NEW YORK—The WNET Group has partnered with Japan International Broadcasting (JIB) to launch the NHK World-Japan channel in the New York DMA.

The service became available on April 1 on public media station WLIW’s digital channel 21.3 and on local cable providers including Optimum, Spectrum, Comcast, Verizon Fios, and Astound/RCN.

NHK World-Japan is the English-language international service of Japan's sole public broadcaster, NHK.

"We are excited to partner with Long Island's WLIW to bring the NHK World-Japan channel to an even broader New York audience," said Mr. Hiroshi Maeda, the president & CEO of Japan International Broadcasting. "We look forward to continuing our relationship with its parent company WNET and collaborating with them to highlight this unique perspective on Japanese culture, lifestyle programming, and international news to English-speaking viewers in Long Island and the entire tri-state area."

"NHK World-Japan has been providing viewers of the tri-state area high-quality, diverse content for nearly a decade, delivering programs on Japanese society, history, food, politics, and more," said Neal Shapiro, President & CEO of The WNET Group. "We're proud to continue this partnership expanding the reach of NHK's exceptional programming from Asia and around the world by adding NHK World-Japan to our WLIW digital channel lineup for our local communities."

Digital antenna viewers will need to rescan their tuners after April 1 to receive over-the-air channel updates including NHK World-Japan on WLIW 21.3 and the World Channel, which is moving to 13.3 (THIRTEEN WORLD) on April 1.

Viewers can check your local listings or wliw.org/HowToWatch for additional channel information.

DENVER—NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) has joined the International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP). 

The coalition is expanding the language content under its protection umbrella to include Japanese and has added a Japanese-speaking analyst to its anti-piracy lab to focus on protecting NHK content. The coalition already protects English, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Portuguese and French channels, among others, it said.

“We have been very impressed with the results achieved by IBCAP in controlling piracy for other members, and we are excited to join IBCAP and to bring our channels and VOD under IBCAP’s protection,” said Shigeki Sato, the head of NHK’s copyright and contracts division. “After visiting IBCAP’s state-of-the-art monitoring lab and meeting the legal and management teams, we were quickly convinced that joining this coalition was the right move for us to bolster the protection of NHK content not only in the U.S. but also worldwide.”

More information is available on the IBCAP website.

TOKYO—NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories (STRL) has released some important details about a new way to visualize the range of colors in a 2D diagram using the new international standard “Gamut rings,” which was invented by NHK STRL. 

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)1), International Committee for Display Metrology (ICDM)2), and the International Commission on Illumination (CIE)3) adopted the gamut ring framework as an international standard in January, July, and November 2021, respectively. (See Figure 1).

NHK STRL has also developed a system  that automatically measures the display color gamut  boundary and renders gamut rings (Photo 1). 

Conventionally, the “color gamut” is represented by the  area of a triangle connecting the points of the red, blue, and green primary colors in a chromaticity diagram (Figure  2), NHK STRL explained. 

Although this conventional representation is simple,  expressing the color gamut in a 3D color space that includes a lightness axis (L*) is suitable for an effective evaluation (Figure 3). 

However, a single-angle view in a 3D plot can often be misleading because parts of the  gamut are always obscured from the view. It has  therefore been a challenge to develop a method to  convert the 3D color gamut in a 2D format, NHK STRL noted. 

To solve that problem Gamut rings were invented by NHK STRL as a way to accurately represent a 3D color gamut in a 2D diagram. 

The Gamut Rings are by the following procedure: The gamut solid  (Fig. 3) is cut into pieces at regular intervals of lightness (L*). Each piece is then stretched into a slice of unity lightness; the area of the slice corresponds to  the volume of the piece. Gamut rings are formed by placing one slice at the lowest lightness level, followed  by positioning the other slices around the bottom slice consecutively. The angle from the center represents the hue such as red, green, and blue, NHK STRL explained. 

