Just when you thought you bought the best HD tv out there 1080p…..now comes 4k.
This new standard dwarfs the 1080p standard. At 3840 pixels x 2160 lines resoultion this, (8.3 Megapixels) with an aspect ratio of 16:9, is just one of 2 targets for consumers. The other being 8k (there is no room for that on the chart, Just double the 4k size) which is 7680 x 4320 (33.2 Megapixels). Wow!..
Digital Cinema has established a standard resolution of 4096 pixels x 2160 lines (8.8 megapixel with an aspect ration of ~17:9). The native resolution for 4k and pixels are cropped from the top or sides depending on the aspect ratio being presented. In digital film prodution 4096 x 3112 is a resolution based in 35 mm film. Both Vimeo and Youtube allow a maximum resolution of 4096 x 3072 pixels (12.6 Megapixels) with an aspect ratio of 4:3.
Now this is High Def stuff I mean 8k is really High Def. Although, as I see it, this is great for watching TV. But do we have enough bandwidth to stream this stuff. Add to that High Def audio with a bit Rate of 192kbps and up to lossless (up to 100MB per song as opposed to 5MB for mp for such standards as flac and such) it just won’t be possible to stream this stuff off of the Internet. This could be a boon for blueray and the evolving BDXL) with Blue ray you get a maximun of 25 GB of data per layer ( for double sided recording 2x or 50GB) BDXL can reach 100GB and 128GB and aren’t backwards compatible. Let’s hope that this new and yet unnamed standard won’t suffer the same price gouging that happened to Blueray…
But for an even and more interesting question is, weather the streaming media can compete. With newer streaming codecs, as well as faster internet service, could make BDXL obsolete before it gets out of the gate. Another interesting thought is: Do we have enougth storage space on our devices to even store these files (it’s in the works… 5TB and above).
But, let’s face it 4k and 8k TV is here and is viable or should I say affordable, prices are already coming down, you can find in the marketplace starting at $499 a Seiki Digital SE39UY04 39-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz LED TV
