Anyone looking at the 8K Ultra-HD demos at the last shows or enjoying the full resolution of Sony’s 4K projector or Toshiba’s 3D-without-glasses TV does not dare to ask the question of higher resolution than Full HD . With a large field of view the image impression is simply overwhelming.
Ultra HD: New TV standards?
Yes, almost one is dizzy due to the hyperreal image detail that occupies a large part of the field of view. It does not even need 3D, in order to be completely drawn into the action. The effect of getting closer and closer to the picture and recognizing more and more details has already some sense of reality.
When is 4K market ready?
But from the simple idea of higher image resolutions up to the implementation of new TV- and Kinostandards 20 years can pass. It was only good that NHK, the research department of the state-owned Japanese TV station, had already started to research TV broadcasts with more than 4,000 picture lines and 22.2 multi-channel sound (Super Hi-Vision, SHV) more than ten years ago Br>
Names: 4K vs UHDTV1
On the European side, the British broadcaster BBC and the Italian RAI were involved in the manifestation of the Ultra HD idea, coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). These organizations have decided at the end of May to implement UHDTV (ultra-high definition television) in two stages: UHDTV1 (horizontal and vertical) will be double the full HD resolution, UHDTV2 will be four times.
4K: Present and Future
For example, the current figure of about two million pixels (1,920 x 1,080) is only eight million (3,840 x 2,160) and then 32 million (7,680 x 4,320). Both will be possible with 24, 50 and 60 progressive film images per second and quantized with ten or twelve bits. In order to achieve a much higher local resolution, there is therefore a doubling of the range of motion and 500 or 4000 times the number of color gradations. UHDTV is finally more colorful than PAL or HD, because an extended color space is allowed.
For all important parameters of the technology there are already recommendations. For example, it would be useful to use MPEG-HEVC as a compression method - algorithms that are clearly superior to those of the current MPEGOV (H.264) stalking and are expected to be fixed for the coming year.
NHK planned the market readiness of the 8K4K system Super Hi-Vision for the year 2020, the introduction to the mass market was cautiously announced for 2025. Due to the gradual UHDTV introduction of the ITU, however, very high-resolution TV devices could soon be in place. LG wants to for example still 2012 TVs deliver, the Beamer of Sony exist already. Even before the final definition of all the technical parameters, 4K LCD panels for TV sets are now ready for the market and are waiting for loading with the ultra-large megapixels.
But what content is then looked at is in the stars. After all, JPG photos now seem to be phenomenal on the new displays, because current cameras easily deliver the appropriate resolutions. A TV broadcast format is not yet available, and current Blu-ray specifications look beyond 4K. Even a connection standard is only conditionally present.
HDMI 1.4a allows the high resolutions only with 24, 25 and 30 frames per second. But with HDMI 1.5, an expansion of the Ultra HD support is expected this year. So it looks as if a compatible, future-proof 4K system does not take too long.
This makes us the name of the big confusion. "4K" is much easier to pronounce than "UHDTV1". Somehow the same, but in principle something completely different is meant. Independent of the TV world, a high-resolution digital production and distribution has established itself in the cinema. These professionals call the approximately 4,000 pixels of the horizontal resolution "4K", which means that they actually have 4,096 x 2,160 pixels.
Unfortunately, this does not correspond to the planned TV resolution, yes, with a screen format of 17: 9 even out of the frame. If then the cinema frame rate is increased to 48 frames per second, TV and cinema specifications are even further apart.
Even in the future to be planned TV broadcasts with pull-down, trimming or bar are pre-programmed, because there are several transmission formats. But this future has already begun, because in the cinema 4K has been a reality for years. The first 4K documentary, TimeScapes, is available and even on YouTube there are already 4K to see - if you have a good DSL line and a super PC.
A potent computer is currently the best source for 4K material, because ATI graphics cards from the 77 series, which are already available from about 90 euros, should support HDMI 1.4a including 4K. An XL Blu-ray would have the volume for a 4K movie, but according to normally well-informed, confidential sources, the big Hollywood studios seem far from being interested in bringing their films into the perfect 4K cinema quality in our home cinemas .
Conclusion (Roland Seibt)
And the download of a hundreds of gigabytes of film, as the revolutionary REDRAY projector will soon be practiced, will be reserved only for cinemas or an extremely exclusive customer layer.
I would be the last one who asks about the extent to which they make sense. Ultra HD inspires me totally, but only with suitable image diagonal. Even with my 60-inch TV in the living room, I could barely perceive the advantage of 4K from three meters of seat spacing, let alone enjoy an 8K experience. In my home cinema in the basement one should sit from the 3-m screen, however, five meters away to get perfect pictures. There would be a doubling of the resolution sensational.
With normal TV the full HD resolution is thus uncritical. Rather, I am disturbed by the evil color depth of only 8 bits and that color details have only a quarter of the sharpness of brightness information (4: 2: 0). By booting these standard parameters for TV broadcasts and Blu-rays, HDTV owners could provide a much better picture because all good TVs and the connection standard HDMI support long higher information densities.
Test: 4K in the home cinema; Critical Review: The Amazing Spider-Man
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