AMSTERDAM—IBC is always a good bellwether of what keeps the great and the good in the industry up late at night, and one of the interesting factors in looking at the conference program this year is the relative lack of 4K content. Compared to the stereo 3D hysteria, or even the long, drawn-out campaign that sought to upgrade the industry from SD to HD, 4K in 2014 is making comparatively little fuss.
Partly that’s because it’s considered such a done deal. Advance glimpses of the Exhibitor’s wares on the IBC show floor show the format expanding, almost by osmosis, into every available niche in the production chain. And, at the other end of the equation, there is plenty of optimism abroad that the public rollout will now possibly have occurred in time for the next global sporting circus that will be the Rio Olympics.
That’s partly because the 4K trials from the World Cup out of Rio’s Maracanã Stadium went so well. With limited cinema distribution added to the mix at a late stage, the joint HBS/Sony/Globo effort proved that most of the issues surrounding lensing etc. have been consigned to the history books, and that the format is well and truly production ready. But mainly, it’s because major media companies are jockeying for position in the newly converging living room and want the market to be ready and receptive.
4K has long been held to be one of the major unique selling points of [Keep reading…]
Source: TVTechnology.com
Photo credit: BBC.co.uk