Why your next TV must be a 4K

[Eric H]

What are the actual movie theaters using, aren't they something like 4k already?
I believe they use three chip DLP systems.

[NewVista]

Originally Posted by Eric H

What are the actual movie theaters using, aren't they something like 4k already?
I believe they use three chip DLP systems.

The better Cineplex's use the Sony 4K LCOS projectors
(I've compared these to theaters w/ Christie 2K DLP installations)
They should really use 8K but no-one wants to build one as even Sony often loses money.
Would be hard to display 8K due to lens errors and focus errors over flat screen?
Also new screens not as large as old 70mm era (curved screens, better lenses)
as 70mm would be like 8K resolution at least.

[old_tv_nut]

Here's a page that discusses various types of acuity/resolution measures:

http://webvision.med.utah.edu/book/p...visual-acuity/

The need for imaging systems to be much better than the eye in total due to the fact that the fixation point of the viewer is unknown was expounded by the researchers at RCA in the late 40s and early 50s.

And it's not a fixed number either, as the human visual system adjusts its resolution according to ambient illlumination, whereas the display is always at the same nominal brightness, so that this adjustment does not take place in a TV viewer's eye. Thus, although your visual receptor response gets noisy at low light levels (like TV "snow"), your visual system applies just enough filtering to suppress the noise. But put a TV camera in the same situation, its picture gets noisy, and then the noise is amplified along with the brightness of the scene when displayed on the monitor, and you will see it. Net result is that the camera must do much better than the eye to present an acceptable picture.

[Dave A]

The GoPro Hero 3 Black 4k camera records in 12fps 4k but needs their Cineform editor to convert it to something useful. I'm thinking that there may be a two-level use at home surrounding broadcast that is a while out. GoPro's and their brothers for home use below the broadcast advancements and downloading above the broadcasters. Channel bandwith is their roadblock anywhere you look. My broadcaster friends are rushing headlong to 4k equipment for recording knowing they will have to dumb down to 1080 for air but they know that. A nice place to keep up with 4k news is; http://sportsvideo.org/main/

And my Ben Hur blu-ray is like I never saw the movie before.

[NewVista]

Originally Posted by Dave A

A nice place to keep up with 4k news is; http://sportsvideo.org/main/

.

Didn't know some were already using 4K cameras, good to hear.
And what's this? a 200ft 4K display! http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/201...ew-4k-display/

[KentTeffeteller]

And we have trouble enough delivering on air 780p images reliably with 5.1 surround sound. Cable even degrades and compresses that as does satellite. 4K is not real life, some TV commercials and content is still SD. This is the East Tennessee real world here, not some laboratory. Virtually all of our theaters here are 4K at best. Our Knoxville area TV stations have not done Local News and Programming in 780p HDTV until about 2 years ago, they are still paying for all that new equipment. Sony theater projectors are also not very well loved by projectionists and cinema owners, this gear is expensive. Support is everything. Also, add to that the sub channels on DTV and the need for paying for the DTV conversion not too long ago. Broadcast gear is far from inexpensive.

[Jon A.]

We all know what happened to Titanic because it was moving too fast. I see the same thing happening to technology.

[KentTeffeteller]

Indeed. 4K is well and good, but how is it going to be delivered practically without being compressed to fit in more channels. More practical to fix what we have now and try to improve it.

[NewVista]

A 4k LED panel can be as small as 25' wide -- who needs projectors
http://www.panasonic.com/business/pe...1162_FINAL.pdf

[NewVista]

So it looks like Panasonic can mass produce these square-foot modules with "surface-mount diodes" (on a printed circuit) with an impressive 1.9mm pixel pitch. These are optimized for indoor light intensity and linearized for decent gamma/grayscale. Remember when critics said LCDs can not give a hi fi picture and CRTs were the only option for purists?

[Einar72]

Giving foreign industry over $1k of my dough just doesn't appeal to me. We cannot allow corporations, domestic or foreign, to summon us to a "Sorry, your TV is obsolete, now gimme your money, please" event every few years...

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Einar72

Giving foreign industry over $1k of my dough just doesn't appeal to me. We cannot allow corporations, domestic or foreign, to summon us to a "Sorry, your TV is obsolete, now gimme your money, please" event every few years...

My feelings exactly, especially the foreign corporations considering that they stole almost all of our manufacturing.

I bought a Channel Lock adjustable wrench recently, one of very few North-American made tools I could find new. It was expensive, but I consider it a good investment and was pleased to be able to do something to support U.S. manufacturing. Oh, my new ESR meter is U.S.-made too, got one while I could.

[KentTeffeteller]

Unless it is disc based media in UHD, that's the only real 4K UHD media you'll see. Otherwise it is downrezzed satellite or cable or theatres. Real world here in the USA. Enjoy your downrezzed 1080 or 780 on either or on air, that is what is available to you. Short of multiple Millions of $$$ most stations won't spend anytime soon, you get just this. Especially if you don't live in the 10 biggest markets. For me, it does not matter, my main TV is only 32" and 780P. Remember until 2 years ago, my area stations were SD originated. 480i. That new HD gear is not yet paid for, and it had to be bought all new, no used to fall back on like Color did years ago.

[centralradio]

How are they going to get this 4K signal out to the TVs.The OTA DTV signal sucks now and the cable TV pix quality is horrible here..

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by KentTeffeteller

Unless it is disc based media in UHD, that's the only real 4K UHD media you'll see. Otherwise it is downrezzed satellite or cable or theatres. Real world here in the USA. Enjoy your downrezzed 1080 or 780 on either or on air, that is what is available to you. Short of multiple Millions of $$$ most stations won't spend anytime soon, you get just this. Especially if you don't live in the 10 biggest markets. For me, it does not matter, my main TV is only 32" and 780P. Remember until 2 years ago, my area stations were SD originated. 480i. That new HD gear is not yet paid for, and it had to be bought all new, no used to fall back on like Color did years ago.

It doesn't matter to me, either. As I have said before, I don't care for HD, so TV looks the same to me now as it did before HDTV. I have gone so far as to set my Roku media player to 4:3 aspect ratio, which displays perfectly well on my 19-inch 720p flat screen. I watch mostly older TV shows made in the 60s-70s anyway, so leaving the Roku set at 4:3 works very well. The only thing that's slightly annoying is having to reset the aspect ratio to 16:9 when I watch HD programming, ordinarily just the evening news on NBC (I don't watch the major networks as a rule unless something special is on). Otherwise, I watch 4:3 DVDs of my favorite old shows. I only have one widescreen DVD and none in 16:9 format. I think the only way to get the full effect of HDTV is with at least a 32-inch screen; 4K, I'm not sure. I've noticed it is quite difficult if not impossible to find HDTVs under 32 inches; I don't remember the last time I saw a 19" flat screen advertised anywhere. Could it be, in this age of ever-increasing screen resolution (4K, 8K . . .), that 19" and smaller FPs are becoming (or are already) obsolete?