Ultra HDTV, coming to theaters in....25 years

[Kingnog]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5335870.stm

Japanese scientists have shown Ultra High Definition TV for the first time in Europe.

The system has 16 times the resolution of current HDTV.

However, it is unlikely to be available to the public for at least 25 years.

The demonstration comes less than six months after cable firm Telewest launched Britain's first high-definition TV service.

Consumers are still getting to grips with the technology needed to watch its super-sharp pictures but researchers from Japanese state broadcaster NHK have already developed its successor.

Ultra High Definition TV was on display for the first time in Europe at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam.

U-HDTV has a screen resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels - approximately sixteen times that of normal HDTV.

Dr. Masaru Kanazawa, one of NHK's senior research engineers, helped develop the technology.

He told the BBC News website: "When we designed HDTV 40 years ago our target was to make people feel like they were watching the real object. Our target now is to make people feel that they are in the scene."

As well as the higher picture resolution, the Ultra HD standard incorporates an advanced version of surround sound that uses 24 loudspeakers.

Londoner Mark Pascoe was among those who attended the demonstration in Amsterdam.

"I thought it was fantastic," he said. "Pin sharp, extremely lifelike, vibrant colours and fantastic sounding too. It makes regular High Definition look fairly untidy"

Big screen

Although the system is ultimately designed for television, current technology means it can only be shown on a cinema screen using a state of the art projector.

There is no LCD or plasma screen in the world with a high enough resolution to display its pictures.

Additionally, no existing TV broadcast system could cope with the massive amount of data which needs to be sent to create an Ultra HD picture.

NHK has successfully sent video using its own high bandwidth optical link.

The designers of Ultra HD TV said it might be 25 years before the technology was available to consumers.

But Dr Kanazawa is hopeful the system can be put to use before then.

"We want to look for other applications," he said. "Cinema is one target. The other might be archives. Museums need very high resolution video for archiving and our system can be used in that area."

The lack of current uses for Ultra HD has led some broadcast experts to brand it a novelty.

Technology consultant John Ive watched the demonstration and said critics were being short sighted.

"When NHK first introduced High Definition many years ago, people said they were crazy, we don't need it.

"Today everybody is talking about it. You may think Ultra HD is a technological curiosity but maybe we'll see it differently in 10 years time."

[Wile_E]

I dont understand why it will take 25 years. I may be dead by that time. It is just increased resolution and just needs more data storage.

I bet even in 25 years, we still won't see Hollywood using faster framerates than 24fps! And by that, I mean TRUE faster framerates with no repeat frames. Not any kind of pulldown or repeat frame junk. I still wish they would've accepted the Maxivision Cinema 48fps system. Films that require fast camera pans or have fast action scenes really look choppy in 24fps.

[devilcoelhodog]

Some old information about the engineer/scientist:

Masaru Kanazawa received his MS degree in electronics from the Graduate School of Hokkaido University in 1979. Since then, he has been working for the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). He is currently a senior research engineer at the NHK Science and Technical Research Laboratories and is engaged in the development of ultra-high-definition video systems. Mr. Kanazawa is a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (EIC), the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers of Japan (ITE), and SID.

The recorded material was scanned from 70-mm film, we were told by Senior Research Engineer Masaru Kanazawa, and the system has greater resolution than the 70-mm film. To store 30 seconds of programming for the projector requires 40 gigabytes, so they have not recorded extended programs.

The LCoS panels used in the projector deliver good, but not exceptional, color and contrast, Kanazawa said. The effect of that large, detailed image, however, was impressive. The image was combined with a 21-speaker 3D sound system.

On the other side of one wall was a studio with the curio cabinet and the camera using 4 8-megapixel RGG'B chips. The two greens have slightly different sampling points, but the main reason for the two greens is for their luminance contribution. The camera head, made by Ikegami with lens by Fuji Photo Optical, is connected to a five-foot-high equipment rack by an optical cable.

NHK STRL R&D No.83 (Jan. 2004)


NHK Science and Technical Research Laboratories


Optimum Screen Parameters for Ultra High-Definition and Wide-Screen Image Systems

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Nagato NARITA,Masaru KANAZAWA and Fumio OKANO



A system format that optimizes viewer appreciation of Ultra high-Definition and Wide-screen television images was investigated.In particular, the relationships among the screen size, viewing distance(angle),screen aspect ratio,and number of pixels were investigated.A linear relationship was found between the screen size and preferred viewing distance. Comparison of the preference for images with four aspect ratios and with 16�F9 aspect ratio showed that the preferred aspect ratio depends on the screen size,not on the viewing angle.An aspect ratio of about 2�F1 was most preferred in the home environment.The relationship between the screen size and aspect ratio was thus given by a simple equation.An equation for relating the maximum number of pixels necessary for an Ultra high-Definition and Wide-screen television system to three parameters(screen size,viewing distance,and aspect ratio)was derived using the visual resolution capacity.



