NHK-Japan 8K Super Bowl Transmission

The Japanese public broadcaster, NHK has used for its 8K transmission of Super Bowl 50, the Nevion Flashlink DWDM optical transmitter.

The event was filmed by NHK using six 8K cameras around the stadium, which was part of a larger 8K outside broadcast (OB) unit. While the footage was not broadcast live over the air – it was only viewable in the compound at the stadium and at NHK headquarters.

After a selection exercise, Nevion’s distributor in Japan, Networks Electronics Japan, won the project with NHK and supplied the Flashlink system as it met the broadcasters’ requirements.

NHK needed a solution to ensure it could transmit the 8K or super-hi vision (SHV) signal in an uncompressed format and in real time. The 8K format needs eight-channel 3GHD-SDI or a 16-channel HD-SDI cabling to transmit the uncompressed baseband signals.