Japan: HD? We Laugh At Your Puny HD!

Ah, leave it to the Japanese to plan beyond the bleeding edge in broadcasting technology:

NHK, the public broadcaster in Japan, is developing on the next broadcast format beyond HDTV, called Super Hi-Vision (it sounds only a little cooler in Japanese, so there's a nickname floating around: Ultra HDTV - much better!)

How much better are we talking about than HDTV? It boasts a resolution of 7680x4320 pixels (4320p ZOMG!). That's 16 times the resolution of 1080p, the top rung in the current HD standard.

To get an idea of how big that is, NHK has provided the nifty image you see for a handy comparison, giving 1080p a size complex - oh, how cute!

What kind of system do you need to record, store, and show these kinds of images? I'll let the BBC inform you:

To watch the format NHK has a purpose-built 500 inch screen in its labs, along with the world's only 22.2 multi-channel surround sound system, which the format also supports.

Currently there are only two cameras capable of recording the format.

They are extremely bulky and heavy and are capable of shooting less than 20 minutes of film each day.

To transfer just 18 minutes of video requires some 3.5 terabits of data.

3.5 TB for 18 minutes. I knew I could find a reason to go on that HDD shopping spree I've always wanted!

In all seriousness, NHK isn't planning on having this format broadcast ready until 2025, which is a good thing as it'll take at least that long for homes to acquire the size of screens that are required for the format - at least 60".

By then, 3.5TB for 18 minutes of video might not seem so stupid. Remember: 17 years ago, the biggest hard drive we had was 100MB, and who could ever fill that much room, right?

Trust technology to always make the past seem quaint.

Super Hi-Vision [NHK]
Japan looks to step beyond HD [BBC]