Skip to content ↓

MIT Camera Project Welcomes 720 Line Developed by Panasonic, Nippon TV

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Camera Project at MIT's Center for Technology Policy and Industrial Development welcomes the development of a 720 line progressive scan (720P) high resolution video camera and a corresponding 720P D5 video tape recorder by Panasonic and Nippon Television.

"We are very excited that Panasonic and Nippon Television are pursuing advanced 720 line progressive scan video production equipment," said Branko J. Gerovac, a principal investigator for the MIT Camera Project. "They are taking a major step in expanding the development of this important technology."

Nippon Television (NTV) will demonstrate the Panasonic 720P camera and D5 recorder during the NAB'97 Special Technology Exhibition at the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center, April 6-10, 1997. NTV will also demonstrate Panasonic's full range of standard definition progressive scan (480P) equipment. Panasonic's booth is #10701.

MIT researchers have long promoted the desirability and feasibility of progressive scan digital video. Only progressive scan offers exceptional picture quality and interoperability with motion pictures, computers and critical image processing applications in industries such as medicine, science, machine vision, and remote sensing.

Before last year, such advanced video equipment was considered to be many years away. The MIT research group countered these myths with partial funding from DARPA and NASA, and contracted with Polaroid Corporation to develop the first production-quality progressive-scan high-resolution video camera. The 720P camera was built on a modified Philips/BTS LDK-9000 camera body, and complies with the SMPTE 296M standard. The first camera was completed in time to demonstrate last year at NAB '96, where it won the "Editors Pick of Show Award" from Television Broadcast Magazine, for Advancement in the Art and Science of Television Broadcasting.

This year at NAB'97, the Polaroid PTC-9000 720P camera will be hosted by Philips/BTS, Booth #9901.

Related Topics

More MIT News