Print Page
UHDTV Knowns and Unknowns
1/30/2013
UHDTV led the
way at CES last
month but will
consumers follow?
The consumer electronics
industry has
latched onto the next
generation of high-definition
television, otherwise
known as “Ultra
HD” in a big way, as evidenced by the plethora
of displays launched at the show. But unlike
its sad, forsaken cousin, 3DTV, the odds
of its success are far more
certain, although the timeline
of its adoption is not.
As with many “next big
things” that emerge from the
annual Vegas event, there are
some knowns and some unknowns.
Let’s get a few facts
out of the way first.
As with the transition to
HDTV, prices will plummet as
adoption increases and production
efficiencies improve.
Despite the increased interest
in alternative entertainment and information
platforms, including tablets and smartphones,
nothing will replace the big screen
experience; its survival in the future of the
American living room is certain. Content
will quickly become more ubiquitous. The
pace of technological change in the development
of acquisition and editing tools is accelerating
and with the anticipated adoption
of the HEVC H.265 compression standard
this year, the industry is putting the building
blocks for an ultra HD future into place. And
even 3DTV, although currently floundering
and on the outs with most consumers, will
benefit from the increased resolution and
could even enjoy a revival.
The big unknown, of course, is how
UHDTV content will be delivered. The current
Blu-ray standard does not allow for
the massive increase in data required for
UHD content, and cable, satellite, fiber and
broadcast infrastructures could be years
away from becoming a common source of
content. An intermediary “upconversion”
stage (which will probably always exist),
will be required. Nevertheless, there is
some movement on that front with last
month’s announcement of Europe’s first
launch of a dedicated UHDTV channel via
Eutelsat (based on MPEG-4 and expected
to be used for demonstration purposes
mostly). Japan’s NHK has announced that
it will begin broadcasting UHDTV by 2016
and the format could also be a part of the
ATSC 3.0 initiative now underway and expected
to be completed in a few years.
 |
|
Microsoft’s wall-size Illumiroom could make even UHDTV passé. |
Another unknown is how quickly consumers
will take to the format. There is an
increasing emphasis on delivery of 1080p
content, although right now it’s mostly available
only via premium movie services via
satellite and Blu-ray. Is 1080p “enough” or
will we skip that generation? How much of a
factor will the gaming community be in the
rate of adoption? And displays are not just
about one big picture anymore—4K means
more data, with the potential for viewing
multiple programs at once, zooming and
improved overall manipulation of images.
We’ve already reported on how broadcasters
are using 4K to isolate and manipulate
images in higher resolution. UHDTV could
bring this control to the home viewer.
Parallels to the rollout of the first HDTV
sets 15 years ago are not entirely accurate.
Back then, there was a concerted interindustry
effort to put the infrastructure in
place to produce and deliver HD content
by the time the sets became available. Satellite,
broadcast and cable were all transmitting
some HD content by 1999. And then
there was a little thing called the “DTV
transition” which helped prime the pump.
One known that we’re learned from
the transition to HDTV was that although
consumers may be wowed by the picture
quality and features in the stores, that attitude
sometimes turns to “ho-hum” once
they bring the sets home. The unknown is
how or if UHDTV will change all that.
* * *
4K UHDTV is here and now but 8K
UHDTV is not far behind. Samsung demonstrated
8K at CES for the second year in a
row and HD pioneer NHK will be bringing
the format to the NAB Show in April. But
another item crossed my desk during the
show that was even more intriguing.
As part of a research project to promote
the next generation of its Xbox platform,
Microsoft revealed the “Illumiroom” which
basically projects images to turn an entire
wall into a display. Although consumers
have been able to do this since the invention
of the projector and the Illumiroom’s
picture quality was a bit crude, resolution
will of course, improve. Considering the
speed at which companies are rolling out
products these days, could we see these
wall TVs at CES within a year or two?
Print Page