There were several breaks throughout the conference programme, which gave delegates the chance to view demonstrations from companies that were not speaking. This year, of course, the focus was on UltraHD and its enhancements.
Arqiva had an HTML5 UI, which will be available to operators. It is compliant with Freeview Play’s specifications. A catch-up app was also being shown.
The BBC showed the HDR content that it had filmed of the 2015 New Year’s Eve fireworks display, on an UltraHD HDR set from Sony. I was very impressed – the combination of the bright colours on a very dark background looked stunning.
Motive Television demonstrated its Tablet TV, which we have been following for several years (Display Monitor Vol 19 No 46). The device can show live broadcast TV on a tablet, without an internet connection. It is currently available for the iPad and Android is rolling out now. Next, Motive will be bringing the service to smaller screens, such as phones, and adding more functionality, such as OTT services for when a connection is possible.
Panasonic had its Freeview Play UI on show.
Rohde & Schwarz was showing the DTT platform’s ability to support live UltraHD broadcast, using HEVC and DVB-T2. We heard that it would be possible to bring these services to the UK if enough bandwidth was available. Live footage was being sent to an LG TV (UF950V) from a Sony F55 camera. The cameras was connected to an encoder and multiplexer, which compressed the footage and sent it to a test transmitter. A short-range aerial then sent the content to another aerial connected to the TV, about 10m away.
Photo credit: RecombuThe event closed with an awards ceremony. Innovation, collaboration and partnership awards going to Sky (for Now TV), BBC Digital and the DVB, respectively. The 14 original founders of the DTG were also honoured with the DTG Founders Award.
