The 4K HDR Summit Looks at 8K Too
For the last ten years, the 4K HDR Summit has taken place in Malaga and (previously) Seville, Spain. It started as the 4K Summit, but HDR was added as it became more important and the event has always looked beyond 4K to 8K and there was plenty of discussion about our main topic.
Our Operations Director, Juan Reyes, gave an update on the state of 8K and the key developments of the last year and we will cover this separately. NHK gave details of a new 8K x 8K camera sensor and NASA talked about its 8K content developments. Follow the links for those articles.
The World is Changing
One of the interesting take-aways from the event was the point that TV and its delivery is very different not just within the broad regions of the world, but at a national level. In Europe, for example, while Spain and France are moving ahead with more 4K content using DTT, the UK is heading towards an IP only environment as the government has not really had a strategy for TV for the last decade or so, and left things to the market.
Meanwhile, Germany is really struggling to develop higher resolution or even HDR. The country lost the IRT (Institut für Rundfunktechnik) TV R&D centre in Munich in 2021 and as in other European countries, public service broadcasters have been under huge financial pressure. Cost was one reason that the UEFA (Euros) football tournament in Germany in 2024 was broadcast in just FullHD with HDR rather than 4K.
China is Positive
However, this is not the same around the world. In his talk, when he confirmed his belief that 8K is a natural development for content capture, large public displays and VR, Paul Gray of Omdia pointed out that in China, there are 200 million households with gigabit broadband. Further, Croatia, France, South Korea and Spain had free-to-air UHD coverage of the Olympics and Jio in India had twenty on demand streams. In India, he said. “Mobile data is effectively free and unlimited”, so TVs these days are seen as accessories for smartphones.
Although the US is a strong market for very large TVs, with even 100” sets becoming common, China has the largest average TV size for new set sales at over 60”. Gray was surprised to hear from custom installers that many of the 100” sets in the US are going into bedrooms.
China is an important area for UHD developments and at the Conference, there were speakers from Huawei and from the UHD World Alliance, a trade association based in China that has developed a dynamic HDR technology based on PQ and an immersive audio standard (HDR Vivid and Audio Vivid) which are available to its members without licences.
An interesting market is Korea, where there was a speaker at the event for the first time. He explained that although most consumers have 4K sets of high quality and although Korea first broadcast 4K ten years ago, it is still not commonly available except on international streaming services. This is because the market is dominated by cable services and the providers have ’their own codecs’ which are limited to FullHD with SDR. Even worse said producer Seunggun Lee, the conversion from HDR content to SDR is often badly done.
The Explorers
Returning to the topic of China, there was an interesting talk by Olivier Chiabodo of The Explorers, a channel that has been pushing the resolution boundaries for several years and is now getting a lot of support in China.
After the Covid crisis it has been working with the UWA. China Media Group already has an 8K channel to add to that of NHK. There are also 1,000 8K large screens in 100 cities around China. In another talk we heard that there are more than 400 million ‘active’ 4K users in China.
“Content is King” Chiabodo said and confirmed that 4K and 8K content in China is strong. The Explorers has been involved in documenting human and natural activities in Africa and that has now been developed to the Middle East in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The firm has an office in Qatar and it is working with young people to train them on production and creation.
The firm has also expanded to China and in 2024, Chiabodo went with President Macron of France to China and took 16 hours of content that is now available on demand from Migu and Tencent in that country. He said that more than 100 million people had watched the content in 8K. This is good for the country, but also for the firm’s App and the platform.
China doesn’t use Android, but has HarmonyOS in many of its Smart TVs. In some countries, Apple is dominant with iOS and The Explorers is working with Apple on content for the Apple Vison Pro. It also supports the HarmonyOS platform with Huawei and others. Chiabodo spoke of the UWA HDR and audio specifications and said that the open nature of these will mean wider adoption around the world. The Explorers has around 21 million subscribers to its app, up from around 18 million last year, but this does not include China, where it is still getting hold of reliable subscriber data.
Equipment for 8K Improving
Cameras and equipment are getting better and new films are being made in high resolution and with HDR. The Explorers uses Red cameras but is also now working with Bosma of China which is now developing ‘incredible quality’ 4K and 8K cameras. It’s not quite as good, yet as the best from the US or Japan, but it’s getting very close very rapidly, Chiabodo said. The costs are also very good and that is critical.
Frame rate is really important and sometimes 4K 120P looks better than 8K 50P but it depends on the camera. He would really like to see cameras with a minimum frame rate of 120fps and he has spoken about this with companies such as Sony. Developments are rapid so it’s better to rent equipment, Chiabodo said. He also said that although he likes 8K 120P, there are reall challenges in media storage and backup, especially in the field. Quick backups are essential.
At the moment, The Explorers likes to use the Red cameras that support 8K 120P but also 4K 240P formats. He likes ‘the Sony camera’ (we assume he meant the Burano), but wants more than 30P. For processing, you need good metadata and both Sony and Red have good metadata. For the Blackmagic Design camera, there is good metadata, but output is only 12 bit not the 16 bit that he likes. However, the requirements depend on what you are filming – Underwater filming, for example, needs different processing than from when you are in a helicopter as the light levels are so varied. So, it’s best to rent equipment so that you can match the camera to the requirement.
Looking at distribution channels, Chiabodo said that the answer is complicated. Starlink is getting good and so a mobile handset with Starlink connectivity can produce UHD content. In China, there will be a Starlink equivalent (low earth orbit satellites) that can provide high bandwidth. In France, FranceSat has made tests of UltraHD broadcast and the test was a success.
TravelXP Positive about UltraHD
Sumant Bahl is Managing Director Europe & Africa of Travel XP and his firm also develops premium video content.
TravelXP has been on “a brilliant journey” from FullHD to UltraHD and has been developing a lot of UltraHD HLG HDR content. People have learned to appreciate the value of the detail, Bahl said. The firm has seen content providers drop content from other sources which was not “100% native” UHD, which has been the priority for TravelXP. This policy has helped the channel get to 110 countries in 25 languages, with more on the way.
Being ahead in technology has been a key part of the firm’s strategy and although it believes strongly in linear TV, it has worked in other ways. Distribution has moved to try to develop FAST (free advertising-supported TV) and TravelXP content is available this way on some platforms. In 2024 the priority has been to expand content (which has now been produced in 70 countries) and the firm has developed its own SVOD App. The App will allow access to the full library of content in 4K HDR.
Much Change over Two Decades
Distribution has grown through Africa and into South America as well as Asia and Australia. The number of countries is expected to continue to expand. Bahl highlighted the dramatic change over the last 20 years.
When the channel started, content was often sent on tape using human couriers. However, now, almost anywhere in the world IP-based technologies can be used to contribute content. 4K UHD will grow as technologies improves for streaming.
Customers do not have unlimited amounts of money, so Bahl expects more bundling to meet the budgets of consumers. Bahl agreed with Chiabodo that 8K 120P is important, but in some regions TVs are a bit too small for showing 8K although capture in 8K is useful. No platforms in Europe are pushing 8K at the moment, with few even in 4K, but this may change in the future. TravelXP’s content has been used by Eutelsat and Samsung for demonstrations, so it believes it has good quality content.
AI is important in helping with localization, because this has a high cost. If AI can make this easier or reduce cost, that is helpful. Although AI is useful for live content, it cannot yet meet the quality requirements of the professional platforms, Bahl believes.
