Driving the Optimization of Networks for Next-Generation TV Experiences
The emergence of new compression standards such as HEVC will dramatically reduce bandwidth requirements for video delivery, alleviate the increasing strain of providing video services across operator networks and help support a new generation of TV services on a wide range of user devices.
HEVC and the move toward UHDTV
Ericsson has already launched our first HEVC encoder last September: the SVP 5500. We focused on a slightly different application for the first use of that technology; video encoding for mobile networks. There were two main reasons that motivated us to go down that route. First, it’s some of the most expensive last-mile bandwidth in the world and it’s increasingly carrying video traffic. The second reason is that when you move to new compression technologies, one of the main barriers to a roll-out is an installed legacy of received devices. The difference with mobile networks is the cycle time on the user device (i.e. your handset is so much faster).
From there, we see the next application of HEVC probably moving towards an OTT/multi-screen type of services and later on it will move into the more traditional space driven by new set-top boxes on the back of Ultra HD (UHDTV).
UHDTV was widely showcased at this years’ Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Consumer demand has driven the evolution of digital television over the last 10 years and as with all new technologies, that continued level of demand will hasten the availability of UHDTV/4K–ready professional products in the very near future.
HEVC will be fundamental to ensuring these new video formats can be deployed on a large scale, cost-effectively. 4K uses four times the number of pixels for larger displays but thanks to the recent ratification of the HEVC standard, we can now reduce the bandwidth requirements for video delivery by over 50 percent compared to leading H.264/MPEG-4 AVC implementations. However, it requires 10 times the processing power of MPEG-4 AVC to fully exploit the toolset, so the first generation ‘live products’ in 2015/2016 will likely provide a 20-25 percent gain to start with.
We can expect to see a gradual uptake in 4K TV sets within two years, whether as a display for gaming or thanks to a consumer push for cinema-like resolution in the home. Once the demand is there from the consumer, we will see operators put even more time into delivering TV content to consumers. Then, our industry will be ready to maximize the potential of this technology.
The importance of IP
IP video will be fundamental to every television platform in the future, which will rely on a combination of IP and mobility.
In April, Ericsson announced the acquisition of Microsoft’s Mediaroom TV Solution business. Mediaroom is the leading platform for video distribution deployed with the world's largest IPTV operators. Mediaroom has predominantly been focused in the home and if you look at any network or delivery type, all future services will have to deliver IP videos.
One of the major problems facing operators that are trying to roll out multiscreen services is their technology and platform silos: they all have different solutions for addressing smartphones and tablets as well as PCs and the traditional living-room TV. While this approach is currently expensive but workable, it will not empower operators to genuinely evolve toward a converged capability to unify all screens for the consumer and rapidly make them uncompetitive.
We see a need for a truly multi-screen solution and we can bring this together through our work in delivering mobility in a TV Anywhere world.
Creating the next-generation TV experience requires a combination of skills taken from the world of telecoms and television. It needs experience that reaches wider than ‘just’ TV, further than ‘just’ mobile and beyond the limits of fixed-line networks. Drawing on decades of broadcast, media and operator expertise, we are making new TV experiences a mass-market reality.
