The Ultra HD Forum was formed a couple of years ago to help develop best practices mainly for the distribution community in their assessment and deployment of 4K, UltraHD and HDR/WCG services. At NAB 2016, they issued version 1.1 of their Ultra HD Phase A guidelines. At CES 2017, they issued version 1.2 of the guidelines.
This revision builds on best practices and lessons learned in 2016 and feedback on previous versions of the guidelines to better assist operators with real UHD deployments. Key updates in the new version include information on the following:
- Implementation of channel-based immersive audio for Phase A (e.g. Dolby Atmos)
- Down-converting HDR/WCG to SDR/BT.709 with ETSI TS 103 433 method
- Carriage of signaling for transfer function, color container and color matrix, including newly added information for file-based video formats
- A brief summary/comparison of ITU-R BT.709, BT.2020 and BT.2100
- ACES Workflow for color and dynamic range
- Dynamic HDR metadata technologies as candidates for the forum’s future work on Phase B (starting immediately)
With representation from service providers, technology providers, consumer electronics manufacturers, sound and video experts, camera makers and more, as well as feedback from early deployments, the guidelines describe how commercial Ultra HD services can be deployed, taking into account the entire supply chain.
Membership has now reached over 50 members, including new arrival, Google. – CC
