BBC and NHK collaborate on Super Hi-Vision technology

The BBC is collaborating with broadcasters in Japan, on Super Hi-Vision technology, which will provide high-definition TV pictures, 33 times more detailed than currently available.

The BBC hopes to broadcast the 2012 Olympics in Super Hi-Vision, on huge screens located in city centres across Britain.

Japanese public broadcaster, NHK, hopes to start test broadcasts of the new technology within seven years. Full-time public broadcasts could commence in 2025.

NHK’s technology is based on research into human vision, and the company claims that the quality enhancement is noticeable, rejecting criticisms that the improvements are not discernible by the human eye.

The system is being developed at NHK’s Broadcasting Centre in Tokyo, where super Hi-Vision images are currently projected on to a 10 metre by 5.5 metre screen. The system provides the sound quality of a concert hall, through 22 multi-layered speakers.

NHK still has to overcome a number of problems with Super Hi-Vision. At the moment it is only possible to record 20 minutes of footage at a time, and this has to be edited frame by frame.

Researchers have also found that viewers can suffer from motion sickness if they sit too close to the screen.

NHK still has to overcome the problem of transmitting huge amounts of data. It is using the BBC’s Dirac video compression technology in tests.

The large screens currently required by the technology would not fit into a living room, but Pioneer is trying to develop a Super Hi-Vision panel to help NHK achieve its aims.