The pioneering broadcast test in Europe with UHD-HDR and 5G, at the 4K HDR Summit

• UHD Spain will present in Malaga its end-to-end transmission test with 5G technology, from image capture to broadcasting.
  

• This is a pioneering test that covers the entire chain from capture, production and distribution of UHD content including production in the cloud and transmission in 5G Broadcast.
  
  
• The 4K HDR Summit will be the venue chosen by UHD Spain to present Radio Televisión Española with an award for its commitment to the promotion of Ultra High Definition.

The 4K HDR Summit will host the official presentation of a pioneering test conducted by UHD Spain with UHD-HDR and 5G. The association that drives Ultra High Definition in Spain carried out a UHD-HDR broadcast with next generation audio (NGA) using 5G contributions, cloud mixing, multi-media broadcasting including 5G Broadcast and use of the public Internet network for signal transport.

The world reference event of Ultra High Definition will celebrate its ninth edition from 13 to 16 November at the National Digital Content Pole in Malaga. An unmissable event for UHD Spain in which they will present during the opening day this milestone that opens the way to the future after a year dedicated to 5G.

The test aimed to assemble a UHD workflow with HDR-HLG from the camera to the user’s device, using 5G communications, edge and cloud processing, and all available broadcast media: DTT (DVB-T2), satellite (DVB-S2), Internet (OTT, HbbTV) and the new 5G Broadcast system, simultaneously.

For this purpose, a concert by the singer Israel Fernández held at the Real Observatorio Astronómico de Madrid with the collaboration of Radio 3 was chosen, which could be viewed on TVs, PCs, tablets or mobile devices through the official website of UHD Spain.

The experience has been surprising, satisfactory and during the process has allowed us to learn a lot about these technologies and their combined use”, says Miguel Ángel Cristóbal coordinator of this project and member of the board of directors of UHD Spain, “It would not have been possible without the spirit of selfless collaboration and the enormous experience accumulated by the members of UHD Spain”, he assures

According to Xavier Redón, vice president of UHD Spain, this test is “one of the first cases in which a multi-camera contribution of Ultra High Definition content is made through a 5G network”. Also, this success shows that “Spain is a country where there is a very big innovation in UHD”, explains Redón, from Cellnex.

“This test shows us one more way for live production,” explains Emili Planas, from Grup Mediapro and member of the association’s board of directors. “In the not-too-distant future, the production model we have tested will become commonplace for covering live events at the highest UHD-HDR quality, using the facilities of 5G and delocalized operations through connected resources.”

This step forward by UHD Spain, the details of which will be announced at the ninth edition of the 4K HDR Summit, has been a major technological challenge, combining the latest technologies in communication, processing and broadcasting. Pere Vila, president of the association, said that one of the objectives was to “test the possibilities of 5G Broadcast and that the signal received by users does not consume data”, a functional advance with a great economic impact since “thousands of phones could be connected simultaneously without saturating the network”.

A key role in the development of this broadcast has been played by the member companies of the association, led by SAPEC, which has acted as coordinator and manager of the project and specialist in encoding. In addition, RTVE, Cellnex, Grup Mediapro, Canon and TVU Networks have actively participated in all phases. UHD Spain members Ateme, CCMA, Dolby, Gsertel, Fraunhofer IIS, Rohde & Schwarz, Televés, Vestel, Video-MOS, among others, have also collaborated. The broadcast was made possible thanks to the networks of Axion, Cellnex, Hispasat and Telecom CLM. Other companies such as Acromove, Qualcomm, Spiner and Transparent Edge have also collaborated in this test.

The trial has also been made possible thanks to the support of the Secretary of State for Telecommunications of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, who has approved the use of the spectrum for the trial.

UHD Spain Award to RTVE

For its part, the 4K HDR Summit will also be the venue chosen by the association to present an award to Radio Televisión Española for its commitment to the promotion of Ultra High Definition.

Precisely, RTVE will be very present once again in this edition. The public broadcaster will start broadcasting in UHD on February 15, 2024 and Ángel García Castillejo, director of the Audiovisual Policies, Public Service and International Area of RTVE together with Víctor Sánchez, director of Media and Operations of TVE, will be in charge of presenting the Corporation’s plans at the Digital Content Pole in Málaga.

The conferences of the 4K HDR Summit 2023 can be followed through Medina Media Events’ ‘The Observatory‘. On this platform, attendees will also be able to schedule video meetings with other participants and speakers, as well as visit exclusive online demos. This ninth edition will be held on 13 and 14 November, in person, at the Digital Content Hub in Malaga, and on 15 and 16 November, virtually.

The ninth edition of the 4K HDR Summit is supported by the City Council of Malaga through the National Digital Content Hub, the Digital Agency of Andalusia, RTVE, ATEME, Canal Sur Radio and Television, Axión, Fraunhofer, Mediakind, Synamedia, EVS, Telefónica, ADM Group, AJA, Hispasat, Cellnex, Eutelsat, Rohde & Schwarz, Canon, SONO, Hurí, Sapec, UHD Spain and Europa Creativa Media Desk Andalucía.