An 8K full-resolution 60-Hz/120-Hz multi-format portable camera system

NHK is accelerating the development of “full-featured” 8K (RGB 4:4:4, 12-bit, 120-Hz, high dynamic range and wide color gamut) broadcasting equipment. We have developed a 60-Hz/120-Hz multi-format portable single-chip 8K camera system using a 133-megapixel CMOS image sensor. The weight of the camera head is less than one-seventh that of conventional three-chip camera systems and the size of the camera control unit (CCU) is reduced to 3U. It can use both commercial 35 mm full-frame lenses and Super 35 mm lenses by using lens adapters. It employs a compact 100 Gbps optical transceiver to transmit signals between the camera head and the CCU. In the 60-Hz operation, all the lines of the sensor are read progressively and a full-resolution 8K image is captured. In the 120-Hz operation, the even and odd lines in an 8K video domain are read alternatively every 1/120 second by a 2:1 inter-line scan, and line interpolation with local motion detection is performed to configure the 8K image. The modulation transfer function in vertical direction without motion was 40% at 3200 TV lines, which was the same as that in the 60-Hz operation. The signal-to-noise ratio of the 120-Hz inter-line video was 58 dB, which can be improved to 1 dB at the area without motion.