This week has been mainly catching up, deleting emails, unsubscribing from many email lists and quite a bit of stuff that's confidential and I can't blog about. But, a highlight was last night, being invited to a Janet event at the National Media Museum in Bradford.Janet have been part of an international collaboration with the BBC and NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting organization, to showcase Super High Vision (SHV) technology. SHV is ultra high quality and transmits images with 16 times sharper resolution than standard HD television. It was developed by NHK, and has been used in selected venues in the UK to show footage from the Olympics. All of the data has been transmitted over Janet.
Last night we watched a selection of clips, about an hour's worth of coverage, from the Opening Ceremony, athletics (including Jessica Ennis and Usain Bolt), and the cycling (including Chris Hoy). Together with the ultra high definition images, there was 22.2 multichannel surround sound! I have to say, it was stunning. Absolutely stunning. It felt as if you were there. The detail and the definition was amazing, and the sound made you feel part of the action. It is very difficult to describe. Everything at the moment is in prototype, the cameras apparently worth about £1m each. Even the projector at the back of the theatre was worth between £500,000 and £750,000.
At the end of the screening, representatives from the BBC and NHK and the head of projection at the museum did a Q and A which was fascinating. Sadly, everything is about to be dismantled and transported back to Japan, but if this is the future of broadcasting, I can't wait!
2 comments:
Glad you enjoyed the Super Hi-Vision showcase. I too was blown away by the technology and can't wait to see it rolled out to a wider audience - the sound was mind blowing and the detail of the images amazing!
We've now posted some photos from the evening on our website, including a lovely one of your good self. If you arrow towards the end you will find some images from the actual screening. You can see how sharp the images are - not quite as good as the real thing, but they definitely demonstrate the high quality (almost as if you were there!): https://www.ja.net/products-services/janet-futures/international-collaboration-super-hi-vision-bbc/bradford
you've got a long wait - this from the BBC...
There are only currently three Super Hi-Vision cameras in existence.
NHK has used a 145-inch (3.7 metre) prototype display co-developed with Panasonic to show off its footage.
But it will be some time before such models become commercially available.
TV makers are currently focusing efforts on launching 4K enabled devices offering half the resolution. This is the format currently used by most digital cinema cameras.
LG unveiled the biggest 4K television set to date earlier this week - an 84 inch screen costing more than $22,000.
But manufacturers are likely to want to offer 8K screens by 2020 when NHK aims to begin its first experimental broadcasts in the standard.
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