18 18 BROADCASTASIA2017 SHOWDAILY 23 May 2017
ARRIS examines what ’ s next for 4K / UHD
Joshua Eum , CTO , Asia-Pacific and Australia Sales Lead , ARRIS ( Meeting Room 300 ) shares how the company is helping operators to launch 4K / Ultra
HD services .
In Asia-Pacific , which stage of development do you currently see 4K / Ultra HD ( UHD ) at , and which platform would you expect 4K / UHD content to be more prevalent — traditional linear TV or OTT ? Joshua Eum : 4K / UHD services have garnered a good deal of attention worldwide , with more than 60 live 4K / UHD channels in service as of April this year . However , 4K / UHD is still in the early stages of adoption in Asia-Pacific .
Japan and South Korea have been featured prominently in the 4K / UHD space due to their strong local consumer electronics industries . Their respective governments have been strong supporters of the move to 4K / UHD and , although limited commercial services have been available for a few years , mass-market consumer adoption has yet to happen . We expect terrestrial broadcasts starting in South Korea in 2017 and 2018 in Japan , to be a catalyst for wider adoption . To date , over-the-top ( OTT ) services such as Netflix and Amazon have been driving 4K / UHD services across the region .
Looking ahead , as the penetration of 4K / UHD screens increases , there will be a natural growth of premium linear 4K / UHD services , driven by live sports and movie content .
How is ARRIS helping operators deliver 4K / UHD , regardless of the platform , and what are some of the solutions catering to this that visitors can expect at the ARRIS booth ? Eum : ARRIS is showing solutions for video service providers across the entire 4K / UHD delivery chain , from the headend to the home .
In the headend , new encoders using HEVC / H . 265 are required to deliver 4K / UHD services , as well as to save bandwidth for HD and SD services . Service providers are looking for lower bitrates , better power , density and , of course , less expensive encoding solutions for 4K / UHD and HEVC / H . 265 . Currently dominated by software-based techniques , new encoding products are now emerging and are taking advantage of optimised
❝ 4K / UHD is today ’ s ‘ state-ofthe-art ’ in video quality ... ARRIS has a long history of developing compression platforms and for these products , it is key to be able to objectively assess
video quality before and after compression .❞ integrated circuits to improve performance and costs .
The ARRIS ME-7000 Converged Compression platform deploys the latest silicon technology used in advanced video cameras . Combined with optimised firmware for live broadcast streaming , it lowers bitrates by more than 20 % and delivers density and power improvements of 80 % -90 %, compared to current software encoding techniques . These performance improvements will enable service providers to affordably offer 4K / UHD services and take advantage of the roughly 50 % bitrate improvement enabled by HEVC / H . 265 .
Even with new compression platforms , 4K / UHD services will require increased bandwidth from headend to home ( 20Mbps and more ). We deliver these bandwidth levels with our globally-deployed E6000 CCAP platform using DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 for gigabit speed services over HFC networks .
We are also showing ARRIS ’ s MovieLabscompliant DRM solutions — designed to protect content distribution and identify sources of leakage within the 4K / UHD ecosystem .
Finally , ARRIS has a wide range of products that enable 4K / UHD services in the home — set-top boxes and wireless home gateways that can handle the increased capacity and enable high-speed data and video throughout the home .
ARRIS ’ Scot Mason is also speaking at the BroadcastAsia2017 International Conference ( May 24 ), where one of the key topics he is discussing is the validation of 4K / UHD TV test content . Can you explain why this is a particularly important aspect for operators looking to introduce 4K / UHD services ? Eum : 4K / UHD is today ’ s ‘ state-of-the-art ’ in video quality . Operators are targeting customers who own large screen 4K / UHD TVs with new OTT and linear 4K / UHD services , and video quality is the key selling point . At the same time , content providers and operators need to conserve bandwidth in their networks and compress the video to a reasonable degree in order to cost-effectively deliver 4K / UHD services .
ARRIS has a long history of developing compression platforms and for these products , it is key to be able to objectively assess video quality before and after compression .
Scot will share details of one such method for assessing video quality , especially for 4K / UHD content where the requirements on all production elements are stricter than ever before , from cameras all the way to broadcast encoders .