NHK has unveiled a new compact Super Hi-Vision camera that will be used to produce regular SHV content by 2014. The camera will not be used as part of the London Olympics test transmissions. NHK says it plans to start using the camera in SHV production by 2014 after further checks on performance and necessary improvements. “We have come up with a small SHV camera-head the same size as existing HD cameras,” explained Dr Keiichi Kubota, director-general of science and technology research labs at NHK. “It weighs only 4 kilos, or less than 20% of the existing SHV cameras. Since the camera adopts the single-chip colour image sensor, the camera can be fitted with a range of the commercially available 35mm full-frame lens for single-lens reflex cameras.” The camcorder’s single 33 million pixel (7,680 across x 4,320 high) CMOS sensor can capture at 60 frames per second. The SHV signals from the camera are uncompressed and output at a data rate of about 24Gpps for recording variously onto a HDD, SSD or P2 recorder. Recording capacity is 20 to 50 minutes in HDD and SSD (uncompressed), or about two hours on P2 (compressed). The full performance specs of the unit, including senor sensitivity to light, will be released at an academic conference in August. Its power consumption is 45W. www.nhk.or.jp/strl/english By Adrian Pennington
