CableLabs Wants Its New 4K Website to Be Marquee Content Destination
CableLabs launched 4K.CableLabs.com as a dedicated website “to demonstrate the latest in video content evolution and technology,” and give budding 4K content creators a chance at global exposure, said the cable research and development consortium Wednesday. CableLabs representatives didn’t immediately comment on how 4KCableLabs.com came together, whether CableLabs thinks the site can help alleviate the lack of available native 4K content, and how much capacity the site has to accommodate the many 4K-resolution content submissions that may be uploaded.
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"We have seen the video-content industry improve at a fast pace as new technologies, video formats, and pieces of recording equipment have been introduced,” CableLabs said. The site encourages creators to submit 4K content, which can be used free of charge under a “creative commons” public-domain license, so long as it’s used for demonstrations, testing and entertainment purposes that are noncommercial in nature, CableLabs said.
The site features a “simple” upload form “for those that would like to participate in freely sharing next-generation video content for testing and industry-advancement purposes,” it said. It asks creators to upload a “lower bit-rate HD” preview file, along with “a very high-quality 4K version” of their content. “This can be a pre-transcoded version using MPEG HEVC or AVC, or you can submit an Apple ProRes version,” it said. “We will transcode this into two high quality versions available for download on the website. It’s that simple."
CableLabs will screen all submissions for “appropriate” content, but its responsibility ends once a clip is posted to the site and a visitor downloads it, it said: “CableLabs only provides this content for download, we do not provide support for playback, encoding, etc., nor do we provide recommendations. This content is intended for users familiar with next-generation video technologies.”
CableLabs wants the site to become a marquee destination for “vetting next-generation content that can be available to platform developers and network operators,” it said. “By providing next generation content for technical evaluation and platform demonstrations, we hope to benefit technology development for the content industry and stimulate further technical improvements for the overall consumer experience."
As for why a creator would want to upload content onto 4KCableLabs.com rather than onto YouTube or other user-generated-content sites, CableLabs has 57 cable operator members around the world, “and these members distribute, and in some cases acquire and produce, content,” it said. “This is a unique opportunity to gain visibility through innovative next generation content creation and sharing across the world. By sharing your video content through this site, you have the opportunity to gain unique connections directly with cable operators around the world. In addition, your content may be displayed in demonstrations at forums, shows, and conferences across the world. This is an incredible opportunity to take your content beyond the consumer to the eyes of content distributors and decision makers worldwide.”