New developments in image capture and delivery will affect entire entertainment technology value chain - A conversation with Kirk Barker, Senior Vice President, Emerging Products, Technology Division, Technicolor Technologies such as Ultra-High Definition (UHD), High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Wide Color Gamut (WCG) are disruptive agents of change in the film and television industry. At the heart of each is a better entertainment experience for the viewing public, but each has its challenges and benefits. In this Q&A, Technicolor Senior Vice President Kirk Barker shares his insights on how UHD, HDR and other technologies will evolve. He also discusses what their impact will be on the various players who are leveraging the technologies, from consumer electronics manufacturers to film distributors, and how Technicolor is differentiating itself with its offerings.

1. THE FUTURE TRUST
Q&A
New Developments in Image
Capture and Delivery Will
Affect Entire Entertainment
Technology Value Chain
A Conversation with
Kirk Barker
Senior Vice President,
Emerging Products, Technology
Division, Technicolor

2. THE FUTURE TRUST technicolor 2
A Conversation with
Kirk Barker
Senior Vice President,
Emerging Products, Technology
Division, Technicolor Technologies such as Ultra-High Definition
(UHD), High Dynamic Range (HDR) and
Wide Color Gamut (WCG) are disruptive
agents of change in the film and television
industry. At the heart of each is a better
entertainment experience for the viewing
public, but each has its challenges and
benefits.
In this Q&A, Technicolor Senior Vice
President Kirk Barker shares his insights
on how UHD, HDR and other technologies
will evolve. He also discusses what their
impact will be on the various players who
are leveraging the technologies, from
consumer electronics manufacturers to
film distributors, and how Technicolor is
differentiating itself with its offerings.
Q: What are the key trends in UHD and how do you see
those evolving?
Kirk: When most consumers today think about UHD, their
first thought turns to higher resolution. We are seeing the next
generation of 4K television sets appear on the market right
now, and it is generating a lot of consumer interest. However,
it is important to note that the move to these higher resolution
platforms will represent a big change for players in the creation,
production and distribution process because of the increased
bandwidth requirements that it generates.
That will trigger quite a bit of change in the equipment that is
deployed to market as organizations adopt High Efficiency
Video Coding (HEVC). This will be needed to handle the
greater compression rates required by higher resolution images
transmitted to consumers. As a result, it will have a major effect
on encoder technology and set-top box capabilities.
On the production front, a lot of the content is actually captured
in 4K now, but all of the post-production workflows still have to
change. I think the biggest impact in the production process will
be on the visual effects (VFX) side of the equation; everything
may well have to be rendered in 4K which it currently is not.
So the introduction of higher resolution experiences alone has
a big impact on the community of interest.
Wide Color Gamut (WCG) is another important element of UHD,
because it extends the spectrum of color that content creators
can capture, and viewers can see. And then you have High
Dynamic Range (HDR) technology. HDR introduces the ability
to capture and view a more nuanced spectrum of light that can
be manipulated to present images in ways that cannot be
delivered today.

