Super Hi-Vision video on tap for 2012 Olympics

The mega-sharp successor to HDTV—so sharp, in fact, that you'd need a 60-inch set to truly appreciate its resolution—is reportedly set to debut in time for the 2012 Olympics in London, albeit only on big public displays.

UPI (via Engadget HD) reports that the BBC is planning on broadcasting portions of the 2012 Olympics in Super Hi-Vision—a budding high-def technology that's 16 times sharper than standard HDTV.

The BBC says the SHV broadcasts will appear on large public displays installed across Britain, according to UPI.

For the record, SHV's resolution clocks in at 7,680 x 4,320, or 32 million pixels. Compare that to a mere 4,096 x 2160 for digital cinema, or 1920 x 1080 for a 1080p HDTV set. It'll also come with 22.2-channel sound—because, you know, if 9.1-channel sound is good, 22.2 sound's gotta be better.

Japanese broadcaster NHK is busy getting the new format ready for prime-time, although the sheer amount of bandwidth involved—about 24Gbps of uncompressed data—has, of course, presented a few hurdles.

While a series of new video codecs have managed to compress that 24Gbps data stream to a much more managable 180 to 600Mbps, it'll still take some time before regular Super Hi-Vision broadcasts commence—think 2015 or later, actually. Meanwhile, it remains an open question whether SHV will ever be practical for home video (I don't know about you, but I don't have space for a 60-inch set in my living room). In other words—don't toss out your perfectly good 1080p HDTV quite yet.

For more on the nitty-gritty of SHV, check out this PC World article.

Related:
Japan, Britain test Super Hi-Vision TV [UPI, via Engadget HD]