A simulcast of the NHL Network’s Thursday night matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vegas Golden Knights was to be the first of a “full slate” of DirecTV sports, music and events to be beamed live in 4K with high dynamic range, said DirecTV Thursday. DirecTV also will broadcast 13 NBA games this season in 4K HDR, and the Rose Bowl parade Jan. 1. The broadcasts will be available to DirecTV top-tier subscribers with the proper equipment, though the Penguins-Golden Knights 4K HDR simulcast will be blacked out in Pittsburgh and Las Vegas markets, it said.
Hisense joins LG as the second TV maker to earn the Eurofins “4K HDR Ultra HD” logo, said Eurofins, a British provider of quality assurance testing services. The Eurofins logo program “identifies devices that have been fully tested and proven to deliver the highest picture quality currently available,” including high dynamic range, 4K resolution and wide color gamut from broadcast, broadband and HDMI sources, said Eurofins. It’s the “only logo covering broadcast and broadband inputs available today,” it said. A Hisense 75-inch TV also earned the “Ultra HD Premium” logo from the UHD Alliance, says a listing of certified TVs at the alliance’s new website, ExperienceUHD.com (see 1711270011).
The Country Network debuted its first shows this week in Ultra HD, becoming the 11th 4K channel on SES’ platform, SES announced Tuesday. The platform packages satellite distribution, reception gear and content for North American pay-TV operators, SES said. TCN reaches 15 million U.S. homes, and its 2018 strategy includes introducing its new 4K service “to the most influential media companies, large and small,” said CEO Tim Eaton.
BenQ is embarking on a campaign to make 4K projection more “affordable” by demonstrating prototypes of its W1700 4K home cinema projector, with ambitions of pricing it under $2,000. The W1700 has native HDR10 high dynamic range and uses a single 1080p DLP chip, but mechanically steps it sideways and up and down, by micron distances, at 240 Hz, said BenQ. This gives the effect of 4K resolution at 60 Hz, it said.
Hisense began shipping its 100-inch 4K Ultra HD smart laser TV, the company said Wednesday. The $9,999 TV, with Harman Kardon sound, uses the Texas Instruments DLP 4K UHD DMD chip, said the company. Built-in apps include Netflix, Amazon Video, Pandora, TikiLIVE and YouTube.
Sony Electronics “continues to study the applicability of 8K technology to consumer TVs, but cannot comment on specific commercialization plans,” spokeswoman Cheryl Goodman emailed us Monday. Sony applied Oct. 6 to register a black and gold “8K HDR” logo as a U.S. trademark (see 1710160032), Patent and Trademark Office records show. “Sony currently does not have any products, consumer or broadcast, that use the 8K HDR logo,” Goodman said.
SlingStudio, Sling Media’s portable, wireless multicamera production system, added 4K video support, live production enhancements and custom real-time messaging protocol (RTMP) for live broadcasting, the company announced Monday. The features will be available for download to new and existing SlingStudio units, it said. The updates will allow users to livestream a production in HD and convert to a camera’s native 4K resolution in postproduction, while retaining effects, transitions and cuts from the app automatically, it said. Custom graphic insertion will let users insert, resize and change the transparency of JPG and PNG graphics and overlay them on a live program feed, it said. Users also will be able to expand live-switched program output beyond Facebook and YouTube to custom sites supporting RTMP, such as Twitch, Twitter/Periscope, Livestream and Ustream, it said.
Sony applied Oct. 6 to register a black and gold “8K HDR” logo as a U.S. trademark, Patent and Trademark Office records show. The logo “consists of a gold hexagon with 8K appearing within a black five-sided polygon in the upper half in stylized gold type and HDR appearing in stylized black type in the bottom half,” said the filing (serial number 87636915), which lists no foreign-equivalent application. Our search of the EU Intellectual Property Office’s database yielded no hits for “8K HDR,” nor could we find an application filed with trademark authorities in Japan, where NHK is working with Sony and other tech companies to prepare for the debut of 8K Super Hi-Vision broadcasts in time for the July 2020 Tokyo Olympics (see 1709150056). In its colors and typefaces, the 8K HDR logo is a direct adaptation of the square-shaped “4K HDR” logo that Sony introduced in January 2016 (see 1601060049). Sony, though a UHD Alliance founding member, since has shunned the alliance’s Ultra HD Premium logo unveiled at the same CES (see 1601030003), instead trumpeting its own 4K HDR logo to signify that its sets meet CTA’s “voluntary guidelines” on high-dynamic-range compatibility released in August 2015 (see 1508270058). Sony representatives didn’t comment Monday on commercial plans to use the 8K HDR logo.
The price of a 4K TV fell to $329 at Best Buy Friday with a $100 discount on a Westinghouse 50-inch model, we found. A Sharp 50-inch was $50 more at $379, clipped by $120 off the list price. Among top tier brands, LG led pricing with a $399 43-inch model, down from $549, and a 60-incher was cut by $200 to $699. The CTA holiday forecast released Wednesday projected a 48 percent jump in 4K TV sales this quarter to 6.7 million sets (see 1710110051).
After announcing a deal with Fox to deliver select NCAA college football games in 4K (see 1709210022), Dish Network continued filling its Ultra HD content palette Friday, announcing it's offering multiroom 4K Netflix streaming via its flagship Joey set-top box. The Joey box must be connected to a Dish Hopper 3 DVR, which can support six 4K Joey set-tops, bringing the number of supported 4K TVs to seven, Dish said. Users can find 4K content, identifiable by “4K” or “UHD,” via the Netflix app on the Dish remote control or in the programming guide, it said. The 4K streaming capability is exclusive to Netflix since Dish doesn’t currently offer Amazon apps on its set-top boxes, a Dish spokeswoman said. Dish began delivering Netflix 4K on the Hopper 3 in April 2016, she said. To receive 4K Netflix, Dish customers need to subscribe to Netflix’s $11.99-per-month subscription plan. Netflix recommends an internet connection speed of at least 25 Mbps to stream Ultra HD titles.