4K is now on sale

[MartinT]

You're cruel, Natalie

[lovejoy]

4K is nothing but the numbers game all over again. If you go to a cinema that uses a digital projection system (currently running at around 60-70% of screens in the UK), with the exception of a couple of Sony installations (which are 4K, when they can get them to work, but they don't focus well and don't work on large screens - oh and there's VERY little content at the moment), all content is 2K. So you scale that huge, pin sharp picture down to your 42" TV at home and the idea of 4K becomes pretty silly pretty quickly. The only situation I can really envisage 4K becoming noticeably better are with the IMAX cinemas which have gone from using wonderful 70mm film to using 2K digital cinema. Given the size and the audiences' proximity to the screen, 4K will be mind blowing here, but for everything else it will be overkill.

What I'd be more interested to see for home TVs is increased colour depth and accuracy. LCD/LED only gives us 10-bit colour at the moment, meaning that the stuff that comes out of the cinema which has been graded in P3 colour space (i.e. all films) has to get down-converted from 12 to 10 bit colour, which really is noticeable.

Meanwhile, the future of cinema is with higher frame rates. The Hobbit, coming at the end of 2012 is being filmed in 48fps. Avatar 2 and 3 (spare me) is being filmed in 60fps. Once you've seen cinema running at these frame rates, the old 24fps becomes rather irritating and given the choice of more resolution or more frames, I know which one I'd go for every time.

[lovejoy]

That's it exactly, Mark. 3D is just a gimmick whereas true hi-res 2D is superb. Witness digital projection at some of the cinema complexes (like the Reading Showcase) where the picture looks stunning and makes you feel almost giddy with detail.

Ah, is that the Showcase at Winnersh Triangle? Haven't been there for a few years now, but I used to love that place. Everything was always really well presented (for a chain cinema) and the sound was excellent in there too. Hope it's still as good as I remember it. Will have to try and pay another visit.

[MartinT]

Ah, is that the Showcase at Winnersh Triangle?

That's the one, Rich. They've converted all the screens to digital projection. I go there rather than locally in Basingstoke just for the PQ. It's superb.

[Reid Malenfant]

4K is nothing but the numbers game all over again. If you go to a cinema that uses a digital projection system (currently running at around 60-70% of screens in the UK), with the exception of a couple of Sony installations (which are 4K, when they can get them to work, but they don't focus well and don't work on large screens - oh and there's VERY little content at the moment), all content is 2K. So you scale that huge, pin sharp picture down to your 42" TV at home and the idea of 4K becomes pretty silly pretty quickly. The only situation I can really envisage 4K becoming noticeably better are with the IMAX cinemas which have gone from using wonderful 70mm film to using 2K digital cinema. Given the size and the audiences' proximity to the screen, 4K will be mind blowing here, but for everything else it will be overkill.

What I'd be more interested to see for home TVs is increased colour depth and accuracy. LCD/LED only gives us 10-bit colour at the moment, meaning that the stuff that comes out of the cinema which has been graded in P3 colour space (i.e. all films) has to get down-converted from 12 to 10 bit colour, which really is noticeable.

Meanwhile, the future of cinema is with higher frame rates. The Hobbit, coming at the end of 2012 is being filmed in 48fps. Avatar 2 and 3 (spare me) is being filmed in 60fps. Once you've seen cinema running at these frame rates, the old 24fps becomes rather irritating and given the choice of more resolution or more frames, I know which one I'd go for every time.

Yes I do tend to agree with you on certain points. I'd definately prefer an increased frame rate like yourself.

However I run a bit of a weird TV, Philips 56pfl9954 which scales 2.35:1 images to 2560 x 1080, rather than having black lines top & bottom. It works to, as long as all the bells & whistles are turned off so that the TV only scales up to the new pixels it's superb. Ask it to do the 200Hz & perfect pixel etc & it'll make a mess of things, but shut them down & the upscaling brings noticeably worthwhile benefits to picture clarity.

So I'll wait for this beast to come down to about 10K or less & then I'll pounce

[lovejoy]

So I'll wait for this beast to come down to about 10K or less & then I'll pounce

That review sounds quite impressive, but it turns out it's using an SXRD panel, which is what Sony use in their cinema projectors. Considering this is bound to be a scaled down version of it, I think I'd wait for something decent to be released. I've yet to see (or even hear of anyone who's seen) a decent picture from one of their cinema projectors when compared with a good DLP cinema projector. It'll only be a matter of time before domestic 4K DLP arrives.