Attended Ultra-HD Demo!!! - Blu-ray Forum

HD Man · 08-10-2012, 04:42 PM

I had the opportunity to attend a Comcast/NBC Universal Ultra-HD demo at their Washington DC offices for a look at the next generation of HDTV; Ultra-HD (Super Hi-Vision as it’s known in Japan).

Washington DC was one of only seven venues, and the only U.S. location showcasing the Olympic footage in the Ultra-HD format. There will be also be public viewings in London, Scotland, and Japan.

Comcast/NBC Universal partnered with NHK of Japan to demo the technology, which has 16 times the resolution of current HD pictures. The prototype set had featured a 7680 × 4320 (33.2 megapixels) 85-inch LCD display and featured a 22.2 sound system!! Talk about impressive. Video was fed to the prototype screen at 360Mbit/s. The LCD display alone cost $10mil!!

NHK, which supplied most of the prototype equipment used for the demo, doesn't expect to roll out Super Hi-Vision services commercially until 2020, but I was sold!! It was like seeing HD for the first time and comparing it to an old analog broadcast.

The demo featured highlights of the 2012 Olympics and the display just SCREAMS with details and realism. You could see small faces in the background in full detail!! The demo had the finals of the recent men’s 100m race featuring Bolt, and you could CLEARLY see the face of the man in the stands who threw a bottle onto the track.

They showed a comparison to 1080p, and although the 1080p looked good, it was nothing compared to the Ultra-HD. The showed one street scene shot in 1080p from quite a distance away and then zoomed in on pedestrians crossing the street: you could CLEARLY make out the faces of the people, while the 1080p footage was grainy and had a lot of pixelization and you couldn’t clearly see the pedestrian’s faces.

I was allowed to take a couple of pictures but the engineer laughed saying my iPhone 4s wouldn’t come close to capturing all of the pixels on the display. I also attached a picture of the wiring, as the display used the equivalent of 16 HDMI connections to power the 16 sections of the display.

A very impressive demo and attendees were definitely sold on the technology!!

08-10-2012, 04:42 PM	#1
HD Man Senior Member Member since:May 2008 Location:Wash, DC area Blu-ray collection:253 Trading Score:2	Attended Ultra-HD Demo!!! I had the opportunity to attend a Comcast/NBC Universal Ultra-HD demo at their Washington DC offices for a look at the next generation of HDTV; Ultra-HD (Super Hi-Vision as it’s known in Japan). Washington DC was one of only seven venues, and the only U.S. location showcasing the Olympic footage in the Ultra-HD format. There will be also be public viewings in London, Scotland, and Japan. Comcast/NBC Universal partnered with NHK of Japan to demo the technology, which has 16 times the resolution of current HD pictures. The prototype set had featured a 7680 × 4320 (33.2 megapixels) 85-inch LCD display and featured a 22.2 sound system!! Talk about impressive. Video was fed to the prototype screen at 360Mbit/s. The LCD display alone cost $10mil!! NHK, which supplied most of the prototype equipment used for the demo, doesn't expect to roll out Super Hi-Vision services commercially until 2020, but I was sold!! It was like seeing HD for the first time and comparing it to an old analog broadcast. The demo featured highlights of the 2012 Olympics and the display just SCREAMS with details and realism. You could see small faces in the background in full detail!! The demo had the finals of the recent men’s 100m race featuring Bolt, and you could CLEARLY see the face of the man in the stands who threw a bottle onto the track. They showed a comparison to 1080p, and although the 1080p looked good, it was nothing compared to the Ultra-HD. The showed one street scene shot in 1080p from quite a distance away and then zoomed in on pedestrians crossing the street: you could CLEARLY make out the faces of the people, while the 1080p footage was grainy and had a lot of pixelization and you couldn’t clearly see the pedestrian’s faces. I was allowed to take a couple of pictures but the engineer laughed saying my iPhone 4s wouldn’t come close to capturing all of the pixels on the display. I also attached a picture of the wiring, as the display used the equivalent of 16 HDMI connections to power the 16 sections of the display. A very impressive demo and attendees were definitely sold on the technology!!

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