March 20, 2016

3GPP SA4 have completed work on a set of video profiles that allow service providers to be able to rely on a well-defined set of video formats and a consistent quality of experience for TV-centric services over 3GPP networks.

During 3GPP Release 13, SA4 identified the commonly used video formats in the Broadcast industry and adapted them for TV and VoD distribution over 3GPP systems - inspired by the desire to minimize interoperability issues and to maximize harmony between 3GPP and the Broadcast world.

Findings and conclusions on video formats are documented in the Technical Report 26.949.

Based on these findings, a set of 5 operating points, ranging from 720p HD to Ultra HD (4K 2160p), are defined:

• 720p HD AVC up to 30fps
• 1080p Full HD AVC up to 60fps
• 720p HD HEVC up to 30fps
• 1080p Full HD HEVC up to 60fps
• Ultra HD HEVC up to 60fps

All of these requirements on video formats are documented in a new specification TS 26.116 -“Television (TV) over 3GPP services; Video profiles”. This specification also defines a limited set of sub-resolutions for 3GPP-DASH adaptive streaming delivery and a mapping of the operating points to DASH delivery.

While serving the primary purpose to target the 3GPP user services, these operation points can be referenced by external bodies and even Over-the-Top (OTT) providers offering similar types of services.

The updated user service specifications amending the 3GPP TV video profiles are:

Contacts for this article:

Gilles Teniou – TSG SA4 VIDEO SWG chairman
Kari Järvinen – TSG SA4 WG chairman

Definitions and abbreviations:

720p HD: picture resolution of 1280x720
1080p HD: picture resolution of 1920x1080
2160p (aka 4K): picture resolution of 3840x2160
AVC: Advanced Video coding
DASH: Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP
fps: frames per second
HEVC: High Efficiency Video Coding
OTT: Over The Top
TV: Television
VoD: Video on Demand