Immersive drives audio capture at IBC

At IBC2018 the 2020 Summer Olympic Games from Tokyo were on the near-term radar. Japan’s NHK has announced plans to launch its Super Hi-Vision satellite broadcasting in December 2018, with full scale delivery targeted for the hometown 2020 Olympics.

A big display in the Future Zone showed off the stunning 4K and 8K ultra-high definition images the system provides. And the sound is keeping up with the vision: it fully envelops the consumer with 3D 5.1 channel sound for the 4K version, and an amazing 22.2 channels of sound for the 8K experience.

The immersive audio that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will provide were part of many conversations on the show floor, along with Next Generation Audio (NGA) and all that this entails.

Beyond the massive, elephant-in-the-room general industry trend to AoIP, the move to immersive and its higher channel counts along with NGA is driving product roadmaps and facility planning.

Sprinkled in were developments in traditional audio acquisition tech including increasingly professional mics for non-traditional devices such as phones and DSLRs, and a few specialty mics aimed at the emerging world of AR/VR acquisition.

There’s change afoot, arguably more on the audio side than we’ve seen since 5.1 shook up the industry years ago.

Increased channels: Here we go again
Immersive audio and the equipment required to help a production deal with all the channels needed was a trend at IBC2018.

For its part, Genelec used IBC as the European launch for its new high-SPL two-way monitor and subwoofer. These were showcased working as part of a 7.1.4 system with immersive material, and were deemed appropriate for demanding applications including large immersive setups in post-production studios.

The company also welcomed…