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Some of the highest video quality you can get is already available for free using an over the air antenna.
A new standard called Next Gen TV is coming and it's going to allow 4K HDR video to come to your house and maybe mobile devices for free.
Here's what you should know about Next Gen TV.
Number 5 is, what is Next Gen TV?
This is the latest version of over the air TV.
It's also known as ATSC 3.0.
And it was made by the advanced television systems committee, otherwise known as ATSC.
Let's talk video quality it would be through the roof.
We're talking about 4k video with HDR and wide color gamut.
You can also get frame rates up to 120 hertz.
Since this is over the air box cast tv, it's free to receive.
What is this all mean, it's kinda of like watching 4K Blu-ray except it's flying into your house for free, there's also the option to have multiple audio sources with in a program.
That can include different languages of corse, but also the possibility of different commentary tracks.
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Where's it coming to.
In the US you are looking at a total of 61 markets.
ATSC published a list of the top 40 markets that'll switch first.
They include Dallas-Ft.
Worth.
Houston, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Phoenix, and Seattle.
New York, LA, Chicago, and Philadelphia should follow.
There is no mandate to make every market get Next Gen TV.
Next Gen TV is coming on a voluntary market-driven basis.
That means if you want it, you better make sure your market makes it happen.
How do you get it?
You'll need a newer television or setup box to receive the signal.
20 different models of TVs.
From LG, Sony, and Samsung will exist this year.
ATSC 3.0 is not backwards compatible with the current HD standard.
That means your current TV won't be able to display the signal directly.
On the plus side, your antenna should work just fine to receive the signal.
What about on mobile?
In a demo, a prototype tuner was connected to an antenna.
That tuner was connected to the demos network, not the TV directly.
That meant any device on the network could access the signal.
As an aside, the video was capped at HD not 4K.
So if you get a tuner like that in your house, you should be able to watch things on any network connected device.
An industry executive said that TV tuners on phones are inevitable.
But who knows if Samsung or Apple are going to pop in a TV tuner in their phones.
What kind of content is coming, the organization behind Next Gen TV has announced partnerships with Fox, NBC, and PBS.
However, getting things like news or sports in real 4K could take a while.
You're talking about upgrading cameras and all the other production equipment involved in taking an event from real life to a television.
However, the content you'll get is not just limited to regular TV content.
The Next Gen TV application demo you can call up a menu on the left For the video continues playing on the right.
You'll have the option to bring up content on demand.
That is because Next Gen TV, is using a combination of over the air sources and the internet.
That's a pretty interesting combo.
Okay, so when is this coming?
The top markets are transitioning this year.
TVs and other devices will be available this year.
In case you're watching this far in the future this year refers to 2020.
The transition also means that current HD content needs to be offloaded from current stations to other stations while converting the original stations to this new standard.
Theoretically, this could cause some issues.
Also, the current over-the-air programming will continue in HD, for five years after the launch of next-gen TV.
If you are reliant on getting TV through your TV Tuner you may need to upgrade in a few years.
If you've got any comments, questions or topic ideas, let me know.
I'm Iyaz Akhtar and I'll see you online.
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