Gamut rings can potentially be applied in the design  and evaluation of color reproduction devices, such as  displays and printers, and can be used to conduct performance comparisons for both professional and consumer uses, NHK STRL concluded. (Figure 4).

TOKYO—When the 2021 Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony begins, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK will achieve a major milestone on its roadmap for 8K UHDTV as it presents the international spectacle to Japanese viewers on its BS8K (Broadcast Satellite 8K) channel in 8K.

Delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, the games represent another significant achievement for the broadcaster, which made television history 57 years ago with live international satellite distribution of the 1964 Summer Olympics and domestic coverage of some Olympic events in color.

For the 2021 Summer Olympics, NHK plans about 200 hour of 8K UHD coverage, including broadcasts of the opening and closing ceremonies and seven events, including swimming, athletics and judo. It also plans 8K coverage of four Paralympics events: athletics, swimming, badminton and wheelchair rugby.

(NHK previously has conducted tests of its Super Hi-Vision technology, including uses during the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2016 Rio Olympics but downconverted much of that footage because so few 8K displays existed.) 

The broadcaster plans separate 2K Summer Olympics coverage on its General TV 2K terrestrial channel and a simulcast of the 2K presentation in 4K UHD on BS4K. 

Coverage of the Olympics in 4K and 8K will be the first on NHK’s BS4K and BS8K since it launched the satellite channels in December 2018. “We hope to provide viewers with a fully immersive experience that makes them feel like they are watching the events at the venues,” said NHK executive director of broadcasting Masagaki Satoru. 

NHK began work on its Super Hi-Vision 8K television system in 1995, showing the world the incremental progress it was making on development of the concept and technology at special exhibits during major international industry gatherings, such as the NAB Show and IBC. 

8K UHD is the pinnacle of the TV viewing experience. From a resolution point of view, it creates pictures with four times more pixels than 4K UHD (7,680 x 4,320 pixels vs. 3,840 x 2.160 pixels, or 33 million pixels vs. 8 million) and 16 times more than HDTV. 

Both 4K and 8K present video with High Dynamic Range (HDR); HDTV as broadcast does not. They also offer a wider color gamut than broadcast HDTV (ITU-R Rec. 2100 vs. ITU Rec. 709). While these qualities taken together deliver the highest visual TV experience to viewers, 8K’s 22.2 multichannel sound system extends the system’s superior quality to the aural arena.

Millions of viewers in Japan have the opportunity to enjoy NHK’s 4K and 8K coverage. According to Statista Research, there were about 8.8 million Japanese households that owned a 4K or 8K UHD TV as of fiscal year 2019, a figure the research firm forecasted to grow beyond 16 million this year.

An NHK spokesperson declined to provide details about specific 8K production technology to be used for its 8K coverage. However, the broadcaster previously has deployed an 8K camera system of its own design for major sporting events, debuting its use for coverage of the Rugby World Cup in 2018.

NHK’s 8K UHDTV coverage of the 2021 Summer Olympics will only be available to viewers in Japan.

The 2021 Summer Olympics from Tokyo run from Friday, July 23, to Sunday, Aug. 8. The 2021 Paralympics are scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 24 to Sunday, Sept. 5.

In the U.S., NBC will begin live coverage of the Opening Ceremony at 6:55 a.m. EDT and re-air the opening at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

TOKYO—The NHK Science & Technology Research Lab will be hosting a month-long open house in June that will feature demonstrations of a variety of futuristic technologies, lectures on new broadcast and media technologies, and “Lab Talks” with NHK STRL staff presenting their research.

Highlights include a demonstrations of "Immersive Media,” which will provide more realistic and immersive content, “Universal Services,” which will bring content to all viewers on a range of devices, and “Frontier Science,” which includes basic research for the future. 

The Japanese public broadcasters NHK has long been on the forefront of developing new broadcast and visual technologies going back to its pioneering work on HDTV in the 1960s. 

