The BBC has streamed its first live content in the Ultra-High Definition (UHD) format.
Sunday’s rugby league match between York City Knights and Catalans Dragons was streamed live in UHD and High Dynamic Range on BBC iPlayer Beta.
In a blog post, Phil Layton, head of broadcast and connected systems, BBC R&D explained the BBC uses a type of HDR called Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG), invented by BBC Research & Development and Japanese broadcaster, NHK.
“The BBC chooses to use HLG for BBC iPlayer because it fits very well and reliably into existing live production workflows. It also provides a great picture not only to HDR devices, but to standard dynamic range (SDR) devices that support the BT.2020 wide colour gamut as well.”
Layton explained that real-time HEVC encoding of UHD is still in its infancy and requires a greater bitrate than that used for on demand.
The BBC is now evaluating the results from the experiment ahead of possible future live events.
