BBC iPlayer Blue Planet 2 uhd hdr

[darrenj11]

10th December this will be available on uhd and hdr on Sony 2017 models. 

Did anyone hear of a plan to introduce the  BBC hdr to older Sony models? I believe they are using a different type of hdr than currently installed on the 2015 /2016 models. 

[maharri9651]

Just checked my  KD43XD8088 and it indeed has HLG, so either the BBC list is incomplete, or there is another issue preventing access to Iplayer UHD.

[stormyuk]

It's probably something to do with Android TV as all the models listed on the BBC website for UHD do not have Android TV

[maharri9651]

 Well thats unfortunate, may be worth checking if all the TV's on the list from other manufacturers are also non android or is it a Sony specific problem

[stormyuk]

It appears it's down to Sony not Android. You decide based on this BBC employees tweet.

https://twitter.com/_craigt_/status/938134629000900608

[jowilso7943]

It’s also been announced today that non-Android Sony TVs will receive a Freeview Play update, but Android models won’t. 

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@stormyuk wrote:

It appears it's down to Sony not Android. You decide based on this BBC employees tweet.

https://twitter.com/_craigt_/status/938134629000900608

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[stormyuk]

Yeh, I noticed that. I wonder if Freeview Play comes bundled with a newer and more capable iPlayer version and that the Android TV version we have with Youview is left behind.

Theoretcially HLG support is there on the TV, but both Sony and the BBC remain very tight lipped what the issue is with bringing 4K iPlayer to the Android TV range.

[pajo100]

Must check my 2015 model X9305 for this as I use a different iplayer app.

[Tufftybob]

Hi lotkas

I just gave you a kudos, if only b'cos your list is the only one I have seen since I bought MY tv that actually lists MY tv.

I was told 'pre-sale' that MY 4k tv was likely 'better than some other brands' b'cos of the 'hdr' capability.

Whateverrrrrrr zzzzzz!

All I know (now) is that the picture is excellent - especially for things like Blue Planet II from BBC iPlayer (whether accessed via the Smart TV app, or via my Sky+ HD Box, or via the BBC iPlayer app on my 2nd Gen Amazon Fire TV Box) - but also that HDR Image Quality is only going to be accessible or viewable when 'content' is made available for it.

So this, and other tv's have yet another 'quality improvement feature' added (that we are paying for) designed for content that does NOT exist (yet?).

I am feeling another bit of deja vu, just as with broadcasted 3D content being so scarce that the 3D tv's were or ARE waste of time & money (just my opinion).

[lotkas]

There are more informations released about supported devices.

Apparently Blue Planet 2 on iPlayer will run at 25fps via DVB-DASH adaptive bitrate streaming and HEVC (Main 10 Profile, Level 5.1) compression, primarily because it supports the 10-bit data path required for the HDR television signal.

The BBC said that the highest HD quality they currently deliver on iPlayer is 1280×720 at 50 fps (720p/50) at around 5Mbps. By using HEVC, they can increase the resolution to 1600×900, and add both wide colour gamut and HDR “for the same bitrate” (note: this isn’t yet at 4K quality, but see below).

A table produced by the broadcaster for their 4K test states that the top quality will require a speed of about 22.7Mbps. “So even if you have broadband below 20Mbps your UHD TV should still be able to get better resolution, wide colour gamut and HLG high dynamic range“, said the BBC’s Principal Technologist, Andrew Cotton.

Using this technology an ordinary Full HD stream on iPlayer with HDR enabled (1920 x 1080 pixels) would require a connection speed of around 7Mbps. Remember real-time video bit rates will vary a lot, so you won’t always need the top speed.

We should add that when the BBC encodes an episode they create up to 11 different versions at different image resolutions, which means they can target different bandwidth internet connections (from 480 x 270 and up to 3840 x 2160 pixels). They also include stereo audio encoded as AAC-LC at 128 kbit/s.

None of the listed Sony models supports DVB-DASH (at least its not listed) from what I have investigated so far.

[stormyuk]

Yeh lack of DVB-DASH was cited on Twitter. It's odd the XE70 non-android TV supports it but potentially the Android TVs don't. The other theory is that the Sony Android TV is not reporting it's capabilities of HLG properly to iPlayer which just sees 'Android 7'.