Live 4K Stream From Space to NAB Show a First

The first live 4K stream from space, shown Wednesday at the NAB Show and online, appeared to go off without any hitches, but with some limitations due to the unique nature of the broadcast. There was a several-second delay among transmissions from the keynote room at the show and U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station. To us, the quality of the picture appeared better on our laptop via the re-stream at the show's website than on the very large screen showing the stream to the audience. The feed from about 250 miles above Earth was to have been encoded with Amazon Web Services Elemental software on board the space station and at the Johnson Space Center, said a previous NAB news release. Amazon didn't reply to our queries for comment. "The broadcast in the session room utilized the most state-of-art 4K technology," an NAB spokeswoman emailed us. "I'm sure the image was also splendid on small screens." The crowd in Las Vegas reacted with obvious pleasure during the stream, which featured astronauts Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson playing table tennis with what appeared to have been water, their mic turning around in the air. "Peggy, Jack, I don’t know if you are hearing the oohs and ahs here," said Sam Blackman, CEO of Elemental Technologies, who did a Q&A with them. "This has been one of the most remarkable exchanges I’ve ever had." With Ultra HD/4K, astronauts can "get high resolution, higher frame rates, to capture different science for some of our experiments, ultra slow motion for some of the effects that are slow-lived yet are very important," said Fischer. "Even more important ... is the inspirational aspect."