Standards group ETSI is working on a solution to define a scalable, flexible decoding system for CE devices – from UltraHD TVs to smartphones.
According to the Industry Standards Group (ISG) of ETSI’s Compound Content Management (CCM), the solution will meet the needs of existing and next-generation receivers and STBs. BT, Dolby, STMicroelectronics and Telefonica are founding members of the ISG.
“With this new standardisation work, ETSI will offer consumer equipment manufacturers a single and global decoder for all devices, without compromising image quality. This will save time and money for content distribution and consumers will benefit from the latest innovative technologies”, said David Holliday, chairman of ETSI’s CCM ISG.
New display techniques include high dynamic range (HDR) and wide colour gamut (WCG), which will be displayed on modern displays. However, writes ETSI, the majority of receivers will be legacy devices such as tablets and smartphones. A new transmission system should offer backwards compatibility with today’s TV standards, while also providing full quality for modern displays, to ensure a smooth transition.
A solution must be found where no compromise is needed, either for today’s images or tomorrow’s. A Compound Content transmission system would enable two or more qualities (or grades) of content to be sent simultaneously. It could also be used to intelligently reconstruct one or more of these grades in the receiver, without compromising the intent of the other.
Any WCG/HDR transmission solution must take into account:
- The needs of the content creation industry;
- The ongoing work on HDR/WCG production technologies;
- The complexity of any solution in silicon; and
- The complexity of signals to be delivered through DVB- or ATSC-based systems, to both legacy and modern devices.
