Japan Successfully Broadcasts 8K Signal Over The Air

Japan Successfully Broadcasts 8K Signal Over The Air


We assumed the gorgeous 8K ultra-HDTVs we saw at CES this year were years away. But Japan’s NHK has just completed the first over-the-air broadcast of a 7680×4320 signal using UHF frequencies — just when you’d finished paying off your giant HDTV display.

The compressed Super Hi-Vision signal, as the NHK calls it, was broadcast over a distance of about 4km without any errors on the receiving end. So it’s not like the broadcaster has started blanketing Tokyo in a glorious 8K signal just yet, but it’s an important milestone. And to facilitate all that data, 16 times the resolution of a 1920×1080 HD image, the researchers spread the signal across a couple of UHF frequencies. Which means that one day the government might have to rustle up even more spectrum space if 8K ends up replacing our recently deployed hi-def networks. [NHK via AV Watch via Engadget HD]