NAB This Week!
We’re in the final stages of preparing for the NAB 2025 event in Las Vegas.
This year, the 8K Association will be at the show with some demonstrations of the latest 8K TVs and some very special content. We expect to be able to show you some preview material captured in 8K and the latest technology. You’ll see 8K with 120Hz refresh in gaming – that’s completely new. If you are attending the event, be sure to stop by our booth in the West Hall (Booth W3492).
We’ll also be hosting a panel session titled “8K Technology and its Emerging Role in the Creative Process” with speakers from Warner Bros, Discovery and IMAX. This exclusive panel is scheduled from 10:40am to 11:10am on Monday April 7, as part of NAB’s Creator Lab presentations in Theater A, South Hall (SL9823). Last year’s panel saw a full house and we expect great interest again this year.
Our editor has nearly 60 companies identified at the show as having something of interest in 8K. At shows like CES, there are so many members of the press corp attending that blanket invitations are the order of the day, but at specialist shows like NAB, he has received many invitations (although few bother to highlight what might be of real interest!). If you will be showing something in 8K at the show, be sure to let him know. Of the companies we have identified, a dozen or so are companies that are newly engaging in 8K.
After the show, we’ll have a report (or two) on the website, but also hope to be able to publish the panel session online on the 8K Association YouTube channel. We also plan to have some vlogs from the show floor.
At the show, we expect to see a boost in the capabilities of big LED screens. Las Vegas, of course, is the first home of the Sphere (and our editor has his ticket!). In the broadcasting industry, virtual production is a big topic and a number of companies in that area will be at the show. At last year’s show, Brompton, which has a great reputation for video quality in big LED walls, announced that it planned to support 8K and we’ll be checking on progress. We’ll also be talking to Asus about its 8K monitor, shown last year, but just due to ship around now.
There is a lot of interest in 8K capture and content creation because of the advantages in superscaling and re-framing, so we’ll be talking to camera makers and those that work with them. There will be new 8K players and lots of progress on connectivity. Codecs continue to develop and we expect to hear the VVC acronym quite a few times this year.
Often at shows, it is who is not at the show that is most interesting and the pressures on ‘traditional’ broadcasters mean that many of those will not be at the show. We hope a few will make it to IBC later in the year.
