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Camera sensor manufacturer Aptina has started production on two 8-megapixel sensors designed for high-speed video. The AR0835 and AR0835HS are both backlit CMOS image sensors capable of recording at 60 frames per second using a full-width 16:9 HD video window, while also allowing for 6-megapixel still images to be taken without interrupting the video recording.
Aptina Imaging is preparing to supply 1-inch image sensors to manufacturers. The AR1011HS digital camera image sensor has a resolution of 10 megapixels, a pixel pitch of 3.4 microns, and can record broadcast quality quad HD video, which makes the sensor potentially attractive to Tier-1 OEMs for bridge and mirrorless cameras.
Aptina today announced it will begin shipping a new 14-megapixel CMOS image sensor for phones. The sensor records full HD video (1080p at 60fps) and will be used in high-end camera phones. The sensor uses 1.4 micron pixels in a 1/2.3” optical format to reduce distortion and noise. It also provides techniques to improve image quality, such as Bayer resampling for color correction and enhanced recording in low light.
Google and Microsoft have simultaneously joined the Camera Phone Image Quality Initiative in a bid to drive up the quality of handsets. Along with existing partners, the two are helping to create a rating system that will judge cameras on phones through factors beyond just resolution, such as the actual sharpness of the picture, the amount of visible noise, color reproduction and lens artifacts like distortion or chromatic effects ("purple fringing").
Game maker THQ's chief Brian Farrell recently corroborated last week's report that Microsoft's Project Natal body controller for the Xbox 360 will be out late in 2010. Speaking in a conference call regarding THQ's earnings report, Farrell said Natal from Microsoft is a "platform addition, coming late next year," when asked about market changes in the upcoming cycle.
Aptina Imaging is the exclusive supplier of the 1.3-megapixel CMOS sensors for Microsoft's Project Natal for the new Xbox 360 and will be key to a new bundle, according to a Wednesday report. In addition to being needed for the full-body motion controller's optics, the company is said by Taiwanese sources for DigiTimes to be gearing up for the release of a new Xbox 360 that will carry the Project Natal system and ship in the second half of 2010.
