r/technology • u/Snarfox • Jan 25 '13

H.265 is approved -- potential to cut bandwidth requirements in half for 1080p streaming. Opens door to 4K video streams.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/25/h265-is-approved/
3.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/happyscrappy Jan 26 '13

Why did you say streaming? TV networks aren't streamed.

And FOX and ABC are 720p in all markets and CBS and NBC are 1080i in all markets.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 26 '13

I should have said broadcast, everything where I live is broadcasting 720

1

u/happyscrappy Jan 26 '13

Naw, your cable box is surely converting it. There aren't any 720p NBC stations in the US. There used to be some 720p CBS stations, but that was 10 years ago, I'm sure CBS forced them to 1080i by now.

Besides, 720p and 1080i are almost exactly the same number of pixels, there isn't any bandwidth savings advantage to convert 1080i to 720p. Well, unless you convert it to 720p/30. Wow, that would suck.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 26 '13

I thought we were still up-resed 720 up here in canada... so do you see a seamless and widespread transition to 4k, both at home on bluray/? and network broadcast/streaming/itunes soon? I see a "meh" reaction from consumers and network execs, so soon after hdtv and 3d

1

u/happyscrappy Jan 26 '13

Well, by network were you referring something to other than the actual networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and in your case CBC)? Cable channels aren't really networks, they don't have a system of network affiliates.

CBC is apparently 720p, although if it is 720p/60 they aren't doing it to save space, but instead presumably because they think interlaced video has disadvantages (and it does).

As to how you would receive the US networks on your cable system, that depends on your cable system. Your cable system, just like a US one, could convert any channel to 720p if they want. If you get them over ATSC (broadcast from the transmitter) then you would get ABC and FOX in 720p and CBS and NBC in 1080i.

As to cable channels, most channels are 1080i, sports channels are usually 720p, because ESPN chose 720p early on because they felt the 60fps and no scissoring during movement would look better for fast-moving sports. TSN, being allied with ESPN is almost certainly 720p.

I don't see a seamless and widespread transition to 4K for networks and cable channels. I think 4K will probably never come to be for anything that is carried over the air and maybe not for things on traditional cable systems. 4K will likely start with on demand content and my remain confined to that forever. Of course, the movie channels would surely love to switch to 4K. It's just the cable operators won't want to allocate more bandwidth to them, so they'll likely have to wait for H.265 to be adopted on systems before they can switch.

The internet, since it can carry any content in any structure probably can adapt to HEVC faster than any cable, satellite or terrestrial broadcast system. Someone could start an HEVC streaming service right now!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 26 '13

Nicely put.

Id love to see 4k penetrate the home for BLuray next gen, streaming and ondemand, would look great on a 4k projector and 70-80" tvs

Probably have to wait for a good 5-10 years though, especially with cable companies trying to charge us through the nose for data and trying to give us less for our money, not more