'UHD Alliance' to Define 4K Standards in coming months - Polidicks

[B]"Samsung, Disney, Netflix, and more team up to define Ultra HD and how you'll watch it."[/B] [quote]4K TVs were one of the big stories of CES last year, but even now, there remain questions about what you'll be able to watch and how you'll be able to watch it. It turns out, basically every company involved in this process — from content creators to TV makers — realize that this is a problem, and they're teaming up to solve it. Samsung is today announcing that team: a partnership called the UHD Alliance, which plans to set standards for 4K content, terminology, and delivery. "NOTHING BUT GOOD CAN COME FROM IT." Some huge names (and competitors) are all teaming up to do this. On the TV side, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp are involved. On the content side, there's Disney, Fox, Warner Bros., Netflix, and DirecTV. Dolby and Technicolor are also included. "This is a game changer," H.S. Kim, a Samsung displays executive, said while announcing the partnership. "Most importantly, for consumers." Kim says that the UHD Alliance's goal is to establish a "healthy UHD ecosystem." That includes making sure there's content, making sure that the content looks really good, and figuring out how it's delivered. The partnership is just getting started — it didn't come together until late last year — but Samsung expects to start seeing results in 2015. However, those results may be simple at first. Part of the alliance's goal is standardizing how we talk about UHD, so the early results of this partnership may not be more than marketing. (Here's one good example of why that's necessary: UHD and 4K are generally used interchangeably, even though 4K is a slightly different resolution than UHD). Movie studios aren't just interested because this will help viewers watch their content: the hope is that the alliance can help make video look better, too. "These technologies allow us to utilize a much broader palette to tell our stories while providing viewers with true-to-life colors, superior contrast and premium picture quality," Ron Sanders, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, says in a statement. That's good news for TV manufacturers as well, as better-looking content means that their TVs will look all the more appealing.[/quote] [url]http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/5/7493099/uhd-alliance-announced-samsung-disney-netflix-others-standardize-uhd-ces-2015[/url]

the problem is that i still cant stream 4k :(

4K is a made up standard anyway - just use the width of the screen as everyone else has for the past 10 years. The market currently is exactly the same as it was when FullHD became a thing - I wish they'd stop shoving it down our throats as if it were the second coming of our lord and saviour, and instead focus on making sure people can [I]get [/I]high quality content in their homes before bumping up the screen's resolution up a notch.

[QUOTE=Stopper;46862922]4K is a made up standard anyway - just use the width of the screen as everyone else has for the past 10 years.[/QUOTE] 2160 just doesn't roll off the tongue like 1080 or even 720. Seriously, it's twice as many syllables and overall is a less accessible number, esp. when compared to say, 4K. When you're selling and branding things, as silly as it sounds, it makes a big difference. We're talking the sexy/sleek vs. nerdy/niche.

QFHD?

[QUOTE=Stopper;46862922]4K is a made up standard anyway - just use the width of the screen as everyone else has for the past 10 years. The market currently is exactly the same as it was when FullHD became a thing - I wish they'd stop shoving it down our throats as if it were the second coming of our lord and saviour, and instead focus on making sure people can [I]get [/I]high quality content in their homes before bumping up the screen's resolution up a notch.[/QUOTE] Wut If you mean consumer, we used the vertical lines for that. 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p. Width usually is due to film width and sensor width used in cinema. 2k, 4k, 5k, etc. 4k sounds cool and special. It's easier to market. "FOUR KAY DISPLAY"

People need to understand that 4k and UHD are two different things, same as 2k and HD. HD is used in television and is a resolution that is close to cinema's 2k. Same as UHD is a television equivalent for 4k cinema.

