SVGEUROPEUPDATE
Wimbledon Championships 2015
Live from Wimbledon 2015: NHK undertakes latest 8K trial BY DAVID DAVIES
T
he broadcast industry has been keeping a close watch on the development of NHK’s 8K Super Hi-Vision technology for some time now. Following high-profile demos at the London Olympic Games, the Sochi Olympic Games and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, 8K made its debut at the Wimbledon championships with a trial taking place on No. 1 Court. Devised to deliver four times the resolution of 4K and 16 times that of standard HD, the 8K format is the result of an extended period of research by NHK into Ultra HD technology. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications laid out a roadmap last year in which 8K UHDTV is set to begin test broadcasting on satellite in 2016 and roll-out to full broadcasting by 2018. At Wimbledon, the 8K feed — viewable only in a dedicated theatre that was established on top of the
Broadcast Centre and was accessible to accredited media professionals — was created by a total of four cameras: two Ikegami 8K SHV-8000s, one Sony F65 4K and one For-A FT-ONE 4K camera. Upconversion of the FT-ONE camera was achieved using a converter manufactured by Japanese-based ASTRODESIGN, whilst the F65 was used with a live adapter and upconverted with a Sony BPU8000. Vision mixing was undertaken with an 8K switcher provided by NEC Broadcast Products. Sound-wise, NHK primarily relyed on HD host microphones set up on No. 1 Court, but also mixed in the feed from some of its own Sennheiser and DPA mics as required. At the heart of audio world was a Lawo mc266 console, brought over from Japan and delivering a 22.2 mix into the 8K theatre. There will certainly be plenty of 8K material to sift through and assess once from the Championships, as
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EUROPE SPORTTECH JOURNAL / AUTUMN 2015
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