NEW DELHI: Tata Sky announced its plans to launch 4K set-top boxes early next year by showing off a live 4K broadcast of the France vs Germany World Cup 2014 Quarter Final tie. This was the first ever 4K broadcast in India and that too of a live event.
The live 4K broadcast was shown using a Tata Sky 4K set-top box which will start selling from early 2015. The France vs Germany tie was simultaneously telecast on SD, HD and 4K enabled Sony UltraHD TV using a live 4K of the match on Sony Six HD. Sony’s 85-inch UHD TV was used to showcase the 4K broadcast. Not many technical details were revealed related to the broadcast.
On this occasion, Vikram Mehra, Chief Commercial Officer at Tata Sky explained, “Being the market leader, we are always at the forefront of technology and have worked on delivering word class TV viewing experience.
In today’s day and age, following global trends is not enough, we try to leapfrog them. Launch of 4k UHD STBs next year is another example of the same. 4K is the future for our subscribers and we are very happy to bring this preview to India for the first time together with Sony Six, showcasing the world’s biggest sporting festival.”
This being the first ever 4K broadcast in India, naturally it had piqued our fancy. Tata Sky also had an HD broadcast as well as a standard definition (SD) broadcast on two different TVs on display as well. These TVs were surrounding the Sony 4K UHD TV.
This immediately gave you an idea of the details being shown by the 4K broadcast vis-a-vis the full HD and SD broadcasts. Needless to say, the details were impressive. Naturally, since 4K (3840×2160) has four times the pixels as the regular full HD stream, that is expected.
We were observing the 4K broadcast from a distance of around 20 feet and couldn’t really notice any kind of pixillation on the 4K broadcast. Having said that, we would have liked to see at least the HD and 4K broadcasts on similarly sized TV sets, as that would have given us a true idea of the quality difference.
One surprising thing we noticed was that the full HD stream was delayed by almost 12 seconds as compared to the 4K broadcast. So much so, that after we saw Mat Hummels of Germany score that cracker of a goal in the 13th minute on the 4K UHD TV, we were actually seeing a live replay on the full HD screen. The delay between the full HD and SD streams was around a couple of seconds.
In terms of detailing, there was barely any compromise. While close up shots revealed fine details, such as skin tones, facial hair, damp folds in the players’ jerseys, the 4K broadcast was also able to show the individual LEDs on the advertising boards on close observation. Colours were vibrant. When seeing the corner kicks, you could see the turf with the well defined grass blades and the occasional bumps caused in the ground due to sliding and slipping footballers.
With the full HD broadcasts, you generally notice a close-up of someone in the crowd showing his or her facial details or a small group of people. But with the 4K broadcast, the camera frame included multiple rows of people, with each of them visible distinctly. It was as good as looking at 10MP plus photograph at actual pixel size. We tried going up close to the screen to notice any kind of pixillation, but there was none.
Throughout the duration of the game, there wasn’t a moment of glitch in the broadcast. This is saying a lot considering the number of complaints one hears about Tata Sky broadcast signal during the monsoons.
All in all, it was a great experience. The 4K broadcast for that match duration was without any flaws which is definitely a good start. Viewing sports at such a resolution on that big a TV screen really adds to the immersive experience.
Tata Sky have plans to launch the 4K set top box early next year. That gives broadcasters over six months to come up with a true 4K channel. Will we have 4K ready TV channels by then? That is anyone’s guess at the moment. But we would surely love to see someone taking the initiative soon.
