Japan’s NHK Forges Ahead with 8K Broadcasts at Olympics

As sales of 4K Ultra HD (UHD) TVs begin to take off and 4K content slowly becomes available, Japan’s NHK is forging ahead with 8K TV, which delivers four times more pixels than UHD or 16 times that of standard HD.

The public broadcaster is actively testing its 8K Super Hi-Vision TV system in Rio as the 2016 Olympics get underway and will hold public viewing events at venues in Rio and Japan.

Opening and closing ceremonies and five events—including judo, swimming, and basketball—will be broadcast live.

Sony also announced that it will begin shipping samples of an 8K tuner it has developed in September. Full-scale 8K broadcasting is slated to begin in 2018.

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