NHK BS8K is a

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

broadcasting service offered by

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

. Launched on 1 December 2018, it is the world's first television channel to broadcast in

8K resolution 8K resolution refers to an image or display resolution with a width of approximately 8,000 pixels. 8K UHD () is the highest resolution defined in the Rec. 2020 ( UHDTV) standard. 8K display resolution is the successor to 4K resolution. TV m ...

Background

NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories had started to develop an 8K broadcast resolution in 1995. The format was first publicly displayed at the

Expo 2005 Expo 2005 was a world expo held for 185 days between Friday, March 25 and Sunday, September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. Japan has also hosted Expo '70 Osaka (World Expo), Expo '75 Okinawa (Specialised Expo) ...

in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, whereas the first 8K live feed broadcast were tested at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London. Due to the successful tests, plans for a television channel dedicated to airing an 8K resolution were approved by the NHK. On 1 August 2016, NHK started to test an Ultra HD channel on BS17, to prevent terrestrial digital broadcasting on its other networks. It featured a variety of 4K and 8K resolution programming, before concluding on 23 July 2018, after which an 8K network was assigned to a newly created BS 14 channel.

Overview

NHK BS8K was launched on 1 December 2018 at 10:00 ( JST) as the world's first television channel to broadcast in to 8K " Super Hi-Vision", along with NHK BS4K, which broadcasts in a similar but lower

2160p 4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) with a 16:9 asp ...

4K UHD TV resolution. Unlike its preceding formats, BS8K's 4320p resolution is displayed through a

progressive scan Progressive scanning (alternatively referred to as noninterlaced scanning) is a format of displaying, storing, or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. This is in contrast to interlaced video us ...

standard, as opposed to the traditional

1080i In high-definition television (HDTV) and video display technology, 1080i is a video display format with 1080 lines of vertical resolution and Interlaced video, interlaced scanning method. This format was once a standard in HDTV. It was particular ...

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

that is commonly used by broadcasting systems around the world, including

's General TV service. The technology used to broadcast the resolution was developed by the NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories, which had earlier developed the High Efficiency Video Coding format to be used for the 8K resolution in 2013. The channel's audio is broadcast in a 22.2 surround sound standard.

Promotion

To promote the launch of BS8K, NHK opened a "Super Hi-Vision Park" at an event hall in

Shibuya, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. A major commercial center, Shibuya houses one of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shibuya Station. As of January 1, 2024, Shibuya Ward has an estimated population of 230,609 in 142,443 households ...

from 30 November 2018 to 4 December 2018, featuring an "8K Living Room" equipped with an UHD TV and a 22-multichannel home theatre system. On 1 December 2018, the NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories also demonstrated a public viewing of both the BS8K and the BS4K channels, which included a live feed of the

Roman Forum A forum (Latin: ''forum'', "public place outdoors", : ''fora''; English : either ''fora'' or ''forums'') was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of Ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, alon ...

and the Pantheon in

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and a presentation of the remastered version of the feature film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968).

Programming

NHK BS8K broadcasts for twelve hours a day, unlike its sister channel BS4K, which broadcasts for 18 hours a day. BS8K broadcasts entertainment, art, documentary and sporting events. Some of the programs being broadcast include footage shot in 8K from

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

and the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

, the annual ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

'', and recorded concerts from some of the world's leading orchestras to showcase the immersive 22.2 channel sound. '' Wife of a Spy'', the first television drama to be originally broadcast on Ultra HD, premiered on the channel on 6 June 2020. NHK also broadcast over 200 hours of the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in 8K resolution on the BS8K channel.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:NHK BS8K BS8K Television channels and stations established in 2018 2018 establishments in Japan 2018 in Japanese television