Audio Video News

Playback of any kind can never be any better than the recording. With this engineering truism in mind, Photon Vision Systems, Inc. has developed a new image sensor said to offer four times the resolution of high definition television.

JVC is one of the first companies to take advantage of the new technology, packing three of PVS's "QuadHDTV" sensors into its new ultra high definition TV (UDTV) color camera. Each 8.3 megapixel sensor yields a resolution level of 3840 x 2160 pixels, four times higher than the high definition TV standard, according to an announcement made at the 2002 National Association of Broadcasters convention. JVC's UDTV camera, with precision optics, will "deliver 25 million pixels and operates at 30 full frames per second, progressive or interlaced (selectable)," the announcement stated.

The QuadHDTV sensor offers new levels of resolution, speed, quality, versatility and convenience for digital cinematography, studio broadcasting, scientific analysis, and security applications, a PVS spokesman explained. "PVS's QuadHDTV sensor brings its unique imaging capabilities to our ultra high definition TV (UDTV) camera now under development," said Clark Yoshida, president of JVC Laboratory of America. "Of all the available sensor technologies, PVS's proved superior and helps to ensure that we continue to deliver the latest innovations in presentation, broadcast, and professional equipment."

High-resolution digital cinematography will eventually replacing film as the medium for motion pictures. Many independent films are already shot entirely with digital video cameras, although the usual resolution level is only 1280 x 1024 pixels. Soon, filmmakers will have at their disposal high-resolution instruments like JVC's, which will let them create end-to-end digital productions. "Digital movies do not degrade like film, so the 1000th viewing will be as crisp and clean as the first. Digital moviemaking dramatically lowers production and distribution costs and speeds up post-production work. As an added benefit, digital movie cameras are lighter, more mobile, and allow a higher frame rate, eliminating the familiar flicker at the movie theaters," said Thomas L. Vogelsong, Ph.D., president and CEO of PVS."

Hi-rez cameras also have a certain future in television production and sports programming. QuadHDTV technology allows an entire football field to be shot digitally in real time, with any action recorded and played back in "instant zoom replay." This feature adds tremendous flexibility for producers, who can captures all of the action using fewer cameras than are needed now. QuadHDTV sensors also enable extreme "zoom" close-ups of players and action because the sensor has 32 times the resolution of standard television. Sports fans will soon "view the entire field of play, and recall instant replays and 'zoom' close-ups in high-definition clarity. An improvement over being present at a live game, the viewer can see more of the field, in greater detail than they could see from the stands," the PVS announcement explained.