You’re going to need a bigger living
room
While it’s several years before we’re
likely to see Ultra HD channels or compatible receivers, the first screens
capable of displaying 4K video will go on sale in the UK before the end of the
year though predictably they won’t come cheap.
Most make use of LED-backlit LCD technology
and are suitably proportioned to be able to do justice to the pin-sharp realism
offered by the new Ultra HD broadcasting standard.
At time of writing LD+G was expected to be
first to market with an 84in display. UK pricing has yet to be announced though
it’s expected to cost more than $10,500. The manufacturer’s Resolution Upscaler
Plus technology can be used to upscale inputted video including Blu-ray discs
to 4K. It comes outfitted with a 2.2 channel surround system and can be
operated using LG’s motion-sensitive Magic remote control.
Sony’s
first 4K TV which sells for $25,000 will ship with a server loaded with 10
movies in 4K resolution to watch on the massive 84-inch set. But the server is
a loaner and only available in the U.S
Sony is expected to follow LG’s lead before
Christmas with its own 4K-ready 84in display. Predicted to cost considerably
more than the LG display at around $37,500, the KD-84X9005 also comes with 4K
upscaling ability via the manufacturer’s X Reality PRO super-resolution high
quality picture engine and is equipped with an impressive-sounding 50W ten unit
live speaker system.
Looking ahead Toshiba has utilized its CEVO
Engine-powered pixel processing technology to produce an as yet unnamed range
of Quad Full HD TVs. A launch date and pricing is still to be announced but the
range looks set to come in sizes from 85in down to 55in each also with the
ability to upscale inputted video to 4K resolution.
Looking
ahead Toshiba has utilized its CEVO Engine-powered pixel processing technology
to produce an as yet unnamed range of Quad Full HD TVs
If space is at a premium in your household,
NHK says it has developed a high frame rate projector for Super Hi-Vision and
is working on producing displays that are capable of down-scaling Super
Hi-Vision broadcasts so that they can be viewed on HD screens.
For those who refuse to compromise
Panasonic has partnered with NHK to develop an 8K-compatible 145in display
which is currently being used to show off 8K footage across the world. Don’t
hold your breath for a commercial launch anytime soon however, but then it
looks unlikely Europe will see 8K Ultra HD broadcasts much before the end of
the decade anyway.
NHK on super Hi-Vision
‘Super Hi-Vision is an extreme visual and
audio medium giving you an extraordinary sense of just being in the place
yourself’, says Dr. Keiichi K. who as Executive Director for Engineering is in
charge of developing Super Hi-Vision for Japanese broadcaster NHK where it has
been in development since 1995. However he stresses that the best way to sum up
its lifelike appeal is to see it with your own eyes.
Capturing such quality video has meant
developing new cameras, a process which is still ongoing as NHK looks to
perfect the technology. Super Hi-Vision cameras are capable of capturing video
at 120 frames per second, twice that of conventional cameras. A decade ago each
weighed a hefty 80kg but subsequent refinements have meant the four shooting
rigs currently in use weigh in at a more practical 30kg. NHK recently unveiled
a new prototype lightweight 4kg camera featuring a built-in up converter for
producing high resolution images.
Displays of 8K footage have taken place
both at trade and public events including the London Olympics, but NHK’s
R&D department is currently working on the practicalities of ‘shrinking’
such high quality audio and video into a format suitable for broadcasting in
the home the home.
The planned use of the new HEVC codec will
help but, says Kubota: its introduction ‘is just on element. The most important
development for Super Hi-Vision technology is to develop a new modulation
scheme that we can use to compress the signal into a terrestrial or satellite
channel’. NHK says it is also investigating the possibility of using the 21 GHz
band for satellite transmissions.
Sharp
shooters – there are four Super Hi-Vision cameras currently in use
Pairing such high resolution images with
22.2 surround sound is fine for public display but it’s unlikely that even the
most ardent home cinema enthusiast will be able to accommodate 24 speakers in
their setup. Kubota says this too is actively being worked on: ‘I one hundred
percent agree with you. That’s for theatre performances. We cannot put 22
speakers in the living room so I told my staff to develop a technology that
will create almost the same effect as a 22.2 system but using just four, five
or six speakers’.
Unlike Europe which has proposed a
two-stage introduction of Ultra HD TV starting with 4K, Kubota says financial
concerns mean that NHK plans to offer 8K broadcasts only in Japan: ‘If we start
with 4K broadcasting we have to invest a lot of money in 4K production
facilities. Since 8K is just ahead of 4K we’d have to invest once again in an
8K production system so we will invest in that front the very beginning’.
Up until recently, the broadcaster had
pegged 2020 as the date when ‘experimental’ test transmissions of Super
Hi-Vision would most likely begin in Japan, but says, Kubota this could be set
to change: ‘Since everything is working well for these public viewings our
technical experts are starting to consider moving the date forward. I’d be very
happy if it happened around 2016’.
In the meantime, the technology is already
proving its usefulness in Japan in areas other than entertainment. ‘Doctors are
very interested in using this technology to diagnose because they can get a
very clear image that helps their business. It’s already being used in liver
operations’, says Kubota.
So with the prospect of such lifelike
images being available in the home before the end of the decade, what will be
the next stage of development for NHK? Super Hi-Vision 3D perhaps? Kubota is
not so sure.
‘From a technical point of view we can make
a Super Hi-Vision 3D system either active shutter or side-by-side but we will
not do that because it’s meaningless to do Super Hi-Vision in 3D. You get a 3D
impression from watching Super Hi-Vision in 2D’.
He doesn’t, however, dismiss 3D altogether
suggesting what might be on NHK’s technological ‘road map’. ’20 years from now
the next milestone will be 3D without glasses. The current system is very
primitive because even if you move your viewing position, nothing changes. In
the real world, if I move I can see behind you. Our target is to develop “real”
3D – a sort of holographic 3D system’.
