2 minute read
How about 19?
Fancy a video camera with 200 Megapixels?
Just a quick, breathless note to say that if you're already indifferent to the so-so resolution of 8K video, how does 19K sound?
If you like the sound of that, you might struggle to make this work with your editing system, but Forza Silicon has just the product for you.
Announced just two days ago, the catchily named Forza 100+ MP CAM Platform can capture video at up to 200 megapixels (this is six times the resolution of 8K). Take the square root of six - roughly 2.45, and multiply it by 8(K) and you get just over 19K. And in case you're thinking it can probably only mange 15fps, they say it can pelt along at 60fps.
Quite where you're going to store all that footage is a matter for concern. At six times the data rate of 8K@60p (24 Gbit/s), which is 144 gigabits per second, you're going to need line-of-sight laser to connect this to your storage, of which you'll need 64TB per hour. If you were going to connect this thing to a monitor, you'd need 96 HD SDI cables!
(At this point I should declare that these calculations may be a bit shaky. If anyone would like to check them and they're wrong - let me know in the comments!)
You really have to wonder what you'd need all this resolution for, but this would certainly be the ultimate pan and scan set-up - you'd be able to zoom in to a seemingly unlimited extent and still output in HD or 4K.
The main spanner in the works might be the resolution of the lenses. Remember that most digital still cameras go up to about 20Megapixels these days, and you have to use some pretty top end lenses at that that resolution.
What I think we can seriously conclude from the arrival of this camera is that neither resolution nor frame rate are going to be a problem in the future, because cameras that can comfortably exceed the level of quality that we set ourselves for our day to day work will be freely available to us. As far as storage is concerned: just give it another five years and we'll be storing this stuff on our USB drives.
Press release in full after the break
April 23, 2014 – Pasadena, CA – Forza Silicon (www.forzasilicon.com), a leader of advanced image sensor and mixed-signal IC designs for digital camera applications, introduces the unprecedented Forza 100+ MP CAM Platform featuring a customizable CMOS image sensor operating at 60 frames per second (fps) and supporting multiple camera resolutions.
PR - Forza Silicon 100+ MP CAM FINAL 5x3
The dual-mode camera operates in B&W or color and produces high-quality video at the highest resolution and speed available, with minimal motion blur. It is ideal for surveillance applications and particularly useful for large-area image capture. With a proprietary onboard image processor, image sequences can be captured, downloaded, and configured to resolutions approaching 200 MP while maintaining speeds of 60 fps.
The Forza 100+ MP CAM Platform includes a high resolution, visible CMOS image sensor module and camera reference design that can be customized to allow for fast integration into multiple camera hardware designs and applications. Due to the modular design of both the CMOS image sensor (CIS) and electronics processing stacks, the array format, frame rate, and power dissipation can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of defense, aerospace, automotive, and medical imaging devices that require state-of-the-art imaging resolution and speed.
Forza Silicon will be demonstrating its Forza 100+ MP CAM Platform at the upcoming SPIE DSS show on May 6 – 8, 2014 at the Baltimore Convention Center. “This forum provides us the opportunity to present the game-changing elements of the Forza 100+ MP CAM Platform in a venue where the benefits of such flexibility and time-to-market are highly valued,” notes Jonathan Bergey, director of business development at Forza Silicon.
Tags: Technology
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