Super Hi-Vision and other presentations at NAB2009

  NHK will be exhibiting Super Hi-Vision (SHV), which is in the advanced stages of research and development as the next generation television technology, and other technologies at NAB 2009, the world’s largest conference and exhibition of broadcasting technology being held by the National Association of Broadcasters from April 20 to 23 in Las Vegas, U.S.A. SHV has 16-times more pixels than the current HDTV, with 33 million pixels and 4,320 scanning lines, and a 22.2 multichannel sound system. It delivers images so real that viewers may feel as if they are present at the scene of the broadcast. At the exhibition, new SHV content will be shown on a 400 inch screen.

  Live video captured using a newly developed zoom lens for SHV cameras and fixed focal length wide-angle lens will also be shown for the first time, as well as a 22.2 multichannel sound field pickup microphone and a system that allows the 22.2 multichannel sound to be listened to using regular, two-channel headphones. Scalable coding on programs produced in Super Hi-Vision allows various resolution images from Super Hi-Vision level to 4k, HDTV and mobile*1. Equipment cutting out images from Super Hi-Vision images to lower resolution ones will also be exhibited.

  3D images produced from HDTV images taken from “Kaguya” lunar orbiter*2, will also be presented for the first time. Also on display for the first time overseas is “Integral 3D TV”*3, which is able to display natural looking 3D images without the need for special glasses.

  NHK has received a Technology Innovation Award from NAB for its presentations of Super Hi-Vision and other technologies.

*1? Presentation of the software codec technology capable of real-time processing is done in cooperation with NTT Corp.
*2? The HDTV images taken from Kaguya has been converted and will be shown in a 3D image format requiring special glasses. The Hi-Vision video from Kaguya is presented in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
*3? A part of this research has been carried out under contract with the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT).