Every once in a blue moon, there are so many changes in current video technology that I feel it is worth my time to imagine what the future with this technology will be. Now I know it’s usually a rookie error for someone to write about what’s coming in the future since it changes just about every minute of the day, but honestly, it’s too fun not to try.  Besides, when the pace of technology only grows more rapid with time like it has, it’s probably a good idea to throw one’s hands up and realize that time will most definitely make anyone who dares to presume about the future look foolish.

There was a time when a person could buy a piece of technology and expect it to be at the relative top of technological advancements for almost a year, but alas, those days are far behind us. This is not all bad however. Even though I might have to endure buyer’s remorse within a week of having bought a new piece of video equipment, I also know that by the time I buy my next camera or computer I will have already seen the good and the bad of two generations worth of technology. This means that I have a great chance at buying a real solid piece of advanced equipment by the time my old one wears out. Plus, nothing beats that feeling of knowing you finally have the ability to do what others around you have been doing for years. In light of these facts, let’s take a close look at what is coming around the corner in the world of camcorder technology.

Everyone knows that the more megapixels in an image, the sharper and clearer it is. Given these facts it is exciting to note that Canon recently announced that they have developed a sensor that can pick up 120 megapixels of data in one image. This means there is definitely 13,280×9,184 pixel images in our future. With this kind of clarity, you may actually be able to take a picture of the Eiffel tower and zoom it in to see your friend’s face clearly from the top. Unless you’re making a billboard there may not seem to be a valid reason for a 120 megapixel image for now, but with rapid advancements in the space on hard drives, the better question might by why not?

We truly live in an advanced age in which camera companies are putting video functions in their DSLRs. With this revolution, camcorders suddenly went from sensor sizes of 5 mm or less, to sensor sizes of 24-35 mm or more – not to mention the addition of interchangeable lenses. While this has been a real boon to image quality and shallow depth of field capabilities, some camcorder companies are not satisfied with just that. Instead, companies such as RED are making sensors that are 186×56 mm across allowing video shot at 28K and stills shot at a whopping 261 megapixels. Now granted, there are no televisions in the world that can view the entirety of a 28K film and there isn’t even a 28K camera out yet (as RED loves to tease with information well before they actually produce a product) but you can rest assured that the day is coming. Already we’ve seen 4K and QuadHD televisions at tradeshows like CES with resolution so fine that you can count the amount of noodles in the Ramen a man is eating far off in the background of a scene.

Even the camera and camcorder companies are beginning to give us a glimpse into how they see the future. We reported in an earlier blog that Canon believes the future will hold cameras that can go from macro focus to 500 mm zooms all with one lens while taking such high resolution video that you can simply use a frame from the video and zoom and crop it in Photoshop on your computer at a later date. While this sounds fantastical, at the rate that technology is changing now, it’s not hard to imagine that a camera like that is not too far off in the future. Simply put, there seems to be enough demand for higher end products – and technology is quickly catching up. So here’s to hoping that it’s only a matter of time before pictures and video become so high in quality that it almost won’t matter how wide you shoot a scene – it can always be scaled up and cropped later.

Just about everyone loves watching movies. With both the clarity of sound and the resolution of the screen, theaters can uniquely make you feel more a part of the film than your television at home ever could. That was, until now. Even during all the hype of 3D, television manufacturers the likes of Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, and Samsung have been quietly releasing televisions with the same resolution of major Hollywood films. That means watching both television and movies at 4K resolution right from the comfort of your own home. Panasonic even went as far as releasing a 150 inch plasma screen at 4K resolution at CES in an effort to beat the competition in the 4K market. Having been to CES, I was able to actually see this screen with my own eyes. As a result, I can say that I feel confident that 4K is the future of television.

Unlike most televisions, when watching in 4096×2150 resolution, one can actually see more details in the picture as you get nearer to the screen. When watching a 4K television at NAB, to my amazement when I got closer to the Kung Fu movie on the screen, I was able to count the amount of noodles in the chow mein that a monk was eating way in the background giving the picture a breathtaking amount of realism. With experiences like this, it would seem that giving TVs higher resolution makes a picture more realistic than even putting it in 3D, with today’s technology. Of course, this would also make cinematographers and filmmakers happy as they could finally display their masterpieces in homes at the full resolution it was originally shot. With these kinds of benefits it is clear that television manufacturers see 4K as the next step in the future of the television market. As evidence, a company spokesperson for Sharp, talking about their 4K TV said, “We developed this LCD panel focusing on the upcoming ‘super HDTV’ generation. That is pretty exciting and with the constant improvements in video resolution and computer speeds, it seems like only a matter of time before you’ll be able to count the laces on a baseball thrown in a game broadcast in 4K HD.

 When watching most science fiction movies, you probably can’t help thinking about how glad you are to live in such a simple, non-apocalyptic world. The only problem is, our world isn’t really that simple anymore. The fact is, it’s closer to science fiction than you think. Believe it or not, proof of this can be seen in the lengths that scientists have gone in discovering new and more efficient ways of making flash memory drives.

Just a decade ago, the best option that we had for easy on-the-go storage was a bulky and relatively fragile 3.5” hard disk drive. With IBM introducing the first commercial USB flash drives in 2000, the world quickly realized the amazing benefits of flash memory and as interest rose, so did the technology. Flash drives rose quickly from a mere 64 MB all the way to the 64 GB drives of today. Read the rest of this entry »