8K Live Television Coverage of Global Sports Events in Brazil
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8K Live Television Coverage of Global Sports Events in Brazil Michael Stanton1, Leandro Ciuffo1, Shinichi Sakaida2, Tatsuya Fujii3, Hiroyuki Kimiyama3, Junichi Nakagawa4, Hisao Uose5 1 Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa (RNP), Brazil 2 Science and Technology Research Laboratories, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), Japan 3 Network Innovation Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), Japan 4 Service Evolution Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), Japan 5 NTT Advanced Technology Corporation (NTT-AT), Japan e-mails: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Paper type Case study Abstract R&E networks played an important role in helping Japanese television to transmit live 8K resolution TV images of the 2014 FIFA World CupTM to Japan. The huge distance between Brazil and Japan, half a world apart, set new challenges for streaming digital video spanning multiple domains over long-distance networks. The project to stream the FIFA World CupTM in 8K was a joint collaboration between NHK (Japanese Public Broadcasting Corporation), TV Globo (Brazilian TV broadcaster), NTT (Japanese Telecommunications Corporation) and RNP (Brazilian NREN), in cooperation with FIFA and CBPF (Brazilian Centre for Physics Research). The paper describes the audio and video technologies used in 2014, as well as the extensive preparations for efficient and effectively lossless media transmission over the intermediate networks. The high-compression H.264 codec developed by NHK required 280 Mbps for compressed SHV media transmission. In addition, the transmitted media were encrypted (for security), and then protected against packet loss by use of FireFort-LDGM FEC, a new forward error correction (FEC) code based on low- density generator matrix (LDGM), developed by NTT. The scheme used in 2014 provided for complete media error recovery, even after the loss of up to 20,000 consecutive UDP packets, and required a total bandwidth of less than 360 Mbps. Keywords 8K video, Super-Hi Vision, video capture, lossless media transmission, FIFA World CupTM 1. Introduction Whilst for most observers the next generation of Ultra-High Definition (UHD) television is generally thought to use the display resolution of 3840H x 2160V, usually known as 4K, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) has already been demonstrating use of their Super-Hi Vision (SHV) media, using the four times higher display resolution of 7680H x 4320V, usually referred to as 8K. These demonstrations to show the benefits of SHV have included the visualisation of cultural and scientific content from several countries, as well as globally known sporting events such as the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London and the 2014 FIFA World CupTM in Brazil. In these latter two cases, NHK captured and edited audio and 8K video content and transmitted the resulting SHV media for visualisation at public viewing sites both in the host country and in Japan. This transmission was carried out through a collaboration with the academic research networks in and between intermediate countries. In 2014, the Brazilian (RNP) and Latin American (RedCLARA) networks were used to reach Internet2. In this case, the total distance to Japan was greater, around 23,000 km end- to-end, more than half the circumference of the Earth. The whole system functioned in real time, with the public viewing sites showing live coverage of the football games from Brazil. Altogether, nine matches were selected by NHK for live streaming in 8K, starting with the first Japan game (Japan vs. Ivory Coast in Recife on June 14th) and concluding with the final between Argentina and Germany in Rio de Janeiro on July 13th. The selection of games took into consideration the logistics of moving the NHK outside broadcast (OB) vehicles containing the 8K capture and editing equipment between the hosting cities in Brazil. Table 1 displays the games that were streamed live, and Figure 1 shows the location of the football stadia. Table 1. FIFA World CupTM matches live streamed in 8K Date Match Venue 14/June Ivory Coast 2-1 Japan Recife 16/June Ghana 1-2 USA Natal 19/June Japan 0-0 Greece Natal 23/June Cameroon 1-4 Brazil Brasilia 28/June Brazil 1-1 Chile Belo Horizonte 30/June France 2-0 Nigeria Brasilia 05/July Argentina 1-0 Belgium Brasilia 08/July Brazil 1-7 Germany Belo Horizonte 13/July Germany 1-0 Argentina Rio de Janeiro Figure 1: Location of the 2014 FIFA World CupTM venues (Available at http://www.mapsofworld.com/sports/football/maps/2014-football-world-cup-venues- map.jpg) The remainder of this paper is organised as follows: Section 2 briefly presents some technical details of the SHV architecture. Section 3 illustrates the application of SHV at 2014 FIFA World CupTM, explaining the network challenges. Finally, Section 4 concludes the paper. 