EBU Members and the wider media community were invited to visit EBU booth at IBC to discuss the latest developments with colleagues, and share knowledge and experiences.
Demonstrations
As usual our stand at IBC featured cutting edge technology demonstrations based on the work of our strategic programmes and project groups, with support from EBU Members and key industry players.
MORE IMMERSIVE MEDIA
- High Frame Rates: The EBU believes higher frame rates will be one of the crucial factors for the success for UHDTV. IBC visitors were able to assess the impact that higher frame rates have on content and learn how the EBU is contributing to research on the most suitable parameters.
- HEVC: Last year we showed some of the first attempts to encode UHD-1 content with HEVC. At IBC 2014 we showed the sequences we now use for subjective comparisons of H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC, at various bit rates. EBU also demonstrated the potential benefits of moving from 8 bit to 10 bit HEVC, delivering even better image quality at the same bit rate.
- Binaural audio: More and more media consumption goes through portable devices where headphones are essential to enjoy the experience fully. This opens up fresh possibilities for broadcasters to take advantage of binaural audio techniques to deliver a highly immersive listening experience, with or without images.
FLEXIBLE & EFFICIENT PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION
- Fully Networked Studio: EBU was pleased to host this demonstration from the BBC R&D team, showing how a fully networked production environment is possible with high bit rate signals being exchanged in real time. HD-SDI interfaces would be no longer required as the signals are handled seamlessly, independent of the pixel raster of the image format.
- Quality Control: The move to an era of file-based production requires a new approach to the crucial process of quality control. At IBC we introduced the EBU's work in this domain, showing the set of QC criteria developed for vendors to integrate in products to ensure robust, automated processes. Links with the FIMS project also were shown, delivering the interfaces needed for quality assurance in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) environment.
- Broadcasting from the Cloud: The EBU has been working on a prototype cloud infrastructure, based on entirely on open source software. Virtualized services are used for encoding and distribution, in a scalable environment that makes use of both private and public clouds possible. This work revealed many potential use cases as well as architectural and technical solutions that should be of interest to broadcasters and service providers.
FUTURE RADIO NOW
- Hybrid, Digital & Mobile: More and more broadcasters are switching on hybrid radio services, both on digital and analogue. EBU presented some of the services available around Europe now. But the biggest potential lies in packaging radio as an integrated, hybrid app in smartphones and tablets. We demonstrated new possibilities with the existing technology.
At the stand
The EBU booth featured a theatre with presentations on key EBU work areas scheduled every 30 minutes throughout the exhibition.
The presentation of the Open Source Meetup is available here.
At the conference
PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA: INNOVATION & INSPIRATION
- Saturday 14 September; 15.30-17.00; Emerald Room: Public broadcasters, with their long history and central role in civil, social and political life, are not always seen as being at the leading edge of technology. However, right across the EBU membership we can find organizations breaking new ground with services, platforms and projects, demonstrating that innovation is alive and well in public service media. This session, chaired by new EBU Director of Technology & Innovation Simon Fell, will showcase six projects from six different broadcasters across Europe, each one an example of public service media taking the lead on production or distribution technology development.
EBU LOUDNESS BREAKFAST
- Monday 16 September; 08.00-09.15; Emerald Room: The EBU's recommendation on Loudness, R 128, has seen huge success in recent years with high levels of interest and widespread adoption. Building on the popularity of last year's first EBU Loudness Breakfast at IBC, this year we are once again inviting everyone involved in loudness - engineers, tonmeisters, and developers and vendors of products - to share their experiences.
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