Top 5 Tech Articles You Might’ve Missed - Week of April 14, 2014

This week, industry coverage looked to the future of television, including 4K, 8K and HEVC. While many in the industry are anxiously awaiting the arrival of 4K, TechHive reported that 8K broadcasts...

This week, industry coverage looked to the future of television, including 4K, 8K and HEVC. While many in the industry are anxiously awaiting the arrival of 4K, TechHive reported that 8K broadcasts could reach homes in 2020. Such high-resolution video will require efficient encoding and transmitting, and Broadband TV News wrote that HEVC Version 1 has achieved more than 50% bitrate savings compared to MPEG 4 AVC/H.264.

From an industry perspective, TechZone360 shared that the rapid growth in multiscreen video content and increasing options in video processing workflow are impacting the transition to the cloud. Additionally, Rapid TV News covered research from Strategy Analytics projecting pay IPTV will continue to be a bright spot in the US pay-TV market with a compound annual growth rate of 8.3% through 2019.

Finally, MediaDailyNews shared that nearly 90% of worldwide adult TV viewing continues to be live, although new TV-video platforms are gaining steam.

Check back next week for the latest industry news.

  1. I'm OK, you're… 8K? 8K broadcasts coming in 2020 (April 14) By Susie Ochs, TechHive: “I dunno, that 4K TV just doesn’t have enough pixels,” said no one ever. But that isn’t stopping the march of progress—8K resolution is coming. Just not for a little while, and with plenty of technical hurdles to clear along the way.
  2. HEVC demonstrates its high efficiency (April 16) By Donald Koeleman, Broadband TV News: HEVC Version 1 demonstrates it has achieved more than 50% bitrate savings compared to MPEG 4 AVC/H.264, the MPEG standards group announced following its 108th meeting held at the beginning of April in Valencia, Spain.
  3. In a Multiscreen World, Cloud-Based Video Processes Come to the Fore (April 17) By Tara Seals, TechZone360: The business of broadcast is like any other enterprise vertical, in that the rise of mobility, social enablement and all-digital, all-IP transactions are creating a level of complexity hitherto unknown.
  4. Pay-TV to return to growth in 2014 (April 16) By Michelle Clancy, Rapid TV News: The US pay-TV market looks set to turn around a loss in total subscribers in 2013 to growth by the end of 2014, research from Strategy Analytics suggests.
  5. Most TV Viewing Still Live, But Streaming, Video Gains Popularity (April 16) By Wayne Friedman, MediaDailyNews: From a new poll of 15,551 adults in 20 countries, Ipsos OTX says 86% of respondents watch traditional live TV, with 27% streaming/downloading TV/video via computer; 16% are streaming Internet video to TV; 16% are using DVR/recording devices to view; and 11% watching on mobile.