2. Super Hi-Vision The next-generation broadcasting system developed by NHK, named Super Hi-Vision (SHV), reproduces a strong sensation of presence through the use of ultra-high-resolution 33-megapixel 8K video (7680 pixels horizontally by 4320 pixels vertically) and maximum 120-Hz frame rate with progressive scanning, and 22.2 multichannel audio (22.2ch audio), providing 3-D surround sound. The final goal of research and development of SHV is to deliver highly realistic image and sound to viewers’ homes. When SHV becomes applicable as a broadcasting system, we will be able to use it for many purposes, such as archival and medical use. NHK has developed SHV cameras, displays, recorders, and audio equipment. The first 8K SHV camera was developed in 2002, utilizing four 8 megapixel sensors, its frame rate was 60 Hz, and its weight was around 80kg. 8K image signal captured with this camera has a bit rate of 24Gbps. In 2014, an 8K camera weighs 20kg. NHK has also developed smaller 8K cameras, weighing 5kg and 2kg with image quality almost equal to that of a camera with four 8 megapixel sensors. On the other hand, NHK developed cameras to improve image quality. One is a 33 megapixel (full resolution) camera. An 8K image signal captured with this camera has a bit rate of 72Gbps. Another uses a 120Hz frame rate. NHK also developed a high sensitivity and low noise camera for shooting objects in a theatre, such as for concerts, opera, ballet, plays and so on, where unwanted noise might interfere with the performance. NHK has also developed 8K image display equipment. One is a projector, usually utilized for Public Viewing (PV) events. The others are display panels, including an 85 inch LCD display and a 145 inch PDP (plasma) display. For audio capture, a spherical one point microphone for capturing 22.2ch audio has been developed. This makes it easy to capture directional ambient sounds, using 24 microphone units distributing in 3 layers in the sphere. A 22.2ch audio mixing desk was also developed, which includes 3D panning software. As it is sometimes difficult to monitor 22.2ch sound outdoors or in limited spaces, NHK developed a monitoring system which has the capability to hear 22.2ch sound by headphone. This utilises a binaural technique (using a head-related transfer function which is derived from transfer functions between loudspeaker and ear). Several SHV programmes have been produced using these devices, and demonstrations of the programmes have attracted many visitors at events such as the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi, Japan, where SHV was first demonstrated on a 600 inch screen, as well as NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) in Las Vegas, USA and IBC (International Broadcast Conference) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, etc. NHK is now preparing for the experimental broadcasts of 8K-SHV in 2016 and actual broadcasting in 2018 in Japan. 8K-SHV video should be compressed with high image quality and low bit-rate for real-time transmission using narrow bandwidth media. To achieve this, a new high-efficiency compression coding system is necessary. Therefore, NHK has developed 8K with 60Hz frame rate codec systems that are based on MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding)/H.264 video coding standards. At a live transmission, such as a big sports event, stability is the most important issue, so the codec system is implemented as hardware devices. Since this kind of event involves one-way distribution, system delay is not so serious a problem. The same video without compression would require almost 24 Gbps to be streamed. The current state of the art of digital television media prevents 8K signals from being transmitted over long distances. This is why this project depended on the technological support of NTT Innovation Labs (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company), RNP (Brazil’s R&E network) and other research networks in Latin America, the USA and Japan. 3. Application of SHV during the 2014 FIFA World CupTM 3.1 Media capture The signal of the nine matches were generated by three 8K cameras, two high-speed 4K cameras and one 4K camera for location shooting (upscaled from 4K to 8K). The signals from the high-speed cameras were recorded on video servers and played back in slow motion. The 8K outside broadcast van travelled together with an audio truck for the recording of 22.2ch surround sound on a console, a transmission truck and an equipment truck. The total distance of the itinerary followed by the four trucks used was more than 4,200 km. 3.2 Transmission As shown in Figure 2, all matches were streamed first to the FIFA’s International Broadcast Centre (IBC), regardless of the location of the stadium. The IBC was located in the Riocentro – a big conference and exhibition centre in Rio de Janeiro – and the FIFA communications network that interconnected all stadia to the IBC was provided by the Brazilian telecommunications company, Telebras.