Sony to trial live 4K Confederations Cup this year

 

3D NEWS> ULTRA HD

Broadcast reports Sony have confirmed plans to conduct a live 4K (or Ultra HD) production of the FIFA Confederations Cup as part of an internal trial.

The production won’t be broadcast publicly but the production will be used to assess creative and technical 4K workflow during a live sports broadcast.

Three matches will be filmed in the ‘beyond HD’ format using a 4K mobile production unit supplied by Telegenic.

Sony head of business development for 3D, 4K and sports Mark Grinyer said: “While various aspects of 4K broadcasting have been built and tried before, this trial will be a first in terms of the scope of production for live sports production.  The FIFA Confederations Cup is going to be an important milestone for the future of 4K.”

Sport appears to be the first genre to benefit from 4K..

Earlier this year, satellite broadcast company SIS Live conducted a 4K multi-camera live field test at St James' Park for a Premiership match.  There have been hints that this year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championships, to be broadcast in 3D again, may be filmed with 4K cameras (shot by Sony) and in October 2012, BSkyB conducted a ultra-high definition test, using Sony and Canon cameras to film Arsenal’s Champions League tie with Olympiakos in 4K resolution.

Assessing that trial, Sky Director of Operations Darren Long said: “The key to us is to ensure quality and when showing footballers running, it was clear that there was too much camera blur; we feel 120 frames a second is the right speed. We’re liaising with standards bodies and working with manufacturers to understand the camera’s capabilities and to improve the technology.”

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