Next Step in TV Evolution? Paying Up for 'Ultra HD'

[dfergie]

They are gearing up to promote what the industry calls "ultra high-definition" televisions, or UHDTVs, which promise four times the resolution of existing TVs and are likely to be a hot topic at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Source & More: wsj.com

 

[KE4EST]

My question is. Say I had 25,000 to drop on one of these things. Is there anything out there right now to take full advantage of it? Do they have ultra BluRay players coming out?

 

[teachsac]

Not yet, but Sony is supposed to be providing some content with the TV.

S~

 

[dfergie]

Last years material was impressive as was the upconverts they had...

 

[John Kotches]

Red (The Digital Cinema company) has a playback device for about $1500 -- don't know how much content they have for it though.

 

[Ilya]

My question is. Say I had 25,000 to drop on one of these things. Is there anything out there right now to take full advantage of it? Do they have ultra BluRay players coming out?

First of all, the initial prices are not representative and will drop very quickly once there is a market demand and sufficient competition.
Will there be a new Ultra-HD/4K Blu-ray format? You bet!
Is there any content today for home use? Not really, but it will become available soon. How soon? Perhaps we will know better next week, once CES starts.
Could you take advantage of the 4K resolution today if you had an Ultra HD display?
Actually yes! At least in two ways:
1. You can view photos! Most digital cameras today have more than 4 megapixels.
2. You can upconvert HD to Ultra HD. (It's like upconverting SD to HD.) You wouldn't get true Ultra-HD, but it would improve the picture.

 

[TheForce]

And there is a 3rd way to take advantage of this. It's what interests me now.

The 4K UHD screen resolution in passive 3D that uses an FPR film to separate the left - right eye images will offer for the first time full HD 1080 24p x 1920 pixels to each eye for passive viewing. Now, everyone using passive TV will be able to see the full HD resolution without the need for active shutter glasses that has other disadvantages.
These 4k TV's in 3D still will suffer the vertical viewing restrictions present 2K passive sets have, however.

The Red player mentioned by John is a similar device to the PopcornHour player. However, the trick will be finding content to put on it. Presently that doesn't exist. The present market for this device is not consumer but as a player to screen content shot in some of Red's camera formats during Red field production operations.

 

[Neutron]

The other question: Would any of the content providers be able to provide anything in UHD? Both satellite companies are struggling to provide true HD let alone anything beyond that.

 

[Stargazer]

This time around I think that broadband could play a more important role in providing more content for ultra HD televisions, at least at first.

When HD television first came out there were not as many ways to view HD programming from the internet and the broadband speeds were not as great as they are today. This may help Ultra HD televisions progress in the market quicker than what HD did when it first came out. More people connect there televisions to the computers and broadband along with smart TV's being on the market.

Today we have such services on the market as Netflix, Hulu, Red box, Roku and so forth that we did not have back then. These companies could capitalize on this. This will cause further issues with bandwidth caps though.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[Ilya]

Sony is going to bundle an Ultra HD Video Player with its TV set. The following movies in 4K Ultra HD will be included:

The Amazing Spiderman
Total Recall (2012)
The Karate Kid (2010)
Salt
Battle Los Angeles
The Other Guys
Bad Teacher
That’s My Boy
Taxi Driver
The Bridge on the River Kwai

In addition to the full length features, the Video Player will come pre-loaded with a gallery of 4K video shorts, including Red Bull Media House’s exclusive 4K videos The Athlete Machine: Red Bull Kluge and four acoustic performances of songs from Red Bull Records’ Heaven’s Basement’s new record, “Filthy Empire.” Additionally, Sony’s 4K Ultra HD delivery solution is designed to be updated with additional 4K titles and video clips.

 

[mike123abc]

Nice to see some content. I wonder how big the videos are - how fast an internet connection one needs to stream one.

 

[Ilya]

These will be pre-loaded on the hard drive. No streaming required.

 

[Ilya]

Sony's press event at CES starts in less than five minutes. I am sure we'll hear more Ultra HD related news!

 

[Ilya]

Ok, so, Sony has just announced "native 4K titles for Sony’s 4K video distribution service, which is planned to be launched in summer 2013 in the US"

 

[Ilya]

I wonder how big the videos are

According to Sony (at CES), around 120GB each!