Canal+ produces and broadcasts a pioneering 4K UHDTV project

In collaboration with SES Astra and Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales, and with cutting-edge technology from Newtec, Ovide, Promovisa, Sapec, Sony and Trigital, Canal+ is carrying out the first 4K experiences.

Canal+, a pioneering platform in Spain in high definition broadcasts and later in 3D, announced this Thursday in Madrid its new commitment to Ultra High Definition (UHDTV). In collaboration with SES Astra and Telefónica Audiovisual Services (TSA), and with cutting-edge technology Newtec, Ovid, Promotes, Sapec, Sony y Trigital, Canal+ is carrying out the first experiences in 4K. With this project, Canal+ wanted to test the complete chain of production, broadcast and reception of 4K content.

Throughout this June 13, Canal+ is broadcasting a five-minute piece on UHDTV with an image of 3840x2160 pixels, 4 times the number of pixels in an HD image.

The still rare viewers who have a 4K television can follow this broadcast through the Astra satellite at 19.2ºE on the frequency 10 906.00 (vertical polarization).

A collaborative project

In this first 4K project, Canal+ has brought together numerous companies in the sector that have been involved in the different phases from production to post-production and broadcast.

Ovide has provided the cameras, optics and auxiliary recording material, Promovisa has been in charge of the offline editing elements, Trigital has participated in the final finishing of the 4K demo piece, Newtec has collaborated with its modulators and demodulators, Sapec has carried out the coding under the ITU H264 (MPEG4/AVC) standard of the images, TSA has provided the ASI frames and the uplink to the satellite, and SES Astra has provided provided satellite capacity.

Adolfo Remacha, technical director of PRISA Tv, has drawn attention to the higher resolution, a more extended dynamic range in light and dark areas, and an extended color space provided by 4K. He has also made reference to the immersiveness that this high resolution entails. "4K allows us to be closer to the screen, with a totally immersive sensation without appreciating pixels and lines as is now the case in current high definition. Compared to the distance to view high definition, which is three times the height of the screen, now with Ultra High Definition the viewer can be placed just five feet away on large format televisions, thus improving this immersive visual experience," Remacha highlighted.

Sergi Maudet, technical director of Ovide, has highlighted that, unlike other revolutions such as the emergence of HD or 3D, “now, the lack of content would not be a problem since there are more than a thousand films that are shot in 4K.” Furthermore, he has pointed out that, finally, the conditions are in place to not only produce but also store and broadcast 4K.

During the presentation of this experience, David Martínez, systems director at Promovisa, reviewed the post-production phase carried out using Avid Media Composer and Nitris against the RAW images of the images (offline).

For his part, Pedro Escalona, ​​general director of Trigital, has focused on the finishing process of the 4K piece with DVS Clipster based on the EDL supplied by Media Composer.

Miguel Ángel Cristóbal, general director of Sapec, has noted that "the technological challenge was to be able to use strong compression, greater than 150 to 1, while maintaining the image quality and detail offered by HDTV technology. This compression is what allows the UHDTV signal to be broadcast at 6 Gbps through a satellite transponder at 40 Mbps."

Fernando Andreu, commercial director for Southern Europe at Newtec, commented that "we have provided our MDM6000 and MDM6100 modulators that support the new DVB-S2 Extensions to achieve greater efficiency, up to 37% more, compared to DVB-S2. This optimization of the space segment will facilitate the inclusion of 4K UHDTV content on satellite television platforms."

Dolores del Campillo, project director at TSA, has drawn attention to the company's work to generate the ASI frame from a 4K video file to later send it to the necessary equipment to put the carrier on the satellite.

Luis Sahún, general director of Astra, has reported that for this broadcast an 8PSK 2/3, 22 Mbaud, Pilot On, Roll-off 35% configuration is being used. He has also called on the Administration to take 4K into account in future spectrum management.

For the production of this pilot test, Sony F65 RS cameras were used together with ARRI Master Prime optics, generating a data volume, at 120 fps, of 5 gigabits per second. Héctor Sierra, head of direct accounts at Sony Professional, has drawn attention to the immersive sensation that “8 million pixels offer that allow you to see details just 1.6 meters away on 84” screens.”

Sierra has commented that, coinciding with the Confederations Cup, Sony will participate with the production of several 4K signals joined together seamlessly using software, facilitating the capture of details by enlarging certain areas of these signals with such high resolution.

Finally, Adolfo Remacha has estimated that we will have to wait about two or three years for us to have fully industrial processes in capture, post-production, real-time headends, satellites and receivers environments..."The 2016 Olympic Games could be the starting signal for regular 4K broadcasts in Europe. Canal+ will be there when commercial exploitation is possible and viable," Remacha acknowledges.