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If you think the incredible picture quality, detail, color and resolution of HDTV is the pinnacle in home entertainment viewing, you’d actually be mistaken. Something even better is on the horizon: 4KTV.

Yes, 4K television is on its way, and it promises to be even better than HDTV — four times better, to be exact.

How on earth can things get better than HDTV, you might ask? Well, the quality of the 4K picture starts with the video camera. A 4K camera is able to capture far more details than an HD camera. The 4K image sensor is quite a bit larger than previous video cameras, so more digital data is captured. The end result is a more accurate, superior picture. It has been said that 4K enables the largest TV screens to look better than ever. Viewers can sit closer to the screen and have an engaged, immersed experience, like having a movie theater right in their home.

To put it in pixels, at this time HDTV has a resolution of 1080p, or 2 million pixels per frame. By comparison, 4K technology will deliver about 8.8 million pixels per frame, with resultant heightened accuracy, detail and picture quality. Its creators believe this will translate into even sharper, clearer pictures with better color and contrast than what HD currently offers.

Concerns with Content

As for concerns with this technology, the main one so far has been the fact that there’s just not yet that much content available for these TVs. At this time, about 100 movies are available in 4K, according to CNN. Only 4K content can do justice to a 4K display. It’s going to take some time for the technology to become widespread, and then content providers will step up their output.

Sony has plans to offer a 4K media player — the FMP-X1 — that will be released in 2013. It will come pre-loaded with 10 movies in 4K resolution and has a price tag of $699. The device will be internet-ready and also ready to connect with a 4K movie download service Sony will be offering, set to launch in late 2013. This content will be available for users with unlimited fiber broadband and a paid subscription. 4K Blu-ray won’t be available in 2013, which may create a higher demand for 4K streaming services.

Third parties, especially cable tv providers, will eventually start offering 4K technology as well. DirecTV recently trademarked a 4K/Ultra HD network, according to DigitalTrends.com. Streaming cost details have not yet been released, but these will likely be your best bet for 4K content if you snap up a 4K TV early in the technology’s life cycle.

The Cost of Cutting-Edge

As of this writing, the Sony company is leading the charge in 4K technology. They offer a huge 84-inch model for $25,000 as well as smaller sizes. A standard size TV these days has come to mean 50 inches or larger, as “average” for a TV size seems to continually increase. CNET got a chance to demo Sony’s offerings; here’s what they found:

Sony will offer the Bravia model in a 55-inch 4K UltraHD-TV with a price tag of $5,000. There will also be a 65-inch version for $7,000, according to Forbes. Lesser-known companies like Sharp, OEM Seiki, LG, Panasonic and Samsung will also offer their own versions of 4K TV. These offerings will likely be more affordable, but come with fewer features.

The question remains: Do you need 4K TV? The answer to that question is up to you. Visual people who love home theater entertainment will probably want the latest and greatest. However, if you’re only a moderate TV watcher, the difference may not be appreciable enough for you. Regardless, go and see the technology yourself, view it side by side with HDTV, and decide for yourself if the difference is worth the cost.

Article by  Peter Henry

Pete is a freelance writer and single dad who lives in Maryland.

Hardware 4k, hd, television

“Cutting the Cord”, or dropping your Cable TV for more internet-based options, is becoming pretty popular these days.  I’ve often considered it myself, but never have taken the plunge.  If you’ve wondered about it, there’s a great graph over at FlowingData (shown above) that does a great job showing the impact.

At $85.91 per month for the most basic HD plan from Comcast, that comes in at just over a grand per year. With Netflix and Hulu, it’s $15.98 per month, or just under $200 per year. That’s a big gap between Comcast and Hulu+Netflix. $839.16, to be exact, which is quite a buffer.

That paragraph of text and the Image show the exact same information, but the graph has so much more impact, don’t you think?

via Why I want to quit cable.

Graphics cable, hulu, netflix, television

Next month is CES so the press releases of exotic hardware that will probably never actually come to consumers is in full-swing.  LG is first out of the gate with the announcement of their huge new 84-inch “Ultra Definition” TV capable of 3840×2160 and 3D viewing.

“LG is pushing the limits of home entertainment innovation with this 3D UD TV,” said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Electronics Home Entertainment Company. “We are bringing together all our Smart TV and 3D knowledge in the 3D UD TV in order to demonstrate to the CES audience that LG is committed to being the world’s leading brand for immersive home entertainment in 2012 and beyond.”

This is the “get them in the booth” item so you can see their real 55-inch OLED TV and new “Smart TV Ecosystem” products.

via DailyTech – LG to Reveal 3D UD TV at CES 2012.

Hardware ces, lg, television

ABC’s new series Pan Am focuses on the glory days of American commercial aviation, so it’s no surprise that greenscreen and visual effects come into heavy play to reconstruct some of the bigger scenes of the era.  But thanks to the technology from Stargate, you may be surprised to see just how much of it actually is (as shown in the image above).

