Samsung has filmed two pre-season football friendlies in 8K as part of its effort to create more content in the ultra-high resolution format and showcase its advantages.
The company used six 8K cameras to film two matches of the International Champions Cup, which was a pre-season friendly tournament held in Singapore. The matches included clashes between Manchester United and Inter Milan on July 20th, and Tottenham Hostpur vs Juventus the following day.
Samsung said one of the benefits of filming in 8K was that it was able to capture more minute details, including the facial expressions of players and people in the crowd.
Audio was also boosted using Samsung’s AI Sound technology, the company said.
Samsung plans to publish the footage via its social media channels in September. The company added that it will continue to create more 8K content in an effort to increase awareness of the technology.
Sport events tend to be popular testing grounds for new technologies such as 8K, as the cameras can be situated in fixed-points, allowing crews to control filming better. In another example, French broadcaster PSB France Télévisions recently filmed some matches at the French Open tennis tournament using 8K cameras, with the content streamed live over a 5G wireless network, to test the viability of those technologies.
Samsung has made a big bet on 8K, becoming the first TV brand to start selling televisions in the ultra-high resolution format when it launched its original models last year. It has vowed to “dominate” the segment for 8K TVs, saying that it expects to account for half of all sales this year.
The company faces competition from its rival LG however, which earlier this year launched its first 8K OLED TV, which is a different – and some say superior – display technology known for its higher contrast ratios.
The lack of 8K content has been a sticking point for many industry analysts though, as many say there’s little point in buying an ultra-high resolution TV when there’s nothing to watch on them. Currently, only Japan’s national broadcaster NHK offers regular 8K content via a satellite broadcast, though other providers such as Rakuten have also promised to make content available later this year.
A recent poll of TV industry broadcaster by TVBEurope also revealed that 8K isn’t considered as important as High Dynamic Range technology, which could present further challenges for Samsung’s ambitions.
