NHK, Japan’s national public broadcasting organization (similar to BBC, in that you must pay a fee if you own a TV), has presented their plan for the two next-generation broadcasting standards, 4K and 8K.
8K is slated for a 2020 launch to coincide with that year’s Olympics, with broadcasting handled by their BS (Broadcasting Satellite) system.
For 4K, NHK and other TV stations will begin test broadcasts in 2014, and NHK will start 8K in 2016. Both will use the CS (Communication Satellite) system, which has ample bandwidth. However, CS is limited to 3.8 million subscribers, so advanced compression methods will be created by 2020 for BS, as it has a higher limit of 20 million subscribers.
4K has four times the resolution compares to Full HD 1080p (2K) content, and 8K has 16 times the resolution.
Reactions on 2channel:
痛いニュースSo I have to buy another set of antennas and tuners
Then why the hell do we need 4K? Are they stupid?
So in layman’s terms, it’s super amazingly high resolution?
16K after that then?
Doesn’t seem like a big jump like analog to digital
I guess they have a lot of money to burn
If they’re wasting our money like that, can they start charging half then?
The TV era is over, how long are they planning to take our money?
But they’re just going to show more Korean dramas in 8K, right?
Only film buffs will buy it, like 3D TVs
I wonder if Gundam will still be around then…
HD showed how gross female personalities and actresses can be, are they really going to keeping testing us?
They just want more money from investors
It’s not about resolution, but what they’re airing that’s important
Are there 8K cameras yet?
Let me guess, higher fees…
I bet it uses electricity like crazy
Are they really that stupid? You can’t just make it and expect people to buy it, 4K will fail
Analog broadcasts lasted 50 years, and as soon as we switch to digital the upgrade intervals shrunk like crazy
Blu-ray are still losing to DVD, why do they think higher resolution = success?
So if I record a two hour program on my DVR, will it be like 1TB?
NHK is trying to crush the TV manufacturers
Meanwhile my eyesight is getting worse
They were having trouble trying to figure out how to store/stream 4K content, but we’re already talking about 8K? This only benefits the few with humongous TVs
Who watches TV in real-time now? A lot of us record it, and that’s compressed again anyway, what’s the point
I’d rather have better Internet TV. Choose what I want to watch whenever and stream it
1080p is enough for 2D content, please move on to holograms
They keep making these improvements, but… do we really need it?
Good movie theater projectors are 4K, sometimes 2K. But 8K? …
No one’s going to buy a TV if you have to rebuy it every four years
TVs aren’t selling well anymore, so I guess they’re forcing people now
Who reads this and wants a 4K TV? I’m going to start saving up for a 8K TV now
I’ll buy a new TV once it’s 32K
I’m gonna sleep now, wake me when it’s around 128K.