HD technology now offers video images with dramatically superior clarity, resolution, and detail. But, at the same time, endoscopes have remained generally the same, with the rod-lens rigid endoscope remaining the predominant type used in the OR. What has changed is that the endoscope is now often considered the device that limits the video quality of HD systems. Essentially, the amount of visual information, or data, being transmitted through the imaging chain linking the object being viewed and the surgeon is limited by the component with the lowest resolution. With 1080p HD camera resolution now approaching the optical diffraction limit of today’s endoscopes, the quality of the endoscope itself becomes the limiting factor.