At the 2018 NAB Show in Las Vegas, the Convergence TV Project plans to demonstrate the delivery of an UltraHD TV service using an ATSC 3.0 broadcast path for distributing a regular HD service (2K + HDR) and an ATSC 3.0 broadband path for enhancing the service from HD to UltraHD (4K + HDR).
The demo will use scalable HEVC (SHVC) for audio and video compression, so that no simulcasting will be needed. The broadcast path delivers the HD signal, while the broadband path delivers only the enhancement signal from HD to UltraHD.
Both paths are fed from a single SHVC encoder providing the base layer signal to the broadcast chain and the enhancement layer to the broadband chain.
Two receivers will be used, a regular ATSC 3.0 TV set displaying the basic HD HDR service and a PC-based hybrid receiver prototype able to combine the base and enhancement layers via an SHVC decoder.
The regular ATSC 3.0 TV set is intended to show the backward compatibility of the approach, as a regular HEVC enabled TV set can decode the SHVC base layer without requiring specific upgrade. Samsung is providing the ATSC 3.0 TV set for the backward compatibility demonstration.
The demo is intended to showcase the native hybrid delivery mechanism of the ATSC 3.0 system approach, as well as a business case where regular broadcast HD service delivery (2K) can be upgraded to UltraHD (4K) - and monetized - through an optional broadband connection.
Convergence TV is a research project consisting of five French companies: TeamCast (lead), ATEME, Broadpeak, Motion Spell, TDF and two academic research institutes, INSA Rennes and Telecom Paristech. The main objective of the project is to work on hybrid delivery of advanced TV services, using broadcast delivery as the mainstay with broadband add-ons.