Where do we go from here?

robfosters

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Something I have been wondering lately.

We have had the digi revolution, then HD 1080i, now 1080p/24. Have we reached the pinnacle?

If not, where is TV technology taking us next? I'm sure there are loads of different ideas and formats being bandied around, but which one is realistic and when.

A year or so ago, i read an article in What HI Fi saying that 1080p would not be around for 3-5 years. It appeared in the mainstream around 9 months later. Serious advancements quickly.

So -

Wherever next? What will be adorning our AV stands in 2-3 years time?

Very interested to hear everyone views.
 
Nothing stands still, so expect much more advanced compression techniques, IMO.

As for the rest, who knows?

The advances that took 10 years, when I was a kid, are being done in a few months.

But, apparently (I read it somewhere) there will be a time when we hit a brick wall, before moving on again.

Somewhat similar to what happened in the medieval times, at a guess.
 
tbh Plasma and LCD are making the manufacturers so much money, they're in no mood to push anything radical on us yet

they've spent millions on marketting compaigns getting us to give up our CRTs and go High Def. I think the existing tech will just have stuff bolted on top (like this years big thing, 100hz) for the forseeable future

after that, its a question of who makes the plunge and offers a nextgen set first. The big names, like Sony, Sharp, Philips, Samsung, Panasonic all have next gen technology like OLED, SED etc.. that could easily surpass what we have now. Its a question of cost. The first LCD telly was a 32" and cost 5.5k

suspect the first OLED tv will cost something similar. Its just a question of who dares do it first ...
 
100hz the big thing.

They may be marketing it as that, but it makes me laugh. I had a panny crt about 3 years ago that done that. It may be great, but it hardly seems 'new' to me.
 
100hz the big thing.

They may be marketing it as that, but it makes me laugh. I had a panny crt about 3 years ago that done that. It may be great, but it hardly seems 'new' to me.

exactly

just little bits of tech stacked on top of the underlying tech.

apart from connectivity and contrast, very little distinguishes the LCD sets of 2 years ago, from those of today. 3 x HDMI is now commonplace (just like 3 x scart became on CRTs)

ive no doubt that somebody will probably event an Ultra HD or something with a higher resolution than 1080p, will probably be usefull for all the 60"+ sets we see becomming common place now. But this wont really effect the budget 32/40 end of the market. Theres already enough debate as to whether 1080p is worth at 40", let alone an even higher resolution.
 
Agree.

Also, it's okay to manufacture these 'super tv's', but the real work comes in developing the technology to deliver content to them.

I mean, SKY HD has no plans to broadcast in 1080p anytime soon, and PS3 along with HD-DVD is max 1080p. It's not a case of just upgrading TV's, you've got kick off a whole batch of hardware revolution that runs into billions and may not even take off.
 
Can you imagine telling Sky they've got to pump that!

They would have a heart attack.


I read a report about a year ago that people shown quad hd on a big screen actually became nauseous and complained of headaches as the picture was too realistic.
 
I can see that. Can you imagine if you're watching Rides (about the worlds biggest rollercoasters), and it's ultra realistic. If you don't like rollercoasters, you're gonna be chucking your dinner all over the place :eek:
 
I can see that. Can you imagine if you're watching Rides (about the worlds biggest rollercoasters), and it's ultra realistic. If you don't like rollercoasters, you're gonna be chucking your dinner all over the place :eek:

I felt uneasy watching a rollercoaster during the Microsoft HD WMV clip called Need for Speed through my projector and it isn't even HD Ready (854 x 480) but on a 80" 16:9 screen. I never liked them.
 
I suppose it depends on the subject really.

I mean, rollercoasters may appeal to some people and not to others, but not many people are gonna argue with sitting in front of a large screen watching an ultra realistic view of a isolated beach in the maldives are they?

Or that aquavision HD programme on sky arts HD. That would be cool in Quad HD. (unless you have a morbid fear of the ocean!).

Perhaps the new tv's should have modes, where you can choose what res you want to watch in, so as to tailor it to your individual need. Normal TV, realistic or ultra realistic. You can do it with PC monitors, why not with tv's. Actually, I quite like that idea.

I'm off to Sony HQ :thumbsup:
 
Never say never of course, but I really don't see there being much point in manufacturers focusing on resolution any more. The majority of people don't sit close enough to their televisions to even see the benefits of 1080p, and fewer still come close to sitting close enough to get THX's recommended viewing angle. (see here to work out how close you need to sit to a screen for that)

1080p seems to be enough resolution to let you sit that close to the screen, so any more resolution probably wouldn't be perceptible. I suspect that we will now be with 1080p for a number of years to come. At the very least, I don't see there being any sources with a higher resolution in the next five years or so, in which case there is no point in a higher resolution display.


There are still significant improvements that could be made to motion handling, colour reproduction, image processing and contrast ratio. (or more specifically, black levels) Unfortunately, I don't think there's much more that can be done about motion handling or contrast ratios at this point, and we probably won't see significant improvements there until a new display technology comes along.

Sony are supposed to be releasing an 11" OLED display this year, and I believe there is meant to be a 26" Full HD set coming some time next year as well? The last I heard, their FED displays are due in 2009, but who knows what will happen then.

Personally I hope these new technologies come sooner rather than later, as you can't buy a good CRT anymore, and the more I see of current flat-panels, the less I like them.
 
I think that 2.35:1 ratio screens will start coming out.
 
For some reason every time I read this thread title I was reminded of a song,

"Where do we go from here? ..... Is it down to the lake I fear ..."

Showing my age I guess though. :)


Anyway back to topic, yes there will be increased HDTV resolutions, if they can crack the broadcasting bandwidth constraints and also advances in motion etc but the next big thing in my opinion is 3DTV.

Two consortiums have been actively working on this for a long time;

http://www.3dc.gr.jp/english/

https://www.3dtv-research.org/

Philips have even demonstrated an LCD TV which fools you into thinking you are seeing true 3D without the need for glasses.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/08/71627

Mitsubishi also claim (from July 2007) to be able to capture and broadcast real-time 3D again without glasses, although the setup looks quite complicated at this early stage.

http://www.merl.com/projects/3dtv/
 

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