NHK, the Japan broadcast company has something ultra cool in the works, Ultra HiDef TV. The current max resolution of HiDef video is 1920×1080 pixels, or 1080p. The Ultra HiDef project NHK Japan is working on is based around a video signal that contains right around sixteen times that resolution. I had the opportunity to experience this in a theater that NHK had setup at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas at the end of April, but I ran out of time. I’m really starting to regret missing that opportunity now that I’m starting to hear more and more about the project. I’ve heard that the video is such high resolution that most viewers will actually try to reach out and touch things on the screen because the brain is tricked into believing it’s real. The current broadcast infrastructure couldn’t possibly handle this type of hires material. The data rates are enormous for the video signal alone, not including the 24 channels of audio NHK wishes to deliver with a channel of Ultra HiDef. Developing a new form of compression to bring the data rates down without drastic loss in image quality will be one of the biggest challenges NHK will have. Imagine trying to take your best looking HD channel and squeezing it down to be viewable in real time, full motion, and full quality on your cell phone, and you’re still no where near how much they would have to compress this Ultra HiDef in order to broadcast it. I think they’re planning on massive bandwidth upgrades in the broadcast infrastructure over the next few decades in order to support this stuff. NHK has actually made an announcement or two admitting that it won’t be anytime soon (as in at least twenty years from now). NHK Japan