Japanese telecommunications equipment vendor OKI Electric Industry said it successfully distributed 4K (ultra high definition) content from Japan to Singapore and the Philippines using IPv6 via "state-of-the-art IPTV technologies." The trial also showed the viability of IPv6 because it has not been widely adopted in either market, the vendor said.
The trials used an OKI MediaServer and content from Hokkaido Television Broadcasting using Lightweight Interactive Multimedia Environment (LIME) technology designed for IPTV. The transmissions were part of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology's (NICT) Sapporo Snow Festival Video Distribution Trial in early February, the equipment vendor said.
Japanese vendors, with government backing, have been at the forefront of developing and marketing new 4K ultra high definition standards and technology as the next evolution of high definition TV. Because 4K basically quadruples the traditional HD viewing experience, there has been some concern that current transport networks will be stressed to handle the content load, thus the use of IPv6 transport.
OKI, in a press release, emphasized the media server used in the trial was "equipped with typical video delivery functions as standard and … used as an IPTV server for telecommunications carriers."
Standard was a key in the description because, at least right now, there are no established 4K standards, which is why vendors and international bodies such as the ITU are working feverishly to establish them.
"ITU emphasizes the mainstreaming of accessibility considerations in the development of international standards," said Malcolm Johnson, director of the ITU's Telecommunications Standardization Bureau in the OKI press release. "This is especially important in the case of audiovisual media and ITU's work on IPTV is an example of how accessible ICT (information and communication technology) will reduce the impact of disability and increase social inclusion."
Globally defined standards for IPTV, he added, "are key for interoperable, high quality accessible content distribution of quality-managed networks."
The Philippines portion of the trial enabled senior engineering students at the Ateneo de Manila University to "do hands-on study and experiments on new TV network architecture, content creation and video distribution," according to Cesar Pineda, an engineer and associate faculty member in the university's Electronics, Computer and Communications Engineering (ECCE) department.
For more:
- OKI Electric Industry issued this press release
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