The Trouble With 4K TV

An anonymous reader sends this quote from an article about the difficulties in bringing so-called '4K resolution' video — 3840x2160 — to consumers. "Though 4K resolutions represent the next step in high-definition video, standards for the format have yet to emerge and no one’s really figured out how to distribute video, with its massive file footprint, efficiently and cost effectively. How exactly does one distribute files that can run to hundreds of gigabytes? ... Given that uncompressed 4K footage has a bit-rate of about 600MB/s, and even the fastest solid-state drives operate at only about 500MB/s, compression isn’t merely likely, it’s necessary. ... Kotsaftis says manufacturers will probably begin shipping and promoting larger TVs. 'In coming years, 50-inch or 55-inch screens will have become the sort of standard that 40-inch TVs are now. To exploit 4K, you need a larger form factor. You’re just not going to notice enough of a difference on smaller screens.' The same quality/convenience argument leads him to believe that physical media for 4K content will struggle to gain traction among consumers. '4K implies going back to physical media. Even over the Internet, it’s going to require massive files and, given the choice, most people would happily settle for a 720p or 1080p file anyway.'"

Comments

And don't forget..

[Striikerr]

.. the cable companies would compress the signal as they presently do with "HDTV" to the point that it looks like crap. They have ruined the HDTV quality with this compression and I can only imagine how much they would ruin 4k TV content. The best HDTV experience I have ever had was pulling HDTV signals from the Over The Air broadcasts. The first time I saw this (after spending so much time watching compressed HDTV on Comcast) I couldn't believe how great it looked. If you don't believe me, give it a try. The OTA HDTV signals blow Comcast's HDTV signals out of the water with crispness and detail.
Hopefully the means of getting this type of signal dramatically improves so that compression is not needed and we can watch 4k the way it was meant to be..

Re:Welcome back to 2005

[neokushan]

I'm calling bullshit. The summary talks about uncompressed video, glancing over the fact that even 1080p uncompressed requires a bitrate of 190 MBytes/s (at 24FPS) - faster than most HDD's can handle. Storage space required? 667Gb per HOUR, or a solid TB for a 90min film. Do you need a massive SSD to play 1080p files? Do you even need an SSD to edit and encode them? No, you don't.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncompressed_video#1080i_and_1080p_HDTV_RGB_.284:4:4.29_uncompressed

Compression has always been essential, even for DVD. Uncompressed SD videos would still fill a dual-layer blu-ray (50GB) after about 30mins. Yes, we'll need better CODECS to handle 4k and yes a lot of work needs to be done, but the size of uncompressed video isn't and never has been the issue. At worst, it'll take a slightly newer disk format (I don't see why a 4-layer Blu-ray disk - which exists today, couldn't do the job) and better internet connections to stream.

Devices will be released THIS YEAR capable of outputting 4k - just look at Tegra 4, or nVidia's SHIELD, which has been demonstrated live supplying a 4K TV (Admittedly, probably up-scaled content, but obviously the technology is there today).

The real issue is content, in that nothing is really in 4K right now. The transportation and storage method is not.

Re: cable and sat don't have the bandwidth for it

[RoboRay]

Show me an interlaced digital display. Seriously. Show me one.

Re:cable and sat don't have the bandwidth for it

[sg_oneill]

Its the term used at the production side, and is pretty much the standard for pro video at the high end. And its notorious for being really hard and expensive to work with because its simply taxing for the cameras to output and even more taxing to work through post-production with. Something like a RED or whatever camera will sell themselves on "4K" but generally unless filming for cinema its hardly needed.

With one exception however, when dealing with chromakeying and the like the higher resolution provides more information to key out backgrounds without the telltale green halos around the characters, so even on TV work, 4K cameras are idea for special effects stuff, just to give the post-production work more to work with.

Which is, of course, why those newfangled DSLR cameras might look seriously fantastic for normal footage, but are simply the wrong choice for special effects stuff because whilst the effect of compressing it all down might be acceptable for most video, it removes too much detail for chromakeying without a lot of (expensive) extra work in post production. With that said, for DIY amateur stuff, its not time thats the problem but gear and so people are able to spend more time getting keying right and working with looser tolerances.