Panasonic heads into the final stretch ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Throughout the last 13 Summer and Winter Olympic Games Panasonic has provided technology (display security, PA projection and broadcast) and audiovisual services to the organization.

Stefan Hofmann, Manager Sales Engineering Live Operation/ Pro-AV & Visual en Panasonic, has shared (via videoconference due to the strike of Lufthansa in Germany) with those who go these days to the 4K-HDR Summit 2019 in Malaga, some details of the role that the Japanese multinational will play in the face of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Panasonic's relationship with the Games goes back 26 years. Throughout the last 13 Summer and Winter Games it has provided technology (display security, PA projection and broadcast) and audiovisual services to the organization.

Throughout this history, some milestones were marked in this industry, such as the use in Nagano’98 of the first video cameras with optical connection up to 20 km. (which were not marketed at the time due to antidumping policies).

The quote of Salt Lake City in 2002 he assumed jump from SD to HD with the first video format of 1/4 inch. Coinciding with Turin 2006, Panasonic previewed its popular P2.

In the case of the Olympics London in 2012 It was the first tests in 4K and 3D.

Looking to the future, Tokio 2020 will mean the emergence of 8K (simulcast with 4K) and the use of cloud for contribution ENG.

8K Challenges

Regarding 8K, Hofmann has highlighted that there are still many flaws in relation to sensitivity or noise. To improve these aspects, the manufacturer is working on the development of a new technology. OPF Organic Photosensitive Film which based on polymer structures will exponentially improve traditional CMOS sensors.

“The objective is to achieve a sensor capable of covering even beyond what a human being could detect, avoiding overexposures or underexposures, or unwanted effects such as flash banding… something key in 8K,” said Hofmann.

This new technology developed in collaboration with Fujifilm we can already find it in the camera-box AK-SHB810. It has a resolution sensor of 38 megapixels capable of outputting video 8K o 4K a 60 fps, and a body that is connected by a fiber optic cable to an image processing unit. This new proposal will be used for the first time in Tokyo 2020.

Toni Feliú in memory

On the occasion of the celebration of the 4K-HDR Summit in Malaga, the world summit of Ultra High Definition wanted to pay tribute to a regular professional at this event. ToniFeliu, Senior Manager at Panasonic PSCEU.

Feliu died suddenly at the end of last September in Barcelona at the age of 53.

With a long experience and brilliant professional history of thirty years in the electronic and broadcast industry, Feliu was, without a doubt, one of the most loved and respected faces both in the Japanese multinational and by television stations, production companies and operators throughout Spain.

Ricardo Medina, CEO of Medina Media, organizer of the 4K-HDR Summit, and Emili Planas, CTO of the Mediapro group, have remembered Feliu, highlighting both his personal and professional figure. Planas, with whom Toni Feliu usually worked as one of the group's technology suppliers, stressed that Feliu's passion for broadcasting was such that some of Panasonic's latest developments have been born precisely from empathy and involvement with the needs of its clients to respond to the most demanding challenges.