MultiChoice Group will will launch two channels in 4K before the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in Qatar on November 20.
This was according to Nico Shiburi, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, who spoke to TechCentral on the sidelines of the group’s annual media event in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Shiburi has confirmed that two SuperSport channels will be broadcast in 4K throughout the global football event, which ends on December 18.
It’s a big step up in picture quality for DStv broadcasts, which were up until now at 1080i resolution.
Although MultiChoice has experimented with 4K broadcasts in the past, the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be the first time a pay-TV broadcaster has launched commercial 4K services.
The company’s new Explora Ultra PVR is capable of receiving and displaying 4K video on supported TVs.
Shiburi said a significant amount of technical work had to be done on the backend to ensure MultiChoice was ready to launch two 4K channels for the World Cup.
At Thursday’s show, MultiChoice demonstrated streaming content in 4K via satellite — and the quality was impressive.
Shiburi confirmed that MultiChoice uses more advanced HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) compression techniques to broadcast in 4K via satellite. HEVC is also known as H.265. It is the successor to the widely used Advanced Video Codec, or AVC, also known as H.264.
Read: DStv cuts prices on streaming bundles and Showmax Pro
Shiburi said MultiChoice will decide after the World Cup how it plans to develop its 4K strategy and which other channels will receive the Ultra High Definition treatment.
Read: DStv Glass: MultiChoice launches its own Smart TV
MultiChoice-owned streaming platform Showmax, which is also expected to broadcast the World Cup at the Pro level, will also broadcast the games in 4K. – © 2022 NewsCentral Media
