Ericsson, BT Media and Broadcast and BT Sport are showcasing their first-ever live demonstration of a high efficiency video coding (HEVC) contribution link used in the delivery of 4K UHD TV.
The single-slice HEVC link will be used to broadcast live rugby matches on BT Sport in 4K UHD during the second round of the Aviva Premiership, and it will be delivered using BT’s new links truck.
Together with Ericsson, BT Media and Broadcast (BT M&B) plan to show how UHD content can be broadcast through one slice, without any signal stitching.
Elisabetta Romano, vice president and head of TV and Media, Ericsson, said, “This demonstration shows we can drive better quality, operational simplicity and bandwidth efficiency, giving far greater cost-efficiencies in UHD delivery by contributing all the video content in a single slice.
“This is a turning point in UHD, making 4K live sports and events a practical, cost-effective and high-quality reality for the first time.”
According to the company, Ericsson’s encoding/decoding technology supports HEVC and removes the need for complex AVC quadrant based UHDTV contribution. This technique reportedly offers TV service providers savings of up to 40 per cent on bandwidth usage.
Mark Wilson-Dunn, vice president at BT M&B, added, “We’re delighted to be using Ericsson’s state of the art encoding/decoding equipment for our 4K broadcast at IBC. The combination of the new equipment with our new UHD links truck will deliver unbeatable high-quality sports footage to viewers at this year’s event.
“I’m looking forward to sharing our joint innovation and how we’re delivering an even better service to our customers with the rest of the industry at IBC.”
