BBC Wimbledon 4k

General Discussion
1

Just a quick heads up for anyone with a Vero4k/+ in the UK.
If you use the iPlayer add-on, the BBC are showing Wimbledon in 4k50 HEVC at about 35Mb/s.

Just open the add-on, go to trial UHD channels, and its the 1st or 2nd one, I think they’re the same.
I had to go into input stream settings and select ‘manual’ for stream selection, as auto wasn’t picking it up, then when the stream starts, go to ‘Video Settings’ and select the 4k stream.

Its not HDR but It looks really good if your broadband can handle it.

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It should be HLG, and I’m sure @Steve_Neal can confirm.

We will add support for HLG signalling soon. I know I’ve been saying soon for a little while, but this will be delivered before the end of the Summer.

Sam

1 Like
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Ahh, am I right in thinking that’s their own implementation of HDR?
Im pretty sure my TV supports HLG so thats good for the future.

TBH, its only one of their trials so when Wimbledon is over it’ll be back to good old 720p h264…no idea when we’ll see anything else in this format from Aunty.

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Not really…it’s the implementation of HDR used by most broadcast TV.

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The BBC was jointly responsible for developing the HLG format, although, as you say, they’re no longer the only ones to use it.

6

That’s a very informative write up for those with limited knowledge on the subject…cheers.

7

Thanks for this. I ended up buying nowtv sports for £30 a month, as my TV has the nowtv app. Could not find any other way to stream cricket world cup.

I will give this iplayer app a go.

8

Just bear in mind the colours look a bit washed out until Sam implements HLG.
Quality is superb apart from that.

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HLG should be backward compatible, as such that if no metadata is passed through, there will be no deterioration.

But this is harder to achieve by broadcasters than stated in spec

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Ok, there’s definitely something not right with the colours on the iPlayer UHD streams (On Vero4k+)…Serena had a green tinge to her the other day!

Whats irritating is that my TV is on the list of supported TVs on the BBC website, and as such I should be able to watch them directly through the iPlayer app on my TV, I wanted to watch them with HDR…but I never see an option for UHD in the iPlayer app.
I know there’s a limited number of UHD slots available by the BBC so maybe I keep missing the cut.

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Yep - the Wimbledon Centre Court UHD stream on iPlayer is Rec 2020 (not Rec 709) Hybrid Log Gamma HDR EOTF flagged. (i.e. Rec 2100 HLG or ARIB STD-B67)

The MPEG DASH manifest reports 36Mbs 2160p50, 17Mbs 1440p50, 10Mbs 1080p50 and 7Mbs 720p50 streams.

My Roku Streaming Stick + outputs Rec 2020 HLG flagged 4:2:2 12-bit output - and my UHD HDR TV that supports HLG switches to HLG HDR mode. When I watch using the internal iPlayer app my TV also switches into Rec 2020 and HLG EOTF.

HLG is the preferred HDR format for broadcast as it doesn’t require metadata clairvoyance (and is ‘scene referred’ not ‘display referred’ - and thus doesn’t dictate absolute light levels for each pixel - unlike PQ HDR)

PQ ST.2084 (aka HDR10) technically requires you to know the brightest pixel in your broadcast AND the average maximum brightness of your show BEFORE you’ve made your live show… (Broadcasters using HDR10 are fixing MaxCLL/MaxFALL at a best guess). I’m not sure Dolby yet have a workable live multicamera HDR system for DolbyVision…

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It’s very unlikely you are missing the cut - I’ve yet to not be able to stream Wimbledon or any of the other UHD HDR events.

What happens if you try to play the Planet Earth test loop in the non-Beta iPlayer? (The FA Cup loop in the Beta has gone)

(Settings->Try new features in iPlayer BETA->Play UHD Trial)

13

Cheers for the pointers Steve.

On my TV, if I go to : Settings->Try new features in iPlayer BETA

There is no option to play UHD trial…ive just updated my TV to the latest software, but there still no option there.

On my Firestick 4k the option is there and it plays the Planet Earth test, although its on my TV upstairs atm, which isn’t 4k, so this afternoon I’ll plug it onto my 4k telly downstairs and see if the Wimbledon UHD/HDR Center court stream is working then.

It seems that although my TV is on the BBC’s ‘supported TV list’, no-ones told Philips to update the app, or something else is amiss somewhere.

14

And from Auntie:

A high-speed internet connection of at least 20Mbit/s for 2560 pixel Ultra HD or 40Mbit/s for the full 3840 pixel Ultra HD experience.

Stream resolutions are confusing enough without using the width to describe them rather than the height. I wonder what exactly is on offer for those of us in the boondocks? Can I get 1080p with BT2020/HLG?

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@Steve_Neal Ive tried with my Firestick 4K on my 4k TV with mixed results.
I can play the UHD Planet Earth loop on the iPlayer app, but it doesn’t switch my TV to HDR mode, leaving the colours looking a bit weird.

If I play Grand Tour UHD from Prime on the Firestick 4k the HDR switching works and looks great, so I think the Firestick is working from a hardware point of view.

I’ll try with the Wimbledon UHD stream this afternoon, but I feel the results will be similar to the Planet Earth UHD loop.

16

Your TV does support HLG? Just checking…

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Yeah, its on the BBCs list of supported TVs, and I’ve just double checked in the TV manual, it definitely supports HLG.
(You had me worried then!)

Out of interest does anyone know where I can download a HLG demo video?

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TBH I find those two fairly useless. The Cymatic Jazz one is just designed to show off TVs and the TravelXP is a bit flaky. But at least they show if your TV supports HLG.

20

Cheers but it won’t let me download them, says something along the lines of ‘too many people have downloaded it, try again later’

Cant seem to find any other sources for the video either.