SES and Rohde & Schwarz team up for 8K TV transmission

Rohde & Schwarz’s new PKU amplifier was used for a demo broadcast in Luxembourg

At the SES Industry Days event held in Luxembourg in May this year, satellite operator SES transmitted an 8K TV signal on a single 36MHz transponder via its Astra 3B satellite, using the DVB-S2X standard.

The demo video, with a resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels, was encoded in HEVC/H.265 and transmitted at a rate of 80Mbps. The 8K content was broadcast at 60fps and 10-bit colour depth, while a native IP-formatted signal was used to learn about the requirements for a fully IP-based broadcast infrastructure.

To support the demo broadcast, Rohde & Schwarz’s R&S PKU amplifier was used to send the HEVC/H.265-encoded signal to the Astra 3B satellite. According to Rohde & Schwarz, the PKU amplifier combined the best of two worlds in a single device: the strengths of solid-state amplifiers and, the compactness and low weight of tube amplifiers. For example, if individual transistors fail, the amplifier continues to operate at reduced power.

The PKU amplifier features adaptive linearisation for improved signal quality, enabling network operators to transmit significantly more data using the same signal bandwidth. This, said Rohde & Schwarz, makes the PKU amplifier ideal for 8K transmission.

Thomas Wrede, vice-president, new technology and standards, SES Video, commented: “Even though 8K resolution is not yet commercially relevant, we have shown that our satellite network is able to deliver 8K content.

“We are proud to provide an insight into the future of TV. Rohde & Schwarz has made a valuable contribution to this achievement.”