The upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games are set to mark a major milestone in sports broadcasting with the introduction of end-to-end 8K livestreaming and an advanced automatic highlights generation system. This technological leap continues the Olympics’ long tradition of integrating groundbreaking broadcast innovations, dating back to the Berlin 1936 Games, which were the first televised sporting event, and the 1960 Winter Games, which introduced instant replay.

For the first time, Paris 2024 will employ 8K video resolution, significantly enhancing the viewing experience with unprecedented detail and realism. The high-resolution feeds, using VVC (Versatile Video Coding) standards, will be streamed to selected locations across four continents. Intel’s AI platforms will drive this revolution, enabling Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) to deliver a massive volume of custom content tailored to diverse audiences worldwide.

The scale of coverage for the Olympics is immense, with OBS planning to capture over 11,000 hours of footage during the 17 days of competition—an amount far exceeding traditional broadcast limits. “A lot of times you have to prioritize what’s going to get the most eyeballs, and that really undermines some sports from getting the coverage that they deserve,” said Courtney Willock, Head of Broadcast Technology at Intel’s Olympic & Paralympic Games Office. “Our platform helps ensure that we are giving the right content to the right audience, depending on the interests of each market.”

Intel’s AI technology will automate the highlights generation process, allowing for the creation of region-specific content that resonates with local audiences. This innovation will address the challenges of scaling coverage and ensure that lesser-followed sports and events receive more attention. “The platform takes three sources of information: video, audio and data,” Willock explained. “Using AI, it identifies events and the actions of individual competitors to make a decision on what is the most relevant based on criteria that are set—and the criteria that are allowed in the platform are extensive.”

The 8K technology, with its staggering 33 million pixels and high frame rates, presents significant technical challenges. The raw data stream from the 8K cameras is compressed in real time by Intel’s servers, reducing the bandwidth requirement from 48 Gbps to 40-60 megabytes per second for distribution. “We get the signal at 48 Gigabit per second RAW from OBS,” said Intel’s Ravindra Velhal, “and from there, everything downstream we basically handle.”

Although 8K adoption is still emerging, viewers with Intel-powered devices, such as select desktops and laptops, will be able to experience this next-generation content. The Olympic Games serve as a testing ground for these advanced technologies, setting the stage for future innovations in broadcasting.

“We are using the Olympics as a gateway to solve some of the most complex challenges in the technical world,” Velhal noted. “Intel is one of the only companies on the planet that can do it end-to-end because we have data center to client to edge and everything in between to define the future of the broadcast industry.”

The new AI-driven highlights system and 8K livestreaming represent a significant evolution in how Olympic content is produced and consumed, promising a more immersive and personalized experience for fans around the globe. “The automatic highlights generation platform is already well-established around the world, but this is the first time it’s being applied at the Olympic Games,” Willock said. “It’s a great testimonial for how it manages diversity of competition, diversity of events, and simultaneous content.”

Sarah Vickers, leader of Intel’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Program, emphasized the potential for these innovations to enhance global broadcasting capabilities. “There’s a real opportunity,” Vickers said, “to show the breadth of our technology capabilities and then take those examples and show our customers and partners how we can scale. The opportunities are extensive for getting much more customized content to that fan at home.”

(Adapted from CNBC.com)

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