BBC reveals stunning sample footage shot with TyphoonHD4 camera

The BBC has already proven itself to be quite the source for some impressive HD images, but the network's Natural History Unit looks to have really outdone themselves for their forthcoming South Pacific documentary, which makes use of a modified, $100,000 TyphoonHD4 camera. Of course, those exact modifications appear to be a closely-kept secret, but it has apparently been outfitted with a special underwater housing designed by German high-speed camera expert Rudi Diesel, and the camera itself is able to shoot in high definition at 20 times the speed of a normal HD camera, which results in some pretty amazing super slow motion footage. You can get a taste of that after the break but, trust us, you'll want to head up the read link below to really get a sense of what this thing is capable of.

[Via SlashGear]

[Amun @ May 7th 2009 4:21PM]

Sweet.

[Samboini @ May 7th 2009 4:34PM]

Epic!

[reuthermonkey1 @ May 7th 2009 5:08PM]

totally!

[Gad Get @ May 7th 2009 6:52PM]

Amazing! Incredible! AWESOME!

[VampireHunter Z @ May 7th 2009 10:45PM]

Mere mortals will never touch a camera like that. Freaking amazing though.

[Phoenix @ May 7th 2009 10:54PM]

I'd hate to see what the final cost of the camera is... though the footage they're getting is absolutely killer!

[Bobs @ May 8th 2009 2:02AM]

There was so much awesome from that surfing video, I puked the excess awesomeness.

[Matthew C @ May 9th 2009 12:03AM]

I didn't want it to end!

[Jean @ May 7th 2009 4:21PM]

Sweet video!

jeanjean.c.la

[Who? @ May 7th 2009 4:21PM]

Coolio.

[strider_mt2k @ May 7th 2009 5:15PM]

Random abundant affirmative expletives!!

[Who? @ May 7th 2009 5:17PM]

Nice.

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (BarCODE) @ May 8th 2009 6:58AM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md0c_toWvWc

[sparticus @ May 7th 2009 4:25PM]

Wow =O

[Patriks7 @ May 7th 2009 4:24PM]

Do I want too much from them if I want them to sell it to me? :p

[Aaronage @ May 7th 2009 5:11PM]

I agree with @Rich UK :)

[Aaronage @ May 7th 2009 5:12PM]

Ah crap i clicked the wrong reply button xD

See comment and replies below :P

[r3loaded @ May 7th 2009 4:25PM]

The BBC always do awesome documentaries. Now, if they'd actually transmit an HD signal over terrestrial TV, that'd be very nice - I shouldn't have to fork out for a satellite dish or a cable TV connection just to receive BBC HD. What's the TV license for then?

[Phoenix @ May 7th 2009 4:33PM]

is that even possible? And at least you can use Freesat: One off payment for HD TV...

[Homeboy @ May 7th 2009 4:36PM]

You need to use iPlayer. I use my 32inch Bravia as a computer screen over HDMI to my Dell Studio 17, and all BBC programs on iPlayer look crisp.

[r3loaded @ May 7th 2009 4:39PM]

iPlayer is fine, but how about some HD for live TV? The 2010 World Cup will be filmed in HD, are you really gonna watch the matches after they finish on iPlayer to see them in HD?

[Rich UK @ May 7th 2009 4:46PM]

I really can't believe people complain that you don't get BBC HD for the fee £12 a month? When the switch over happens BBC HD will eventually come to terrestrial. Besides, if you shell out £150 for a freesat, you will. If you step but back and look at what you get from the BBC its great value for money, its not all for everyone, but i would take it over commercial channels any day. Personally I don't watch any other channel.

[toxicpiano @ May 7th 2009 7:24PM]

Isn't it a bandwidth issue or something?

[Rob @ May 7th 2009 8:14PM]

Yeah, the analog switch off is meant to free up a lot of that bandwidth so they can finally start broadcasting HD over DVB. There are several standards for HD over DVB and I don't think the UK has settled on one yet.

[Jack @ May 8th 2009 4:29AM]

The standard will be DVB-T2, it will be MPEG-4 AVC, broadcasting trials are to start in 2010 in london iirc

[Joe @ May 9th 2009 10:01AM]

You do know that when they start broadcasting HD over terrestrial you will have to buy a new box anyway? DO you think the BBC should be giving out £150 HD receivers with their £120 licence fee? The BBC is leading the way making its programmes available as possible. BBC is a founding partner in Freeview and Freesat, as well as pushing digital radio and internet streaming radio on its website and iPlayer as well. Apart from having the people come round and act/present in your front room I don't know what more you could expect of them

[wrs589 @ May 7th 2009 4:26PM]

Looks great. Of course its going to look ten times better when it comes out on TV rather than Youtube.