If I turn my tv on the channels I get are 720p. Until everyone is broadcasting at least 1080p then 4k is nothing to be excited about. Sure you can pay for streaming 4k but are you really going to get the full 4k detail by streaming? I have no doubt that in the future there will be a much higher standard resolution than now but I'm not convinced 4k is it. What happened is they tried to push 3d tvs and that didn't work, so now it's 4k. They just want people buying new tvs is all, and why would you buy a new one if you already have a 1080p set? New tech, they have to sell you on new tech.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;46863856]If I turn my tv on the channels I get are 720p. Until everyone is broadcasting at least 1080p then 4k is nothing to be excited about. Sure you can pay for streaming 4k but are you really going to get the full 4k detail by streaming? I have no doubt that in the future there will be a much higher standard resolution than now but I'm not convinced 4k is it. What happened is they tried to push 3d tvs and that didn't work, so now it's 4k. They just want people buying new tvs is all, and why would you buy a new one if you already have a 1080p set? New tech, they have to sell you on new tech.[/QUOTE] Sports fans especially football (soccer) fans will get their 4K broadcasts in a reasonable time. Everyone else will have to wait. H265 needs to be finished first and then being taken to use.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;46863856]If I turn my tv on the channels I get are 720p. Until everyone is broadcasting at least 1080p then 4k is nothing to be excited about. Sure you can pay for streaming 4k but are you really going to get the full 4k detail by streaming? I have no doubt that in the future there will be a much higher standard resolution than now but I'm not convinced 4k is it. What happened is they tried to push 3d tvs and that didn't work, so now it's 4k. They just want people buying new tvs is all, and why would you buy a new one if you already have a 1080p set? New tech, they have to sell you on new tech.[/QUOTE] You don't get much more noticeable detail out of resolutions higher than 4k on standard size TVs. 4k broadcasts won't be around for awhile because the systems to handle live 4k broadcasts are still being developed. Most broadcasts cameras being used can't even shoot a 4k resolution. Think how long it took for TV now to move to HD broadcasts since 1080p had started to become a standard. The movie industry is just now beginning to create 4k films, which are being shot at 6k (only a few cameras in the market can shoot this resolution). It currently takes an incredible amount of data and computing power to handle and edit raw 6k files. Currently, shooting a higher resolution is impossible considering no digital video camera can shoot 8k resolution, and it would create files that our current technology wouldn't be able to handle. Plus, it wouldn't look that much better than 4k (unless you had a 200in TV) because the pixel density is already so high. The quality to cost ratio would not be worth it. What I'm trying to say is that 4k is not a gimmick like 3D. It will be the next standard and I think it will stay that way for a long time.

[QUOTE=Stopper;46862922]4K is a made up standard anyway - just use the width of the screen as everyone else has for the past 10 years. The market currently is exactly the same as it was when FullHD became a thing - I wish they'd stop shoving it down our throats as if it were the second coming of our lord and saviour, and instead focus on making sure people can [I]get [/I]high quality content in their homes before bumping up the screen's resolution up a notch.[/QUOTE] The first step of standardizing this resolution is getting it in the hands of the people. Prices have dropped so dramatically over the last year that if you're going to buy a TV, you might as well future proof yourself and get a 4K display. Update the Netflix app on Chromecast/Nexus Player/Playstation 3/Playstation 4/Xbox One and you'll see the amount of people streaming 4K content skyrocket. I have a 4K television and I can't stream anything because none of my devices support it and I'm not going to buy a "4K-enabled smart blu-ray player" and I'm not going to buy a Sony 4K smart television with a 4K-enabled Netflix app pre-installed. Give me the option to do it on my devices I own and I'll do it. It's pure laziness on the behalf of Microsoft/Sony for not enabling 4K video playback on their devices.

[QUOTE]UHD Alliance[/QUOTE] That sounds like some wacky band of merry men.

I just bought a 4K TV the other day, and I think it's going to stick. The picture quality is really improved. Watching House of Cards in 4K is great.

Man, I remember when 1080p was this "New thing" with TV HDTV was marketed everywhere. Now it's... outdated and old. It's weird in a great way. During the time 1080p/hdtv was a 'new' thing with TV you'd look back at 480p or whatever and think about how silly people were when they bragged about it. Now you look at 4k monitors and we're a lot closer to getting to the point of pixel density being too high for the human eye to even care for a 70 inch tv

[QUOTE=OogalaBoogal;46865673]I just bought a 4K TV the other day, and I think it's going to stick. The picture quality is really improved. Watching House of Cards in 4K is great.[/QUOTE] How are you watching your content? There's only a very few ways to even do it

[QUOTE=Korova;46865689]How are you watching your content? There's only a very few ways to even do it[/QUOTE] 4K Netflix, 4K youtube, don't really watch anything else, up conversion looks good too

[QUOTE=OogalaBoogal;46865730]4K Netflix, 4K youtube, don't really watch anything else, up conversion looks good too[/QUOTE] i dont see much videos in youtube that are 4k

[QUOTE=dgg;46864249]Sports fans especially football (soccer) fans will get their 4K broadcasts in a reasonable time. Everyone else will have to wait. H265 needs to be finished first and then being taken to use.[/QUOTE] H.265 is as finished as it's going to be (Encoders and decoders are starting to find their way into PC hardware), Windows 10 will bring a decoder for it that can take advantage of hardware decoding, and once that happens it should start catching on for internet content, will still take ages to catch on outside of that though. The main issue is defining a TV broadcast standard, and newer standards for "home video". They don't expect the blu-ray specs to be released for another half year or so (With hardware and movies by holiday season 2015). TV standards are even further off, France is aiming for H.265 broadcasts by 2020. And even then, what colour space do you use? The "UHD" standard is Rec. 2020, something which hardware can't currently reproduce (TVs based on "quantum dots" should be able to come close)

[QUOTE=Brt5470;46863642]Wut If you mean consumer, we used the vertical lines for that. 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p. Width usually is due to film width and sensor width used in cinema. 2k, 4k, 5k, etc. 4k sounds cool and special. It's easier to market. "FOUR KAY DISPLAY"[/QUOTE] Sorry, I meant to say height, but my point still stands. At the end of the day it is, as you say, a marketing gimmick.

