HDTV for 2010 World Cup
Zakes Mnisi from the 2010 World Cup Local Organizing Committee said that High Definition TV (HDTV), which provides high resolution visuals to viewers, will be the standard for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Nic Bonthuys, acting CTO of the SABC, said that the 2010 World Cup match coverage – using 25 cameras – will be done in High Definition Television with 5.1 surround sound.
Bonthhuys pointed out that HDTV uses 5-8 times the bandwidth of standard television, but with each stadium to be connected to the IBC via a 20Gbit/s diverse path (40Gbit/s per stadium) the additional bandwidth requirements should not pose any problem.
Bonthhuys said that the HDTV visuals – which have a 16:9 aspect ratio – provide excellent quality, an intensely colourful and extremely sharp picture and surround sound which is ideal for sport.
Sentech’s Dingane Dube said that his company has already started digitizing the broadcasting network and is preparing to roll out digital transmitters. Digital television broadcasting will be switched on on 1 November 2008 while the traditional analogue system will be switched off by November 2011.
South Africans will however have to wait and see whether they will be able to watch the World Cup in high definition. Bonthhuys said that while HDTV will be standard for the World Cup, it will not be available to South Africans through terrestrial television broadcasting.
He did however point out that it is possible that local viewers may be able to get HDTV coverage through satellite services, but that this issue is still under discussion. By 2010 there should also be various new pay-TV operators in South Africa which may bring HDTV to local consumers.
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