Matrox ST 2110 NIC and SDI I/O Cards Enable World’s First Live 8K UHD 5G TV Broadcast for Leading Chinese Broadcast Organization

On February 11, 2021, China’s leading broadcast organization celebrated Lunar New Year’s Eve with a live, 8K UHD 5G TV broadcast of a national spring festival event that eclipsed all of the night’s other live coverage. As the first-ever live 8K UHD 5G TV broadcast, the event marked not only the beginning of a new year, but also the position of China as a key competitor in global 8K UHD 5G TV development. Enabled by the Matrox SMPTE ST 2110 network interface controller (NIC) and SDI I/O card-equipped China Digital Video (CDV) Graphite 8K online character generator (CG) system, the leading broadcast organization was able to provide transcendent real-time coverage of one of China’s biggest televised events of the year.

Driving the transition to 8K UHD

In order to fulfill the Chinese government’s goal of achieving an 8K UHD broadcasting standard by the beginning of 2022, the leading broadcast organization needed to find a graphic solution for creating advanced video content. Having already leveraged the Matrox and CDV solution for on-site, 8K trial broadcasts of major basketball and tennis events in 2019, the broadcast organization decided that the dynamic combination’s ultra-high-quality TV program packaging would lend itself to supporting the complete transition to 8K UHD. The CDV Graphite 8K online graphic packaging system – enabled by the Matrox ST 2110 NIC and SDI I/O cards’ robust compositing power – was the perfect fit for the broadcast organization’s demanding 8K UHD workflows. Designed for optimal performance, flexibility, and scalability, Matrox’s range of ST 2110 NIC and SDI/IO cards are also equipped with on-board multi-channel HDR conversions, motion-adaptive de-interlacing, pristine scaling, and powerful compositing for high-density 4K and 8K video processing.

Dynamic graphics for high-profile event coverage

In early February 2021, the organization launched a trial 8K UHD 5G TV channel where just a few days later it would broadcast its renowned spring festival event. The channel leverages the Matrox-based CDV solution for several graphic packaging applications. For the spring festival broadcast and beyond, the CDV and Matrox solution provides fill and key, picture-in-picture, and video playout among other services.

For fill and key applications, each CDV Graphite uses two Matrox X.mio5 Q25 or DSX LE5 Q25 ST 2110 cards for 8K IP I/O, and two DSX LE5 12G or X.mio5 12G cards for SDI I/O. The CDV Graphite 8K supports picture-in-picture windows of two 8K inputs by using eight 4K capture channels on two Matrox X.mio5 cards. By using the power of onboard compositors, the Graphite 8K also supports one 8K video input as the background of the 8K graphics with ultra-low latency. This served as the broadcast organization’s playout line for the spring festival event.

In preparation for covering a world-renowned international sporting event in early 2022, another top Chinese broadcast organization has launched a channel dedicated to the games. For this channel, the CDV Graphite CGs run daily 4K programs in one PC playing out simultaneously. This allows the organization to support its dual-system parallel workflow.

Winning graphics solution for 8K UHD broadcasts

Having successfully achieved of the world’s first live 8K UHD 5G TV broadcast, the Matrox-enabled CDV Graphite 8K plans to go for the gold in covering the world’s most prestigious sporting events and more. The graphic packaging solution has allowed China’s leading broadcast network to successfully deploy ultra-clear graphics, subtitles, and other text effects in its 8K UHD TV broadcasts. “The Matrox X.mio5 and DSX LE series NIC and SDI/IO cards have exceeded our quality and performance expectations time and again,” said Jichuan Sun, Vice President, R&D at CDV. “These hardware cards have enabled our Graphite 8K graphic packaging system with the dynamic processing power required for the demanding 8K UHD requirements of China’s foremost broadcast network. The superior-quality graphics generated by the Matrox and CDV solution will leave a lasting impression with millions of viewers.”