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Are You Ready for a 7-Foot TV Screen That Blows Away Hi-Def? It’s on the Way, Along With a Hefty Price Tag — and One Other Big Problem

Sep 4, 2012  •  Post A Comment

The latest in television technology will be ready for retail later this year, with a screen measuring about 7 feet wide and a price tag of at least $15,000, reports the New York Post.

The new technology is an innovation called 4K TV, which is said to be four times as detailed as the current high-definition resolution, according to the story. Sony has announced that it will start selling the first 4K sets later this year.

One key obstacle remains: No television shows or DVDs have yet been made for the technology. According to an interview with HBO’s chief technology officer Robert Zitter, the TV industry would have to build a new production and distribution infrastructure to take advantage of 4K, reports DigitalArts.

"That makes us look at 4K somewhat skeptically. From my perspective, I have looked at 4K and we are prepared to, if it really comes to pass, maybe offer it on an on-demand basis," Zitter said, according to the story.

3 Comments

  1. We still haven’t been able to see anything in true high definition on satellite or cable due to the over compression of signal. Some systems are worse (compress more) than others. But none of them use a full 6 meg bandwidth to allow you to use your 1080i TV to it’s full potential. So whay go higher?

  2. We still haven’t been able to see anything in true high definition on satellite or cable due to the over compression of signal. Some systems are worse (compress more) than others. But none of them use a full 6 meg bandwidth to allow you to use your 1080i TV to it’s full potential. So why go higher?

  3. First, “true HD” is defined by pixels. The quality of the frame (muddiness, compression artifacts, etc) have nothing to do with the image being “full” HD or not.
    The pixels are all there and accounted for, so what you’re getting from Comcast and Dish or whoever really is HD, either 720p or 1080i. What you are pointing out is that it is highly compressed (and sensitive to the current load on your bandwidth) so it often looks not so great.
    Second, 4K is a long time from coming. Generally speaking, there’s no way for Hollywood to do it with existing technology. And consumers are not going to be adopting it quickly. Even if you move away from disc-based media (Blu-ray) entirely, you still have a bandwidth issue without a currently viable codec to deliver data rates similar to current delivery. If you stick with Blu-ray, you have to increase the capacity of the disc (again, unless a suddenly mass-production codec comes about, similar to H.264).
    But yeah, the bulk of consumers don’t care THAT much. Unless the programs are in 4K, it’s not doing anything but crap-ifying your video during upscale, and more people notice that now than used to.
    Also, people have less expendable cash now than when the last HD revolution occurred that pushed everything to HD years ago. Sony just keeps finding pretty ways to bankrupt their company with nonviable concepts.

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