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UPDATE-High-Def’s Next Leap

http://www.multichannel.com/article/174220-High_Def_s_Next_Leap.php?rssid=20059

Programmers Prepare For 3-D, More Pixels And “Higher-Def”
by George Winslow — Multichannel News, 2/16/2009 12:00:00 AM MT
Ready or not, the future of high-definition television is on its way.

With HDTV sets in less than half of all American homes, the format is still something of an emerging technology. But that hasn’t stopped consumer electronics manufacturers from touting next-generation HD. And competitive pressures are forcing programmers and operators to take notice.

“The beginning of the next-generation HD is already here,” said Bob Zitter, HBO executive vice president of technology and chief technology officer. “Consumers already access programming at 1080p [via Blu-ray disks, Internet downloads or home video cameras] that is better quality than [the 720p or 1080i formats] any broadcast network, cable operator, satellite provider or phone company is offering today. Over time, the television industry will have to offer content that is equivalent to what consumers can get from other sources already on the market, such as Blu-ray.”

Some even argue that these next-generation technologies offer cable, which has struggled to compete with satellite’s high-definition offerings, a way to move ahead of the competition in the next three to five years.

“Video is becoming a commodity,” said Dick Green, president and CEO of CableLabs, which is actively helping cable operators explore the potential of several newer formats, including 3-D HD. “You can get video from a lot of sources — satellite, telephone companies, over the Internet. So it is important for us to look at how the cable industry can enhance the video product and differentiate ourselves from our competitors with our video product. We want cable to be the gold standard for HD quality. These [next-generation HD formats] have the potential to do that.”

How programmers and operators tap into that potential is another matter. While everyone agrees that newer formats will take years to develop, there is no clear agreement about what formats offer the best business opportunities.

Some next-generation formats involve the delivery of stereoscopic 3-D images, something that is already being used in theaters and has the potential of being brought into the home via videogame consoles, Blu-ray disks and ultimately sports or event programming.

There are currently about 1,600 digital theaters capable of presenting 3-D films or events, up from 500 in 2007, and the number of screens is expected to hit 4,000 by the end of this year, estimates Michael Lewis, the CEO and chairman of RealD, a provider of 3-D technology to theaters.

“In the movies, 3-D is simply here,” Fox Group president of engineering Andy Setos said.

Working with partners, Fox Sports has produced National Basketball Association, National Football League and the Bowl Championship Series games in 3-D HD for audiences in theaters. “But in the home setting it is way experimental,” Setos said.

One major problem is that there are no standards for delivery of 3-D content into the home, with different types of TVs using different kinds of glasses explains CableLab’s Green.

Production costs are also high, with a 3-D HD production of an NBA game costing about six times the $50,000 needed for a normal HD production, Green said. Some broadcasters have experimented with 3-D programming but it is not currently possible to deliver true 3-D HD images over existing multichannel pipelines.

Other next-generation formats enhance image quality — either by increasing the number of pixels being displayed, which increases the resolution, or by increasing the number of frames per second, which improves the way motion is rendered in high-action sports or movie programming.

Consumer electronics manufacturers are already selling some very high-end sets priced at over $50,000 with 3840 by 2160 pixels, more than four times the screen real estate of today’s 1920x1080 pixel HD sets. At International Broadcasting Conference in Amsterdam in 2008, Japan’s NHK demonstrated an “ultra HD” system using 7680x4320 pixels.

Those technologies require such large and expensive screens, they are likely to have only limited use in the home. But over the next few years, some programmers believe they will to need to move from the 720 progressive line and 1080 interlaced HD formats they currently use to a higher quality 1080 progressive line format at 60 frames per second.

Others remain skeptical. “1080p at 60 frames per second would require retooling of the entire industry, and I don’t really see the benefits,” Setos said.

“Today it is not possible for any programmers to send 1080p content over the existing distribution chain,” added Michael Aloisi, MTV Networks vice president of distribution technology, satellite and affiliate services.

Still a number of programmers, particularly those offering sports and movies, are preparing to offer content in “higher” high-definition.

Last year, Hallmark became the first programmer to go to MPEG-4 compression for the launch of its Hallmark Movie Channel in HD, according to Jim Bennett, vice president of technical operations for Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel. “Everyone is moving to MPEG-4 because it offers huge bandwidth savings and is much better for transport,” he said.

While Bennett is skeptical about the prospect of delivering 1080p 60 signals to operators, he said Hallmark is producing 35 originals this year in 1080p at 24 frames per second, and programmers will have to begin offering 1080p content.

“When people really start to see what Blu-ray starts to look like, they’ll be demanding higher quality, which we will be able to deliver,” he said.

Last summer, HBO also moved to MPEG-4. “We felt it was important to go to MPEG-4 when we did because 1080p at 60 [frames per second] and other qualitative improvements are going to put pressure on bandwidth in the future,” Zitter said.

ESPN is also preparing for 1080p, said Chuck Pagano, the company’s executive vice president of technology. It is building a new facility at the Staples Center in Los Angeles that will be capable of the highest quality 1080p.

“We are taking steps to get ready for the next generation,” said Pagano, who adds that the sports giant’s main facility in Bristol, Conn., still operates at 720p. “Right now, no one is asking for 1080p content to be delivered to the consumer. But we will be doing retooling efforts as we go forward to make certain we will have the highest quality available programming.”

Some of the constraints on these next-generation technologies are likely to ease in upcoming years.

Charter Communications chief technology officer Marwan Fawaz said, “Our immediate focus is on getting 1080p content on our networks,” but admits that “really creates a challenge for us in terms of bandwidth. When you look at 1080p today and compare that to the average bit rates of 1080i, it requires about two times as much bandwidth.”

But the deployment of boxes capable of handling MPEG-4 compression, the move to convert analog spectrum to digital and the deployment of switched digital video will make it much easier for operators to handle next-generation HD content.

“As you have switched digital and analog reclamation, we’ll have the flexibility to add tons of HD content as well as expand IP-based HD content,” Fawaz said.

“Cable still has the best pipe,” Green said. “We can certainly do better than Blu-ray quality because we can devote more capacity to it; and by the time we need to do that, we’ll have solved our capacity problems with more digital and less analog. That will give us a big advantage.”