Television companies enter 4K race
4K TV first appeared in Vietnam when SCTV showed its 4K Dolby 5.1 surround sound at the Telefilm 2017 exhibition. Later, VTC began broadcasting 4K TV programs on a trial basis.
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Vietnamese TV viewers have been waiting for 4K TV for the last two years. VTV, the national television channel, in 2015 stated it would broadcast 4K TV in 2017 on a trial basis, stating that 4K TV has image quality four times better than HD.
However, VTC, not VTV, has become the first television channel to provide 4K TV after a long period of quiet preparation.
On June 21, VTC began providing 4K TV on high definition television channel VTC HD1.
The broadcasting has received positive feedback from viewers, especially those from localities with VTC’s DVB-T2 coverage, including Hanoi, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Da Nang, Can Tho and Binh Duong.
Viewers of VTC’s 4K TV programs do not need any parabola antenna or cable and do not need to pay a subscription fee, but just need to connect 4K TV with an indoor or outdoor antenna that supports the DVB-T2 signal.
2017 will see a race among TV service providers who want to turn families’ living rooms into high-quality cinema screens through 4K TV.
Currently, 4K TV set models made by Samsung, Sony, Sharp and LG allow VTC 4K programs.
Some viewers complain that Panasonic TVs still cannot display images. On this issue, a representative of Panasonic in Vietnam said It would update automatic software via the internet in a couple of weeks.
4K TV provides images with resolution four times higher than Full HD.
At Telefilm 2016, SCTV demonstrated 4K TV on a trial basis, but it did not broadcast to the audience. It showed 4K TV with Dolby 5.1 surround sound at Telefilm 2017. The SCTV stall at the exhibition reserved one room for visitors to experience ’5-star service’.
SCTV announced that it plans to expand cooperation with Dolby to standardize sounds on other HD TV channels such as SCTV1, SCTV14, SCTV Sports HD, SCTV and Film HD.
In late 2016, at the VTV 45th establishment anniversary ceremony, with TV technology developing rapidly, VTV will not stop at HD TV broadcasting. It will broadcast 4K in 2017.
A representative of SCTV said the competition in TV technology will not only be competition in images, but in sound quality as well. That is one of the reasons SCTV decided to cooperate with Dolby. Most cinemas and modern audio/video equipment use Dolby technology.
