AJA FS-HDR feeds a simultaneous UltraHD HDR/HD SDR stream for the first time on the South Korean MBC

MBC uses AJA's FS-HDR real-time HDR converter and frame synchronizer for UltraHD HDR to HD SDR conversion and high and low dynamic range simulcasting.

The exploration of the bears' endangered habitats and the global crisis that threatens the species was recently broadcast in a television event of great importance to the South Korean public. The leading national television network in South Korea MBC has issued this year Bear, a documentary series that explores the impact of climate change and urbanization on pandas, grizzlies, polar bears and other animals.

This series has marked the first simulcast in HDR and SDR in South Korea, providing audiences with HDR UltraHD displays the opportunity to view engaging wildlife documentary in more vibrant and vivid hues across a wider dynamic range.

The Seoul broadcaster's first foray into high dynamic range transmissions was in 2018 for the World Cup in Russia. For the issuance of Bear, MBC needed a solution capable of streaming content from an HDR source to HDR and SDR destinations simultaneously. To manage the workflow, MBC used the real-time HDR converter and FS-HDR frame synchronizer of AJA to execute the UltraHD HDR to HD SDR conversion, which allowed real-time transmission to audiences in either format. Based on the HDR and resolution capabilities of their televisions, viewers could watch either version of the show at the same time.

Throughout the production of Bear, FS-HDR was used for the BT gamma conversion. 2020/BT. 709.

Chongmo Ki, from MBC, comments that "the conversion from HDR to SDR gamma with FS-HDR is seamless, without any banding in the highlight area. This allowed me to achieve a more natural feel of color grading, closer to the way the human eye sees color in real life. FS-HDR's wide range of adjustable parameters allows for more precise conversion, and the fact that I can control all parameters from my laptop is especially convenient."

MBC is currently producing the documentary titled Humanimal, a nature series that will explore the relationship between humans and wild animals coexisting together in shared environments. Produced in HDR, the documentary will again be broadcast simultaneously in HDR and SDR, and MBC intends to use a similar FS-HDR-driven workflow for real-time conversion. Throughout production of the series, MBC also hopes to explore AJA's new HDR image analyzer as a solution for color grading monitoring and analysis.