The age of 4K may have officially begun, but the world still has some catching up to do. Case in point: You can't actually watch this weekend's Super Bowl in 4K (a.k.a. Ultra HD), even if you have a 4K TV, since there isn't yet a broadcast or cable standard for ultra-high-def format. Even the live stream is "just" in 720p.
That doesn't mean 4K won't make a difference at the big game. Fox will have six 4K cameras at MetLife Stadium — two on the sidelines, two on the goal lines and two on the end lines — specifically for the network's "Super Zoom" feature. When the broadcast needs to get in tight on some action, the feed will crop a 720p "window" from the 4K picture captured by those cameras. That way, Fox can get tight, high-res images without needing to zoom in optically.
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"It allows us to do an electronic zoom and maintain resolution," Jerry Steinberg, Fox's senior vice president of operations, told Mashable. "We have five Sony F55s and one Sony F65, all connected to the Super Zoom workflow."
Fox introduced Super Zoom three years ago, Steinberg says, although the best cameras available that existed then were 2K. Once 4K cameras became available, about two years go, Fox moved to that format, and other networks such as NBC and CBS followed suit. Steinberg says he'd like to take the feature even further, to 8K cameras, but that wasn't possible in time for this year's game.

Image: Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

Steinberg says the Super Zoom made a difference in the Dec. 15, 2013, victory of the Green Bay Packers over the Dallas Cowboys. In the final minutes, Packers cornerback Tramon Williams dove to intercept a pass, which was reviewed by the referees to see if it was a legitimate catch. The referees watched the footage caught by one of the Fox Super Zoom cameras and declared the catch valid, sealing Green Bay's comeback.
As for the game itself, the only way to enjoy it in 4K is to upconvert Fox's 720p broadcast, which any 4K TV will do. Steinberg doesn't believe broadcast standards for 4K will emerge for years, and sending an entire broadcast in 4K would require a tremendous investment; Fox uses 50 cameras for the Super Bowl broadcast. Even ESPN, which recently stepped up its production workflow to better accommodate 4K (and even 8K), doesn't see 4K broadcasts in the near future.
"As a specialty tool in that application, [4k] works well," says Steinberg. "As a broadcast technology, I think it's very far away."
However, prices for consumer 4K products are dropping (both a $2,000 Sony 4K camcorder and a $999 Vizio 4K TV were revealed at CES 2014), and software leaders like YouTube are figuring out new streaming standards that won't demand Internet-choking bandwidth. The barriers preventing 4K from going mainstream are quickly being broken, and it's just a matter of time before the big game and other events get the 4K treatment.
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