BT Sport to broadcast more content in 8K this year (Image: SAMSUNG)
If you’ve been thinking about moving from 4K to 8K, now might be a good time to upgrade. That’s because one of the biggest problems with 8K TVs – the lack of recording for this super-sharp resolution – is about to become much less of an issue. Undoubtedly, 8K is the future of televisions, with these sets offering four times the resolution of 4K models, which themselves offer four times the resolution of standard 1080p full HD. That improved resolution is vital, especially when buying a television with a much larger screen — something more of us have been doing over the past year.
Now you may be wondering what the point of this new technology is, after all it can be frustratingly difficult to find 4K content, let alone 8K. But thankfully, all that could change as BT Sport confirms it’s gearing up to push this razor-sharp format to consumers in the coming months.
BT Sport is no stranger to 8K. The broadcaster tested live 8K feeds during Arsenal’s game against Olympiacos at the Emirates Stadium early last year. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, putting plans on hold, resulting in a delay for BT to proceed with a full rollout to customers. But now things are back on track.
BT says it recently built its first 8K-ready gallery, one of the first to do so outside of Japan.
Jamie Hindhaugh, Chief Operating Officer, BT Sport told Express.co.uk: “The good news for the people who have invested in these sets is that 8K is still on my roadmap. 8K is part of our BT Sport Ultimate proposition, which ensures that we always capture images in the best available quality to serve our target audiences super, depending on what connectivity and what device they have in house.
“We’ve built four outlying galleries and one in Stratford is ready for 8K, so that means we’re in a great position right now.
“My prediction is that there will be a number of events this season and it will be at full throttle from next season.”
So, how do consumers know if the content they’re watching is in native 8K or just scaled up?
BT Sport will broadcast in 8K later this year (Image: BT)
The good news is that fans streaming on BT Sport don’t need to touch anything on their screen as the app will always bring out the best quality to suit your setup and subscription. That means if a football game is filmed in 8K and you have a compatible TV and BT Sport Ultimate subscription, you get the full razor-sharp experience.
“This is the beauty of the dynamic channel infrastructure we provide,” Hindhaugh told us. “We will always serve the best possible taste, so for example if you have an HDR television, the BT Sport Ultimate channel will give you that variant, if you have a 4K SDR television, it will give you that variant.
“We’re trying to move away from talking formats for customers. We’ll just give you the ultimate viewing experience, depending on that platform.
“In the future, if a BT Sport customer subscribes to Ultimate, has the appropriate connectivity and has a Samsung 8K TV, that offer will automatically be offered when it’s available in 8K.”
This is a huge investment from BT Sport and you might be wondering why the company is putting so much time and energy into a format when millions of households have only just made the switch to 4K TVs.
“We are the first in the UK for 4K HDR, Dolby Atmos, 360, the list goes on,” said Hindhaugh. “What’s in it for us is to maintain the trust between us and our customers that when you watch BT Sport you get the best quality available it’s about bringing people to the heart of sport.
“We don’t do it to be smart, we don’t do it to be first, we do it to make sure we give people an experience and bring them closer to the action.”
BT Sport tested 8K last year (Image: EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)
Another bonus of shooting live-action in native 8K resolution is that subscribers who have 4K TVs at home can also see the difference. Hindhaugh explained more: “When we shoot in 8K, the better quality of all the feeds that come out of that. So 4K distribution captured by 8K is better image quality than 4K recording with 4K cameras.”
In addition to BT Sport being excited about the future, Samsung is also excited that consumers will soon be able to watch content in 8K. With more of us investing in bigger screens, higher resolution content is vital to get the best experience in living rooms.
“If you look at the market, 75-inch displays and above grew about 115 percent last year and that’s where 8K really shines,” said Deep Halder, Head of TV/AV Retail and Content Services, Samsung Electronics UK. “When consumers make these big purchases, they want to increasingly future-proof themselves, so knowing that 8K is available in those large screen sizes reduces the appetite for a 4K display.
“8K TVs are now in homes and as a pioneer it is up to us to find out who is the right partner to support and incubate to bring this next generation experience into your home and there is no one better than BT Sport to working together to bring that stadium experience to the fans.”
BT Sport wouldn’t reveal exactly how many games they’ll be broadcasting in 8K this year, but if you have one of these latest televisions in your living room, expect brighter and better content in the future.
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