3. A Conversation with
Kirk Barker
Senior Vice President,
Emerging Products, Technology
Division, Technicolor
THE FUTURE TRUST technicolor 3
Of these technologies, I think HDR which will probably have the
most dramatic impact on the consumer experience. But HDR has
a few more challenges to address. For instance, at the point of
capture, the cameras in place today are just not quite capable of
capturing the images in ways that optimize the capabilities that
HDR can offer.
In terms of display, we will have to see greater consumer uptake
of high-nit displays (nits are used to specify the brightness of a
display) to really take advantage of HDR. We will soon start to
see these come onto the market. Sony’s just announced a 1,000
nit display; there are some 700 nit displays that have been
out on the market for a while. But today, there are mostly 500
nit displays.
Q: How well does the industry at large understand HDR
today and how ready are they to accept it? Is it something
that people are approaching reluctantly or is it moving
forward rapidly?
Kirk: I would say that HDR is in its infancy right now. But it is
evolving very quickly. It will not stay nascent long. Everybody
who sees it is impressed with it. Every CE manufacturer that
we talk to seems interested in figuring out how to bring HDR to
market because it has such a dramatic effect on the final product.
Q: What about existing investments? Are there challenges in
moving to HDR because people – both consumers and major
players in the content production and distribution supply
chain – may be reluctant to sacrifice those investments?
Kirk: YAbsolutely there is some reluctance. But let’s examine
this phenomenon at each step in the ecosystem.
On the consumer side, we saw TV replacement rates dropped
down after people moved from big CRTs to flat panel displays.
In the immediate aftermath of HD flat panel display introductions
we saw a slow-down in TV replacements. Now that some of
these new 4K and HDR technologies are beginning to receive
some attention, we are seeing replacement rates creep back
up. But what we have basically learned is that you can count on
consumers being willing to make major new investments in
TVs roughly every seven to eight years, or something like that.
I don’t think that these new technologies are going to
fundamentally change that basic rhythm. By that I mean that
I don’t think the new wave of technologies will cause the avera ge
retention period to drop from eight years to four years because
a new technology is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
On the other hand, I do think that when people go out to buy
a new TV they will choose a 4K or UHD TV and not a HDTV
because the image quality is better and the price differential is
small enough now that the move to the new technology makes
sense. That wasn’t true two years ago or even a year and a half
ago for 4K television sets.
Of course, there are different impacts in different geographies,
right? I’m currently talking about mature markets, like the United
States or Europe.

4. THE FUTURE TRUST technicolor 4
A Conversation with
Kirk Barker
Senior Vice President,
Emerging Products, Technology
Division, Technicolor
In emerging markets like China and South America the situation
is different. In places where people are going out and buying their
first TVs and you have this big boom in the middle class, the vast
majority of new TV sales will incorporate these new technologies.
That’s what we are actually seeing – as the latest 4K numbers
come in. I saw one study come out indicating that an order of
magnitude more of 4K TVs have sold in China compared to the
United States.
On the distribution side, the bandwidth is the barrier. Figuring out
how to cost-effectively deliver the content produced in 4K is a
real challenge. In fact, the biggest issue I see is going to be how
to get broad support for HEVC. This is especially true in America
where you’ve still got a good amount of copper-based delivery.
Q. How would you describe differences between Technicolor
and Dolby in how you are bringing HDR to market?
Kirk: So at the macro level, I would say there are a lot of
similarities, in that we both believe in the concepts of 4K, UHD,
HDR WCG, etc. We both believe these new technologies can
make a big difference in the consumer entertainment experience.
Dolby has moved aggressively to market…and in so doing they
have in one sense helped to generate awareness about the
potential of technologies like HDR. I would describe us both as
partners wanting to push the eco system forward and get content
created in it and deployed.
When you examine the two approaches at a more detailed level,
I think the difference between Technicolor and Dolby is that
we’re trying to push our system through open standards with
disclosure and openness while Dolby’s has pursued more of a
closed system.
We believe that a closed approach can create some major
problems down the road by hindering interoperability – making
it difficult for technologies made by different brands to work
together – and by limiting the road map to the next innovation.
The other important difference, at a technical level, is that Dolby
has narrowly committed its technology to supporting a 12-bit
encoding paradigm. By contrast, Technicolor has worked to
support a broader array of bit-rate encoding (8-bit and 10-bit,
in addition to 12-bit), so that we can take advantage of the br oad
array of networks and end-point devices that will be used to
consume entertainment experiences.
The market is constantly going to see new technologies
introduced that will either build on the progress of the previous
generation, or introduce radical innovations that are disruptive.
Either way, at Technicolor, we believe standards can help
consumers – and the rest of the value-chain – do a better
job of future proofing their investments in new entertainment
experiences. That is why we are such big supporters of an
open standards-based go-to-market process.

5. ABOUT TECHNICOLOR
With more than 99 years of experience in entertainment innovation, Technicolor serves an international base of entertainment, software, and gaming customers. The company
is a leading provider of production, postproduction, and distribution services to content creators and distributors. Technicolor is one of the world’s largest film processors; the largest independent manufacturer and distributor of DVDs (including Blu-ray Disc); and a leading global supplier of set-top boxes and gateways. The company also operates an Intellectual Property and Licensing business unit.
For more information: www.technicolor.com
Contact Information
Published by the Thought Leadership Team
ritu.asthana@technicolor.com
Technicolor Worldwide
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