An 8K domestic broadcast in Japan of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 is on the cards after Sony revealed it was developing 8K production equipment. Sony is part of NexTV-F, a $31 million government-backed consortia comprising Japanese electronics manufacturers, broadcaster NHK and cable companies to promote 4K and 8K Ultra HD technologies and programming.
“The Japanese government has accelerated 4K and 8K in order to be ready for the 2020 Olympic Games and we will prepare a team to develop 8K solutions,” said Shoji Nemoto, corporate executive officer, and president of Sony’s Professional Services Group.
“8K doesn’t yet make sense as a business model, but we are thinking about how to deploy 8K in 2016 and 2020, and where there are business models for 8K then we need to be ready with products.”
Sony’s F65 Cine camera is already capable of recording 4K, 6K or 8K images, exporting the data as DPX files.
This week FIFA announced that, with Sony, it would record the World Cup Final 2014 in 4K. “The move by FIFA is a big first step for Ultra HD,” said Katsunori Yamanouchi, VP of Sony Professional Solutions Europe. “It will help broadcasters understand the product and, when audiences see it – perhaps at public venues – it will begin to generate demand.”
He added: “We’ve been in touch with many broadcasters who have declared an interest in 4K including BSkyB, Sky Italia, Sky Deutschland and they are continuing to test it. There is no doubt that the appetite for 4K as a live event has grown and now broadcasters are strategising business models to bring 4K to market. As always with new technology though, we have a chicken and egg situation where content is needed.”
12.A10