More information on the specific presentations and discussions of new technologies can be found here.

TOKYO—Get ready to see Mars in 8K, as Japanese broadcaster NHK and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are collaborating on a “Super Hi-Vision Camera” that would shoot 4K and 8K images of JAXA’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. JAXA claims that this would be the first time 8K images of Mars and its moons would be taken in close proximity.

The camera is meant to capture UHD images and broadcast them widely with cooperation from JAXA. The images will be taken at regular intervals and partially transmitted to Earth to create a smooth image. The original image data is planned to be stored in a recording device in MMX’s return capsule.

JAXA and NHK have collaborated on different projects dating back to 1992 when it conducted a live broadcast from a space shuttle. This collaboration’s goal is to visualize the actual behavior of the spacecraft with the Super Hi-Vision Camera, combining 4K/8K images with MMX’s flight data. These can also be used for the operation of the spacecraft, JAXA says.

“JAXA and NHK will work together to convey the appeal of a new horizon that has never been seen in detail before, to many people in a vivid and inspiring way,” said JAXA in the announcement.

MMX is expected to launch in JFY 2024.

TOKYO—NHK has an eye on bringing back 3D TV, but without the glasses. NHK is developing Aktina Vision, a 3D TV system that enables natural 3D viewing.

To create the 3D image, Aktina Vision captures an object from different viewpoints (horizontal and vertical) so as to have multiviewpoint images. These are then used to reproduce the light rays from the object. By increasing the number of mutliviewpoint images and resolution of each image, natural high-resolution 3D video display can be achieved, per NHK.

Aktina Vision can accommodate 72 mutliviewpoint images; it also increases video resolution by using an 8K projector with a pixel-offset method. A special optical system shifts and multiplexes the light rays of the 72 high-resolution multiviewpoint images. This ultimately allows the NHK system to produce 2 million pixels, equivalent to HDTV, it says.

“We will continue to research on 3D imaging, video compression coding, etc. to achieve next-generation TV that can present video with unprecedented realism,” NHK said in its press release.

For more information, visit www.nhk.or.jp.  

SWITZERLAND—The 2019 Rugby World Cup is expected to be one of the biggest editions in the tournament’s history, and the World Rugby federation is teaming up with International Games Broadcast Services to bring a new level of broadcast standards to live up to that expectation.

The broadcasts for the 2019 RWC will be delivered to the largest group of viewers in the tournaments history, and the content being offered to them will include 4K/UHD broadcasts—8K in Japan—augmented reality graphics, the use of more cameras to cover game action and streaming options.

While taking place in Japan, the 2019 RWC will be broadcast to more than 800 million households in 217 territories. And for those areas that do not have access to broadcast television, a streaming option is being provided.

What those viewers will see is a level of production new for the RWC. Coverage will be offered in multiple feeds in multiple formats, including the ability to transmit tournament coverage in 4K/UHD. Through Japan’s NHK, Japan markets will be able to view content in 8K.

AR graphics will also be incorporated into the coverage of 34 of the tournament’s 48 matches. The graphics will include elements like team line-ups, player comparisons, statistics and tables.

Additional features will include an increase to 34 cameras for the semi-finals and finals (up from 23-28 camera range for other matches); infographics for social and digital platforms; Hawk-Eye Smart Replay technology; behind-the-scenes and daily digital and social media packages; and geo-targeting through the RWC app to notify fans when and where to tune in for matches.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup will take place from Sept. 20-Nov. 2.

NHK has announced that it will launch its 8K channel in Japan with a broadcast of “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

The broadcaster, which announced the launch date last spring, has been testing 8K (what it calls “Super Hi Vision”) in anticipation of broadcasting the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games in the format.

NHK’s Executive Director of Broadcasting Yukinori Kida said the choice to launch the BS8K channel (which will coincide with the launch of the network’s 4K channel, BS4K) with “2001” was based on the film’s being shot in 70mm, a rarity when it was released to the public 50 years ago.

