UHD and VR in Broadcast & Media

This article is from The IABM Business Intelligence Digest from September 2018. The full report can be viewed here State of Adoption – UHD & VR According to IABM data, UHD adoption has grown slowly in recent years, from the 14% reported at NAB Show 2018 to the 20% reported at IBC2018. Deployments have risen although there is still a high percentage of companies unlikely to launch any UHD offerings. Most UHD offerings have focused on sports content. Broadcasters now prefer IP or hybrid SDI-IP deployments for launching UHD services. With regards to compression standards, HEVC has become the most preferred for UHD delivery. IABM data shows that broadcasters prefer launching 4K (or HD) with enhancements rather than launching 4K offerings only. With regards to enhancements, HDR is by far the most preferred format. VR adoption has not significantly increased in recent years. As mentioned earlier, low consumer take-up coupled with high complexity and cost have all contributed to stifling adoption by broadcasters and other end-users. As we will show in the next section, the main VR deployments have been in sports. One of the reasons behind the low adoption of VR is the lack of certainty around the business...