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I was shocked to read in Engadget that the Japanese government is planning a joint project with private companies to develop and eventually get to market a new broadcast standard called Super Hi-Vision. It is a super high definition protocol that makes even 1080p HD and 4K -the standard that Hollywood and cinemas are still struggling to introduce- pale by comparison. It will have a resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 pixels -if you do the maths it is a humongous 33 megapixels- provide support for 22.2 channel sound and will require an uncompressed stream of 24 Gbps. The aim is to introduce the new broadcast standard by 2015.

Putting the above numbers in perspective, Hi-Vision will offer 4 times the resolution of 4K and a mind-boggling 16 times the resolution of 1080p HD! With this simple comparison and forthcoming technology advances in mind I consider the whole effort as a waste of time and money. Why? For many reasons:

• Even if initial introduction in Japan in 2015 is successful -I want to see this to believe it- no other country is bothering at the moment and has no incentive to do so in the near future. So R&D will only have local benefits, making project finance a difficult exercise indeed.
• Cinema is struggling with 4K and even here that financial resources are relatively abundant post-processing can be so intense that many projects partly revert to 2K -as is the case of the digital processing of Ridley Scott’s final version of Blade Runner. So who would be crazy to try to process 33 Mp? Even by taking optimistic processing advances into account, to sleep at night I prefer to think of 33 Mp pictures but in no way 33 Mp video…
• TV is struggling with 720p and 1080p/i HD. It is only now that 1080p sets are financial approachable and the transition will take at least five years, maybe more in some countries that still stick to analogue SD. The Japanese are known to be tech and gadget junkies, but who is going to take the risk and ask them to upgrade to Hi-Vision? And how much would a Hi-Vision set cost?
• It is no secret that with 1080p HD material a 37 inch display is the absolute minimum, some studies have concluded that in order to see a slight improvement over 720p it is better to go for 42 inches or more. In other words, to have any viewable benefits with Hi-Vision the display would have to be huge and impractical for a home by any measure. By current standards, 33 Mp would be overkill even for cinema projection.
• Sound of 22+2 channels? Have they not noticed that people are sick of the cables and installation obstacles of surround sound? Who is going to invest in so many speakers and where are they going to be placed?
• The 24 Gbps of required uncompressed stream is a crazy figure by today’s and by any standard in general. Such bandwidth could be devoted to much more worthy applications…
• The equipment to make 33 Mp programs is simply non existent. Even 10 years from now 1080p HD will be the undisputed standard but I do not think there will be many insane manufacturers that will risk or even think of going above 4K for general or TV use…

Maybe the Japanese want to simply test the waters and check out reactions. But then again the decision to provide 300 million yen for preliminary research sounds serious. Do they maybe want to differentiate themselves and go one step higher than everybody else?

Whatever the incentive is, current indications show that 3D -initially in cinemas- is going to be the next big thing. It will be an obstacle to piracy and provide the desired differentiation from the now advanced home theater experience. As time passes, Hi-Vision will look more and more like another useless project that will never take off. Better concentrate on internet TV…

Link: Engadget