Hey, who told the Times’ Circuits section about something interesting? You made us miss a incisive column they were going to write about why spam is bad how some people like the iPod. Instead, we got this profile of Japanese broadcaster NHK’s work to develop Ultra High Definition Video (UHDV), the 7,680 by 4,320 pixel resolution television standard that aims to hit ‘as good as really there’ levels of visual fidelity (you know, the kind of quality so good that it makes people puke from watching it. The awesome kind, I’m saying.) Take that massive resolution, add a 60 frame per second refresh and 22 channels of surround sound (“10 speakers at ear level, 9 above and 3 below, with another 2 for low frequency effects”) and you end up with video files that end up taking up 3.5 terabytes of storage for just 18 minutes of footage. Don’t expect UHDV anytime soon, of course. NHK started developing HDTV, which is just now taking hold, in the 1960s. (Thanks, Jeffrey!)
Read [NYTimes]
