Getting a Buzz On

The currently anointed buzz-term is "4K" , as in

Tweet This Phrase

If the consumer electronics industry needed something to hype sales and interest, and they most certainly do, they've apparently found it., as in 4K resolution TVs, projectors, tablets, or cinema.

Close Enough for Government Work

Let's Get Real

As Seen on TV

3,840 x 2,160 pixels, providing viewers with four times the number of pixels produced by the current full-HD 1,080p standard .

Tweet This Phrase

As typically seen when standards are still developing, marketers tend to play just a bit loose with terminology, and that's understandable but confusing. What consumers are probably going to see on most so-called "4K" TVs will be a horizontal resolution of 3,840 or greater. On a typical 16:9 aspect ratio that would provide resolution ofproviding viewers with

Name Calling

Giga-Biga?

Contain Yourself Content-Wise

Losing It Downscale, Faking It Upscale, or RED ALERT

already existing technology, and new software and hardware that may put the TV industry on Red alert .

Tweet This Phrase

There are two real-world remedies for the massive file sizes in the form oftechnology, and

Keeping Tabs On It

20-inch, 4K resolution Windows 8 tablet in development, and not ready for release, but "with the target to commercialize the new tablet later this year". Keeping in mind that aspect ratios differ among devices, the resolution on that 20-inch 4K tablet-giganticus is 3,840 x 2,560 pixels . That beast will be all business and pricy, and business enterprise is the probable customer base.

Tweet This Phrase

Panasonic has ain development, and not ready for release, but "with the target to commercialize the new tablet later this year". Keeping in mind that aspect ratios differ among devices, the. That beast will be all business and pricy, and business enterprise is the probable customer base.

Assessment

The electronics industry apparently believes 4K resolution will solve a problem that consumers may not actually have, or perhaps answer a question they're not even asking. Whether that is the case or not, 4K consumer-oriented devices may initially enter the marketplace at prices that are not affordable to typical income earners,and strangely enough that story may turn out just fine, with many happy campers as the plot-line continues to evolve.One issue that continuing development of the 4K standardaddress is the demand for vastly improved resolution in professional devices such as broadcast and cinema quality cameras, projectors, and displays . The good news, as it always occurs, is that expensive technology development cycle will be amortized by corporate and professional purchases and a few financially well-heeled consumers, to the benefit of mainstream consumers.The phrase "close enough for government work", as used in colloquial conversation, has come to mean something that will probably get the job done, but is not precisely what it was meant to be, is not fully up to standard, or is not exactly as described. That colloquialism may assist in examining just what defines4K resolution, as compared to what most consumers are actually going to get on their TVs.Keep in mind that absolutely final standards for consumer-oriented 4K resolution products have not been completed, but they are well underway. According to Pierre Garcia, described as an expert in consumer and professional video topics and quoted by Forbes,as used for professional movie production studios, and rarely in cinemas, is defined asThat format of at least 3,840 pixels horizontal resolution is called by the namesand was voted on by the CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) to apparently define consumer-grade 4K TVs. According to Garcia, consumers will hear mixed and matched terms such as UltraHD-4K or 4K-UltraHD, but he considers those to be gimmicky marketing.Garcia may not like it, butin reference to consumer-grade TVs.Throwing so many estimated numbers around that consumers would need a baseball mitt to catch all of them may not be too helpful, but a few comparisons could be useful. The number of pixels produced by 4K resolution is four times that of full-HD 1,080p, but the file sizes for typical length 4K movies areeven when stored at half the native 48-FPS (frames-per-second) frame-rate.There are plenty of variables including the number of frames and the amount of data per frame, so these numbers are only rough estimates. At native resolution,could be in the 8-TB range even at a lower quality of 24-FPS, or aboutbutand a company calledare making big promises to produce or distribute it. As a result of the huge bandwidth that would be needed for transmission, Sony has implemented adelivery solution for original, uncompressed quality that would include Sony's 84-inch, UHD-TV, bundled with theirwith about ten movies on it, for tens of thousands of dollars. After watching those ten movies the owner would still need a way to receive and store additional content. That makes any significant adoption of Sony's arrangement unlikely at best, because theA workable solution may come fromwhich is based in Irvine, California, and was founded by Jim Jannard who previously established the Oakley sunglasses company.[caption id="attachment_8558" align="alignright" width="300"]4K Ultra High-Definition Player[/caption]practical and well known technique that can be immediately utilized is to implement severe "lossy"to reduce file sizes, accompanied by a significant or perhaps substantial decrease in quality. That could leave viewers with only a small increase in perceived visual quality above the current full-HD 1,080p standard. Lossy means just what it sounds like: visual data is lost during compression.well understood solution is to use standard full-HD 1,080p data to begin with, and use media-players with the capability to quadruple the pixels byThat's essentially a form of faking it.possibility has gained attention this week at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in the form of next generation software and equipment fromimplementing their ownand theirand delivers full 4K resolution at data rates lower than Blu-ray, while connecting with a single HDMI 1.4 cable. The company said the Redray player will ship within a matter of months at price of less than $1,500.On their website Red puts it this way: "Advanced RED codec technology generatesThe company said that with a compressed data rate of less than 2.5MB per second, 4K content can be delivered worldwide with secure encryption available to prevent unauthorized duplication or viewing.[caption id="attachment_8559" align="alignright" width="300"]Panasonic 20 Inch 4K Tablet[/caption]Sharp Corporation has announced a 32-inch 4K resolution IGZO LCD monitor. Toshiba is unveiling several 4K TVs. Panasonic and Sony are both releasing 56-inch 4K OLED TVs, and LG is expected to be a major player, while most other TV manufacturers are expected to join the party. It appears that some of those manufacturers may be using the marketing term 4K-UltraHD to which Pierre Garcia objected. Availability and prices are yet to be announced. Regarding probable prices, the term sky-high comes to mind.With the exception of only one prototype demonstration channel in Europe, there are apparently no broadcasters on planet earth currently broadcasting in genuine uncompressed native 4K, and less than 20,000 theaters world-wide have the right equipment today to display 4K content in full native 4K resolution. Raising the stakes even more,in the labs. Sharp Corporation actually demonstrated an 8K display screen at the 2012 CES.Consumers will soon start to benefit from 4K resolution via the trickle-down effect, for a price of course.