Its a real shame that despite putting all that effort (and cash) into filming HD footage like this, they're not showing it on the HD channel on Sunday night when its on in SD. Instead you'll have to wait till Tuesday 12 May to see it in HD.

BBC did this with they're Yellowstone documentary series too.

[Kinger @ May 7th 2009 4:26PM]

anyone wanna link me to a torrent of this? lol I kinda wanna see it now

[Brent @ May 7th 2009 6:12PM]

Youtube HD isn't good enough for you?

[tychew @ May 7th 2009 4:26PM]

I was just reading this article on the BBC

[Cyantre @ May 7th 2009 4:27PM]

Sweet! Any chance of this little gem making to the Engadget's recession antidote? j/k

[Henzapper @ May 7th 2009 4:30PM]

Whoa, 100 grand?! Isn't that even more expensive than movie cameras? Anyways, that shot was incredible. Hopefully in the coming years cameras will have improved so much that I can shoot that with a home camcorder.

[loosely_coupled @ May 7th 2009 4:56PM]

no not really... Even high-quality film cameras easily be 250K or more with all the components..

[Sarig @ May 7th 2009 5:14PM]

The inherent restrictions in size for a consumer camcorder aren't likely to change the next few years, I bet :)

[CoffeeDragon @ May 7th 2009 4:50PM]

holy.......frigging........crap

[Jonathan @ May 7th 2009 4:53PM]

Ha. I was watching the video in full screen and I was so captivated and then all of a sudden a big '2' came and engulfed the screen and then I remembered I was watching a youtube link.

[BigBirdUK @ May 7th 2009 6:12PM]

I love the smell of napalm in the morning!

[farfisa @ May 7th 2009 5:07PM]

hmm, this or the casio...

[digitallysick @ May 7th 2009 5:24PM]

amazing i love it

[commadore64 @ May 7th 2009 5:25PM]

You'd want to make dam sure the underwater housing was total watertight before sticking your $100,000 camera in it!!!!

[Tohe @ May 7th 2009 6:17PM]

Man that was breathtaking!

[kilgary @ May 7th 2009 6:27PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqzHvcwJmQY

20x 24fps = 480fps. Great for a HD video camera; but film's been doing more for years (specialty film cameras can shoot 10,000fps). "Step Into Liquid" has nearly identical shots on film - from 6 years ago.

[pete @ May 7th 2009 6:51PM]

no HD is still 30fps. so its actually shooting 600fps here. also with the 10000fps cam's, they have to be completely still. this photographer was in the middle of the ocean... and yes, step into liquid has some pretty sweet slo-mo footage but its not 600fps like these shots. oh and *actual* film is a whole lot more expensive than harddrives capable of recording the same amount of frames.

[Zak @ May 7th 2009 6:27PM]

Holy christ that's awesome.

[Yem @ May 7th 2009 6:29PM]

So, 1080p @ 600 FPS? Woah.

[Eric Foor @ May 7th 2009 6:51PM]

Pilot to bomb-a-deer! Where did they get the design for this? A B-42? It also can swim! Those Germans are outpacing us in technology, I dare say.

[Col. Readily Apparent Upon Cursory Inspection @ May 7th 2009 7:09PM]

And while I love nearly all the US firearm manufacturers, this is why I still entrust my life to a SIG P226, at least when I have a say about it. I got one that's about 85% manufactured in W. Germany, had to replace the bbl and extractor.

[Tidy @ May 9th 2009 5:28AM]

...And they chose to show off this stunning footage using the amazing quality of YouTube 'HD' video? Genius.

[Jules @ May 8th 2009 7:57AM]

Wahoo.

Oh we (UK) paid for this. :(

Now waiting for the wife to tell me off about this extravagance.

[Nule @ May 8th 2009 12:04PM]

@Jules:

The BBC is a real credit to your country's culture. As far as I know it's unique in the world and produces a wide variety of world-class services. All my online news (well, except engadget) comes from news.bbc, we pay for BBC-A on our cable, and of course, co-produced projects like Planet Earth make their way onto channels like Discovery and DVDs at the store. Sure, it's expensive to produce but it's anything but a waste of money. I think it inspires generations to what to know more about the world.