This year’s Rio Olympics the first to be recorded using 8K video and Virtual Reality

The Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) has confirmed that they will be covering key events in the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympics in 8K video, along with immersive audio using a format they call “3D 22.2 channel audio surround sound”. This ‘Super Hi-Vision’ stream will however be made available only to consumers in Japan, where about 130 of the slated 7,000 hours of total TV coverage planned for the planet’s biggest sporting event will be recorded in this uber high definition format.

This stream will be beamed directly from Brazil to Japan and will comprise live coverage of key events including the opening and closing ceremonies as well as sporting events popular with Japanese consumers such as Swimming, Judo, Basketball, Athletics and Football.

The 8K stream will also be down-sampled to 4K, but this too is not slated for general consumer consumption--this UHD stream will only be used for testing purposes.

Also for the first time ever, OBS will be recording footage of key Olympics events in Virtual Reality--one event per day, it has been revealed. These VR broadcasts will be available to general consumers with compatible headsets (although it hasn’t been revealed which specific VR headsets will be supported.) These VR streams will also be available for download and offline viewing after the events.

While the OBS is clearly pushing the limits regarding video capture and broadcast, the only video broadcast that will be made available to general global consumers will be the regular 1080p HD version with 5.1 surround sound.