Some television companies are still in denial about the tech tsunami washing over all areas of TV
Delegates try out Ultra-HD tech. (Cred: IBC)
IBC attendees experienced a palpable sense of accelerating change at the Amsterdam television technology show. But the transition to a production and distribution environment supported by commodity IT hardware is not happening nearly fast enough for many of the high-profile speakers at the week-long conference and exhibition.
"I worry about the European broadcasting community not moving fast enough to embrace the digital world for the new generation of consumers," said former Verizon Vice President Erik Huggers.
The man who nursed BBC iPlayer to launch warned his listeners that they needed to "compete with the coming onslaught of Google, Amazon and Apple, which think globally and can bring to bear innovations faster".
To do this, live, linear TV needed to be "seamlessly combined into one experience" with catch-up, video over the internet and VoD services.
Even more impatient was Charlie Vogt, the vocal CEO of Imagine Communications (rebranded from Harris Broadcast under Vogt).
He urged fellow equipment developers to abandon the nearly ubiquitous SDI (serial digital interface) cabling that links so much of the broadcast infrastructure. He wants them to migrate as fast as possible to the internet's communications standard, IP (internet protocol).
"It's termed disruptive, but actually it is positive because IP permits the industry to adapt to change at the pace of the web," said Vogt. "Our customers can't continue to spend the kind of money they are currently spending on proprietary gear that needs upgrading every five to seven years because of inefficiencies of the hardware."
BSkyB Director of Information Technology Colin McQuade agreed that SDI would eventually disappear, but not in the next three years, given the absence of new industry standards.
As if on cue, Channel 4 CEO David Abraham unveiled plans to unite the broadcaster's online and on-demand content in its All4 digital hub.
"Today, technological innovation in TV is continual, pervasive and direct to the consumer in a hybrid environment of linear and IP-based delivery," he said. "Broadcast TV is highly relevant, but viewers want mobility and connectivity, and there's no reason why broadcasters should lose that relevance."
Today, technological innovation in TV is continual, pervasive and direct to the consumer
IBC devoted a whole new section, dubbed Content Everywhere, to companies geared towards video over IP.
The format will be exported in the form of a standalone market to Dubai in January and to Brazil later next year.
The hardest area to displace SDI from will be live television, where its rock-solid reliability underpins broadcasting's traditional commitment to quality and continuity of service.
IBC's Content Everywhere zone. (Cred: IBC)
However, IP's exponents are assaulting even that citadel.
At IBC Sony demonstrated a live broadcast feed of a 4K Ultra-HD signal conducted over IP networks. Meanwhile, Gearhouse Broadcast, which specialises in renting equipment to cover large-scale live events, announced that it would be equipping itself with IP technology from EVS subsidiary DYVI.
"A production director can be located anywhere in the world and still have complete control of all key switcher functionality, making collaborative remote live production a reality," claimed Joop Janssen, CEO of EVS.
"What is phenomenal about the broadcast industry is that it has built up a heritage of super availability and super quality," said Sky's McQuade. "What I would like to see is that quality and that super availability applied at scale to some of these Cloud platforms."
Speaking at the wrap-up session, "What Have We Learned From IBC?", Lieven Vermaele, former EBU Director of Technology, said: "I am trying to be controversial, but IBC could become a software-only show, a sort of huge App Store, by 2020."
Virtual reality: Making the virtual a reality
For less than the cost of a smart phone, consumers could soon be strapping headgear from Facebook, Sony and Samsung to their faces for what is promised to be the ultimate in immersive entertainment.
As with many other technologies, the first-wave virtual-reality products are likely to be rather underwhelming, with low-resolution displays and clunky interfaces. Facebook's offering will allow users to invite friends' avatars into the virtual world.
You've got to have really good content or VR will make people feel dizzy
A growing number of camera companies provide rigs with multiple cameras for capturing video in 360° plus the software to stitch the images together into a single panorama. One of them, Jaunt, has investment from Google and BSkyB.
'We are creating long-form narrative content at cinematic quality,' claimed DJ Roller, co-founder of NextVR, a US technology and content company. Its VR process uses three pairs of Red cameras; the output is 3D in 4K resolution.
Atlantic Productions CEO and Executive Producer Anthony Geffen is in post production on several VR documentary projects, one of which features Sir David Attenborough.
'Everything is about to change with VR,' claimed Geffen in an IBC conference session exploring the future of natural history film-making. 'There are massive breakthroughs in camera technology and headsets almost daily.
'My worry is that it can't be like 3D. You've got to have really good content or VR will make people feel dizzy.'
The Cloud: Set-top boxes join libraries in the sky
Broadcasters need the same agility to launch new services, argued IT network supplier Cisco, as completely IP-based players such as Amazon. The company claimed the Cloud can simplify almost every aspect of bringing content from multiple sources to multiple devices.
