How soon before we have 4k at home for the mass market?

soupdragon

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We already have the Sony VW1000 4k projector but at £17k, a bit out of reach for the majority. But, how soon before we get 4k in the home for the masses?

Some people are guessing 5 years. I'm guessing less than 2. Invites to Sony's Cedia event are given this little anecdote : Sony's invite to their press conference at CEDIA says: "Sony has “Game Changing” news for the Custom Install market."

Does this mean 4k for a reasonable price? Would be great wouldn't it :cool:

But the game changing news is likely to be more than just their new projector/(s). It's no co-incidence that the Playstation 4 is currently under development and there is a large amount of talk about downloaded games and content being at the heart of the way its launched and delivered - the Playstation store will be at the heart of it no doubt.

This all tapers in nicely to the fact that even if we get 4k - how will it be delivered? Hard-disk - downloaded - streamed? It could be that won't actually get it through a physical medium such as on disk but quite likely to be via download. Those with poor internet connections may sigh at the thought but this is another area which will is seeing major change. The new iPad for example is 4G ready and the way this market is evolving could see it moving into being a broadband competitor and 4G is only just the start.

A friend of mine is in the telecomm's business and he was telling me that the major players are falling over themselves to get a share of this new revolution and that you can forget about fast broadband - we'll be able to get it faster through the airwaves :thumbsup:
So we've got BT infinity and super fast mobile download as 2 ways to get our 4k streaming/downloading and whether we need the hard copy platform remains to be seen.

Sony's claim about changing the game is likely to have a bit of substance IMO. It was Sony after all who kicked off the blu-ray revolution and they were bang on the money with that platform. Many people bought PS3's just for blu-ray with no intention of gaming. This could also be the case with the PS4. It therefore comes as no surprise that they will also be leading the way for the 4k revolution and the PS4 will likely be at the heart of the delivery.

Who knows whats going on the background with film studios etc to have a stack of 4k movies available for "the big launch". When Sony kicked off with the blu-ray platform, one of the key moves was to have major film studio's signed up which was a major reason for its success so it seem's logical to follow this same strategy once again.

This time next year, we may have their 4k projectors in our home, hooked up to their PS4 and buying our games and movies from their playstation store. A lucrative money spinner for Sony and you know what, if its reasonably priced they can have my money too :)

This is all speculation of course but the little anecdote above, coupled with the PS4 launch coming soon and the fact that the world is moving forward in all area's of content download leads me to think I'm not going to be too far off the mark. I certainly hope this is the case.

In the meantime, I've already started the planning for my 4k cinema. I watched the Dark Night Rises at the biggest cinema in Ireland last week and the screen was the entire size of that end of the room - edge to edge and floor to ceiling. 70ft wide and 25ft high :eek::eek:
That's whats going to happen in my room. The back wall will just be pure screen area - nothing else - and I can just about fit a 160" screen from 12 ft viewing distance :p

Bring it on Sony - I'm ready!
 
Nice post SD like you I am waiting for 4k with baited breath but as I said in another thread recently the studios need to step up to the plate to ensure the visual quality of the movies is up to the mark.I see a huge difference in video quality from some movies (all bluray) so they are not even giving us the best they can now let alone 4k.

Bluray can deliver a 4k movie albeit with some modification (quad layer) or 2 discs per movie and I would prefer this method of delivery unless there is some major change in bandwidth availability as streaming is pretty poor with high def on a large screen at the moment.

As to when will we get 4k in the home at an affordable level of say £3k max I think 3 years myself.We have heard that Mits should be bringing one out this year for £7-8k so the next year £4k and the year after £2-3k.

By then we will have plenty of 4k media available whether on disc download or some other method.

Whatever it is like you it can't come quick enough but lets just hope the studios don't short change us with image quality.
 
Sony's claim about changing the game is likely to have a bit of substance IMO.......
...... they will also be leading the way for the 4k revolution and the PS4 will likely be at the heart of the delivery.

Well thats 1 part of the prediction that looks like its coming to fruition:

Sony

Lets hope the rest comes true as well, especially the affordable part :)
 
It's not that difficult to make a 4k chip and hence box.
The issue is enough content to make it worth putting in people's homes and all the head end and support issues - look how little 3D content there is broadcast so far.
 
This all tapers in nicely to the fact that even if we get 4k - how will it be delivered? Hard-disk - downloaded - streamed? It could be that won't actually get it through a physical medium such as on disk but quite likely to be via download. Those with poor internet connections may sigh at the thought but this is another area which will is seeing major change. The new iPad for example is 4G ready and the way this market is evolving could see it moving into being a broadband competitor and 4G is only just the start.

A friend of mine is in the telecomm's business and he was telling me that the major players are falling over themselves to get a share of this new revolution and that you can forget about fast broadband - we'll be able to get it faster through the airwaves :thumbsup:
So we've got BT infinity and super fast mobile download as 2 ways to get our 4k streaming/downloading and whether we need the hard copy platform remains to be seen.

Faster through the airwaves? How does 300 megabits per second sound :devil:

Within a few years, further mast and software upgrades will push downloads to 300 megabits per second, or around three times the speed offered by the most expensive home broadband packages currently available

Article:

Britain gets ready for 4G mobile broadband - Telegraph
 
It's not that difficult to make a 4k chip and hence box.
The issue is enough content to make it worth putting in people's homes and all the head end and support issues - look how little 3D content there is broadcast so far.

IMO 3D and 4k are 2 separate techs and can't be compared that way. Immediately I think of the difference of watching a DVD on a HD display natively and upscaled - night and day. This immediately should upscale your entire blu-ray library to not 4k but 4k upscaled which has to be a benefit. Then we have movies shot natively with high quality camera's. This doesn't mean 4k camera's only. Movies shot on film have no resolution as such, and are arguably infinityK (but can only be as good as the optics on the camera, condition of the film and quality of translation to digital) so these can all be potentially converted to 4k - if it was shot well it can translate well to a great 4k digital movie.

For example, Wizard of Oz from 1939 had to be downscaled to 1080p blu ray as it was converted from film to digital at 7680 x 4320.

Film has no real “resolution.” The actual resolution has been debated for many years, and Wizard of Oz was scanned in at 8K during the restoration process, meaning 7680 x 4320 was the output resolution (or thereabouts). It needed to be scaled down to 1080p for Blu-ray, meaning that yes, Wizard of Oz can still look better than it does now

Article:

Blu-ray Myths: Old Movies Do Not Benefit from HD - Film Junk
 
The forthcoming Lawrence of Arabia restoration for bluray was scanned at 8k and should look wonderful on bluray, only a wait for another 2-3 weeks and I will have my copy.
 
It's not that difficult to make a 4k chip and hence box.
The issue is enough content to make it worth putting in people's homes and all the head end and support issues - look how little 3D content there is broadcast so far.

I've seen the sony 4k upscale 1080 to 4k and its a revelation imho. So as SD says just upscaling your current collection will make a huge difference until 4k material finaly becomes available.
 
I cant see the point in 4K at home tbh; unless your sitting 3 feet from a giant screen size, then you will harly notice the diffrerence. Most people cant even see the differecne between 720p and 1080p.
 
I saw quite a difference on my 100"+ screen sitting at 8-9ft when I traded up to 1080p from 720p.I am sure that 4k will look staggeringly good especially when I will be able to move to within 6ft of my screen for total immersion.:D
 

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