8K on your televisions soon? DVB publishes first specifications for 8K UHD tuners

The first specifics of the 8K UHD tuner have fallen. The DVB board has announced that they will be based on the HEVC codec.

Despite the slowness observed in the adoption of this new standard, DVB says it is ready to take its first steps towards supporting the 8K format.

The arrival of 8K

DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) is a broadcast signal standard widely deployed around the world, particularly in Europe and Australia, but also in much of Africa and the Asia. North America, for its part, has engaged the lever towards the adoption of 8K in 2020 through the implementation of the alternative standard ATSC 3.0 or NextGen TV.

DVB announces that it is ready to join the UHD 8K movement with the release of its first specification. The committee indicates that the base will be established on the HEVC or H.256 video codec, which also uses 4K for delivery. 8K UHD will be supported in both broadcast (transport stream) and DVB-DASH broadband.

The approval of these new updates allowing the management of video services in 8K format is a first. These extend the prerogatives of the HEVC codec and represent the first step, among many others, necessary for the implementation of this standard. The objective is to continue to provide tools that are as complete as they are flexible for the implementation of next-generation television services.

A next revision soon

The brands or models of televisions expected to be the first to carry this project have not yet been announced. However, there is very little chance of seeing a rapid emergence of 8K TV channels in Europe anytime soon. The majority of channels don't even have 4K yet.

Future revisions should add more advanced codecs such as AV1, AVS3 and VVC, as well as support for dynamic range and high frame rates (HDR and HFR). DVB said the next revision will be for the VVC (Versatile Video Coding) codec and should arrive early next year.

Source: Flatpanelshd