On August 5th, Rio de Janeiro will be hosting the 2016 Olympics. For those that won’t be able to afford a plane ticket to Brazil, you can always enjoy the Olympics from the comfort of your own home. This time however, the Olympics will be receiving a bunch of new tech to enhance your viewing experience.
For starters, the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) has confirmed that it will be shooting parts of the 2016 Rio Olympics in 8K video with 22.2 channel surround sound. That said, this 8K broadcast will only be made available in Japan. Besides 8K, OBS will also be testing 4K downscaling, high dynamic range and hi-colour gamuts for the Olympics as well. Do note that the 4K footage will not be broadcasted, as the 4K footage is solely for testing purposes. The Olympics as a whole will be broadcasted in 1080p video with 5.1 surround sound across the world.
Another piece of technology that will be going on trial during the Rio Olympics is virtual reality. OBS will be capturing VR footage for the select sports as well as the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics. The footage will be made available for viewers around the world, regardless of whether or not they have a VR headset in hand.
Simply put, OBS is using the Rio Olympics to test run 8K broadcasting and VR footage, all of which is expected to be present at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Source: Advanced Television
