Last Sunday a Lionel Messi hat-trick helped Barcelona to a remarkable 3-4 victory over Real Madrid 3-4 away at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. And this time Messi's footballing genius was captured for posterity in full 4K glory.
Two Sony PMW-F55 35mm 4K cameras were used to film this latest instalment of the fixture between the two giants of Spanish football dubbed El Clásico. The 4K images were then viewed on two Sony PVM-X300 4K monitors in full resolution, receiving extremely positive feedback from the technical team on the ground.
Interestingly enough, according to a statement, this successful trial undertaken in partnership with the technical services supplier MediaPro (who produced and distributed the content internationally) “opens the door to making the Liga de Fútbol Profesional the first league in the world to commence regular 4K broadcasts for the 2014-2015 season.” Plenty of other leagues, the EPL amongst them, have been involved in the global and increasingly extensive 4K trials and that sort of language has never been used before, so this is one story worth keeping an eye on. They will need a few more cameras on the game though if that happens.
For now though, this latest 4K trial serves as another rehearsal in the build-up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, for which Sony will be responsible for providing every single minute of live match footage in full HD, as well as producing the final — and potentially a couple of other matches, depending on who makes it through the group stages — in 4K. What audiences will be able to see it in its native format, however, is still a matter rather up in the air.