The ongoing drive for ever-higher resolutions has been a familiar story in the world of video acquisition for many years. But, after IBC 2018, talking about the practical application of 8K is no longer taboo.

Japan’s state broadcaster, NHK, has long been the driving force behind 8K. Manufacturers have been committed to developing an ecosystem of products that can support the 8K broadcast standard, ‘Super Hi-Vision’, in time for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. However, with many other broadcasters still occupied with upgrading their portfolio of HD channels and the limited availability of 4K content, meaningful use of 8K technology in the wider industry can seem distant.

Shortly before IBC, 8K held a notable presence at IFA 2018 in Berlin, as Samsung, Sharp, LG, TCL and Toshiba all dedicated space at the convention to showcase 8K consumer displays. Samsung and LG incorporated spectacular reveals of their 8K TV sets into their press conferences, while Sharp emphasized their development of an 8K ecosystem, which includes both their display and the 8C-B60A camcorder, which has already begun shipping in Japan and China. The continued focus on higher-resolutions by TV manufacturers at the show indicates that it won’t be long until they begin their attempts to drive 8K into the home, as they did with 4K.

Though adoption of 4K in broadcasting has been slower than was first anticipated, 4K acquisition has been accessible for several years. 2017 was a particularly significant year for 4K adoption in the camcorder market, as it truly became mainstream. Cost effective 1” sensor camcorders brought 4K to the lower-end of the market, as sub $5,000 fixed lens camcorders have fueled a 9% point annual increase in the worldwide market share of 4K capable camcorders sold by Sony, Panasonic, Canon and JVC, to account for a total of 32% of worldwide camcorder volumes.

The accessibility of 4K acquisition has allowed workflows to mature and, with this, has come a greater awareness of the benefits of over sampling (acquiring video footage at a higher resolution than is necessary for the final output). It has been proven and accepted that recording video at a higher resolution and down-sampling the footage for final delivery will result in an improvement in video quality. The flexibility of having a larger canvas of pixels to work with also enables more creative options in post-production, from digital zooms and cropping in and recomposing shots to improving the accuracy of digital stabilization and VFX tasks.

The use of 8K in live broadcasting may be very limited for the foreseeable future on a global basis, but the benefits of 8K acquisition are already apparent due to the proven use-cases of oversampling. There is an obvious use for 8K acquisition at prestige events and in select cinematic instances to begin preparing a library of 8K content, but 8K is not just about future-proofing. The same learnings made from using 4K acquisition to create HD content can be applied with 8K, but to an even greater degree - especially in the case of using 8K for HD formats. Capturing 7680 x 4320 pixels to create a 1920 x 1080 image may sound like complete overkill, but it’s precisely that factor of 8K being 16 times bigger than HD that makes oversampling 8K footage a more perceptible step-up than 4K. 8K cameras will not immediately replace 4K or even HD cameras, but their enhanced capabilities for oversampling allow them to be used in a completely new way.

At IBC 2018, Panasonic demonstrated a new camera that will be available next year that uses 8K acquisition as a tool to facilitate more efficient HD capture. Panasonic are calling this technique in use, “region of interest” or ROI. ROI allows up to four independent HD crops to be taken from a single 8K source camera (for instance, creating wide, mid and close shots simultaneously of a scene). In a practical application, this can reduce the number of cameras needed on a production, as multiple shots can be captured by a single camera operator. Sony’s UHC-8300 8K studio camera also enables a similar kind of flexibility, as it can simultaneously output 8K, 4K and HD signals. This facilitates more flexible workflows - for example, live feeds in 4K and HD could be sent to a video switcher for use in live coverage, while the 8K signal is taken directly to a recorder for archival purposes.

As the adoption of the 4K UHD formats grows, there will be a greater need for 8K where instances of oversampling for 4K content is necessary. The reason that 8K will gain ground in acquisition in the immediate future is due to the new possibilities that it creates in production. 8K cameras will begin to see growth primarily through their use in mixed resolution production environments, deployed among an array of HD and/or 4K cameras.

IBC marked a significant step forward in the eventual adoption of 8K. Though its use as a broadcast format will remain niche, the potential it has to enable new techniques in acquisition are abundant. With NHK set to start broadcasting their 8K content in December this year, the acceptance of 8K is already well under way.

Chris Evans is an analyst specializing in broadcasting and professional video equipment at Futuresource Consulting.

Leyard and its companies Planar, eyevis and Teracue, will showcase state-of-the-art display solutions designed for broadcast applications from on-camera to production, post-production and master control rooms at the 2018 International Broadcast Conference (IBC) Show, held in Amsterdam from September 13 – 18. Leyard’s participation at IBC 2018 follows the acquisition of eyevis and Teracue in May 2018. It is the companies’ first combined presence at a major event.

