nofilmschool » hdtv

Sony to Make 4K Affordable with 55-Inch UHD TV, Media Hub & Distribution Service to Match

Dave Kendricken — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:58:19 +0000

Until more recently, the home theater/consumer side of 4K has been a bit beyond the reach of the average consumer. The $25,000 pricing of Sony’s 84-inch Bravia 4K TV, for instance, is simply prohibitive to all but the most enthusiastic home viewers — but Sony’s newly price-pointed 55 and 65-inch screens are poised to address that point, set to go for $5,000 and $7,000, respectively. And just in case you were wondering what (and how) Sony expects you to actually watch on such a thing, the company’s also unveiled its $699 FMP-X1 4K media player, plus an eventual distribution service, to go along with them cheap(er) UHD TV screens. Check out some more details below. (more…)

Speaking of 4K Broadcast, Japan is Flying off the Handle: TV is 4K in 2014. Plus, an 8K Future?

Dave Kendricken — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:46:12 +0000

Several recent developments are helping to bring more 4K (or “more-K“) to your television screen than many of us might have anticipated, even a year ago. RED has big ideas for your home theater (pictured left), consumer electronics companies are starting to roll out some screens with very high pixel densities, media mega-vendors YouTube and Netflix will (or already do) support 4K, and to bring just about everything together, H.265 will be dilating streaming efficiency on 1 billion devices near you. 4K will likely find its way to you via the web a lot sooner than it will through your cable subscription — unless, of course, you live in Japan. To reinvigorate the country’s (somehow) floundering consumer electronics economy, its ministry of communications will be making 2014 the year of 4K in Japan. And perhaps beyond, not long after that. (more…)

4K TV Battle Heats Up: After Poor OLED HDTV Yields, LG and Samsung Could Shift Priorities to UHD

Joe Marine — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:51:53 +0000

We consistently hear that 4K won’t be happening for a long, long time, especially considering plenty of broadcasters only made the switch a few years ago. I’ve been somewhere in the middle in thinking it won’t happen tomorrow, and it will happen sooner than 10 years. Solutions are beginning to show up from RED and Sony for 4K distribution (at least as far as movies are concerned), and of course we’ve had the cameras capable of 4K for quite a while now — with more on the way. Now it looks like the TV landscape could be changing drastically. LG and Samsung, two of the biggest display makers, have been having serious issues with OLED high definition panels, so instead it looks like they may be shifting focus instead to 4K panels. (more…)

Pan and Scan redux

Ryan Koo — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:15:35 +0000

Steven Soderbergh called attention to this issue a few months back, but the DGA’s website was in a state of disrepair and his opinion piece couldn’t be properly linked. Also, I don’t have cable, so I didn’t pick up on the issue first hand — that is, until I moved out of my apartment September 1st and, by relying on the kindness of others and couch surfing, began watching movies on cable in wonderful high definition. There’s been just one problem: the movies are crapped. Sorry, I mean cropped. (more…)