philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

The Business of 4K Displays

[Philip Lelyveld comment: this is an excellent overview of the current state of 4K technology ecosystem.  It doesn't get into non-tech reasons why 4K will succeed in the consumer market, such as good up-rez chips and the showroom impact of high dynamic range.]

"It's like a highway under construction, and it is inevitable," Putman says. "A couple sections are still missing or being updated such as HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.3, and streaming. But as far as making large 4K panels at reasonable prices goes--that is done. Moving to new backlight technologies--that is done. Achieving greater dynamic range--that is done. Being able to switch pixels faster and reduce power consumption--that is done. Then, you throw in additional things like higher frame rates. SMPTE is finishing the standards for HFR all the way to 120Hz. People are even talking about how autostereo imaging works better on a 4K TV because you get more resolution for each stereo view. So you can make the argument that the move to UHDTV isn't a gimmick; it's not just about more pixels on the screen--it is a totally different TV system than we have had before. It is no longer about simply focusing on the displays. You have to look at all the different things that are eventually coming together to make the next generation of television."

Another byproduct in all this, Putman adds, is that 4K acquisition and post have greatly enhanced current 2K image processing and viewing experiences. Therefore, ironically, 2K broadcasting continues to improve even as hardware manufacturers thrust ahead to build a world where 4K displays are the standard.

"Everybody [talks about being able to broadcast or stream 4K content], but [new compression schemes] are just as valuable for moving any other content by reducing file sizes to a point where, with H.265, based on demos I've seen, we will be streaming 2K video at bit rates that would barely allow us to stream standard def just ten years ago," he says.

See the full story here: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=38f335d6-78d2-474a-8ba0-0a1dfd338912&c=ff15e780-aaf2-11e3-a1bb-d4ae526edd6c&ch=00113770-aaf3-11e3-a1eb-d4ae526edd6c