We’re just getting to the point now here in the US where 1080p is getting pretty ubiquitous. Granted, millions of people still don’t have any type of HD device or signal coming into their house. But millions in the grander scheme of things — hundreds of millions — is rather tiny. But just as we catch up, the Japanese are off on the next venture already where our standard 1080p HD has been around for years…well before us.
The new standard: Super HI-Vision. What makes this so “super” is the pixel count — 16 times that of 1080p — 7680 x 4320! Transferring that massive amount of pixels consumers 24Gb/s! That’s insane! Japanese public broadcaster NHK is aiming to have Super HI-Vision broadcasts enter homes by 2020. More near-term goals, however, are a bit more within reach. Specifically, NHK wants to have the 2012 Olympics outfitted with Super HI-Vision broadcasts and equipment. But they’ve got a long way to go before then. To give you an idea of the challenges: There are only three cameras in the world that can record at 7680 x 4320 resolution. On top of that, NHK had to have custom made 103″ plasma TV’s built just to demo the technology.
It’s interesting to think that once we move on to Super HI-Vision and other higher definition forms of video, physical formats will die out pretty quickly. There’s only so much you can put on a physical object.
By the way, what was this bleeding edge demo? The Charlatans live in concert…
Switched
BBC
