Although it has been demonstrated for a while now in commercial applications, Ultra HD TV has been receiving more attention as of late.

Ultra High-Definition TV, or UHD for short, can supply from four to 16 times the resolution of 1080p (1,920 x 1,080), or 7,680 x 4,320 pixels (known as "8K"). "4K" resolution is also available, providing 3,840 x 2,160 pixels. On the commercial side, the potential is obvious: the ability to deliver even greater image clarity to bigger and bigger cinema screens. 4K is already being adopted in commercial applications: Peter Williams, a Designer at Toronto, ON's Sound Designs tells me that some 4K projection units were just installed in a downtown Toronto theatre by Sony Professional Products. But what about residential applications?

At the moment, Williams is ambivalent. "It comes down to content," he opines. "We can design a home cinema around a $175,000 4K projector, but what are you going to watch on it, 1080p Blu-ray? Where's the real value in that?"

Williams points out that all the 4K projection technology demonstrations the Sound Designs team has seen to date look amazing, but until there's something more to watch on it than a vendor's demo reels, there's not a lot of impetus to adopt the technology.

Austin Mayo, Manager of Victoria, BC's Atlas AVU, agrees. Pointing to computer monitors, he asserts that while it's possible to buy monitors that will display that kind of resolution, there are graphics-intensive business applications that demand it. "Until we've got something to watch that's in 4K, we're dependent upon some sort of up-sampling, like taking 1080p and scaling it to 4K," he explains. "Aside from viewing still images from a high end digital SLR, it's a tough sell to a potential client."

"You can't make something from nothing," quips Williams. "If we could, we'd be living in Star Trek."

Clearly, the industry needs to get hopping on Ultra Blu-ray, or whatever it will be called. Or does it?
While I remember clients eagerly asking me about 1080p products a couple of years before any were even available, both Williams and Mayo admit there's been zero advance interest from their "usual suspect" customers who come in to discuss the latest and greatest on the technology front.

"You've got guys posting on blogs about 4K and 8K," says Williams, "but really, 1080p is pretty entrenched at the moment, and UHD isn't really on the consumer radar yet."

Given that research firm In-Stat predicts broadcast in UHD by 2017 at the earliest, it's easy to see why integrators are remaining sanguine about the technology's potential. After all, it's 10 years after HDTV began to roll out, and broadcasters are still being dragged kicking and screaming into the new Century. Many HDTV broadcasts are typically 720p at best.

Then of course there's always price. Integrators should never be shy about hardware simply because it's expensive. But pitching projects to clients is all about comparative value. 4K projection is still $175,000-$200,000 or more; way more; to get into, but the reality is that high rolling clients get 1080p projectors from Runco, Christie, Digital Projection and others for half that or much, much less. Why spend a quarter to a half million on a projector that has no content to allow it to live up to its potential? I'd liken that to spending a million and-a-half on a Bugatti Veyron and then obeying the speed limit to a tee every time you drive it. What's the point?

Circling back to a previous point, if clients aren't getting excited about Ultra HD just yet, there's no reason for the integrators to either. Still, 2017 may seem like a long way off, but the trickle down from commercial video to CE is inevitable. CES is just around the corner, and given the industry buzz that's already surrounding UHD, we may see offerings that become both more affordable and more desirable sooner than we think. Stay tuned!

Photo: www.freedigitalphotos.net

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