While many of us still do not have access to High-definition TV signals, NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) has already started development of the "Super Hi-Vision" TV system, which they hope will replace HDTV in the future.  Apparently, SHV is capable of 7680x4320 resolution. What does that number mean exactly? Picture this: 16 HDTV screens arranged in a 4x4 array. That is what SHV is equivalent to.

Nonetheless, there are still some obstacles that NHK must overcome before SHV is released:

"An uncompressed SHV signal has a bit-rate of 24Gbps and that's unmanageable for broadcasting systems. It needs to be compressed. But real-time encoding and decoding of such a high-bandwidth signal is also a challenge."

"Right now the encoder system stands almost as tall as a person and requires a similarly large unit on the reception end. Engineers will have to shrink this into a handful of chips before its ready for a television set."

"NHK isn't saying when Super Hi-Vision services might begin but the broadcaster has a history of being quick off the mark with high-definition."

HDTV was introduced in 1969 by NHK.