”There’s an alignment of the planets,” and “by the time...

the U.K.’s not-for-profit industry organization, the Digital Television Group, at the official launch event Monday in London of the DTG’s Future of Innovation in Television Technology Task Force. The DTG sets and tests standards on DTV and connected IPTV services in the U.K. Its new task force pledges to showcase U.K. leadership in defining “the measures that should be implemented to leverage the U.K.’s track record of innovating in television technology,” the DTG said. Its key findings and recommendations will be presented at the DTG Summit next year. The launch event featured working demonstrations of all the major set-top box solutions now available in the U.K. for seamlessly blending off-air TV with broadband IPTV for “catchup” and VOD viewing. Also on display was a 55-inch 4K display from Toshiba labeled for “Ultra High Definition TV” and screening demonstration footage. Notably, there was no demonstration of 3D and no mention of 3D in any of the presentation speeches. Lindsay-Davies urged everyone present to look at the 4K demonstration, expressing regret that there was no 8K screen available, nor any of the 8K footage shot by the NHK and BBC during the London Olympics. We were told all available 8K equipment and content was being used for showcasing at the IBC show in Amsterdam. “We need to identify what’s needed and coming next after HD because HD is not the end of the game,” Lindsay-Davies said. “But we do not want to be busy fools.” Bandwidth and processing speed limitations will be the two big issues surrounding 4K or 8K video delivery, he said. More efficient codecs will be ready by 2014 and should ease bandwidth constraints, and the costs of high-speed processing are falling all the time, he said. As for World Cup as the appropriate launch platform for 4K, “historically, big sporting events are milestones for technical change,” he said. “Everything is heading our way for 4K to reach the market by 2013 and 2014, although probably first for large screens in clubs and pubs.” Although tactful and circumspect, Lindsay-Davies expressed more confidence in 4K and 8K than in 3D. “I always feel the increased resolution brings its own feeling of depth,” he said of 4K and 8K. “Also with 4K or 8K resolution, a frame rate of 60 Hz may not be enough. It can make the pictures look more like film. So I suspect we may need to adopt a higher rate. But that is the kind of thing the task force will be looking at.”