EBU Plans World’s First Distribution of 4K Signals With HDR, High Frame Rates

The European Broadcasting Union will lead a team that includes Dolby, Fraunhofer and 17 other “industry partners” to do the world’s first distribution of Ultra HD signals with HDR and high frame rates of the European Athletics Championships in Berlin, said EBU Tuesday. The goal of the trials is to transmit 4K signals with hybrid log-gamma HDR at 100-Hz frame rates, it said. “Current state-of-the-art live broadcasts don’t exceed a field or frame rate of 50Hz in Europe, and HD interlaced (1080i25) is still the dominant broadcast emission format even though commercial encoders and TV sets manage up to 2160p50 resolution.” The championships open Thursday in Berlin for a 10-day run.