Vision of the future
THIS year will be remembered in TV circles for the ‘big 3’ — the Euro 2012 soccer tournament; the Olympic Games in London; and the European digital switchover. In Ireland, the digital Saorview signal was switched on last year, impacting sales of Saorview-approved TVs and set-top boxes.
The Olympics will introduce another dimension in TV viewing — Super Hi-Vision. BBC are erecting three, 50-foot, outdoor screens broadcasting super hi-vision (also known as UHDTV — ultra high-def TV), producing images 16 times as sharp as standard high definition. Because of the cost of cameras and screens, it is unlikely this technology will reach the living room before 2020.
