The penetration rate of 4K TV market is close to 60%. How large is the gap in quality 4K program content?
Compared to the development of 4K TV, the development of 4K content seems to be a bit slow. It even dragged the adoption of 4K TV. However, since 2017, the development of 4K content seems to be getting better.
Lack of 4K content is universal
The lack of content has always been considered by the industry to be one of the roadblocks for the development of the 4K industry. In 2015, the demand for content in the domestic 4K market was approximately 30,000 hours, but the actual contents available for users to enjoy were less than 300 hours, and there were only 30 in the international scope. Around the Hollywood movie supports 4K technology. How to solve the problem of buying 4K TV without 4K content is an important part of continuing to promote the development of 4K industry.
The lack of 4K content is universal, and it is the same throughout the world. Wu Ke, the founder of 4K Garden, told the reporter of China Electronics News. In his view, there are three reasons for the lack of 4K content: First, The display device of the terminal was not popular enough in the previous years. Until the end of 2017, the penetration rate of 4K TV market reached nearly 60%. Second, the previous bandwidth was not enough to support 4K content playback. In the past, the national average bandwidth was lower than 10MB/s, and it was far from reaching the broadcast. 4K content is needed; third is that the 4K content commercial chain has not yet been established; 4K content production is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the capital investment is relatively large, but it does not respond to the return of interest. Therefore, it cannot attract more content producers to join 4K content production.
Wu Hao believes that due to the above reasons, the early 4K content is only used for the display of 4K television effects, rather than being consumed as a film and television cultural commodity.
Due to the lack of true 4K content, 4K TVs become 'empty shells'. In order to solve the urgent need, some 'pseudo 4K film sources', such as 2.5K or even 1080p content sources are affixed with 4K tags, tyrants 4K TV screen. For the 4K content of 'Li Gui', 4K Garden COO Li Weibing has publicly stated that the pseudo 4K content will not only bring poor user experience to the consumer, but also disrupt the healthy operation of the 4K content market.
Promote 4K content development
Nowadays, the industry believes that the external factors that cause the lack of 4K content are basically solutions. For example, with the improvement and popularization of 4K video recording machines, the quality of content production equipment has improved significantly; 4K content rendering has 'cloud' also 4K content. The lower post production efficiency provides a solution; while the gradual promotion of network speed reduction and fee reduction solves the urgent need for 4K content transmission to speed the network. In addition, 4K content is restricted to the consumption habits of domestic people who are accustomed to enjoying free content. The factors of development have also improved. With the increase in membership of various video platforms and the increased willingness of consumers to pay for their favorite programs, Wu Hao revealed that the growth of 4K paid program members is expected to increase accordingly.
In addition, in response to the development of digital creative content and services, the State Council, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, and all levels of governments have released favorable signals for the policy: The State Council issued “On the Further Expansion and Upgrading of the Potential of Information Consumption for the Sustainable Release of Domestic Demand. Guidance Opinions: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has formulated the "Ultra HD Video Industry Development Action Plan (2018-2022)", and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television delivered the "Notice of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television on Regulating and Promoting the Development of 4K Ultra High Definition Television" The Guangdong Province, as an experimental pioneer, successively formulated the "4K TV Network and Industrial Development Implementation Plan (2017-2020)" and "Implementation Plan for Launching New Digital Home Actions to Promote the Application and Industrial Development of 4K Television Networks" and other documents. Guangdong 4K Ultra HD Industry Development.
From the beginning of 2017, the favorable external conditions and the favorable news of the policy frequently spread out. The 4K content development is full of vitality. The rapid development of the 4K industry has attracted CCTV, Shanghai Gangju, Zhujiang Digital, 4K Garden, Guangdong TV Station, Zhujiang Film and Television, etc. The industry's 'master' involved in 4K content areas: 4K content was introduced, 4K content was launched on its own platform, 4K channel was launched, and 4K content was launched; it was said that the 4K content was developed on the way.
4K content will eventually bloom
At the end of 2017, under the joint efforts of Shanghai Port and other organizations, 4K Universe, the first 4K ultra high-definition program in the United States, landed in China. From then on, the domestic people can see the excellent 4K programs in the United States. Chairman and CEO of Shanghai Gangju Information Technology Co., Ltd. Gu Chunlin told the "China Electronics News" reporter that the 4K program source for 4K Universe was introduced to include movies, TV dramas, sports, variety shows, scenery films, documentaries, music, fashion and other kinds of programs for more than 200 hours. The major TV stations and related platforms broadcast. In addition, Gu Chunlin also revealed that in the future will continue to introduce the relevant content of the plan, the 2018 program's goal length increased to 500 hours.
Among 4K content producers, 4K Garden is one of the best in China. 4K Garden adds 4K self-made and co-produced programs every month for more than 300 hours, establishing the largest 4K resource library in China. With the promotion and policy encouragement, the production plan of 4K Garden in 2018 has been confirmed to have reached 3,000 hours. In addition, 4K Garden has also cooperated with Huawei and Alibaba Cloud for the 4K content creation and 4K content conversion. Cloud transmission to improve the production efficiency of 4K content.
4K not only achieved remarkable results in content introduction and production, but also the construction of the 4K content platform was in progress. On December 23, 2017, the 4K ultra high-definition television test in Guangdong was broadcast and became the first domestic 4K test channel. The person in charge of Guangdong Radio and Television Station According to a reporter from China Electronics News, 4K ultra-high-definition television has been broadcast since it was launched. The overall safety and smoothness of the 4K ultra-high-definition television has been reported to end users over a cable television network and IPTV broadcast control platform for over 1800 hours. The broadcast comprehensively tested the experimental channel technology construction, program resource allocation, work flow and signal format standards, and gained preliminary experience on 4K production and broadcasting operations.
In addition, the head of Guangdong Radio and Television also disclosed the 'small goal' of Guangdong Broadcasting and TV Station's production of 4K content in 2018: The 4K projects that have been established in Taiwan have included the “National Music Grand Ceremony,” “Guoluo Master,” and “Mysterious Grassland”. (Season 2), Tonghaiyi Road, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau and the Greater Bay Area, Thirteen Lines, and Together Travel, etc. It is estimated that by the end of 2018, Guangdong Radio and Television Station can produce 1,000 kinds of programs. - 1500 hours of 4K programs. To ensure the quality of these programs, Guangdong Radio and Television will also cooperate with powerful institutions such as the BBC, 4K Garden and 4K production.
The 4K TV set-top box earlier than the TV station also had better content reserves and mass base. At the end of 2016, the 4K smart TV platform independently developed by Zhujiang Digital Group was formally launched. Currently, the platform has covered nearly 250,000 Guangzhou home users. The 4K content is updated daily. The monthly update volume is about 250 hours. According to the person in charge of the 4K team of the Zhujiang Digital Group, in terms of content, Zhujiang Digital and Hanzhong, 4K Garden, Huashi.com, Apocalypse, Shanghai. Guanghe, CBG and other excellent suppliers cooperated. At present, Zhujiang Digital Real 4K content covers approximately 1,800 hours, covering films, TV dramas, documentary and other three types of programs.
For the 4K program production, sales, and new models of industrial operations, all parties are actively exploring. According to the Guangdong Broadcasting and Television Station, Guangdong Broadcasting and Television is in-depth cooperation with content providers such as 4K Garden and Tencent. Committed to the formation of a 4K feature production and sales and industrial operating model. As the content platform, Zhujiang Digital said that its future goal is to promote different 4K source video formats in the front-end system compatible and adaptive playback features project and development work.