Daniele Gauna, Senior Sport Production Technology Consultant with Infront in Italy, told delegates at the MIPTV 4K Ultra HD Conference that with the popularity of football in the country it made the sport a natural platform to carry out tests of 4K technology.

Its first such test had taken place in the San Siro stadium in Milan allowing both editorial and production staff to gain insights, with a subsequent tournament final in 4K HDR. “It was an extremely successful event,” he declared, suggesting that it had probably been the first such match covered in HDR. A more recent match between Inter Milan and Bologna had been covered with nine 4K cameras.

A signal from the match was sent to Infront’s MCR in order to allow it to understand transmission issues. “We understand we are now ready to produce 4K content, but from our point of view, the overall industry especially, the contribution and distribution sectors are not completely ready to manage 4K.”

Raymundo Barros, CTO of Brazil’s Globo, noted that 4K coverage of selected games at the 2014 Football World Cup had provided some early pointers to the challenges of 4K sports events. He noted that in 2015, one of the broadcaster’s OB trucks needed replacing, and it made sense to build it out in 4K with IP. “It’s going to be used for the Olympic Games at the volleyball venue,” he advised, stressing it was solely for Globo’s unilateral feed. Other coverage would be downconverted from the 8K feed that NHK was producing.

Categories: Articles, Equipment, Production, UHD, Ultra-HD/4K