The Forum of Advanced Media In Europe (FAME), co-chaired by the EBU, has concluded that the broadcasting industry only has around 12 months left to come up with technical requirements and implementation scenarios for what is called phase 2 of UHD-1. The call for action came at the first FAME UHDTV (Ultra High Definition Television) Roadmap workshop held in Lucca (Italy) on 5 and 6 June. Over 65 attendees attended the event, representing professional and consumer industries, network operators, and private and public broadcasters. The aim of this second phase of UHDTV development is to offer a comprehensive set of advanced parameters: Higher Frame Rate (HFR), Higher Dynamic Range (HDR), higher resolution (3840x2160 pixels) and an extended colour space. It is regarded as a major step beyond the HDTV services that the majority of European broadcasters are currently transitioning to; and an advance on the 4k technology that is already being sold in shops but which concentrates 'only' on an increase in resolution. The Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) project has already started gathering commercial requirements for UHD-1 phase 2.
The FAME workshop in Lucca included several panel sessions. (photos: D. Daniels)
Presentations from NHK from Japan (who are focussed on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo) and Kobeta from South Korea highlighted the possibility that Europe could lag behind in introducing UHD TV if significant progress is not made soon. Hans Hoffmann from EBU Technology and Innovation, who co-chaired the FAME workshop, said: "We need a closer collaboration with, and support from, the European Commission, to prevent European industries becoming disadvantaged compared to their Asian counterparts." Hoffmann added, "we also need to get creative producers involved quickly too, to avoid a content gap, and must work together with the industry on a strategy to clearly inform European consumers about UHDTV." In-depth discussion sessions focussing on the three main parts of the content chain (production, distribution and consumer technology) resulted in the creation of a detailed set of actions for the organisations working on the technical development of UHDTV. FAME also emphasised that a strong push be made for the creation of a UHDTV framework in Europe even if many broadcasters will only be deploying it in the longer term. For more information, contact: Dr Hans Hoffmann (EBU).