Move over, 4K TV-- 8K TV broadcasts officially start in Japan, as 1 December 2018 sees NHK start first public broadcasts of both 4K and 8K channels (complete with 22.2-channel audio!) via satellite.
The broadcasts kick off after 2 years of testing. The technology, called "Super Hi-Vision" by NHK, has been in development since 1995, and promises 16 times the resolution of HDTV. As for the actual broadcast the BS8K channel features 12 hours of daily programming, including an information digest highlighting the future of the channel, a live broadcast from Italy and even an 8K version of the seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey.
"The many famous scenes become even more vivid, with the attention to detail of director Stanley Kubrick expressed in the exquisite images, creating the feeling of really being on a trip in space, allowing the film to be enjoyed for the first time at home," NHK says. 2011: A Space Odyssey is ripe for an 8K restoration, since it was shot on 65mm. Another movie shot on the same size film is My Fair Lady, which will be broadcast on the NHK 8K channel on March 2019.
But what can customers watch 8K TV on? Currently there are a couple of options. The first is the Sharp 8K TV, which has been available in Japan since 2015. The other comes from Samsung, and was seen back at IFA 2018. 8K broadcasts also require an appropriate receiver and antenna, with the receiver connecting to TVs using x4 HDMI cables.
While these are early days for HDMI broadcasting, expect it to ramp up fairly quickly-- a number of such sets should be on show at CES 2019, and NHK plans to broadcast the 2020 Olympics in 8K.
