Fuzzy Outlook for Ultra HD
Big Telecom Event — Despite some rosy researcher forecasts for 4K TV set shipments, the future of Ultra HD still looks pretty cloudy right now.
That was the consensus view of video industry experts at the BTE Video Summit earlier this week. Speaking on a 4K panel here, the three wise cable men agreed that despite its ultimate promise, Ultra HD’s prospects are still unclear because of a lack of content, limited bandwidth capacity video processing challenges, greater caution by content and service providers, content security issues and other major challenges.
In a sign that 4K may well take longer to roll out than some industry analysts have predicted, the 2016 Summer Olympics will not be broadcast in 4K as originally expected. Olympic Broadcast Services executives announced in February that 4K coverage will not be offered because of a lack of demand from TV rights holders throughout the world, including NBC in the US and the BBC in the UK.