development of an ultrahigh-definition display

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Masaru KANAZAWA,Isao KONDOH and Fumio OKANO



An ultrahigh-definition display system with quadruple the horizontal and vertical resolution of HDTV has been developed.In order to obtain the ultrahigh-definition,four LCD panels(red, green 1,green 2,blue)of 3840×2048 pixels are combined using the spatial pixel offset method. Therefore,only green images have an ultrahigh-resolution of equivalently 7680×4096 pixels, while red and blue images of 3840×2048 pixels. The ultrahigh-resolution was confirmed with a subjective assessment test.The display consists of two projection units and the convergence adjustment device was developed.The necessary accuracy of the convergence adjustment is calculated using the modified s-CIELAB method.


Ultrahigh-definition 4-CCD Video Camera System with 4,000 Scanning Lines

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Takayuki YAMASHITA,Kohji MITANI,Masayuki SUGAWARA,Hiroshi SHIMAMOTO and Fumio OKANO



An experimental ultrahigh-definition color video camera system with 4000 scanning lines has been developed using four 8-million-pixel CCDs.We applied the four-imager pickup method to increase the camera's resolution.This involves attaching four CCDs to a special color-separation prism.Two CCDs are used for the green image,and the other two are used for red and blue. The spatial image-sampling pattern of these CCDs to the optical image is equivalent to one with 32 million pixels in the Bayer pattern color filter.And this camera system has a new contour compensation circuit.It suppresses the false color caused by the non-linearity and the pixel-count difference between green and red or blue.The technique has contributed to the reduction of the signal process circuitry of an ultrahigh-definition camera.The prototype camera attains a limiting resolution of more than 2,700 TV lines both horizontally and vertically,which is higher than that of an 8-million-pixel CCD.The sensitivity of the camera is 2,000 lux,F 2.8 at approx.S/N is 50 dB on the HDTV format.


Experimental 60fps progressive scan color HDTV camera

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Hiroshi SHIMAMOTO,Masayuki SUGAWARA,Kohji MITANI,Takayuki YAMASHITA,Noriyuki KOGA and Fumio OKANO



An experimental progressive-scan HDTV camera, featuring 1920× 1080 pixels, 60frames-per-sec,and three CCDs for RGB color,has been developed.The horizontal CCD of the camera was driven at 148.5 MHz,and the transfer efficiency of a CCD cell was about 99.98%. A 2/3-inch 2.2-million pixel FIT(Frame Interline Transfer)CCD for an interlaced HDTV camera was used for the progressive scanning.This involved using multiple FIT drives and storing the odd numbered picture lines in the field memory and the even numbered picture lines in the vertical signal transfer CCD.The horizontal and vertical resolutions of this camera were each about 1000 TV-lines,and the vertical MTF(Modulation Transfer Function)response was about 57% on 700 TVLs and 30% on 1000 TVLs. A computer simulated conversion from a progressive to an interlaced image that used images acquired by this experimental camera reproduced an alias-suppressed- interlaced image.

Thanks.

[Seeker47]

Maxivision Cinema 48fps system. Films that require fast camera pans or have fast action scenes really look choppy in 24fps.

And then there was Showscan (developed by Douglas Trumbull's company, many years ago) -- 60 fps at (I think) 70mm.

[hudsonf]

I dont understand why it will take 25 years. I may be dead by that time.

I'll either be dead or to old to be able to see it.

[ViRaL1]

Not sure about framerates, but at what resolution is there no noticeable difference?

[edDV]

Not sure about framerates, but at what resolution is there no noticeable difference?

It would be similar to the center resolution difference between normal 2.35:1 movies and 1.38:1 IMAX although IMAX is still much higher resolution depending on type of film used.



"U-HDTV has a screen resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels"

35mm film is represented as

2kx1k ~ HDTV 1920x1080p/24
4kx2k
4kx4k

U-HDTV @ 8kx4k roughly doubles to tripples resolution of 35mm prints H and V.

[ViRaL1]

I guess I should have been more specific. At what point will we no longer be able to see a noticeable difference when watching?

[edDV]

I guess I should have been more specific. At what point will we no longer be able to see a noticeable difference when watching?

In a theater? Depends where you sit. And the condition of your eyes. Are you saying you see no difference in an IMAX theater? IMO, IMAX could use even more resolution.

In a home theater?
Work the calculator.
http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html

[rijir2001]

In 25 years we will look at that resolution as we look at B&W TV today. It will be out of date by then.

It all comes down to the public accepting new technology. And we know that they are slow as hell when it comes to stuff like that.

[SingSing]

So are we going from "Home theater" to "Home IMAX theater" ?

[edDV]

So are we going from "Home theater" to "Home IMAX theater" ?

First these 4Kx2Kup resolutions are intended for large theater viewing.

But they could be applied to a home IMAX theater. You would need a wall size screen (2 stories best) and raised seating.