” even though they can’t display HDR. The lack of consistent messaging, definitions and logos have failed to build consumer knowledge and undermined long-term market value, he said. Another tip from the researcher: you don’t get much of a 4K benefit until you move into the 50 inch+ range.
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