European operator SES has collaborated with Sony to demonstrate a live satellite transmission of 4K Ultra HD content played out in Quad Full HD format and encoded in the H.264 standard, SES announced Sept. 7.
   The signal was uplinked from SES in Betzdorf/Luxembourg via a transponder on the Astra 3B satellite located at the 23.5 degrees East orbital slot.The TV used for the demonstration was Sony’s Bravia 84-inch 4K display at a pixel resolution of 3840 x 2160.
   “4K or Quad Full HDTV is the de-facto next standard beyond HDTV and will deliver a stunning picture quality on modern, large flat-screen displays,” SES Vice President of Reception Systems Thomas Wrede said in a statement. “With the live demo via Astra-3B and using equipment from Sony we demonstrate that the eco-system for 4K Ultra HD satellite transmission is available today. With the arrival of the new video encoding standard HEVC in 2013 together with a plethora of 4K compatible flat-screen displays satellite television ‘Beyond HDTV’ can start.”