'Take something as simple as the set-top box,' said Yvette Kanouff, Senior Vice President of Cisco's Service Provider Group. 'Manufacturers keep having great ideas, which need more set-top box software and drive a need for more powerful hardware – but they can't keep upgrading the box.
Pay-TV companies have to innovate or they are going to die and disruptors are going to figure out the business models
'However, suppose the functionality of that box was in the Cloud and could be managed remotely? Imagine what that would mean in terms of simplifying operations.'
Pay-TV broadcasters are already doing this. BSkyB, for example, is developing a 4K-compliant set-top box to serve VoD from the network. And Ericsson's MediaFirst platform, demonstrated at IBC but commercially available only in spring 2015, offers pay-TV companies the software tools to make their services act like apps.
Ericsson believes this will appeal particularly to millennial-generation subscribers used to interacting with video on YouTube and social media.
'Pay-TV companies have to innovate or they are going to die and disruptors such as Netflix and Google are going to figure out the business models,' said Pete Thompson of Ericsson's Mediaroom Business Group.
Audience measurement: Tracking the device hoppers
The merging of linear TV with catch-up services and VoD across multiple devices leaves ad agencies in a bit of a quandary. They need to figure out how much attention at any one time viewers are paying to the TV versus their other connected devices. Several IBC conference sessions examined this issue.
'There are different measurements for different devices and we need to connect the dots,' said Denise Turner, Chief Insight Officer for Havas Media Group.
The reality is that nobody has ever delivered a data fusion of this scale and ambition anywhere in the world
Combining digital viewership data with Barb's audience-panel figures is complicated, but it is a target that the ratings company has set itself to achieve in Project Dovetail.
'The reality is that nobody has ever delivered a data fusion of this scale and ambition anywhere in the world,' claimed Barb CEO Justin Sampson, who admitted there would be some delay before data on time-shifted viewing was blended with panel metrics.
'We are talking about a new fusion every single night. Inclusion in [published overnight and consolidated ratings figures] could be two years away.'
Sky said it would beef up its ability to target ads across multiple platforms and devices, starting this autumn. Jamie West, Director of Sky AdSmart, said: 'We can compete on a level footing with digital media – they [are not] the only market that can offer addressability, reporting, targeting and understanding return on investment.'
Ultra-HD Fazed by TV-set makers
If broadcasters had a choice, probably none of them would be planning an Ultra-HDTV service with four times the resolution of HD (4K for short) any time soon. Few have amortised their investment in HD; indeed, most of the world has yet to upgrade from standard-definition pictures at all.
Many of the debates at IBC centred on how and when a 'phase-1' implementation of Ultra-HD might be funded. By common consent, phase 1 lacks the features that might make phase 2 a compelling proposition for consumers.
While the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) standards body approved phase 1's technical description in July, it will 2017 before it approves the additional features that will comprise phase 2. The new features that will have most impact on the perceived quality of 4K pictures are extra colour and contrast data (high dynamic range, or HDR) and higher frame rates.
The marketing and product side would argue that there is a already lot of value in the 4K brand
'An HDR version of HD 1080p [the current full-fat implementation of HDTV] would deliver more bang for the buck [than phase-1 Ultra-HD] and is a more realistic technical target," said Jim Helman, CTO of MovieLabs, which represents the interests of the major studios. 'But the marketing and product side would argue that there is a already lot of value in the 4K brand.'
It is certainly being pushed by consumer electronics manufacturers, struggling to cope with razor-thin margins on mere HDTV sets. As IBC ended, Sony predicted a staggering $2.15bn loss for the year ending March 2015.
As Ultra-HD-capable displays flood the market, pay-TV broadcasters feel they have to act. BT Sport's Director of TV, Alex Green, confirmed at IBC that BT would launch an Ultra-HD service during the 2015-16 football season.
Stephan Heimbecher, Head of Innovation at Sky Deutschland, said: 'We like Ultra-HD and, technically, we could launch today, but we also don't want to jeopardise the market with a substandard service, given the consumer experience with 3D.'
At the conference session 'Go With UHD-1 Or Wait For UHD-2?', Andy Quested, the BBC's Head of Technology for HD and 3D, said the corporation wanted to go back 30 years: 'We'd like to be in a medium where natural history and drama are shot on a camera that has 16-18 stops of dynamic range.'
BSkyB Chief Engineer Chris Johns summed up the dilemma: '4K is a bit like an airline. HDTV is obviously economy class. Everyone has it and they can fly anywhere in the world. But it's nicer in premium economy, where you can get Ultra-HD phase 1. In first class, it's Ultra-HD phase 2.'
To get the 8K Ultra-HD service with 16 times the resolution of HDTV planned by Japanese broadcaster NHK, 'you need your own executive jet'.
