I was just thinking about 4K broadcasting. How will it be delivered? Over the Air?
Broadcasting 4K over the air is not like uploading a video on YouTube. It’s a completely different ball game. You need much more than just 4K compatible TVs: the Broadcasting and receiving equipment must be compatible with ATSC 3.0 (Next Gen TV). ATSC 3.0 uses the H.265 HEVC codec for video delivery because its efficiency gains over the much older H.262 MPEG-2 codec used in ATSC 1.0.ATSC3.0 has recently started in the USA, and it is only available in 24 US cities. It's costly. NextGen TV is IP-based, so the ultra-high frequency bandwidth needed for ATSC3.0 is already captured mostly by telcos. Correct me if I am wrong; not all the television station broadcasts in ATSC 1.0 yet in Nepal. Satellite DownlinkASIA Sat and ThaiCom are the 2 primary satellites we use to downlink television signals in Nepal. Both of them support 4K. ASIA Sat announced their support for 4K back in 2016. But the majority of the channels carried by these satellites are still SD. Thaicom plans to upgrade all these SD channels to HD (not 4k) by 2030. Even though these satellites support 4K signals, there are many other pieces in the puzzle. The cable companies need to upgrade their encoders, decoders, transmitters, multiplexers, cable infrastructure, etc. For example, replacing coaxial wired SDI (Serial Digital Interfacer) systems with 4K compatible fiber wired IP-based systems requires a good amount of investment. All the TV transmitters, receivers, and end-users set-top boxes (STB) must be replaced with 4K compatible ones, let alone the TV Sets.
Santosh Bharati
Feb 25, 2021
I was just thinking about 4K broadcasting. How will it be delivered? Over the Air?
Broadcasting 4K over the air is not like uploading a video on YouTube. It’s a completely different ball game. You need much more than just 4K compatible TVs: the Broadcasting and receiving equipment must be compatible with ATSC 3.0 (Next Gen TV). ATSC 3.0 uses the H.265 HEVC codec for video delivery because its efficiency gains over the much older H.262 MPEG-2 codec used in ATSC 1.0.ATSC3.0 has recently started in the USA, and it is only available in 24 US cities. It's costly. NextGen TV is IP-based, so the ultra-high frequency bandwidth needed for ATSC3.0 is already captured mostly by telcos. Correct me if I am wrong; not all the television station broadcasts in ATSC 1.0 yet in Nepal. Satellite DownlinkASIA Sat and ThaiCom are the 2 primary satellites we use to downlink television signals in Nepal. Both of them support 4K. ASIA Sat announced their support for 4K back in 2016. But the majority of the channels carried by these satellites are still SD. Thaicom plans to upgrade all these SD channels to HD (not 4k) by 2030. Even though these satellites support 4K signals, there are many other pieces in the puzzle. The cable companies need to upgrade their encoders, decoders, transmitters, multiplexers, cable infrastructure, etc. For example, replacing coaxial wired SDI (Serial Digital Interfacer) systems with 4K compatible fiber wired IP-based systems requires a good amount of investment. All the TV transmitters, receivers, and end-users set-top boxes (STB) must be replaced with 4K compatible ones, let alone the TV Sets.
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