Live from the World Cup: NHK 8K Coverage of Final Completes Successful Series of Broadcasts
The 2014 FIFA World Cup Final on Sunday will conclude a super test of 8K Super HiVision productions and distribution by Japanese broadcaster NHK. Overall NHK produced and transmitted nine matches in 8K, showing significant production gains in a year-over-year basis as last year the broadcaster was on hand to produce 8K coverage of the Confederations Cup.
Kazutaka Noda of NHK outside the Super HiVision truck.
“The big differences between this operation and the Sochi Olympic / Confederations Cup is that we are transmitting the 8k signal to Japan,” says Kazutaka Noda of NHK Cosmo Media America who is working as an Technical Coordinator/Audio Engineer on all those 8K project.
NHK has also placed its Super HiVision production within a dedicated truck that is home to the NEC production switcher and instant replay servers from Astrodesign and EVS. Two other trailers, one that is home to the audio mixing and recording area another that handles transmission, have also been configured so that, unlike at the London and Sochi Olympics, No longer simply loading equipment into a regular truck rented from a local provider. This save the huge amount of time for set up and travels.
The production itself involved three 8K Ikegami cameras with two Canon 10x and a Fujinon 11x lenses. plus three 4K cameras: a Sony F65 camera is used to shoot live features outside of the stadium and then two For-A FT1 4K camera that was used for super slow-motion replays and the live shoot by the pitch. Lensing, and the ability to shoot closeups, says Noda, remains one of the main issue of the productions.
A look at the audio mixing bench for 22.2 channel surround sound.
And then there is audio which is being produced in 22.2 channels but it is being mixed down to 5.1 Surround Sound for the IBC demonstration.
“We now have to consider about the down mixing of the 22.2 channels to 5.1 and stereo,” says Noda. “There are more than a few issues that we have to figure out in order to find the right coefficient for down mixing. It would be easier to solve this situation by thinking about the times we were trying to convert 5.1 to stereo or even stereo to mono. But we have concentrated to create the best balanced 22.2 channel mix this time.”
In terms of transmission sixteen HD-SDI signals are received from the video production truck. They are passed into a format converter and embedded with 24 channels of AES audio. The embedded signals are sent to eight HD encoders and converted to eight 35Mbs TS (Transport Stream) signal. The ultimate multiplex include two 140Mbs signals for a total of 280Mbs total that is sent to the IBC via CIR. Uncompressed 8k signals are sent to three Public Viewing locations in Rio de Janeiro including the IBC, a FIFA TV Lounge at the Sofitel, and TV Globo’s broadcast facility. The signal is also sent to Japan by converted IP signal where four viewing locations allow viewers to see the action live.
Hiroshi Kawai of NHK oversees the 8K transmission of the World Cup.
One challenge, adds Noda, is that people are getting exposed to 8K a second or third time and some viewers are now looking for additional cameras and the much-desired closeup shots that are typically found in an HD production.
“When people first see it they think picture and the sound is amazing. Then now they want to have more excitement and details.” adds Noda. “How can we express that wide dynamic range of three dimensional audio is that makes people feel just like that they are sitting down best seat of the stadium? If people feel like that then it’s a success.”