Issue #75 | OCTOBER 11, 2022

8K’s Value in Sports

Three years ago, the San Francisco 49ers and Foxconn installed a full-field 8K video replay system in the Levi Stadium, which is now used in its third season. Chris Chinnock touched base with the operators to get an update. Read here about how the system has been used much more than anticipated and makes critical decisions much more manageable.

ASIC-Based 8K Encoding can Save Power and Money

We're happy to have video guru Jan Ozer back with a guest contribution. His article looks at several ways to produce an 8K60 contribution stream and compares cost and power consumption. Jan's article is here.

New Intel GPU Boards Support Data Center 8K Encoding - Comment

Intel has re-branded its previously code-named 'Arctic' Add-in Graphic boards (AIBs) as 'Flex 140 and Flex 170'. The AIBs are intended for use in data centers and server systems (so no display outputs), including those used for content encoding locally and in the cloud. 

The boards are said to be the first data center GPUs to include a hardware-based AV1 encoder. Intel said they provide five times the media transcode and twice the decode throughput performance of other solutions but only half the power. Intel's press release emphasized that the Intel Data Center GPU Flex Series 140 with two devices on a single card can meet the industry's one-second delay requirement while providing 8K60 real-time transcode of AV1 and HEVC HDR. H.264 and VP9 codecs are also hardware accelerated.

Microsoft Adds AV1 Decode Support To Their Mesa D3D12 Driver

AV1 hardware decoding is already available in many TVs, including 8K TVs. But hardware decoding in the broader range of products is needed for its use to widen. This link notes the addition of AV1 decoding in Microsoft's DirectX drivers for gaming, while this link suggests Google may require hardware AV1 decoding in Android 14 devices. This latter move could be especially significant for broader adoption.

Hikvision unveils industry’s first “True 8K” NVRs

Hikvision makes equipment for the security market and an "NVR" is a network video recorder. This recorder apparently uses HEVC to record at up to 8K/30 fps. They say they can use Hikvision cameras, but the most megapixels camera they offer are 12MP, with true 8K video requiring at least 33 MP, so we are confused. Read the news here.

AudioControl 8K Preamp/Processors

Europe’s Largest Circular LED screen

Atomos Completes 8K Video Sensor Dev

KineOS 7.1 for Kinefinity MAVO Edge 8K