“Although many films were shot in 35mm, this film which was made half a century ago, was one of the few shot in 70mm, the highest quality available at the time,” he said. “Although the quality of 70mm films is comparable to 8K, there are a limited number of venues where they can be shown, so it was hard to enjoy them in the original quality.

“NHK was the first in the world to request this film be converted to 8K,” he continued. “Warner Bros., which owns the film, scanned the original film negatives, repairing scratches and restoring the color, to convert it into 8K. The result of that is the power and beauty of the 70mm original is fully captured in 8K, and the many famous scenes become even more vivid, with the attention to detail of director Stanley Kubrick expressed in the exquisite images, creating the feeling of really being on a trip in space, allowing the film to be enjoyed for the first time at home and in other venues. We would like viewers to thoroughly enjoy this masterpiece of film history.”

“My Fair Lady,” another film shot in 70mm during the 1960’s, will be shown on BS8K next March, according to Kida. 

Panasonic is debuting the AK-SHB810 8K multipurpose camera, a compact, lightweight, box-type camera that uses a PL lens mount and what the company says is equipped with the world’s first organic 8K sensor. The company achieved this by developing a laminated structure using organic thin film that results in a more efficient photoelectric conversion. Panasonic says it will hit the market in the fall of 2019.

“We realized a wide dynamic range corresponding to light/dark difference with 8K high resolution, global shutter without skew distortion and flash band, electronic ND filter function,” the company said.

Connected via fiber cable between the camera unit and AK-SHU810 image processing unit, the camera system can output 8K/4K/HD, accommodating a wide range of applications for broadcasting and video production.

This is not Panasonic’s first foray into 8K. The company released its 8K Super Hi-Vision recorder AJ-ZS 0580 in 2017 for the anticipated launch of 8K in Japan later this year. 8K “Super Hi-Vision” is the name of the 8K format developed by Japan public broadcaster NHK.

“Looking ahead to 2020, we will continue to develop 4K/8K devices/systems that can withstand actual operation, support high image quality of broadcast production and efficiency of broadcasting services, and contribute to the development of the broadcasting industry,” the company said.

The system will be exhibited at InterBEE 2018 held in Makuhari Messe, Chiba prefecture in Japan, Nov. 14-16.

TOKYO--Japanese public broadcaster NHK has announced that it will begin broadcasting a new 8K channel via satellite by December. The network announced earlier this year that it had intended to do so in advance of its plans to broadcast the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics in the high res format. This follows speculation that Samsung will debut its first 8K consumer TV set at IFA later this month.

NHK is dubbing the format—which delivers 7680x4320 pixels with 22.2-channel audio—“BS8K,” a version of what it used to call “Super High Vision” which it had demonstrated at industry trade shows for the past decade. The network covered the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games in 8K earlier this year and plans on providing approximately 12 hours of 8K content per day, according to RedShark News.

[Read: Is It Time To Think About 8K?]

Meanwhile, speculation is that Samsung plans to unveil its first 8K QLED consumer set at the German consumer electronics trade show IFA according to Tech Radar which added that the company had announced earlier this year that it had plans to launch 8K sets in 65-, 72- and 82-inch sizes. At the International CES earlier this year, Samsung demo-ed an 85-inch 8K set that uses artificial intelligence to deliver the high resolution format. 

TOKYO—Why do 4K when you can do 8K seems to be the strategy for Japanese public broadcaster NHK, which has announced that it intends to launch an 8K TV channel later this year.

NHK says that it will release the 8K compatible satellite broadcast channel on Dec. 1. The broadcaster claims that it will be the first 8K channel in the world.

However, if you can’t wait that long to experience 8K and you are able to head to this year’s South by Southwest Festival, then you can get a sneak preview of NHK’s 8K capabilities. NHK will host an 8K exhibit in the SXSW theater, which will showcase 2D and 3D musical experiences. The theater will reportedly project visuals onto a 200-inch screen and be accompanied by immersive 3D sound.

