The 4K video stream displays images that are about four times the resolution of the most widely-used HD TV format and has been proposed as a standard for digital cinema theatrical distribution. The stream was received and displayed through AARNet's network in collaboration with the University of Queensland (UQ), the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure (QCIF) and research institutes in Korea, Japan, Russia, Czech Republic and three locations in the US.

Seven other research institutions around the world were also involved in the "visualcasting" demonstration in which the participants were required to showcase real-world applications and data movement on multiple 10-gigabit per second networks.

AARNet worked with UQ to provide a dedicated 10GB circuit right to the QCIF laboratory where high-definition video and audio visualisations were displayed on its OptIPortal.

"This particular experiment marks an Australian first, as it demonstrates the merging of future video conferencing, scientific visualisation and digital cinema technologies all in one," says Chris Hancock, CEO of AARNet.