Sky Perfect JSAT Plans Japan’s First 4K Broadcasts Next Year With HEVC

The communications satellites that Sky Perfect JSAT operates at 124 and 128 degrees east and will use for 4K HEVC delivery have a long history in innovating new technologies, Nito said in a panel on 4K/8K. For example, the company used them in 2008 to beam Japan’s first HD broadcasts in MPEG-4-based H.264, Nito said. It also used the satellites to broadcast Japan’s first dedicated 3D channel starting in 2010. But Sky Perfect JSAT shut down the 3D channel this year, “unfortunately,” due to lack of demand, Nito said.

Typically, Sky Perfect JSAT uses those satellites for pay services and premium services, Nito said. “So if viewers are very much sensitive to something new, they are willing to pay for the service,” he said. “These satellites are suitable for the introduction of advanced services."

As for what viewers will find most attractive about 4K broadcasts, Nito revealed himself to be a passionate sports fan when he said he thinks wide viewing angles will top the list of desired features, particularly for “vivid” presentations of live sports. In soccer matches, “we can actually show the entire pitch, and yet also show the faces of players in a very clear manner,” Nito said. For live baseball, 4K can make the TV screen seem “very real,” he said. He recalled sitting behind third base during a World Baseball Classic Japan-Taipei game March 8 at Tokyo Dome when Japanese infielder Takashi Toritani stole second with two outs in the top of the ninth and Japan down by a run. Japan went on to defeat Taipei 4-3 in 10 innings. “Everyone in the stadium was shouting,” he said. However, conventional HD “couldn’t capture that feeling of real presence,” he said. “But 4K with its wide angles can actually capture that emotion."

The Korean Broadcasting System has been researching terrestrial 4K broadcasting for at least three years because “we must prepare for the television of the future,” Yim Zungkon, manager of KBS’s digital TV research team. KBS regards Europe’s DVB-T2 as the best transmission system for 4K, Yim said. Through Oct. 15, KBS is running its second Ultra HD trial in as many years, he said. Following a third trial next year, KBS plans live 4K coverage next September of the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, “and there'll be government support,” he said. Four years later, coverage is planned of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, though KBS doesn’t yet know “what the format will be” between 4K or 8K, he said. However, both 4K and 8K “preparations are being carried out,” he said. KBS and its terrestrial broadcast partners are targeting year-end 2015 for the official launch of commercial 4K broadcasts, he said. “We have a sense of urgency about this."

Asked in Q-and-A how serious KBS is about broadcasting the 2018 Winter Olympics in 8K, Yim responded that “Japan is an 8K country, so you're interested in 8K.” That was a reference to NHK’s avowed plans to launch 8K commercial broadcasts in Japan well in advance of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Toru Kuroda, NHK director-planning and coordination, represented NHK on the panel, where he conceded NHK was “lagging behind” its accelerated schedule to begin 8K transmissions in 2016. For KBS “it’s very difficult for Korea” to promise 8K delivery in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Yim said. “KBS is well advanced, but we don’t have enough bandwidth. Therefore we don’t have any idea about 8K.” For 2018, KBS might well try combining two 6-MHz channels to do 8K, he said. Alternatively, it may decide to use 6 MHz for 4K and “hybridcasts” for 8K, he said: It’s too early to decide which option KBS might use. However, with government support, KBS wants at least to be ready to test the 2018 Olympics in 8K, he said.