2016 Olympics to get virtual reality and 8k broadcasts
Olympic Broadcasting Services will make broadcasts during the 2016 Olympics that can be viewed with virtual reality glasses such as the Samsung Gear VR. The OBS will also broadcast 130 hours of 8k video, but that only happens in Japan.
During the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, it will be possible to follow events in virtual reality. The OBS tells Advanced Television that VR footage will be made of the opening and closing ceremonies and one major sporting event per day.
These broadcasts can be viewed live with a compatible headset and later the videos will also be available on demand. The live broadcasts should be made available via VR platforms such as the Oculus Store. It is not yet known which VR headsets will have access to the images.
During the Youth Olympic Games, which took place in Lillehammer in Norway in February, the OBS experimented with virtual reality broadcasting for the first time. There is collaboration with NextVR and it can be seen that a setup with two Red Dragon cameras, equipped with fisheye lenses from Canon, is used. With this setup, videos with an angle of view of 180 degrees can be made. The Red cameras can film in 6k resolution, but it is not known what resolution the OBS will eventually use for VR broadcasts.
In total, the OBS will broadcast 7,000 hours of video material during the Games. 130 of those will be on view in 8k resolution of 7680×4320 pixels and will be combined with audio described as ‘3D 22.2-channel surround sound’. These images in the 8K Super Hi-Vision format are only available in Japan. That country is at the forefront when it comes to 8k broadcasting, the Japanese public broadcaster NHK wants to start broadcasting in 8k resolution on a large scale in 2020. Sharp launched the first 8k television in Japan in 2015.
The OBS will also make 4k recordings and convert 8k videos to 4k format. According to Advanced Television, however, it is unlikely that TV viewers worldwide will see these images. There are no plans to broadcast the high-resolution images to the public, although in some cases broadcasters taking images from the OBS will be able to access the ultra-HD images for testing or evaluation purposes. The regular footage is made in HD resolution with 5.1 audio.
Since 2001, the OBS has been the official broadcaster of all editions of the Olympic Games. The team will provide images of all sports during the event and will provide its video material to broadcasters worldwide.
Virtual reality camera setup of the OBS during the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer