The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® announced today that the licensing agreement for logos for use by manufacturers to designate 4K Ultra High-Definition TVs (4K Ultra HD or 4K UHD), monitors and projectors for the home is now available. CEA also announced the availability of logo licensing agreements for promotional and educational use by retailers, buying groups, organizations and companies engaged in the 4K UHD ecosystem.

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CEA 4K ultra HD logos

The two 4K UHD logos unveiled in September by CEA will be made available for voluntary use by manufacturers for product packaging, marketing materials and promotional activities that meet CEA’s voluntary core characteristics for 4K Ultra HD display products. The two logos – 4K Ultra HD and 4K Ultra HD Connected – are designed to address various attributes of picture quality and help move toward interoperability, while providing clarity for consumers and retailers alike. Retailers, buying groups and other organizations are invited to use the logo for promotional, educational and marketing activities related to products covered under the licensing agreement and for promoting the 4K UHD market in general.

In conjunction with the release of the logos in September, CEA announced that its Video Division Board approved “4K Ultra HD” as the terminology to be used by CEA and its members to describe the emerging category of display products with more than 8 million pixels – four times the resolution of Full HD.

“As the 4K Ultra HD market continues to grow, we encourage manufacturers and our industry partners to use these logos and our terminology,” said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. “Our goal is to provide greater consistency and clarity across the full 4K UHD ecosystem to help consumers easily identify 4K Ultra HD products, and ultimately, services and content.”

CEA also announced the following timeline related to the new 4K Ultra HD logos:

  • December 19, 2014: Deadline for TV manufacturers to submit qualifying product models to CEA for use in CEA’s 4K UHD promotional activities at the 2015 International CES®.
  • January 1, 2015: Manufacturers may begin using logos on products, materials and promotional activities.

This July, CEA upwardly revised its U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecast for 4K Ultra HD. CEA projects unit shipments of 4K Ultra HD displays will reach 800,000 in 2014, earning $1.9 billion in revenue, a 517 percent increase over the 2013 total. Revenue from 4K Ultra HD displays is projected to exceed $5 billion in 2015, an impressive total considering that revenue was virtually nonexistent three years earlier.

Please direct all 4K UHD logo licensing agreement questions to Catrina Akers.

What will we call it? Leading industry organizations agree, it’s “4K Ultra HD” and “4K UHD”

The Consumer Electronics Association also announced today that leading industry associations, technical organizations and retail groups have agreed to use “4K Ultra HD” and “4K UHD” as common terminology to describe the new generation of television products, technology and content. This will help provide clarity and consistency for consumers seeking to enhance their home entertainment experience with 4K Ultra HD.

The groups – including DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA), the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), the Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA) and the NATM Buying Group – agreed to join CEA in using “4K Ultra HD” as common terminology in educational and promotional efforts related to the emerging category of display products with more than 8 million pixels, four times the resolution of Full HD.

About CEA:

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the technology trade association representing the $211 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces the International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Find CEA online at www.CE.org,

[hero heading=”CEA’s Ultra High-Definition Display Characteristics V2″]These expanded display characteristics (CEA’s Ultra High-Definition Display Characteristics V2) – voluntary guidelines that take effect in September 2014 – are designed to address various attributes of picture quality and help move toward interoperability, while providing clarity for consumers and retailers alike.

“Ultra High-Definition TV is the next revolution in home display technology, offering consumers an incredibly immersive viewing experience with outstanding new levels of picture quality,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. “These updated attributes will help ensure consumers get the most out of this exciting new technology and will provide additional certainty in the marketplace.”

Under CEA’s expanded characteristics, a TV, monitor or projector may be referred to as Ultra High-Definition if it meets the following minimum performance attributes:

·      Display Resolution – Has at least eight million active pixels, with at least 3840 horizontally and at least 2160 vertically.
·      Aspect Ratio – Has a width to height ratio of the display’s native resolution of 16:9 or wider.
·      Upconversion – Is capable of upscaling HD video and displaying it at Ultra High-Definition resolution.
·      Digital Input – Has one or more HDMI inputs supporting at least 3840×2160 native content resolution at 24p, 30p and 60p frames per second. At least one of the 3840×2160 HDMI inputs shall support HDCP revision 2.2 or equivalent content protection.
·      Colorimetry – Processes 2160p video inputs encoded according to ITU-R BT.709 color space and may support wider colorimetry standards.
·      Bit Depth – Has a minimum color bit depth of eight bits.

Because one of the first ways consumers will have access to native 4K content is via Internet streaming on “connected” Ultra HDTVs, CEA has defined new characteristics for Connected Ultra High-Definition displays. Under these new characteristics, which complement the updated core UHD attributes, a display system may be referred to as a Connected Ultra HD device if it meets the following minimum performance attributes:

·      Ultra High-Definition Capability – Meets all of the requirements of the CEA Ultra High-Definition Display Characteristics V2 (listed above).
·      Video Codec – Decodes IP-delivered video of 3840×2160 resolution that has been compressed using HEVC* and may decode video from other standard encoders.
·      Audio Codec – Receives and reproduces, and/or outputs multichannel audio.
·      IP and Networking – Receives IP-delivered Ultra HD video through a Wi-Fi, Ethernet or other appropriate connection.
·      Application Services – Supports IP-delivered Ultra HD video through services or applications on the platform of the manufacturer’s choosing.
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