I see 4k as being a great format for Digital Cinema and high end Home Theater, where I think it will dominate, but that's about it. - as those are the two areas that will truly benefit from such a high quality picture.

Otherwise, my guess would be "It aint gunna happen anytime soon", and even that might be generous. (as opposed to "it aint ever gunna happen")

Not that I don't want to see it happening,  but I just don't see a market for it -  consumers aren't clamoring for higher than HD TV.

hell, 3d movies are huge now,  but even that doesn't seem to be taking of too well i the home  (ESPN is shutting down it's 3d sports network, not enough viewers wanted it).

If there's a 4k television that cost $1500,  next to a 1080p selling for $999,  consumers will always go for the cheaper set unless they can be sold on the benefits (didn't quite work for Beta vs VHS)

But heck, perhaps over many many years, the price of 4k TV's will be reasonable, and 4k movies will be available (on BluRay?) or relatively easy to download.

But Broadcasters and TV stations will not want to replace their gear (which was aHUGE when they went digital 10 years ago, which they were forced to do by the Govt as well! that won't happen with 4k)

 and you can bet on it that DirecTV and Dish have no desire to launch new Satellites and upgrade home receivers anytime soon.

Cable networks won't want to switch either  (except for Time Warner Cable I imagine,  bastards might really want an excuse to make users pay $60++ for "extreme" internet!@# ))

Higher than MP3 quality audio has been available, but that's never taken off either, users are content with moderately compressed MP3's over DVD-Audio (remember when that was brought out?)

When was the last time any of you watched a show on ABC, Fox, .or a game on ESPN or FoxSports and complained that it wasn't as sharp because it was only 720p,  .. compared to 1080 that has 50% more pixels?

that's where we're at right now,  everyone is peach happy with 1080p just as they are with the music on their iPods and iTunes.

I've only got a 106" projection screen at my home, and while i'm sure a 4k picture would look insane -  the picture I have now is superb and looks about as good as a real movie theater  (from a 4 year old $2,000  Panasonic AE3000)

I'm def not too up to speed on all that's going on with 4k technology,  but I'm just not drooling over it nearly as much as I was when HDTV became available, when I eagerly spent $4k+ on a rear CRT projection 65" that was barely over 720p in resolution!@#

(can't even give those away)

-Gary

On Dec 16, 2013, at 4:28 AM, Anders Sundstedt <sundstedt@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

 

I am curious to know when you think 4K TV will become popular and when/what channels and what TV boxes will actually start broadcasting 4K.

 

I am also curious on how you would buy a 4K film, what home use formats and players would support this at the moment if any?

 

Same with internet/YouTube, when do you think something better than 1080p will be an option?

 

I have two reasons for asking this: 1) When is it time to consider making my animations in 4K, 2) when would it be any idea to upgrade my TV from a 1080p to a 4K tv.

 

Thanks

 

Anders Sundstedt

http://sundstedt.co.uk