The 8K theater will be open to SXSW attendees starting from March 13 to March 15 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. To RSVP, contact Kosuke Tanabe at tanabe-ko@nhk-ep.co.jp.

The 2018 SXSW Festival takes place in Austin, Texas, from March 13-15.

TOKYO—NHK and Village Island are pushing to make strides in 8K, recently collaboration on the development of the Vico-8, a unit designed to transport 8K 4:2:2 10bits on a single 12G-SDI cable with intoPix Tico compression technology.

The Vico-8 system takes 8K video as 4x 12G-SDI input, compressing it by a factor of four to one to generate a single Tico 8K stream output mapped on a single 12G-SDI interface with minimal delay. The system can be configured as either an encoder or decoder. As an 8K decoder, it can also be configured to output a down-converted 4K output through Tico’s internal down-scaler. The intoPix Tico technology in the system supports resolution up to 7680x4320 pixels.

With this technology, users will reportedly able to achieve 8K with 4K-ready appliances for switching, distributing and transmitting the signal.

The Vico-8 system is available as a 1RU appliance, or as OEM and ODM boards.

OSAKA, JAPAN—In four years’ time, Sony and Panasonic want to offer the Olympics to viewers in four times the resolution that they were able to watch the most recent Games in Rio. The two companies announced that they are partnering with Japanese broadcaster NHK to develop technology that will be able to deliver 8K content with the specific goal of having it ready for the 2020 Olympics, which will take place in Tokyo, according to an article from the Asian Review.

Japan had previously announced that it was aiming to be ready to broadcast 8K content by 2018, and with the combination of Sony and Panasonic—and additional companies that they hope to bring into the fold—they hope to split the burden of cost and accelerate the process. The companies plan to implement the 8K technology into TV sets, cameras and more.

To read the full article, click here.

TOKYO—School might be out here in the U.S., but Japanese broadcaster NHK is getting ready to test both 4K and 8K high-definition broadcasts on its BS satellite channels, according to a report from The Japan Times. The goal of these tests is to reportedly verify and popularize the technology ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which will take place in Tokyo.

Currently, viewers are not able to watch 4K or 8K broadcasting with conventional TV sets or tuners. To offer a preview, NHK says it will place 8K TVs at its broadcasting centers across Japan for visitors. The broadcaster will offer 8K coverage of the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as well as swimming and track events. Public viewing events of 8K are also being planned at six venues in Tokyo and Osaka.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to start broadcasting in 4K and 8K in 2018.

A Timeline of NHK’s 8K Super Hi Vision Development

1995: Research on ultra high-definition video system begins.
March 2002: Ultra high-definition video system with 4000 scanning lines and 3D sound reproduction system displayed at the inaugural ceremony at NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories.
2004: Ultra high-definition video system with 4000 scanning lines and 22.2 multichannel sound system named “Super Hi-Vision.”
March 2005: Super Hi-Vision shown on a 6OO-inch screen at the Expo 2005 Aichi Japan.
April 2006: UHD debuts at 2006 NAB Show
December 2006: NHK’s program “Kouhaku Utagassen” (The Red and White Year-end Song Festival) successfully transmitted with bit-rate compression over IP networks from Tokyo to Osaka, in cooperation with NTT and NTT Communications.
October 2007: Video format standardized by SMPTE.
July 2008: Audio system format (22.2 multichannel sound system) standardized by SMPTE.
May 2010: Full resolution color camera displayed at NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories open house.
May 2011: 85-inch liquid crystal display and display with built-in 22.2 multichannel sound reproduction system exhibited at NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories open house.
May 2012: Compact camera (same size as HDTV camera) is developed.
July 2012: Public viewings of the 2012 London Olympic Games in Super Hi-Vision held.
September 2014: Video shot using an 8K Super Hi-Vision camera with a frame frequency of 120Hz was shown for the first time at the IBC Show.
November 2014: NHK announces plans to deploy 8K transmissions in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Source: NHK

NEW YORK - I have seen the future of television, and it looks incredibly sharp. As always, though, the next leap in pure technology will be balanced against the needs and limitations of the commercial marketplace.

