At this year’s CES convention in Las Vegas over-the-air (OTA) transmissions of 4k programming are on display. Two television stations based in Las Vegas: KHMP and KSNV, are broadcasting 4k content to LG and Samsung UHD (Ultra HD) TVs. The broadcasts mark the first major display of transmitted 4k programming in the U.S., and the fulfillment of new ATSC standards.
Last month the ATSC announced ten nex-gen standards coming to ATSC 3.0, and 4k was one of them, providing the A/341 video standard that specifies HEVC (H.265) video compression for the display of 4K Ultra HDTV.
In a new memo, ATSC President Mark Richer said, “in the coming months, we expect that broadcasters will ask the FCC to authorize use of ATSC 3.0 for terrestrial television broadcasting in the United States.”
4k, 4k with HDR support, and Ultra HD Blu-ray will play a major role in this year’s Consumer Electronics Convention, as TV manufacturers push their latest 4k UHD products for 2016 including TV sets, streaming media players, and disc players.
1080p? That’s so yesterday. Now it’s all about 2160p (4k), and even 4320p (8k) video resolution.
But while 4k content has been sparse with the exception of some original programming from Netflix and Amazon, and YouTube videos here and there, the introduction of Ultra HD Blu-ray titles and new capabilities of broadcast 4k may give 4k the push it has needed to become the new TV standard.
Learn more. What is 4k Ultra HD resolution?
OTA Broadcasts in 4K should work with any manufacturer’s 4K UHD model TV. RF transmission waves do not care whose programming they are carrying through the airwaves. An antenna doesn’t care either and standards were implemented for digital transmissions so that all manufacturer’s HD & UHD TVs would be able to show the full uncompressed data being transmitted. Hopefully, we are not going backward in time like when the cable companies tried to monopolize the control of Network Broadcast Programming (Ala Comcast buying NBC).