Following testing at its bureau in facilities in Hitoyoshi, NHK’s Science & Technology Research Laboratories has reported successful transmission of 8K Ultra High HD TV to a receiving station 27km kilometres distant over a single UHF channel.
‘The success of this experiment is a big step toward the realisation of 8K Super Hi-Vision terrestrial broadcasting,’ says NHK Labs researcher, Tomohiro Saito. ‘We’re now working on overcoming one challenge at a time to implement it.’
The definition of the 8K format requires large amounts of data over UHF. ‘NHK’s trial has demonstrated technical feasibility,’ reports technology analyst Damian Thong, from Macquarie Securities in Tokyo. ‘This was never really in doubt given the technological capability of the NHK and its partners. The real question is whether there will be a commercial argument for 8K adoption just based on resolution,
‘The more compelling argument for migration may be in other aspects of picture quality that will also improve with the migrations to 4K and beyond, including frame rate, colour and dynamic range. The move to 4K and 8K will be costly for broadcasters and other content providers.’
The prospect of mainstream 8K broadcasting remains remote, the best presdiction presently being around 2030.
