How to break the 4K bottleneck and bring super duper ultra HD to homes

There’s no doubt that TV makers are excited about 4K television. The sets, which offer four times the detail of today’s high-definition sets, are appearing in increasing numbers and consumers too seem convinced by the technology, which must be a relief to the industry after the cool reception that 3D TV got a few years ago.

The most obvious barrier to wider 4K adoption is price—the sets cost thousands of dollars more than high-definition TVs—but it’s not the only problem. Among the cables and interfaces on the back of the new TV is an equally important problem: how to get 4K content into the TV sets.

At this week’s IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, TV and video equipment makers are showing prototypes of several new technologies that will bring 4K content into the home and transport it between devices.

Martyn WilliamsOne of the many 4K sets unveiled at this year's IFA using the HEVC codec.

One of the biggest steps was the launch of HDMI 2.0, a new version of the “high-definition multimedia interface” standard that is the de-facto method of sending HD video between devices.

HDMI 2.0 doubles the maximum bit rate to 20 gigabits per second, allowing 4K video at up to 60 frames per second, and should start appearing in 4K products later this year or early next year.

This could be especially important to the short-term success of 4K because initially consumers will be restricted to watching prerecorded content streamed from players alongside the TV.

Getting a live 4K signal into the living room is a more complex task, not least because it requires broadcasters to replace their production systems. Many have only just completed multi-million dollar upgrades to high-definition so they won’t be looking to scrap the equipment any time soon.

To date, the only regular 4K broadcasting in the world is taking place on a promotional channel via the Eutelsat 10A satellite in Europe. Run by satellite operator Eutelsat, the channel demonstrates the stunning picture quality possible with 4K and also the current problems faced by broadcasters.

Martyn WilliamsThematic channels may be the first dedicated 4K channels.

4K signals, by definition, carry a lot of data and getting that compressed, transmitted and decompressed in real time requires a lot of processing power.

Eutelsat has got around this problem by splitting the 4K signal into quarters, each equivalent to a conventional HD channel, and sending them simultaneously over satellite to four receivers that decode them and stitch the signal back together.

While it works, it’s not the future of 4K broadcasting.

Instead, broadcasters are planning on using HEVC, a new video codec that can compress a video signal much more efficiently than the H.264 codec used in much of today’s high-definition broadcasting.

At IFA, satellite operator Astra and pay TV operator Sky Deutschland were demonstrating a 4K stream encoded in HEVC and sent over an Astra satellite. The stream had been encoded in advance—real-time encoding still is very difficult—but it was being decoded in real time in a set-top box from Technicolor.

No broadcaster has yet committed to 4K, but industry insiders at IFA were generally agreed that the first steps in 4K broadcasting would probably be on a small number of thematic channels or events. Feature films are an obvious candidate because many are already shot at 4K and the technology is likely to be employed in major sporting events, such as the World Cup and Formula One.

Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service.
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Microsoft: Talks with U.S. gov't on surveillance transparency break down

Negotiations have broken down between two Internet giants and U.S. government representatives over the companies' requests to publish information on the surveillance requests they receive, a Microsoft executive said Friday.

Microsoft and Google both filed lawsuits in June asking that the companies be allowed to disclose more information about U.S. government surveillance requests they receive. The two companies agreed to extend the government's deadline to respond to the lawsuits during negotiations over recent weeks, but those negotiations have failed, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith wrote in a blog post.

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"We hoped that these discussions would lead to an agreement acceptable to all," Smith wrote. "While we appreciate the good faith and earnest efforts by the capable Government lawyers with whom we negotiated, we are disappointed that these negotiations ended in failure."

The two companies requested that they be allowed to publish data about the number of surveillance requests they receive after former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked information about the agency's widespread surveillance activities.

"We both remain concerned with the Government's continued unwillingness to permit us to publish sufficient data relating to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) orders," Smith wrote. "We believe we have a clear right under the U.S. Constitution to share more information with the public."

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's announcement Thursday that his office would begin to publish the total number of national security requests each year was a "good start," Smith wrote. "But the public deserves and the Constitution guarantees more than this first step."

Microsoft wants to publish information showing the number of national security demands for user content, such as the text of an email, he said. 

Microsoft and Google will move forward with their lawsuits after negotiations have broken down, Smith said. The U.S. Department of Justice has a late Friday deadline to respond to both Google's and Microsoft's lawsuits in the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

A DOJ spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment on Smith's blog post.

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.

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Microsoft: Talks with U.S. government on surveillance transparency break down

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