Reviews of BBC 4K World Cup trial

[copicke45]

So we have a thread for those unfortunate to have a TV that does not support the trial, so I thought it would be good to hear from anyone who has been able to access it via a supported set.

Any lucky people out there? How does it look?

[dutchice]

The truth of the matter is that the final decision by the BBC has been very unfortunate in using such a world class event for gathering data on their trails. Obviously the BBC together with a few other broadcasters are well known for pioneering broadcasting technologies. However many believe that they never should have used the World Cup for trial purposes. Out of the top of my head more than 53 countries around the world have been provided a 4K HDR live feed by FIFA to distribute in their countries and almost all succeeded in handing over the feed to their respective local broadcasters. As far as I know, all countries except the UK succeeded in delivering the live feed with very short notice through their national broadcasters either through satellite, cable or IPTV. From the hundreds of thousands of Sony 4K HDR TV's sold around Europe most have had access to a butter smooth feed through their local broadcasters provided through a well established and rock solid delivery signal, except for the viewers in the UK.

So again, the decision for trialing the event as opposed to delivery through established options has been certainly very unfortunate for the UK viewers. The simple fact that the BBC doesn't even broadcast all matches in the UK is already unfortunate enough. Since even viewers with compatible devices will not have the opportunity to enjoy all matches in 4K HDR.

[copicke45]

The BBC technology is the best solution for 4K distribution in future. Satellite does not have bandwidth to handle more than a couple of 4K channels per country and not everyone can have a dish. Cable also is not available everywhere in lots of places (Netherlands excepted!).

A lot of the countries you mention can only justify the distribution cost by making 4K a premium subscription service.

The BBC has a duty to make its services available just for the cost of its licence fee and cannot afford additional 4K Satellite distribution which not all British people have the chance to receive. It can however leverage the power of it’s existing internet distribution architecture at very low cost.

The aim is for almost all British people to have access to super fast broadband in future so they will at least have the chance of getting 4K TV.

So I support the principle of what the BBC is trialling - a lot of lessons will be learned about making 4K over the Internet workable. One of those lessons will be that not a lot of people use Ethernet cables to connect their TVs to their routers (should be allowed for in house design!) so it is a challenge getting the throughput to the TV. Another is that TV manufacturers need to increase the processing power of their sets to cope and work to a set of common standards for 4K internet distribution.

[Andymcv]

AF8 55.

Loaded the iPlayer for all the BBC games this week to try it out. 

Picture looks washed out and flat.

Noticeably more dynamic through the Sky Q box

[dartrich]

Hi, I have the A1 65" too but no UHD iPlayer option for me, how are you accessing it? Also the A1 isnt on the BBC list of supported devices? Thanks!