NHK BS8K

Last updated
NHK BS8K
NHK BS8K 2020 logo.svg
CountryJapan
Broadcast areaNationwide
Headquarters NHK Broadcasting Center, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Programming
Language(s)Japanese
Picture format 4320p UHD TV
Ownership
Owner NHK
Sister channels NHK General TV
NHK Educational TV
NHK BS
NHK BS Premium 4K
History
Launched1 December 2018
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital terrestrial Ch.8K 102

NHK BS8K is a satellite television broadcasting service offered by NHK. Launched on 1 December 2018, it is the world's first television channel to broadcast in 8K resolution.

Contents

Background

NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories had started to develop an 8K broadcast resolution in 1995. [1] The format was first publicly displayed at the Expo 2005 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, whereas the first 8K live feed broadcast were tested at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Due to the successful tests, plans for a television channel dedicated to airing an 8K resolution were approved by the NHK. [1]

On 1 August 2016, NHK started to test an Ultra HD channel on BS17, to prevent terrestrial digital broadcasting on its other networks. [2] It featured a variety of 4K and 8K resolution programming, before concluding on 23 July 2018, after which an 8K network was assigned to a newly created BS 14 channel. [3]

Overview

NHK BS8K was launched on 1 December 2018 at 10:00 (JST) as the world's first television channel to broadcast in to 8K "Super Hi-Vision", along with NHK BS4K, which broadcasts in a similar but lower 2160p 4K UHD TV resolution. [4] Unlike its preceding formats, BS8K's 4320p resolution is displayed through a progressive scan standard, as opposed to the traditional 1080i HDTV that is commonly used by broadcasting systems around the world, including NHK's General TV service. The technology used to broadcast the resolution was developed by he NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories, which had earlier developed the High Efficiency Video Coding format to be used for the 8K resolution in 2013. [5] The channel's audio is broadcast in a 22.2 surround sound standard. [4]

Promotion

To promote the launch of BS8K, NHK opened a "Super Hi-Vision Park" at an event hall in Shibuya, Tokyo from 30 November 2018 to 4 December 2018, featuring an "8K Living Room" equipped with an UHD TV and a 22-multichannel home theatre system. [4] On 1 December 2018, the NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories also demonstrated a public viewing of both the BS8K and the BS4K channels, which included a live feed of the Roman Forum and the Pantheon in Rome, Italy, and a presentation of the remastered version of the feature film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). [4] [1]

Programming

NHK BS8K broadcasts for twelve hours a day, unlike its sister channel BS4K, which broadcasts for 18 hours a day. [4] BS8K broadcasts entertainment, art, documentary and sporting events. Some of the programs being broadcast include footage shot in 8K from Antarctica and the International Space Station, the annual Kōhaku Uta Gassen , and recorded concerts from some of the world's leading orchestras to showcase the immersive 22.2 channel sound. [1] Wife of a Spy , the first television drama to be originally broadcast on Ultra HD, premiered on the channel on 6 June 2020. [6] NHK also plans to broadcast over 200 hours of the 2020 Summer Olympics in 8K resolution on the BS8K channel. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NHK</span> Japanese broadcasting company

The Japan Broadcasting Corporation, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories</span> Technical research centre in Tokyo, Japan

NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories, headquartered in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, is responsible for technical research at NHK, Japan's public broadcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1080p</span> Video mode

1080p is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vertically; the p stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. The term usually assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a resolution of 2.1 megapixels. It is often marketed as Full HD or FHD, to contrast 1080p with 720p resolution screens. Although 1080p is sometimes informally referred to as 2K, these terms reflect two distinct technical standards, with differences including resolution and aspect ratio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outside broadcasting</span> Remote production of television or radio programmes

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Analog high-definition television has referred to a variety of analog video broadcast television systems with various display resolutions throughout history.

22.2 or Hamasaki 22.2 is the surround sound component of Super Hi-Vision (a new television standard with 16 times the pixel resolution of HDTV. It has been developed by NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories. It uses 24 speakers arranged in three layers.

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Television in Japan was introduced in 1939. However, experiments date back to the 1920s, with Kenjiro Takayanagi's pioneering experiments in electronic television. Television broadcasting was halted by World War II, after which regular television broadcasting began in 1950. After Japan developed the first HDTV systems in the 1960s, MUSE/Hi-Vision was introduced in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4K resolution</span> Video or display resolutions with a width of around 4,000 pixels

4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 3840 × 2160 is the dominant 4K standard, whereas the movie projection industry uses 4096 × 2160.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">8K resolution</span> Resolutions with approximate width of 8,000 pixels

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rec. 2020</span> ITU-R recommendation

ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020, more commonly known by the abbreviations Rec. 2020 or BT.2020, defines various aspects of ultra-high-definition television (UHDTV) with standard dynamic range (SDR) and wide color gamut (WCG), including picture resolutions, frame rates with progressive scan, bit depths, color primaries, RGB and luma-chroma color representations, chroma subsamplings, and an opto-electronic transfer function. The first version of Rec. 2020 was posted on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) website on August 23, 2012, and two further editions have been published since then.

ATSC 3.0 is a major version of the ATSC standards for television broadcasting created by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC).

MPEG media transport (MMT), specified as ISO/IEC 23008-1, is a digital container standard developed by Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) that supports High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) video. MMT was designed to transfer data using the all-Internet Protocol (All-IP) network.

High Efficiency Video Coding implementations and products covers the implementations and products of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ultra HD Blu-ray</span> Optical disc storage medium

Ultra HD Blu-ray is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players. Ultra HD Blu-ray supports 4K UHD video at frame rates up to 60 progressive frames per second, encoded using High-Efficiency Video Coding. The discs support both high dynamic range by increasing the color depth to 10-bit per color and a greater color gamut than supported by conventional Blu-ray video by using the Rec. 2020 color space. Ultra HD Blu-Ray discs also support a 12-bit per color container via Dolby Vision. Dolby Vision content on 4K UHD Blu-Ray can also be mastered for 10,000 nits peak brightness, whereas standard HDR10 can only achieve a maximum of 4,000 nits of brightness. Moreover, Dolby Vision makes use of dynamic metadata, which adjusts the brightness and tone mapping per scene. In contrast, standard HDR10 only makes use of static metadata, which sets the same brightness and tone mapping for the entirety of the content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ultra-high-definition television</span> Television formats beyond HDTV

Ultra-high-definition television today includes 4K UHD and 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These were first proposed by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories and later defined and approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ultra HD Forum</span> Organization

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Blair, Gavin J. (24 January 2019). "Japan's NHK Launches World's First 8K TV Channel". The Hollywood Reporter . MRC . Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  2. "NHK tries to up high-definition TV format ante". The Japan Times . 16 December 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  3. "A-PABの4K8K BS試験放送終了 ~ 12月1日に向けて周知広報本格化". A-PAB. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "NHK launched 4K and 8K channels!". NHK . Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  5. "NHK and Mitsubishi Develop First HEVC encoder for 8K Super Hi-Vision". CDRinfo. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  6. "NHK Teams Up with Kurosawa Kiyoshi on 8K Epic Drama "Wife of a Spy"" (PDF) (pdf). NHK. 6 June 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  7. Kurz, Phil (22 July 2021). "NHK To Broadcast 200 Hours Of Tokyo Olympics In 8K". TV Tech. Retrieved 23 July 2021.