This article was originally published at www.display-central.com
HISPASAT is a satellite network operator with good European and Americas coverage. They are already broadcasting a trail 4K channel in Europe, and now will be doing so in the US and Central America.
At NAB, they were showing a live demo of this 4K trial channel in the South Hall. The 4K content comes from Pennsylvannia, we were told, which sounds a Comcast connection. The content is modulated and uplinked in KU band to the HISPASAT satellite, which sits over the Equator and then downlinked to a dish that the company install on the roof of the South Hall. the signal goes to a prototype set top box that demodulated the satellite signal and decodes the compression (HEVC) to create an uncompressed signal which can then be delivered over HDMI to the 4K TV. A chip set from STMicro performs this function.
The content shown was a 4K/25p source, but they will likely be distributing 30p content so as not to create questions of compatibility with the 4K TVs.
The company was clear that this is not the launch of a commercial 4K channel. It is only for testing purposes as they only have an hour of content at this time. However, they have a partnership with Hi-TV to produce more 4K content. –Chris Chinnock