diff --git a/examples/__main__.py b/examples/__main__.py
index a397cf05..7d75e36a 100644
--- a/examples/__main__.py
+++ b/examples/__main__.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ examples = OrderedDict([
     ('Histograms', 'histogram.py'),
     ('Auto-range', 'PlotAutoRange.py'),
     ('Remote Plotting', 'RemoteSpeedTest.py'),
+    ('HDF5 big data', 'hdf5.py'),
     ('GraphicsItems', OrderedDict([
         ('Scatter Plot', 'ScatterPlot.py'),
         #('PlotItem', 'PlotItem.py'),
diff --git a/examples/hdf5.py b/examples/hdf5.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..57b5672f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/hdf5.py
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+"""
+In this example we create a subclass of PlotCurveItem for displaying a very large 
+data set from an HDF5 file that does not fit in memory. 
+
+The basic approach is to override PlotCurveItem.viewRangeChanged such that it
+reads only the portion of the HDF5 data that is necessary to display the visible
+portion of the data. This is further downsampled to reduce the number of samples 
+being displayed.
+
+A more clever implementation of this class would employ some kind of caching 
+to avoid re-reading the entire visible waveform at every update.
+"""
+
+import initExample ## Add path to library (just for examples; you do not need this)
+
+import pyqtgraph as pg
+from pyqtgraph.Qt import QtCore, QtGui
+import numpy as np
+import h5py
+
+import sys, os
+if len(sys.argv) > 1:
+    fileName = sys.argv[1]
+else:
+    fileName = 'test.hdf5'
+    if not os.path.isfile(fileName):
+        print "No suitable HDF5 file found. Use createFile() to generate an example file."
+        os._exit(1)
+
+plt = pg.plot()
+plt.setWindowTitle('pyqtgraph example: HDF5 big data')
+plt.enableAutoRange(False, False)
+plt.setXRange(0, 500)
+
+class HDF5Plot(pg.PlotCurveItem):
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwds):
+        self.hdf5 = None
+        self.limit = 10000 # maximum number of samples to be plotted
+        pg.PlotCurveItem.__init__(self, *args, **kwds)
+        
+    def setHDF5(self, data):
+        self.hdf5 = data
+        self.updateHDF5Plot()
+        
+    def viewRangeChanged(self):
+        self.updateHDF5Plot()
+        
+    def updateHDF5Plot(self):
+        if self.hdf5 is None:
+            self.setData([])
+            return
+        
+        vb = self.getViewBox()
+        if vb is None:
+            return  # no ViewBox yet
+        
+        # Determine what data range must be read from HDF5
+        xrange = vb.viewRange()[0]
+        start = max(0,int(xrange[0])-1)
+        stop = min(len(self.hdf5), int(xrange[1]+2))
+        
+        # Decide by how much we should downsample 
+        ds = int((stop-start) / self.limit) + 1
+        
+        if ds == 1:
+            # Small enough to display with no intervention.
+            visible = self.hdf5[start:stop]
+            scale = 1
+        else:
+            # Here convert data into a down-sampled array suitable for visualizing.
+            # Must do this piecewise to limit memory usage.        
+            samples = 1 + ((stop-start) // ds)
+            visible = np.zeros(samples*2, dtype=self.hdf5.dtype)
+            sourcePtr = start
+            targetPtr = 0
+            
+            # read data in chunks of ~1M samples
+            chunkSize = (1000000//ds) * ds
+            while sourcePtr < stop-1: 
+                chunk = self.hdf5[sourcePtr:min(stop,sourcePtr+chunkSize)]
+                sourcePtr += len(chunk)
+                
+                # reshape chunk to be integral multiple of ds
+                chunk = chunk[:(len(chunk)//ds) * ds].reshape(len(chunk)//ds, ds)
+                
+                # compute max and min
+                chunkMax = chunk.max(axis=1)
+                chunkMin = chunk.min(axis=1)
+                
+                # interleave min and max into plot data to preserve envelope shape
+                visible[targetPtr:targetPtr+chunk.shape[0]*2:2] = chunkMin
+                visible[1+targetPtr:1+targetPtr+chunk.shape[0]*2:2] = chunkMax
+                targetPtr += chunk.shape[0]*2
+            
+            visible = visible[:targetPtr]
+            scale = ds * 0.5
+            
+        self.setData(visible) # update the plot
+        self.setPos(start, 0) # shift to match starting index
+        self.resetTransform()
+        self.scale(scale, 1)  # scale to match downsampling
+
+        
+f = h5py.File(fileName, 'r')
+curve = HDF5Plot()
+curve.setHDF5(f['data'])
+plt.addItem(curve)
+
+
+def createFile(finalSize=2000000000):
+    """Create a large HDF5 data file for testing.
+    Data consists of 1M random samples tiled through the end of the array.
+    """
+    
+    chunk = np.random.normal(size=1000000).astype(np.float32)
+    
+    f = h5py.File('test.hdf5', 'w')
+    f.create_dataset('data', data=chunk, chunks=True, maxshape=(None,))
+    data = f['data']
+
+    for i in range(finalSize // (chunk.size * chunk.itemsize)):
+        newshape = [data.shape[0] + chunk.shape[0]]
+        data.resize(newshape)
+        data[-chunk.shape[0]:] = chunk
+        
+    f.close()
+    
+
+
+## Start Qt event loop unless running in interactive mode or using pyside.
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    import sys
+    if (sys.flags.interactive != 1) or not hasattr(QtCore, 'PYQT_VERSION'):
+        QtGui.QApplication.instance().exec_()
+
+
+
+