DirecTV to Offer Live 4K in Early 2016

[Poke]

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/DirecTV-to-Offer-Live-4K-in-Early-2016-135755

If you recently bought a 4K set during black Friday or Cyber Monday, you may have noticed by now that there's not all that much 4K content to watch on it yet. While Netflix and Amazon offer some 4K fare via their streaming video services, the major cable, satellite or telcoTV operators have yet to offer live 4K signal. That should start changing early next year as DirecTV has indicated their first live 4K channels should go live sometime early next year.

DirecTV SVP Phil Goswitz told attendees of a recent conference that the satellite operator has the capacity to launch 50 UHD channels now (at 30 Mbps) on top of the company's existing array of HD and SD channels, and that the technical challenges of 4K had largely been solved.

"Forty per cent of people are going to have UHD TVs coming out of Christmas and they are going to be looking for something to watch," he notes. "Our goal is to have them tuned to DirecTV and have as much linear live content, especially sports content, as soon as possible."

Meanwhile cable operators, many of which have yet to even fully embrace 1080p, show no sign of offering the higher resolution content anytime soon.

 

[ejb1980]

Let's finish adding HD before 4k. There's no way 40% of people are going to have 4k. I would believe 40% of people have never even heard of it.

 

[mdram]

we need a true 4k box now

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

It would have to be a hmc or combo. I wonder if the hybrid pace box has hdmi 2.0/hdcp 2.2

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

On second thought.. this is unlikely as we are heading more and more towards a closet box... it would be more likely to have the server in a basement or rack room with no video out at all... then dedicate all 5 tuners. Rather than 3.

 

[maestro7]

As I've had contacts in the industry relay to me, 4K standards (technical or otherwise) are still being fleshed out, even in terms of how 1080p-based deployments can ramp up (and most broadcasters aren't even at 1080p yet, as another commenter wisely stated).

And there's a ton of ramp up -- as in a facility must redo virtually all of their equipment to handle the additional bandwidth and picture. In other words, this isn't by any means simply a software upgrade on the broadcaster's part.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

There are a few channels ready to go that have already made those changes / upgrades.

I don't think we will see 4K live channels grow as fast as we did for HD.

I am hearing the first 2 4K channels we will see on DIRECTV is DIRECTV's own Audience Network and ESPN 4K.

 

[fayrich]

40 percent by after Christmas??!! What a ridiculous statement! No way in hell.

 

[Troch77]

40 percent by after Christmas??!! What a ridiculous statement! No way in hell.

That's DSL reports. They just make up stuff.

 

[Jimbo]

Let's finish adding HD before 4k. There's no way 40% of people are going to have 4k. I would believe 40% of people have never even heard of it.

Can't wait till the masses start with the "When are we gonna get So and So channel in 4k ...."
We just can't live with this crappy 1080 stuff.

 

[ejb1980]

Can't wait till the masses start with the "When are we gonna get So and So channel in 4k ...."
We just can't live with this crappy 1080 stuff.

I would hate to see a 4k feed added for the 7 people who have 4k, know they have it, pay for 4k set top boxes, and will know to tune to a 4k channel while there are many channels that should be HD. If there's the bandwidth for all this 4k, use some of it for HD. 4k will be 3d in a few years. Remember all the 3D stuff we used to have? Key word: used to.

 

[raoul5788]

Let's finish adding HD before 4k. There's no way 40% of people are going to have 4k. I would believe 40% of people have never even heard of it.

He said that 40% will have 4K tvs. That may be accurate, that's probably the percentage on display at my local Costco.

 

[ejb1980]

He said that 40% will have 4K tvs. That may be accurate, that's probably the percentage on display at my local Costco.

I still think that 40% of people have never heard of 4k. I have met only 1 person who has heard of it and he said the same as me... Passing fad like 3D.

 

[Jimbo]

I would hate to see a 4k feed added for the 7 people who have 4k, know they have it, pay for 4k set top boxes, and will know to tune to a 4k channel while there are many channels that should be HD. If there's the bandwidth for all this 4k, use some of it for HD. 4k will be 3d in a few years. Remember all the 3D stuff we used to have? Key word: used to.

I just read a quote saying that they had plenty of bandwidth for the 4k as well as more HD ....
I personally don't think 4K will go the way of 3d at all.
3d is an entirely different entity, he'll that been trying to get people into 3d since the early 50s. ..
4k on the other hand is more about bandwidth and resolution.
We went from 480i. Sometimes even 240 crap all the way to 1080p, that is a HUGE improvement.
I'm not jumping into the 4k stuff because if your 10ft away you don't see the difference .... I also am not convinced that 4k will ever be mainstream .... I think before that happens you'll see 8k coming down the line or something else newer.
That said 4k shouldn't be compared to 3d at all in my opinion.

 

[Ronnie-]

He said that 40% will have 4K tvs. That may be accurate, that's probably the percentage on display at my local Costco.

Our local stores probably are not that high, but there are still a good many on display. In my neighborhood I am the only one that I know of that has one currently.

 

[Jimbo]

He said that 40% will have 4K tvs. That may be accurate, that's probably the percentage on display at my local Costco.

That's 40% of the Christmas sales, yes I can see that, but No way is there 40% 4k in the homes.

 

[raoul5788]

That's 40% of the Christmas sales, yes I can see that, but No way is there 40% 4k in the homes.

Probably more like 4% in home.

 

[Jimbo]

Probably more like 4% in home.

I think I said earlier that I thought it might be around 10-12%, but thats just a gut feeling.

 

[ejb1980]

I just read a quote saying that they had plenty of bandwidth for the 4k as well as more HD ....
I personally don't think 4K will go the way of 3d at all.
3d is an entirely different entity, he'll that been trying to get people into 3d since the early 50s. ..
4k on the other hand is more about bandwidth and resolution.
We went from 480i. Sometimes even 240 crap all the way to 1080p, that is a HUGE improvement.
I'm not jumping into the 4k stuff because if your 10ft away you don't see the difference .... I also am not convinced that 4k will ever be mainstream .... I think before that happens you'll see 8k coming down the line or something else newer.
That said 4k shouldn't be compared to 3d at all in my opinion.

I understand that the technology is different for 3D and 4k. I was just saying, as you did, that it'll never be "the standard" because something new and (supposedly) better will come along. Black and white to color... And SD to HD... Those are major upgrades and the second one isn't done yet. Finish something before you fix it.

I sound old. "Get your 4k off my lawn!"

 

[Jimbo]

I understand that the technology is different for 3D and 4k. I was just saying, as you did, that it'll never be "the standard" because something new and (supposedly) better will come along. Black and white to color... And SD to HD... Those are major upgrades and the second one isn't done yet. Finish something before you fix it.

I sound old. "Get your 4k off my lawn!"

You said Finish something before you fix it ....
Who is responsible for finishing it ?
4K is something that is being done by everyone, not an individual company.

 

[Stargazer]

Some may notice a difference between 4K and 1080p (maybe more so because it's really 720p not 1080p with what most broadcast the content as). But when 8k rolls out then there won't really be a difference that we will be able to see unless we are going to the roll out screens on the walls that we will walk up to and use for more than just a television.