While many British viewers are still discovering HD TV courtesy of the likes of Sky's 720P/1080i HD service, Japanese broadcaster NHK is working on the next generation of HDTV with its 'Super Hi-Vision' system. Last week in Tokyo it showed a new 2.5in image sensor designed to give 7680x4320-pixel resolution - in other words, 16 times the resolution of today's 1920x1080-pixel 1080p panels. To date, NHK - Japan's equivalent of the BBC - has used four 8-megapixel sensors in its
Super Hi-Vision cameras to give the '8K by 4K' resolution, but at a recent 'open house' held by its Science and Technical Research Laboratories it showed the single 33-megapixel CMOS sensor, which will be used to study the feasibility of offering a Super Hi-Vision broadcast service. 
NHK finally completed its roll-out of terrestrial HD broadcasting last December, meaning that HD programming is
now available throughout Japan. The company plays out programming from its huge master control room in Tokyo (above) and has extensive high definition news coverage, using cameras on helicopters and a fleet of rapid response news trucks, kept on standby in a vast underground garage (below). 