Video Breakthroughs

While online video providers will be able to pioneer 4K viewing for the public using bit rates as low as 10Mbps (for movies over broadband), the introduction of true Ultra High Definition (UHD) television on broadcast networks will start at around 15Mbps, while we could see bit rates as high as 30Mbps initially, using the best current available HEVC/H.265 compression.

Although consumer marketing is confusing the two, there is a big difference between 4K television, which delivers four times the pixels of HDTV, and what is being talked about as true UHD, which quadruples the pixel count but also supports at least 50/60 frames per second and at least 10 bit colour depth.

NHK's 8K Super Hi-Vision is an extremely bandwidth-heavy format -- so much so that earlier tests used gigabit-class internet links rather than traditional TV broadcasting methods. Thankfully, both the broadcaster and Mitsubishi have developed an encoder that could keep data rates down to Earth. The unassuming metal box (above) is the first to squeeze 8K video into the extra-dense H.265(HEVC) format, cutting the bandwidth usage in half versus H.264. Its parallel processing is quick enough to encode video in real time, too, which should please NHK and other networks producing live TV. We'll still need faster-than-usual connections (and gigantic TVs) to make 8K an everyday reality, but that goal should now be more realistic.