No 8K Proponents Have Stepped Forward On ATSC 3.0, Framers Say

S34-1 has “an exhaustive list of future technologies to consider,” such as “higher-premium color planes,” Stein said. “We're contribution-based and consensus-driven,” he said. “But no one has proposed 8K as of today. However, it’s on our radar. Interesting data points come up, but again, no one has proposed it.”

NHK, the strongest 8K advocate with plans to launch Super Hi-Vision broadcasts in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, “did not make a proposal of what they thought ATSC 3.0 should have,” Stein said in Q&A. “They did make a contribution about what they plan to do. We haven’t considered that a proposal for 34-1 to consider. But if we misunderstood the intent of that, then I would say we should revisit that.” NHK representatives couldn’t be reached for comment.

There have been proposals raised before S34-1 on a “5K” solution packing 2160 x 4800 resolution and a 64:27 aspect ratio, Stein said. His understanding is that CEA “is in the process of adding this” to its CEA-861 standard, he said. But there’s no 5K component in CEA-861-F, the version of the spec that was released last year, Brian Markwalter, CEA senior vice president-standards and research, told us by email. CEA-861-F does contain “some 64:27 aspect ratios for HD resolutions,” Markwalter said, and 5K “is in the queue for a possible extension.” The “specific proposal” before CEA is for 5120 x 2160 at p24/25/30 frame rates, Markwalter said.

Early on, S34-1 “decided it would operate on a consensus basis, that we wouldn’t require an external call for proposals” for ATSC 3.0’s “video component,” Stein said. “Participation and making contributions is critical. If people wanted MPEG-2 to be part of ATSC 3.0, it would need to be proposed. That makes our schedule a little better than some of the people who have external calls for proposals going out. But on the other hand, we have to drive to consensus, and a lot of times we hear interesting things but no one makes a contribution on them, and if no one makes a contribution for the technology that they would like, it’s not going to get into the standard.”

S34-1 has reached consensus on the High Efficiency Video Coding, but parameters such as “profiles,” “levels” and “the use of scalable extensions” remain “all under active discussion,” Stein said. There also has been “a bit of discussion” over 8-bit versus 10-bit, he said. There has been “clear input from the broadcast community” about building support in ATSC 3.0 for legacy interlaced formats, and 480i and 1080i “will be supported,” he said. There’s also “wide” consensus that 4K resolution for ATSC 3.0 will be progressive-scan-only, he said. Given the ATSC 3.0 requirement that fixed devices will receive up to 4K resolution and mobile devices up to full HD, “perhaps having a two-layer, scalable” HEVC approach “elegantly solves that problem, but that’s still to be discussed,” he said.

S34-1 has earmarked the June-September time frame to discuss high-dynamic-range (HDR) solutions, Stein said. “We'll ask for contributions” on HDR, “and we'll get multiple contributions,” he said. “Then I suspect that a fair amount of time will be spent discussing the evaluation criteria, how we would be able to choose an HDR solution, and what would be the value proposition involved.”

The S34-2 ad hoc group on ATSC 3.0 audio is charged with drafting specs that would make for an “immersive” experience, said Jim Starzynski, director and principal audio engineer, NBCUniversal Advanced Engineering, the group’s chairman. ATSC 3.0 audio is broken down into two parts -- its “personalization aspect” and its home theater surround component, Starzynski said. “That’s what we're chasing after here.”