I speak of 8K, or specifically NHK’s Super Hi-Vision system. The company has been conducting broadcast demos in the U.S. lately, following a widely tracked experiment in 2014 with World Cup matches being beamed to sites in Japan and Brazil. NHK is aiming to start test satellite broadcasts in 2016, full satellite broadcasts in 2018 and further accelerate the promo push in 202 when Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympics.

Two 8K demos in recent weeks, one in June during the Women’s World Cup and the other at Yankee Stadium on July 17, left me convinced of the aesthetic potential but dubious of some of the practicalities. First, a confession. I have watched baseball avidly for my entire life. Soccer, while enjoyable in limited doses, is less of a passion point for me. So I will start with observations about the former national pastime. The ballgame I saw in 8K, a nighttime tilt between the Yanks and the Seattle Mariners, offered a completely new way to see the game, as if the eye doctor turned the dial to 11. The level of detail, due to the fact that 8K is 16 times sharper than current HDTV (2K on a Blu-ray disc or often 1080p via a set-top box), is extraordinary. Features that are usually just blurry brush strokes stand out in remarkable clarity: sunflower seed shells littering the field; ripples in the pitchers’ uniforms; brand names on clothing worn by fans 10 rows deep.

Then there’s the sound, which is dramatically more immersive than traditional 5.1 channel systems—Super Hi-Vision delivers 22.2-multichannel sound. The crack of the bat, the ball hitting leather, anything properly miked on the field reaches through the set and grabs you. The same was true in the soccer demo—watching Hope Solo boot a ball two-thirds of the way downfield seemed all the more impressive when the kick thudded in my chest cavity.

In these wonders, however, lie some logistical challenges. How likely are most viewers to install 22 speakers into their home viewing environment? (My wife already balked at five.) NHK does say it is “researching and developing ways for people to enjoy the 22.2-multichannel sound experience in limited audio environments, such as those with fewer speakers.” Then, of course, there are some key variables with the image quality—while the higher frame rate and greater bit depth certainly make the test experience compelling, how likely will “true 8K” be when delivered through the current distribution ecosystem? Already, as B&C’s resident tech guru, contributing editor George Winslow, points out, research shows how far short of 1080p current programming labeled as “HD” often falls. Unlike the tests I witnessed, which had no announcers, no on-screen graphics and only occasional replays, a commercial sports broadcast would be put through a much more dramatic filter. The color, sound and atmosphere will all be blended with the commercial objectives of networks and brands. The result will be something shy of the pure marvel I saw at Yankee Stadium and, on an even larger screen, at Fox’s Daryl Zanuck Theatre. What’s more, even 4K TV sets and programming remain in a fairly nascent stage, and some on Wall Street believe they have been a lot less of a business driver than anticipated. The CEA projects unit shipments of 4K UHD displays to hit 4.4 million in 2015, a 210% increase from ’14, with revenue more than doubling, to $5.3 billion. Not chicken scratch, but far from revolutionary.

A filmmaker and commercial director friend of mine, Craig Teper, salivated over the purity and potential of the Yankee Stadium experience, but he conceded that his was a shooter’s enthusiasm. “If you’re making something, you want 4K and 8K. It’s the best,” he told me. For the viewer, the question is going to be, as it has been forever, what price beauty? As spectacular as many 8K moments were for me, I can’t imagine paying the kind of premium I do to get HD. And the migration to HD came in a world before OTTs and skinny bundles. In the current era, technical upgrades might rank below items from the increasingly a la carte programming menu.