[QUOTE=OogalaBoogal;46865730]4K Netflix, 4K youtube, don't really watch anything else, up conversion looks good too[/QUOTE] Well I mean are you watching them on a PC or what? Because there's only a select number of devices that have 4K YouTube/Netflix support.

4K cameras are great for zooming into footage in post, 4K monitors give you more real estate on your desktop? What are 4K TVs for? Just make 1080P TVs with less space between pixels, I have a 1280x800 DLP projector which looks good because you don't notice the space between pixels.

[QUOTE=RoboChimp2;46867606]4K cameras are great for zooming into footage in post, 4K monitors give you more real estate on your desktop? What are 4K TVs for? Just make 1080P TVs with less space between pixels, I have a 1280x800 DLP projector which looks good because you don't notice the space between pixels.[/QUOTE] It's not about why, it's about why not. This mentality would hold technology back for no reason. 1080p TVs aren't going to be outdated for a long time, and 4K TVs being the norm will actually make 1080p TVs more affordable. No one is forcing you to buy a 4K tv in 5 years, it will just be an option for the people who want it. Besides, 4K content will still look really good on a 1080 TV, might even look better than 1080 content because of the downscaling.

[QUOTE=Korova;46867373]Well I mean are you watching them on a PC or what? Because there's only a select number of devices that have 4K YouTube/Netflix support.[/QUOTE] SmartTV, everything is built in.

[QUOTE=OogalaBoogal;46865673]I just bought a 4K TV the other day, and I think it's going to stick. The picture quality is really improved. Watching House of Cards in 4K is great.[/QUOTE] Same here, even broadcasts that aren't 4K themselves look quite nice due to the upscaling. [QUOTE=RoboChimp2;46867606]4K cameras are great for zooming into footage in post, 4K monitors give you more real estate on your desktop? What are 4K TVs for? Just make 1080P TVs with less space between pixels, I have a 1280x800 DLP projector which looks good because you don't notice the space between pixels.[/QUOTE] It becomes very apparent with a side-by-side comparison. You should be able to find a few 4K tvs being shown alongside 1080p at walmart or bestbuy.

[QUOTE=Warship;46867752]It's not about why, it's about why not. This mentality would hold technology back for no reason. 1080p TVs aren't going to be outdated for a long time, and 4K TVs being the norm will actually make 1080p TVs more affordable. No one is forcing you to buy a 4K tv in 5 years, it will just be an option for the people who want it. Besides, 4K content will still look really good on a 1080 TV, might even look better than 1080 content because of the downscaling.[/QUOTE] Except when you walk in a store a year from now and they only sell 4K TVs at the price of yesteryear's FullHD ones. It's a never ending cycle.

[QUOTE=Stopper;46867904]Except when you walk in a store a year from now and they only sell 4K TVs at the price of yesteryear's FullHD ones. It's a never ending cycle.[/QUOTE] You can still find TVs with a resolution of 1366x768 in most stores. FHD will be sufficient for a lot of people, and 4K is nearly pointless on a small TV. Not to mention that 4K broadcasting is still very far from being a thing, so you're only gonna benefit from 4k resolution in BDs and internet streaming for the time being.

[QUOTE=thelurker1234;46867801]... It becomes very apparent with a side-by-side comparison. You should be able to find a few 4K tvs being shown alongside 1080p at walmart or bestbuy.[/QUOTE] Much like the transition from DVDs to blu-ray, I didn't really think it'd be that much of an improvement until I tried it. Looking at 4K pictures on a 1080p screen doesn't help much, since it's either zoomed in too far to be useful, or it's downscaled so you lose all the fine detail, on a native 4K screen the detail is crazy though.

[QUOTE=Stopper;46867269]Sorry, I meant to say height, but my point still stands. At the end of the day it is, as you say, a marketing gimmick.[/QUOTE] But I don't think it's a marketing gimmick. It's just slightly incorrect calling 3840x2160 4k, but it's close enough to where most people know what you're talking about. And saying "Oh, this model is a 2160p QuadHD panel." just doesn't quite have the wow factor that I think is needed for sales.

[QUOTE=Brt5470;46872664]But I don't think it's a marketing gimmick. It's just slightly incorrect calling 3840x2160 4k, but it's close enough to where most people know what you're talking about. And saying "Oh, this model is a 2160p QuadHD panel." just doesn't quite have the wow factor that I think is needed for sales.[/QUOTE] Umm come on brt. 2160p is Quad[I]F[/I]HD. 1440p is QuadHD.

If i ever get a 4KTV, its going to be because I'm going to plug my PC into and play video games on it. That'll be the content to hold me over until other media catches up. It just needs to be more affordable.