Sky and BT 4k

Amp34

Amp34

Amp34

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http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/02/bt-sky-4k-set-top-boxes/

It's no secret that BT is after Sky's sports broadcasting crown -- it's already taken away Sky's access to Champions League coverage and will soon go toe-to-toe with its rival again to spend big on more live Premier League matches. While it isn't quite as dominant as its rival in terms of customers, Sky deems BT a credible enough threat that it will reportedly bring forward the launch of its new 4K set-top box to ensure it doesn't lose subscribers when those major European football broadcasts vanish.

That's according to The Telegraph, which says the broadcaster will debut a new internet-connected 4K set-top box in the Spring. It's meant to be capable of sharing streams to smartphones and tablets, allowing access to recorded programmes while a user in on the move -- similar to EE's new TV hardware.

Sky's new box could be the final incarnation of a project known internally as "Project Ethan." Reports of the project first popped up in April last year, which detailed new Sky hardware that can output 4K broadcasts and store recorded programmes in the cloud. It was meant to debut in 2016, but the rise of BT and increased competition from Virgin may have forced it to launch earlier than originally planned.

BT won't let Sky have it all its own way, however; the company is also said to be readying a new 4K-ready box, which could launch "within months." The Telegraph says BT will kick off trials of its new ultra high-definition streaming service in May, ensuring it's ready in time to broadcast its Champions League coverage in the autumn.
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Looks like 4k will start to get a lot more content, even if it is just sport at the moment.
 
Sky sports is still too expensive considering the games they show, i get BT sports free with my Tivo, not even 4K would make me go back to sky now.
 
dl8860 said:
Sky sports HD is too expensive as it is, let alone 4k. Though maybe this will lead to hd price drops
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Nice thought but the sad reality is they (and Virgin) will continue to milk the normal HD channels for years to come. In the grand scheme of things 4k TV's are practically non-existent in people's homes, the vast majority still have 720p and 1080p sets and HD is a huge factor on people choosing a higher TV package. Perhaps once 4k sets become common place they'll drop the prices but that's years off.
 
The point is that 4k TVs will only get more popular with more content. I'm not interested in sport (and won't be getting either of these boxes as I don't watch live TV but it does mean there is yet another way to get 4k content to your TV. My next TV is going to be 4k and I'm sure many others will be thinking the same.
 
Amp34 said:
The point is that 4k TVs will only get more popular with more content. I'm not interested in sport (and won't be getting either of these boxes as I don't watch live TV but it does mean there is yet another way to get 4k content to your TV. My next TV is going to be 4k and I'm sure many others will be thinking the same.
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Exactly, this will drive sale's of 4K tv's massively, it il be interesting to see how much BT/Sky will charge though, as many people are leaving due to the cost's getting so high will 4K be enough to keep them !!
 
How does this BT box get the programs? Would it be streamed on an internet connections, or is it some antenna broadcast?

Sky has satellite, which would easily have enough bandwidth to run 4k broadcasts.
Virgin have fast cable, which in most cases has enough bandwidth to stream 4k.

If BT relies on fibre broadband, there is a chance most people will not have enough internet speed to stream 4k. The average broadband speed in the UK is 18.7Mbps, and normal 4k streams require a spare constant 25Mbps (after other uses like someone else on Youtube) minimum to be viable, I don't see it working very well.
 
It will be upscaled 1080 along with low bitrate 4k to please the masses. The retailers will love this.

I'll be keeping my 1080p OLED screen for some time.
 
S2KIP said:
I'll be keeping my 1080p OLED screen for some time.
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My next purchase once this years range come out. Right now i use a plasma and tbh don't notice that much difference between 720p and 1080p unless watching a particularly visual movie. I do however constantly pick up on black not really being black, it really bugs me. 1080p OLED seems to make more sense for me over 4k LED even if it does end up standard for TV broadcasts.

If i was rocking a 65"+ then i might think different but we only have a 50" and tbh anything over 55" would just dominate the living room too much as it's not huge.
 
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Scottland said:
Streamed content, same as Netflix so I'm guessing it'll be compressed as far as they can take it.
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distilled from wiki

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is a video compression standard, a successor to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding),..
...The Main 10 profile was added at the October 2012 HEVC meeting based on proposal JCTVC-K0109 which proposed that a 10-bit profile be added to HEVC for consumer applications.[86] The proposal stated that this was to allow for improved video quality and to support the Rec. 2020 color space that will be used by UHDTV.[86] A variety of companies supported the proposal which included ATEME, BBC, BSkyB, CISCO, DirecTV, Ericsson, Motorola Mobility, NGCodec, NHK, RAI, ST, SVT, Thomson Video Networks, Technicolor, and ViXS Systems...


Max bit rate for Main
and Main 10 profiles (kbit/s)
25,000 100,000 4,096×2,[email protected]


So the way I read it thats with max compression, so you'll need a min of 25Mbit/sec
And only 30fps.
Wonder how BT's IP backbone is going to handle it if everyone signs up at once.
 
El_Watcher said:
Sky has satellite, which would easily have enough bandwidth to run 4k broadcasts.
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If Sky has enough bandwidth to run 4K, how comes it feels completely unable to run 1080P now ?

This whole debate is complete rubbish because Sky will never broadcast 4K in any way that 4K is supposed to be viewed, because it will NEVER invest the sort of money it needs to invest to do the job properly. In much the same way that Virgin's market penetration will never grow that much, it costs too much to invest in new fibre to grab that market share.
 
lude1962 said:
distilled from wiki

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is a video compression standard, a successor to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding),..
...The Main 10 profile was added at the October 2012 HEVC meeting based on proposal JCTVC-K0109 which proposed that a 10-bit profile be added to HEVC for consumer applications.[86] The proposal stated that this was to allow for improved video quality and to support the Rec. 2020 color space that will be used by UHDTV.[86] A variety of companies supported the proposal which included ATEME, BBC, BSkyB, CISCO, DirecTV, Ericsson, Motorola Mobility, NGCodec, NHK, RAI, ST, SVT, Thomson Video Networks, Technicolor, and ViXS Systems...


Max bit rate for Main
and Main 10 profiles (kbit/s)
25,000 100,000 4,096×2,[email protected]


So the way I read it thats with max compression, so you'll need a min of 25Mbit/sec
And only 30fps.
Wonder how BT's IP backbone is going to handle it if everyone signs up at once.
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It wont be near that.
be about 9~11 Mbs for 4K in h265 (current sports steam are about 4.5)
Easy way to think about it is its quadruple the size but twice the efficiency.

no one will do 10 bit colour profile as only 1% of amps and tvs can do hdcp 2.2 + 10bit as the chips just were not ready.

good luck if you bought a tv without hdcp2.2 as for 4K Sky and Netflix im 99% sure its going to be mandatory.
 
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