Cable Satellite International
Consumers want immersive experiences and HDR promises to deliver on a key part of that by matching what we see on screen with how we see ‘IRL’ but despite years of talk the technology has yet to go mainstream.
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That could be about to change as Europe follows the US and finally getting HDR to the home.
“Four years ago in Europe, HDR was considered a nice thing but no one ready to pay for it,” said Mickaël Raulet, CTO for Ateme. “Now the trend in Europe is that HDR is not an option - HDR is a must have among network service providers planning their next-gen deployment.”
Ciro Noronha, CTO, Cobalt Digital agreed, “Following the Euros 2020 (played in 2021) we saw an uptake in SDR to HDR conversion and also on distribution, pushing HDR content to customers.”
They were speaking at a roundtable discussion at IBC hosted by Advanced HDR by Technicolor, and featuring senior executives from across the ecosystem. They discussed how high dynamic range technology is evolving in the broadcast, streaming and smart TV sectors.
The conversation highlighted how consumers are more aware that HDR means higher picture quality on TVs, and as result, consumer interest in HDR content is also rising. Consumer demand is driving different parts of the ecosystem to explore solutions that support the delivery and transmission of HDR content on capable TVs and other displays.
The impediment to adoption is not at the capture side, which has been possible in various flavours (HLG, HDR10) for some time, but in delivery to the home.
In response, broadcasters as well as TV, system-on-chip (SoC), and set-top box manufactures are seeking new ways to deliver HDR content.
The panel were promoting Advanced HDR by Technicolor in particular.
Sinclair Broadcast Group in the US has arguably been setting the pace for the rest of the broadcast industry by deploying HDR at scale using the Technicolor system.
Sinclair will have 40 stations lit up in HDR by the end of 2022 by harnessing the capabilities of ATSC 3.0 and Advanced HDR by Technicolor,
It’s all about the consumer experience and engagement,” said Mark Aitken, SVP of Sinclair Broadcast Group and VP of One Media who was present at the roundtable. “There is a first mover advent we believe. If you’re not focussed on the consumer experience first – then details like losing the ball in the shadows is not a good thing. HDR Advanced answers those issues and from a workflow standpoint it is exceptionally efficient.
“We are feeding a large SDR environment too so only those end points on the distribution side need replacing with a satellite receiver that supports Advanced HDR. All the other receivers take the same programming they always have.
Advanced HDR is a suite of HDR production, distribution and display solutions that leverages machine learning technology to maximize image quality. Importantly it is a single stream solution for delivering the highest quality SDR with metadata that dynamically upconvert to HDR on the fly.
“Because of VOD many people are now educated in what it is like to experience content in HDR,” said Guillaume Arthuis, CEO of BBright. “They have HDR for movies and series and they’re asking why they cannot get it for live? That’s why HDR can be a competitive differentiator and more of a must have.”
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