Among the announcements at German trade show IFA this week has been the release of new 'ultra-definition' 4K TVs from Sony and Toshiba, as vendors look away from 3D to boost sales.
Both firms have unveiled 84-inch screens featuring the latest technologically wizardry intended to entice customers into shelling out on new sets, with Sony's Bravia version slated for a UK release this autumn.
The two 4k LCD sets have high resolutions of 3840 x 2160. 4K is not necessarily new, but Sony has decided to market its mammoth TV around its increased resolution, making less noise about its 3D capabilities.
The price tag is likely to be suitably astronomical when the first devices hit the UK later this year.
So are Sony and Toshiba onto a money spinner that will help the beleaguered TV business? Hardware retailers could certainly do with a new gimmick to spur on sales in a way that 3D has failed to achieve on a large scale.
Nigh on all TV vendors are operating at losses, and most have been for some time - even the seemingly unstoppable Samsung has been struggling with its TV sales. Part of the reason is that consumers in markets such as the UK have, in many cases, already upgraded to flat screen LCDs, so replacement sales remain slow.
According to display market analyst, Bob Raikes, who is present at IFA, the superlative technology should firmly grasp the attention of gamers and film buffs, but mass market appeal could be hampered by difficulties in receiving 4K signals
"4K will not be a big driver of purchases for watching broadcast content because of the barriers to transmissions," Raikes said, speaking with TechEye. "Even carriers that have plenty of bandwidth will need new set top boxes and transmission equipment and the new generation of codecs such as the new H.264 HEVC will need time to mature and be built into lower cost chips."
However, Raikes points out that Toshiba is already showing some 4K game content from PCs using native 4K content at IFA, and describes them as "simply stunning".
"The feeling is so immersive that I found I was getting genuine motion sickness watching a driving game," Raikes said.
He added that using Blu-ray discs using content shot on 4K cameras works well when upscaled onto 4K sets.
"So, Sony is probably thinking more about Blu-ray and the next generation PlayStation," he said, adding "if that ran at 4K natively, I'd be very tempted to upgrade my TV".
DisplaySeach analyst Paul Gray, also at IFA, highlights one of the of the major drawbacks with 4K at this time - the lack of available content - and he does not anticipate 4k sets seeing major sales, at least in the short term.
"We do not anticipate them tunneling rapidly down the product ranges," Gray said. "The critical issue is no content in 4k2k at present. If the PC industry starts a pixel war (Apple are already increasing Mac resolutions) and the next generation of games machines have higher resolutions then they could catalyse growth."
"However there are some unsolved steps in panel technology that need to be fixed first. For example, 4k2k displays currently have a limit on refresh at 120Hz," Gray said.
Assuming you had any 4K programming, work out how close you have to sit to even notice the difference between 2K (HD) and 4K. The average home barely has seating geometry that reveals an obvious difference between SD(DVD) and HD.
Further, with BD having peaked, it's rather iffy that we'll ever get 4K physical media, and what streams is already compromising the quality of HD.
Finally, there's little historical content that actually benefits from 4K. 65/70mm film, sure, but for most 35mm, you're apt to just get more obvious grain and visible artifacts from the 2K post processing.
Personally, I'd be very interested in a reasonably priced 4K screen, but exactly what would make it worthwhile enough for me to upgrade from FullHD?
Early Pointee' nIP>s' Testing Shows, w/4X Pixels, FullGbrain Action & Poof, You Dar. Gold.Fish CloseUps As Never Before, No New Stands to worry about, Seel vechile & Get TV, Then Camera for about same load.
Fleash Pot Gordon, buzzzz, film whirling thru splines. Fleash POT Gordon....
her names:Madeline. Her Imperial Rrrr....
Ripping, Predict by Pundits for near Decade. HD Panarama vison. Super Blu. MAximo TS comes to Life....
start:$8,000 or More. 2,00 in 4 years in traditional curves, yet very early & many standards, made in future.
Hot market Predict 2017, or 5 years. another five to get to people & another go round, up in 8 Kp x 4 Kp or 32 Mp standard. 4X 'Gin....
Drashek the Quiet.
Meaning, O Air of the Fair? Meaning that when the warehouses are getting full in spite of "Just In Time", a new incarnation of creativity is then the Mother of Creation. For the good ole dazzling box, eets "4K", and that is when "3D" has yet to fully exit the starting gate. "Aha, we aim to integrate the two as well as integrating everythingss media, komputar and "othersss" [like the face-off's and the twit-offs not to mention the oogler's and good ole Securito too]. Just imagine that you are able to virtually-realistically ride with NASA astronauts as they prepare to descend onto the soil of Mars" - especially poignant when one is bogged down doing sump'fing which NASA has yet to find a relief for.
Humans are truly Stupid - after their moment of Dumbness [and vice-versa, of course] but we cannot be blamed. When it comes to sight, the Blind could not be blamed but what about the Blinded? Then, it depends on whether one is the blinded or merely the blind. How convenient, but in the meantime, the party[ing] continues. Wonder whether they had come up with an easier way of photocopying one's seat during the height of Frivolity & Nonsense. But mind the cost of the toners, of course. Especially when they are finely and lovingly 4K coloured by the Tojo-ites, no less. Perhaps Fuku has yet to fully shima those who demand perfection of others/everythingsss when the perfection of self has yet to be realised. A behaviour confined to the partial human, those whose animal and vegetative legacies are still coursing not only thorugh their blood but through their minds too. Seems it's the meerkats turn to have a good chuckle.
In a large 1080p set you can start to see the little blocks of the signal, so upscaling (with a higher resolution) would improve that quality in a meaningful way.
Obviously this only applies to the people with the big pockets to buy very large TV sets. :-/