On December 6, Station B launched 8K ultra-high-definition video quality, becoming the first platform in China to support UP main upload 8K video.
In addition, Station B also provided UP with an over-score 4K benefit to improve the picture quality, which is currently in the internal testing stage and needs to submit an application on the special page.
Introduction to 8K
The domestic video playback industry has experienced standard definition, high definition (720P), full HD (1080P), and is currently entering the ultra-high definition (4K, 8K) era.
Ultra-HIGH video represented by 8K and 4K is composed of six elements, namely frame rate (representing fluency and quality), resolution (image size and clarity), color gamut (color richness), color depth (color gradient smoothness), dynamic range (color detail) and three-dimensional sound (creating a three-dimensional sense of space with sound).
The resolution of 8K is 7680 * 4320, more than 33 million pixels, as a representative of the current ultra-high-definition video technology, synchronous breakthrough of the six elements of the data, higher sampling rate provides a clearer, sharper look and feel.
8K picture quality almost reached the limit of the human eye, the details made the most realistic restoration, it can be said unceremoniously, people who have watched ultra-high-definition video to see back to the previous 720P, 1028P, there will definitely be a kind of emotion called "dislike" spontaneously.
Station B's efforts and why push 8K
As a spiritual paradise for young people, Station B accelerated technology research and development through financing after its listing in 2018, and the most obvious feature is the continuous improvement of video resolution, and the video of Station B has changed from 1080P to 4K, to HDR, and even today's 8K in just a few years.
Higher resolution for video websites means more storage space and higher bandwidth, as well as higher operating costs, just a few words, but behind it is a huge amount of money investment.
However, as a video platform that mainly promotes horizontal screen content, many videos of Station B are more suitable for the experience of large screens, just like many videos of natural and cultural landscapes cannot be shocked from the mobile phone.
Station B continuously improves the video resolution, allowing the audience to get a better video and audio experience on the big screen, and allowing content creators to have a broader space to play.
Xiao Hei believes that there are three main considerations for 8K on B station:
Embrace cutting-edge technology and create industry benchmarks. 8K is a systematic project from the four ends of shooting, production, transmission and playback, in the past, domestic 8K did not form a situation, mainly because there is no suitable soil at either end.
With the advent of 5G, its transmission rate of up to 1G, only one-tenth of the delay of 4G, and the large connection characteristics of supporting 1 million devices per square kilometer to access the network provide a solid breeding ground for the realization of 8K.
Nowadays, on the shooting side, Chinese and foreign camera manufacturers represented by Sony, Canon, Kinefinity, and DJI have successively completed the listing of 8K flagship models.
On the production side, Apple's H.265 codec achieves efficient support for 8K video.
Although the price of high-quality 8K TVs in the playback market is a bit prohibitive, Changhong, a domestic manufacturer that has been at the forefront of ultra-high-definition display and terminal research and development, has launched 65D8K products with a price of less than 6,000 yuan, and various 4K TVs that support 8K decoding can also form an effective alternative.
Finally, Station B pushed the boat along the water to make up for the transmission end, and won the reputation of the first 8K video platform in China, why not enjoy it.
After all, what people remember in every era is always the first.
Benchmark YouTube and open up multiple platforms. Unlike pure mobile phone platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, the square inch of the mobile phone makes the advantages of 4K and 8K not obvious, and 1080P is enough from the cost performance.
However, Station B not only has a mobile phone, but also a large number of PC users who have appeals to high image quality, and even a TV client specially developed in order to allow users to have a better large-screen experience.
Nowadays, with the development of ultra-high-definition video technology, the larger the resolution, the better the support effect on the large screen, which is more in line with the needs of users.
YouTube's continuous improvement in picture quality is nothing more than wanting to occupy the user's living room viewing terminal, and the B station with YouTube as the benchmark is only a reproduction of this strategic plan, based on the birth of 8K, to achieve full coverage of users from mobile phones, tablets, computers, televisions, projections and other viewing methods, in one fell swoop to open up multiple platforms under the B station browsing system under multi-terminal equipment.
Cultivate 8K ecology and cast brand moats. The first-mover advantage brought by leading technologies and products can grasp more initiative and strategic space.
The first B station to open 8K will inevitably have the largest number of 8K content creators in the industry, and high-quality content will attract more users and video creators with high quality requirements to continue to join in to form a good ecological cycle.
Combined with the user conversion costs created in the early stage, as well as the cost advantages and experience accumulation formed through economies of scale in the future, Station B is casting an insurmountable brand moat for itself through countless high-quality content creators and video quality.
epilogue
Although the 8K of Station B came much later than YouTube, the recommended bit rate is only 60M, the color depth is only 8Bit, hdR and Dolby Vision are not supported, and the current playback terminal only supports Safari browser and cloud audiovisual small TV applications that support 8K decoding, and the actual playback effect and fluency depend on the user's current network bandwidth.
But the flaws are not hidden, with the development of technology and the gradual increase of 8K content, young people who like to taste the ultra-high quality picture quality on the big screen will gradually increase, and the action of station B can be seen as blowing the horn of the large-screen content terminal to lead the growth of video, and we as ordinary consumers will benefit from it.
Xiao Hei suggested that you can first save money and wait and see, and then buy after the technology and terminal are popularized, after all, there is not much 8K content at present, the technology still needs to be matured and optimized, and now the shot can only be early, and the cost performance is not high.
Source: B station official website, Xiaomi flagship store, Sony official website