Mikehit said:
traveller said:
because 4K televisions are becoming commonplace.
It has been proven time and again that at normal viewing distances, 4K is hardly noticable from HD. Even on compute screens, the amount of 4K material is pitifully low. So actually what you are doing is predicting a marketing trend and in technology that is a dangerous move.
Anyone remember what happened to hi-res music formats? SACD , Audio-DVD, 24-bit 192 digital? Blu-ray audio? Most people have not even heard of these. In fact they preferred the portability of MP3 and many cannot tell the difference in the normal listening so will not spend moolah on the hi-res stuff.
4K is new. It is the new mega-pixel war. No-one really knows how the public perceive it because sales are driven by the manufacturers making products with a fancy spec sheet not what the public actually thinks they need.
Eh... people made the same stupid claims about HD. Apple made the same stupid claim about resolution, until suddenly "Retina" mattered. Apple also made a similar stupid claim where 3.5" was the "perfect size", until 4" was the "perfect size", and now it's what, 4.7" or 5.5"? I can see 4k as clearly better than 1080p, but I hardly call it essential. It's going to be on my next TV by default, because it's going to be a good 65" screen and those are all 4k these days. Similarly though, my current TV has 3D, which I've never used. As did my last TV (where 3D was also never used). It seems 3D is now gone.
I believe 4k will be more successful though. For one, old (film) content can be restored and remastered into 4k, and any movies or TV shows shot in 4k+ can be released in 4k. The problem (a problem, besides the glasses) with 3D was that if it wasn't shot in 3D, there was no way to turn an old 2D film into 3D, so the content was much more limited than 4k will be. You can colorize
Casablanca, you can release a 4k version of
Casablanca, but you can't make a 3D
Casablanca.
HDR is another feature that will be interesting to see if it's the next HD or the next 3D.