‘Nothing Really Stopping’ ATSC 3.0 Broadcasters From Beaming 540p HDR, Says LG Consultant

There’s “nothing really stopping” broadcasters under the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards from transmitting “540p, high-dynamic-range, wide-color-gamut” pictures “if they wish,” LG Electronics consultant Madeleine Noland told the NAB Show New York (see 1710180023) Thursday during an Ultra HD primer workshop. Noland chairs ATSC’s S34 specialist group supervising the framing of 3.0 audio and video and the Ultra HD Forum’s guidelines working group. “Broadcasters are allowed to mix-and-match within the ATSC 3 system in order to make sure that they’re getting the best bang for their bit, and making the best business decisions they can for their customers,” said Noland. In implementing 3.0, U.S. broadcasters “may rely actually heavily on a 2K service at first, looking at 2K, plus HDR, wide color gamut, next-generation audio,” she said. “We did not get a whole nice big pile of spectrum to play with in order to make this transition.” The “bandwidth challenges” make 2K-based broadcast services “a very attractive offering at the outset,” she said. ATSC 3.0 "right now goes to 2160p," Noland told a questioner who asked whether the standard could accommodate 8K. "One of the most important things we built into ATSC 3.0 is extensability," she said. "So the expectation is that, over time, more things will be added," she said. Her S34 specialist group is "already looking at next pieces of some of the video, and ultimately 8K may be one of those things," she said. The Ultra HD Forum canvassed service operators worldwide to gauge their “two-to-five-year outlook” on commercializing Ultra HD “technologies” like 4K resolution, HDR and wide color gamut, said Noland. “We found strong support for 2K UHD formats, interestingly, but also strong support for 4K UHD formats.” HDR and wide color gamut are “high on everyone’s lists,” she said. “But people are a little bit concerned about all the complexities that go along with having multiple technologies available.” The survey found service operators aren't very worried about the pace of future Ultra HD consumer adoption, she said.