4K UHDTV Hardware On Display in Berlin, And On Sale In Korea 137
First the spec, and now the hardware: MrSeb writes "After five years of trying to convince us that 3D TVs are the future, it seems TV makers are finally ready to move on — to 4K UHDTV. At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Sony, Toshiba, and LG are all showing off 84-inch 4K (3840×2160) TVs. These aren't just vaporware, either: LG's TV is on sale now in Korea (and later this month in the US), Sony's is due later this year, and Toshiba will follow in the new year. Be warned, though: all three will cost more than $20,000 when they go on sale in the US — oh, and there's still no 4K Blu-ray spec, and no such thing as 4K broadcast TV. In other display-related news, Panasonic is showing off a humongous 145-inch 8K (7680x4320) plasma TV, and some cute 20-inch 4K displays — but unfortunately neither are likely to find their way to your living room or office in the near future."
Re:damn, and i just went back to OTA (Score:5, Informative)
You should try plugging the coax into an antenna, and you can get all the free channels (and probably sub-channels of the free stuff) in HD. There are a lot of DIY designs out there using very basic materials (lumber, tinfoil, coat hangers, wire), or you can spend well under $100 for a pretty decent pre-made antenna setup where you literally have to just make the cable connections.
Check out antennapoint.com to see where your nearest transmitters are and what you can get from your home. You might be pleasantly surprised. Most places you'll get the major networks and a few independents, plus PBS. In my area we get something like 20+ channels of programming in HD using an OTA antenna I built myself. We supplement with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, DVDs from our library, etc.
Truth be told, a lot of what is on cable nowadays is low-budget "reality" crap. IMHO the only bright spots are on HBO, and I'm not shelling out money for a cable subscription plus HBO on top of that. I can wait for DVDs. The networks and PBS actually still do quite a OK job with scripted stuff and science/educational programming.
Re:Why is it called a 4K display? (Score:4, Informative)
2K and 4K refer to the horizontal resolution. QuadHD/3840x2160p (which is what this is) is only slightly smaller than 4K horizontally, so it is often referred to as 4K (same with regular 1920x1080p and 2K).
Re:Don't go straight to "Ultra" (Score:3, Informative)
Unrelated question: what connector would you use to feed them 3D at 50/60 Hz (so really, 100/120 Hz) at the native resolution?
It's in the article. Sorry I didn't see it:
Perhaps most worryingly, the 55ZL2 only accepts 4K video input through Toshiba’s proprietary “digital serial port” — and the only device that outputs to a digital serial port is Toshiba’s own professional, very expensive media servers. Hopefully the 84-inch model will accept 4K over HDMI, like the Sony and LG UHDTVs.
Re:4k Monitor (Score:5, Informative)
WQUXGA [wikipedia.org] (3840×2400) computer monitors, which is a little higher than the 4K UHD [wikipedia.org] resolution (3840 × 2160), has been around for quite a while.
For instance the 204 PPI 22 inch IBM monitor T220/T221 [wikipedia.org] from 2001.
Hopefully there will come high density monitors at a price point reachable by us mortals soon, since there seem to be a trend towards high density monitors in mainstream computing.
Also, since WQUXGA (barely) fits into the specifications of Displayport, it won't be required to use quad single-link DVI or dual dual-link DVI to support the resolution at reasonable refresh rates any more. =)
Re:4k Monitor (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, many. Google for "medical displays".
Eizo has produced a 36.4 for $40-50k, Barco also, etc.
Still IBM T221 can still be sold on eBay or in higher quantities and better prices on Chinese Taobao (you will need an intermediary agent).
They cost less than a $1k including complex cabling.
Viewsonic is just a rebranded IBM.