Stargate based its virtual set on historical photographs to more or less exactly match the Pam Am terminal of the day. “We built the entire set digitally in conjunction with the production designer,” explains Nicholson. “Then we optimize it. It may have 20 million polygons, so you need to cut it down so that it can be pushed through a real-time system at 24 frames per second.”

via Pan Am: retro green screen world | fxguide.

Graphics stargate studios, television, vfx

Profit margins on LCD Televisions have been falling steadily over the last few years, and the 3D TV craze has largely failed to boost them up again.  So what’s a manufacturer to do? Sharp thinks “Go Bigger”.

Sharp said it expects the new model, Aquos Quattron 3D LC-70X5, whose screen measures 153.9 centimeters in width and 86.6 cm in height, to retail for around 800,000 yen.

Sharp is keen on securing good profit margins from the 70-inch model, as retail prices of smaller LCD TVs such as those with 30 to 40 inch displays have been falling sharply amid intense competition, Sharp officials said.

So that’s a $10,000 Television, a 70-inch Aquos Quattron.  I’m not so sure I agree with their philosophy (Especially when a 60-inch one is only $2k), but I know I’ld love to have one.

via Sharp to release 70-inch LCD TV in Japan – The Mainichi Daily News.

Hardware sharp, television

A new special for Discovery TV shows the story of Seal Team Six and their famous raid on the Osama Bin-Laden compound that resulted in the death of the terrorist leader after a decade of searching.  Of course, video of the actual raid is too sensitive to show so Pixeldust Studios got the deal to recreate the raid in CG, animating much of the raid for the new special.

For the special, Pixeldust provided animations depicting the compound hiding Osama Bin Laden, as well as the recreation of Seal Team Six’s aggressive attack withinthe compound, resulting in the killing of Bin Laden and the taking of his body. Pixeldust’s work also detailed a variety of equipment that members of Seal Team Six use during their secret, highly dangerous excursions underwater, through the air, and under various climate and geographic conditions on the ground. To view some of this work, please see:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57lYxh2Qa7Q

Fast forward to around the 1:30 mark to see some of the work.

Read more…

Graphics pixeldust, television

Recent figures from industry analyst company NPD and others put Samsung as the major provider of 3D TV’s worldwide, holding somewhere between 50-61% of the market.

For now though, we can make some general points about this market and the first of them being that Samsung has 61% of the global 3D TV market and this includes both plasma and LED models. The 61% figure were the latest numbers between May 22nd and June 18th and covers both number of units sold and the dollar share associated with these units

This shouldn’t be much of a surprise, as I believe Samsung was the first to offer a real “bundle” deal where you could get the TV, bluRay player with mainstream titles (Monsters vs Aliens), and glasses all at a reasonable discount.  That alone probably gave them a huge leg up at the beginning, and now they’re riding the wave of world-of-mouth.

via Samsung Ownes 61% Of The 3D TV Market.

Hardware 3d, samsung, television

No surprise here from me, but a recent study commissioned by LG found that consumers prefer Passive 3D to Active 3D 4 to 1.

LG wanted to find out which technology consumers liked best, so they commissioned Morpace to do the study. The end result found that 80 percent of consumers prefer LG’s passive 3D TVs over the likes of active 3D sets from Sony and Samsung.

Of course, you can claim a bit of bias here since LG wants to push their Passive 3D market, but they produce in the Active space as well.  I think the real reason consumers pick Passive over Active is that the glasses are so much lighter, cheaper, and simpler.

via Consumers Prefer Passive 3DTV to Active 3D 4 to 1.

Hardware 3d, consumer, lg, television

Sensio, a company from Montreal Canada, is planning for a “resurgence” in 3D television sales this next year based on their response to some consumer feedback about the current problems:  lack of content and a poor user experience.  How do they plan do bring consumers back?  Easy, by making 3D TV’s that can “un-do” 3D with  the click of a button.

To help for a better experience, Sensio introduced auto-detection, which senses the type of program coming into the set and automatically selects the right viewing mode. It also developed the S2D Switch, a feature that enables spatially compressed 3-D video streams to be displayed in 2-D when large groups want to view programming together. The company also developed Sensio Hi-Fi 3D, a unique frame-compatible technology (also known as “qunicunx” format decoding) for high-fidelity stereoscopic signal processing that can be easily integrated into a variety of products.

I find it hilarious that the next big feature in televisions will be 2D conversion.

via Sensio optimist about 3D TV.

Hardware 3d, sensio, stereoscopic, television

3Di has a new Autostereoscopic display that is also a Touchscreen, and calibrated for 3D effects at (convenient) arm’s length.  Meant for kiosk uses, it incorporates a few new patents from 3Di into a new 1080p display.

“The screen can be perfectly used and incorporated into vending machines, kiosks and infotainment systems”, said Stephan Otte, Head of Hardware Development in 3D International Europe. “We are very pleased to offer one of the first glasses-free 3D multi-touch display products in the market at an affordable price.”

You can get the product brochure for it online.

3Di’s New Autostereoscopic Touchscreen Display.

Hardware 3di, autostereoscopic, television, touchscreen