Ultra High Definition in your living room!

[Victor Nguyen]

4k??? pffft, are you guys living in 2012 or something? 8k is the new hip things nowadays...

CES 2013: Sharp shows off super-sharp 8K TV, waits for content - latimes.com

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Warren Kawamoto

...However, I think brides would cringe....because you would be able to see every wrinkle and imperfection on her face, forever and ever.

Then brides would *really* hate 21MP photos. Oh wait...

If you think about it, we have *way* more and better content today than we did when HD - or 480p for that matter - were this far along. Back when 480p projectors and displays first arrived, all we had was broadcast, VHS, and exorbitantly expensive Faroudja up-converters. When HD CRTs first arrived, we up-converted SD as we waited for the ATSC standard to be completed and approved by the FCC. Blue lasers hadn't yet come out of the research labs.

But as the first UHD screens are shipping, we have DSLRs that shoot 5.6K images, YouTube with 4K delivery, and PC games that are compatible with 4K video cards. You can buy a Master copy of Timescapes. And, yes, we have up-scaling. And some (not all) of the up-scaling is darn good. (And for us content producers, a 4K display allows us to see our shots and edits as intended.)

Consider that the Faroudja box struggled to have one affordable SD frame of memory. We got viable SD to HD up-scaling in the mid-1990s. Nearly two decades on, the amount of memory and processing, and the quality of the algorithms blows away what we had at the dawn of the digital transition.

And, yes, of course we don't get broadcast and packaged media before there are homes to view it in. The display always leads the game.

Which would you choose:
1) Buy a 4K display with a great up-scaler that can show 4K photos, 4K YouTube content, and 4K PC games - and that has uncompressed 4K inputs for future sources.
2) Invest in a 4K broadcasting station and 4K media pressing operation before there are 4K displays in homes.
3) Stick with 1080p for all time.

If you look at it that way, the "no content" argument doesn't really hold water. Technology *will* move forward. Displays *will* take the lead in consumers homes.

However, it's absolutely valid that there are early, mid, and late adopters of new technologies. That's has more to do with personality and personal funds than the technology.

If you're a mid or late adopter, no justification is needed. 4K displays are viable today. But it doesn't require all of us to be first in line. :)

[James Manford]

The way you downgrade 1080p to DVD, but then the DVD still looks good on your HD TV.

Im sure downgrading 4k to 1080p will have a similar effect of clean, crisp, clarity.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Does anybody know how to get 4K content on Youtube? Does it work like regular video?

I think 4K in homes is inevitable. Many business models don't need it today, just like most of the world didn't need HD 5-7 years ago. Four times the resolution, four times the profits?

[Jon Fairhurst]

Just search on "youtube 4k" to find the content. To play it at full res, you need a 4K graphics card and monitor.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Thanks, Jon. I was actually wanting to know how to get content 'into' Youtube - the other way around. :)