HDTV? You ain't seen NOTHING yet!!!
Remember the Osborn? Or was it the Osborne? Actually, I knew it
existed, but didn't care. This thing was a personal computer.
Like we'd ever need one of those? Those new electric typewriters
with memory were the rage. THAT was something!
Flash forward and we are upon the reverse engineered UFO
goodies. Oh, wait, no, that's not exactly right.
It's the dawning of the age of Aquarius, age of Aquarius, Ah
QUAR EEEE USSS. Um, no, that was some time ago.
It's the age of $3 US Gas. Not a good milestone
The age of HDTV!!! Remember when "high definition" included the
terms "stems and seeds?" You do? You rascal.
No, this is about High Definition TELEVISION. Personally, I feel
the word TELEVISON is so.... Fifties. We need a new one there.
So did you jump for the Plasma? Or the LCD projector? The DLP?
Have you got the home theater with all the tricked out
electronics?
Don't put your ear directly on the high tech train tracks, then,
because there's another train coming, and you'll hear it down
the line.
UHDV is in the pipeline. On the track. In the lab. In the
electron wind. Want to guess? Time's up. ULTRA HIGH DEFINITION.
Remember the movie where they invent this skull cap that would
capture your emotions and immediately the bad guy looped someone
having how shall we say - some very intense happy times... and
turned himself into peak experience broccoli? Is that where all
this is headed? Not for a while, if ever. HOWEVER: UHDV is close
to the detail of 35mm film. With 7680 x 4320 pixels, this isn't
far from the 4K (4,000 scan line) digital projection systems for
big-screen movie theaters.
Donald Trump will be able to see how bad his hair looks like
never before.
UHDV features 33 million pixels with a 60 frame-per-second (fps)
progressive scan format.
NHK, the Japanese broadcasting giant who had HDTV in the
1980s... is behind the UHDV format, but reassures us it may be a
long time before home theater UHDV becomes reality. That's
corporate talk for, "Don't let the competition know how close we
really are!"
With 32 times the bandwidth demands of HDTV, UHDV would be
prohibitive for today's broadcast, cable and satellite
technology. NHK's demo required a data rate of 24 Gbps. That was
a few years back in Amsterdam where some people were close to
hurling lunch because the moving car video hi-jinx was that real.
How real?
NHK cobbled together a custom camera of four CCD image sensors;
then to show the output built a LCoS projector combining four
eight-megapixel panels. Data storage, using 16 synchronized HDTV
recorders, provided roughly 18 minutes of recording time, using
3.5 terabytes of total capacity and a screen about 12 feet high
and 22 feet wide. NHK researchers called this "the sensation of
reality saturation point," in the hopes of providing a
completely immersive experience: 100 degrees of visual field
angle, viewing from a distance of three-quarters of the height
of the screen (about nine feet) with at least 60 pixels required
for each one degree of visual field angle.
And speakers? UHDV offers 24-channel sound, or 22.2, containing
vertically arrayed surround sound speakers: nine above ear
level, 10 at ear level, three below ear level and two
low-frequency subwoofer channels.
The format, according to NHK, is not so much intended for home
use as for museums, public spaces and theaters. You tell The
Donald.
Once upon a time there was SHOWSCAN. Special effects pioneer
Douglas Trumbull had his demo unit in a suburb of Dallas, behind
a Chucky Cheese, if memory serves. I saw the demo.
The equipment and the Showscan Film Process of producing and
projecting Showscan films are justifiably proprietary and
patented. At the time, Showscan's discovery was hailed as the
most significant advancement in film technology since the
introduction of sound in the 1929 film "The Jazz Singer". (Not
the one with Neil Diamond.) However, it remained as little more
than a technological curiosity until the company developed new
camera, high speed projectors, and built special theaters to
showcase the revolutionary Showscan images. There was a catch-22
at work. Theaters weren't equipped for this state of the art
projection so they couldn't convince investors to make films in
that format. Solution: do it all in house.
I can't remember the specs but it was scarily real, 3-D, multi
channel and way ahead of multi channel... or HDTV. I do remember
it ran film through the gate much faster than normal projection
speeds.
Today the company's simulation and specialty theatres are open
or under construction in 24 countries around the world, located
in theme parks, motion picture multiplexes, expos, world's
fairs, resorts, shopping centers, casinos, museums, and other
tourist destinations where somebody wants a rush.
If NHK can even come close, well...
Enjoy your puny HDTV now while you can, citizen.