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Japanese Scientists Already Moving Beyond HDTV

by Will Safer on January 25, 2008 at 05:05 PM


In the consumer electronics world, all eyes are focused on the upcoming broadcast switch to a digital signal coming early next year. Why, then, is Japan's NHK Science and Technical Research Laboratory working so hard to develop the next video format, a "super" high definition format called Super Hi-Vision? Isn't it enough that we're all going to be viewing programming of startling video quality and clarity on HDTVs soon?

Apparently there's still room for improvement, although don't expect to see Super Hi-Vision TV sets in living rooms anytime soon. The first commercial applications likely won't come about until 2025 -- and even then the first likely use will be in art museums for showing works of art.

According to a report today from the BBC News, the new format has a screen resolution of 7680x4320 pixels, which is 16 times greater than current HD. The smallest diagonal TV size on which Super Hi-Vision can be employed is 50 inches.

This begs the question, then: Can the human eye even tell the difference between resolution of 1080p (the best available within the current high definition format) and this next leap in video technology? That's debatable. The human eye has limitations. After a certain point we're unable to see the difference in ever-increasing image resolutions. So perhaps this latest advance in TV tech is just an exercise in technical achievement. In the meantime we're still trying to decide if we want a new HDTV with 1080i or 1080p resolution.

Still, if we could see an oversized work like Monet's 'Waterlilies' replicated at real size and with almost perfect resolution somewhere besides the Museum of Modern Art, maybe the new standard will be considered worthwhile.

From BBC News.

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Tags: 1080i, 1080p, DTV, HDTV, Japan, NHK

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