European Broadcasting Union to present tech advances made by public service broadcasters, at IBC

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
European Broadcasting Union logo

GENEVA — The European Broadcasting Union, on stand 10.F20 at IBC2011, will demonstrate the depth of technological media innovation and experience among the public service broadcasters that make up the EBU Membership.

The advent of large HD domestic screens has made consumers hungrier than ever for higher quality broadcast transmissions. 1080p/50 is a format at the forefront of production technology today, and in future it may even become viable to deliver 1080p/50 to the home. The EBU will illustrate this potential with live end-to-end 1080p/50 transmissions between Frankfurt, Geneva and Amsterdam.

IT-based production with Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) is another burning issue that will feature in the EBU’s presentations at IBC2011. Visitors will be introduced to the joint EBU and AMWA project, called Framework for Interoperable Media Services (FIMS). FIMS is working to develop a specification for open solutions, under strict compensation-free licensing terms, for the successful future deployment of SOA technology in IT-based production.

In the web TV, connected TV and companion screen spaces, the EBU will provide comparisons, in the 1080p HDTV format, between H.264 and VP8 for web-based video encoding, to highlight broadcast-critical aspects. And the EBU will showcase several companion screen applications – a sector that promises to boom with the upsurge in smartphone and tablet use at home.

Hybrid TV and radio are high on all European broadcasters’ agendas, placing the EBU’s related expertise in great demand internationally. The EBU supports the development and use of RadioDNS, which will form a user-friendly bridge to bring the combined benefits of radio broadcasting and the internet to listeners. The EBU has created a server and other tools to enable broadcasters to implement hybrid radio. IBC visitors are also invited to quiz EBU specialists on the current hybrid situation and to assess the latest hybrid proposals from EBU Members, including France Télévisions, ARD, ZDF and RAI.

In addition to these topics, EBU experts will be on-hand to provide insights into the EBU’s 3DTV production guidelines, the 3DTV display revolution, loudness and the spectrum question.