techimoto

We’ve got pictures and videos for this article but none will convey the realism of this new technology – it is so crystal clear it almost hurts to look at. Feature this: the camera shoots at a resolution of 8k, and is displayed on their Ultra High Definition TV System, with 4320-scanning lines (7680 x 4320 pixels). The video with this article captures the demo on NHK’s wide-screen display, already “downgraded” to a 4k resolution by NHK for use on their convention based wide-screen. We used a HD camera for this video, which brings us down to 1280 x 720, and God knows what your computer screen is doing to the images. (I guess, as the saying goes, you had to be there to truly appreciate the view).

A second demo station at NHK featured another aspect of their revolutionary technologies: video capture at 10,000 frames per second. The demo video was dramatic, displaying a water balloon in the process of a needle-induced burst. The video was replayed in slow motion, with so much detail that the audience, (us), could see the thin rubber of the balloon peeling back while the ball of water remained intact, hanging in mid-air suspension for a seeming eternity, then denigrating into thousands of droplets scattering to earth.
The camera can record with frame rates of up to 1 million frames per second.

The same company has also developed the worlds first 22.2 multichannel sound system to go along with their ultra high definition technology. Unbelievable. Their “screening room” was set up with three vertical layers of loudspeakers, 9 channels on the top layer, 10 channels in the middle layer, 2 LFE channels, and 3 channels on the bottom layer. Just pray your teenage son or daughter doesn’t come home with one of these babies.

The company sees initial non-mainstream potential in such arenas as medical use, security and monitoring, and I would think defense (I’m sure DoD has their “eye” on this – no pun intended). Offerings also include hard disk recorders, optical transmission systems with DWDM (Dense Wavelength Divison Multiplexing) technology for distribution, a codec system based on MPEG-2 for program distribution using IP networks, and an experimental satellite transmission system using 21 Ghz bandwidth, and format converters to the 2160-scanning line format and HDTV.

Who knows, in another 10 years this might be the de facto in homes across America. Until then, if you’re in Osaka, visit their Ultra High Definition Theater and experience this amazing technology for yourself. (www.nhk.or.jp )