{"id":268533,"date":"2018-07-16T17:56:30","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T15:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=268533"},"modified":"2018-07-16T18:02:16","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T16:02:16","slug":"dstv-on-4k-streaming-and-upgrading-satellite-feed-resolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/268533-dstv-on-4k-streaming-and-upgrading-satellite-feed-resolutions.html","title":{"rendered":"DStv on 4K streaming and upgrading satellite-feed resolutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice recently announced that it was working on\u00a04K streaming<\/strong><\/a> for its DStv Now app.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continuing to develop DStv Now, with 4K streaming in testing and smart TV and Apple TV apps on their way shortly,”\u00a0said MultiChoice Chief Operating Officer Mark Rayner.<\/p>\n

The statement from MultiChoice comes at a time when it is fighting with Netflix and Amazon Prime for market share, and its focus on streaming is intensifying.<\/p>\n

This has provided excitement for DStv Now users and streaming enthusiast – however, it has also left its satellite TV subscribers asking if there are set to be improvements in their traditional broadcast services, including resolution upgrades.<\/p>\n

To find out how MultiChoice is working on upgrading its streaming offering, and the impact it will have, MyBroadband spoke to the company about the move.<\/p>\n

Hardware and transmission<\/h3>\n

MultiChoice told MyBroadband there are two main components when it comes to providing higher-quality broadcasts –\u00a0hardware and transmission.<\/p>\n

“Assuming one has a TV capable of displaying 4K content, then the next thing needed is the hardware to supply that stream,” said MultiChoice.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re getting there now for OTT video with things like a 4K-capable Apple TV, and we’d expect to see many more compatible devices entering the market soon.”<\/p>\n

The company stated that the\u00a0next generation of satellite set-top boxes is also likely to feature this broadcast capability.<\/p>\n

On the transmission side, upgrading to 4K streams means more data throughput.<\/p>\n

“If you\u2019ve got an uncapped data package via fibre, then it shouldn\u2019t be an issue, but if you\u2019re streaming via 3G\/mobile and paying per GB, then it very much could be a challenge,” said MultiChoice.<\/p>\n

“On the satellite side, we would also eventually need to purchase additional transmission capacity as throughput increases – but for now we don\u2019t see that as a limiting factor.”<\/p>\n

The company said it is currently looking at increasing the resolutions of its DStv satellite feeds, but cannot share any specific details at this stage.<\/p>\n

Licensing and infrastructure<\/h3>\n

Other factors must also be taken into account when upgrading resolutions, such as licensing agreements for content.<\/p>\n

MultiChoice stated that\u00a0additional licensing agreements are generally needed to cover 4K content.<\/p>\n

The infrastructure used by the company will also be affected, as upgrades may be needed to ensure its systems can handle the higher demands of 4K broadcasts.<\/p>\n

“The current trial was an experiment using a managed service through third-party vendors, completely delivered through the cloud without impacting existing DStv Now\u2019s platform infrastructure and networking,” said MultiChoice.<\/p>\n

“Updates to client-side applications would probably be needed to support different streaming and encoding profiles,” it added.<\/p>\n

“The current trial is limited to devices that can support 4K and the necessary codecs – so effectively the stream is side-loaded and consumed on the app, without additional load on DStv\u2019s network.”<\/p>\n

Now read:\u00a0Netflix has no plans to change its prices in South Africa<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MultiChoice recently announced that it was working on\u00a04K streaming for its DStv Now app.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":203232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[85,27627,35],"class_list":["post-268533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-dstv","tag-dstv-now","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268545,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268533\/revisions\/268545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}