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Europe's first 4K channel goes live, but only as a demonstration

Europe's first 4K channel goes live, but only as a demonstration

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samsung 85-inch 4k tv
samsung 85-inch 4k tv

4K TV was one of the biggest stories of CES, but the question remains: how will users get native content? International satellite TV operator Eutelsat Communications made its first attempt at answering that question last week with the first 4K broadcast demonstration for Europe last week. The broadcasts began on January 8th and are being sent at 3,840 x 2,160 resolution at 50 frames per second. The signal itself is delivered in MPEG-4, and is transmitted at 40 Mbit / second in four "quad HD" streams. It's not clear exactly what kind of content is being broadcast at the moment, but the timing is no coincidence — Eutelsat timed its launch specifically to correspond with the flood of news around 4K at CES last week. Of course, the only 4K TVs on the market are the definition of "prohibitively expensive," and there's still no actual content available, but it's still good to see a provider getting ready for the forthcoming 4K wave.