UHD SPAIN RECEIVES AN ADWAR FOR BROADCASTING THE WORLD CUP IN QATAR
- The VII Edition of the Innovative Awards organised by Dolby has recognised the work of UHD Spain by awarding the association for the broadcasting of the Qatar World Cup in 4K and Dolby Atmos.
- Pere Vila, president of UHD Spain, collected the award at a gala that took place in Madrid.
UHD Spain, the association that promotes Ultra High Definition in Spain, has received the ‘Innovation Award for the broadcasting of the Qatar World Cup in 4K and Dolby Atmos’ at the 7th edition of the Innovators Awards organised by Dolby to recognise the role of its partners in the dissemination of its technologies.The company wanted to reward the work of UHD Spain as a non-profit association “that brings together companies in the Spanish 4K audiovisual industry to work together in the progress and consensus of the implementation of Ultra High Definition in Spain”.
They also wanted to highlight the numerous innovation projects that “offer evidence that are milestones for the industry, such as the broadcasting of the World Cup in Qatar through a public broadcaster such as RTVE on free-to-air DTT with UHD image quality and Dolby Atmos sound”.
This project, in which RTVE, Cellnex, Mediapro and SAPEC, among other members and collaborators of the association, jointly participated, was a great success thanks to the involvement of the companies and the tests that were carried out under the umbrella of the association.
In addition to the DTT broadcast, 200 experts and guests attended the screening of the Spain vs. Japan match in ISense cinema at Cinesa Madrid in 4K quality at the Príncipe Pío centre. The event was a pioneering experience at a global level in which the free-to-air DTT signals of TVE UHD and the OTT pay-per-view platform Gol Mundial were shown and combined.
According to Pere Vila, the association “works with Ultra High Definition in the image” and therefore, “we cannot leave sound aside”. Vila said that “it was an honour to broadcast the World Cup in Qatar, very exciting” and that UHD Spain hopes to continue advancing towards the television of the future.
Apart from UHD Spain, the award winners of this seventh edition were Nacho Cano, for his excellent work on the symphonic version of the musical Malinche in Dolby Atmos technology; José Luis Crespo, in recognition of his work as a sound engineer, pioneer and champion of the Dolby Atmos format; Amazon Music Spain, for its commitment to the Dolby Atmos format and its firm commitment to promoting its adoption; Phenomena Experience, for its commitment to offering quality and innovation to cinema audiences in Spain through Dolby Atmos; Atresmedia, for the creation of a Dolby Atmos studio; Audio-Technica Iberia, for its contribution to the expansion of Dolby Atmos; Netflix Spain, for its commitment to Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision technologies as a production format for a significant amount of its content; Sagemcom, for being the first to develop the Set-Top-Box concept that integrates a soundbar compatible with Dolby Atmos immersive audio technology and Dolby Vision image enhancement technology; TVUP, for always going the extra mile, being the first provider in Spain to broadcast the Spanish National First Division League Championship with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos image and sound technologies; and Michael McLoughlin, journalist at El Confidencial, for his great professionalism and his direct and simple style in conveying the benefits of technology in the user’s day-to-day life.
UHD Spain is a non-profit association created on January 26, 2021 to promote Ultra High Definition (UHD) in Spain. Currently there are already 39 associate members: ADM, Agile Content, Ametic, Ateme, Atresmedia, Axion, Canal Sur, Canon, CCMA, Cellnex, Cires21, COITT, Dolby, Egatel, Fenitel, Forta, Fraunhofer, Gradiant, Gsertel, Henneo, Hispasat, Hurí, Lavinia, Mediapro, Medina Media, Optiva Media, Rohde & Schwarz, RTVE, Sapec, Synamedia, Tedial, Telecom CLM, Televés, TRedess, TVU Networks, UPM, Uteca, Vestel and Video-MOS.
Among the founding partners is the Polytechnic University of Madrid, in particular with professors and researchers from the E.T.S. of Telecommunications Engineers who have been working on UHD issues since 2015 through the RTVE Chair at UPM. It should be noted that in Europe only five countries have professional associations on Ultra High Definition: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.