“Expertly designed, highly agile and superior resolution display technology is critical to the production and presentation of today’s best broadcast content,” said Christian Orcin, vice president of product marketing at Leyard EMEA. “Our groundbreaking products are transforming the future of broadcast worldwide, and I’m thrilled to share them at IBC 2018.”

On-Camera Seamless LED Video Walls

Among Leyard’s LED solutions well-suited for on-camera network and affiliate studios featured at IBC 2018 include:

· The Leyard TWS Series, a family of versatile ultra-fine pitch LED video wall displays available in 0.9, 1.2, 1.5 and 1.8 millimeter pixel pitches. The Leyard TWS Series features a convenient 27-inch diagonal size with an all-in-one design to fit a broad range of broadcast environments. The Leyard TWS Series is lightweight and easy to handle, making it an attractive solution for applications where traditional, hanging or curved video walls are required.

· The Leyard TVF Series, a family of fine pitch LED video wall displays available in 1.5, 1.8 and 2.5 millimeter pixel pitches. With a 27-inch, slim-profile display cabinet, the Leyard TVF Series features front serviceability and a creative, stackable design that eliminates cabinet-to-cabinet cabling and reduces the complexity of installation and vertical alignment.

· The Leyard LED MultiTouch delivers the industry’s first completely seamless interactive LED video wall using Leyard PLTS (Pliable LED Touch Surface) technology and a sleek framing system to provide a dynamic multi-user experience. Leyard LED MultiTouch delivers a high-performance, interactive experience with 32 simultaneous touch points, and is available in 108-inch, 151-inch and 196-inch diagonals.

LeyardCarbonLight CLI Series is a line of lightweight, flexible LED video wall displays ideal for indoor rental, staging and flexible-fixed applications. The Leyard CarbonLight CLI Series offers 1.9, 2.6, 3.9 and 5.2 millimeter pixel pitch models. The series also features easy front service to accommodate even swifter upkeep and maintenance. Additional pixel pitches are available with the Leyard CarbonLight CLM Series, a line of lightweight, mesh LED displays designed to deliver a highly transparent appearance with low wind resistance, while maintaining stunning appearance in any application.

LCD and Rear Projection Video Walls for On-Camera

Leyard and its companies also offer a complete portfolio of high-quality LCD video walls specifically designed to deliver precise and brilliant visual messages in demanding environments — from control rooms to broadcast studios.

· The Planar UltraRes Series in 98-inch Ultra HD resolution (3840 x 2160) offers professional quality for native 4K and upscaled content. With its superior performance, exceptional 4K clarity and advanced processing, the Planar UltraRes is ideal for applications ranging from collaborative meeting spaces to high-impact digital signage.

· The eyevis EYE-LCD-5500-XSN-LD-FX-700-BC is a specialized LCD video wall display designed for on-camera broadcast applications due to its ability to achieve a color temperature of 3200 Kelvin. The 55-inch displays are Full HD resolution and feature a tiled bezel width of 3.5mm.

· eyevis omniSHAPES are versatile hexagon-shaped DLP rear projection display modules that can create virtually unlimited video wall shapes and configurations. The funnel-shaped design of the housings further allows for curved screens in concave or convex configurations for further video wall design creativity.

Cutting-Edge IPTV Innovations

· Teracue offers products and solutions for professional video, IPTV and video-networking. Content can be transmitted via cable over local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN) wireless over long term evolution (LTE) or satellite. Teracue delivers IPTV products for DVB, HD-encoder, server for recording and VOD, software for routing and transcoding. Teracue’s broadcast solutions allow customers to transmit, transcode and securely store high-quality video signals via existing network infrastructure.

· Teracue ENC400 Series is a HD/SD H.264 fanless video encoder able to deliver multiple streams in multiple bitrates and protocols to multiple destinations. The build-in frame synchronizer guarantees stable signal processing and both inputs provide loop through outputs and can be used for redundancy switching or as sources for two individual encodings. In addition to the latest in H.264 encoding technology, the Teracue ENC-400 features MJPEG for legacy, both for live streaming and recording. The compact fanless and lightweight aluminum portable unit is ideal for broadcast contribution, IPTV and webcasting.

· Teracue Application Cloud (TAC) enables adjusting, managing, control routing and transcoding of live SD/HD/4K streams in a single application. The new GUI design is an intuitive matrix overview which allows an overview of the incoming and outgoing streams at the first glance. TAC supported protocols for in- and outputs include: UDP, RTP, RTSP, TCP (Client/Server), HLS, HTTP, SRT, FEC, MPEG-DASH, RTMP and HSS.