First SES 8K Broadcast Powered by Rohde & Schwarz Amplifier

Artist rendition of SES’ Astra 3B satellite. Photo: SES

SES selected Rohde & Schwarz’s R&S PKU amplifier for uplink signal transmission during its first ever 8K television broadcast over satellite, the companies announced July 5. The demo broadcast took place in May 2018 at SES’ Industry Days event in Luxembourg.

SES used the DVB-S2X standard to transmit the 8K TV signal on a single 36 MHz transponder on its Astra 3B satellite. The demo video was encoded in High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), transmitted at a rate 80 Megabits Per Second (Mbps), and broadcasted at a frame rate of 60 frames per second and 10-bit color depth.

“Even though 8K resolution is not yet commercially relevant, we have shown that our satellite network is able to deliver 8K content,” SES Video Vice President of New Technology and Standards Thomas Wrede said.