World’s First 8K TV Broadcasts Started by Japan’s NHK

While much of the world is still struggling to adopt 4K televisions, one of Japan’s public broadcasters, NHK, have begun the world’s first satellite TV broadcasts at a whopping 8K. Named “Super Hi-Vision“, the test channel started broadcasting on Monday including a variety of content delivered at both 4K and 8K resolutions, the latter having a whopping 7680 x 4320 pixels, putting even 4K to shame while also allowing for 22.2-channel audio.

While the channel was launched just in time for the 2016 Olympic games, in the run-up to the event, it has been broadcasting an eclectic mix of shows including J-Pop concerts, footage from past Olympic games and other sports and documentaries as many fledgling HDTV channels have in the past. Some of the programming broadcast in 4K on Tuesday were highlights from the Rio carnival, footage from the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony and a concert by J-pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. The channel runs between 10AM and 5PM each day, with plans to extends broadcast times during the Rio Olympics in order to show a number of the events live.

Unfortunately, no one currently owns the equipment required to receive and view the channel at home, but NHK still plans to make use of it by installing viewing stations in public locations around the country and holding events centered around showing off footage from the Rio Summer Olympics. NHK may be ahead of their time in bringing forth 8K while 4K still has so few adopters, but the company has an illustrious history of pioneering new broadcasting formats, starting HD broadcasting as early as the 80s, long before many even had a flat screen TV, let alone on capable of displaying those resolutions.