To hear Sony tell it, the future will be in 4K. This stance comes as no surprise: The company’s 4K-rez digital cinema projectors have been installed in over 13,000 theaters, and at least 75 Sony-produced titles have either been shot with 4K digital cameras, or transferred to the higher-rez format from film. And Sony isn’t just pushing 4K for theaters — it wants viewers to experience it at home.
After releasing a 4K home projector in 2011, the company started selling its 84-inch XBR-84X900 LCD Ultra HD TV in late 2012, and plans to follow up with 65- and 55-inch models this spring. Pricing for the smaller sets hasn’t been announced, but the 84-incher sells for $25,000 — about the same price as a new Honda Accord or a semester at Oberlin. (Incidentally, the term 4K has been officially superseded by “Ultra HD” in the TV realm, but they’re still interchangeable.)
A 4K software format doesn’t exist yet, but even that fact hasn’t deterred Sony. The company has been loaning out servers — basically a big Dell computer — filled with 4K content including 10 Sony Pictures titles to consumers who purchase the XBR-84X900. (An update via data BD-Rom providing additional content was scheduled for early March.) Sony also has a 4K movie download service in the works on target for a summer launch, with details to be announced in April.
How do I know all this stuff? Because the recent CES was chock-full of Ultra HD TV-related news and product announcements. And also because Sony recently invited me to its NYC office to check out the XBR-84X900. I was left alone in a dark room with my testing gear, a 4K server, and a Blu-ray player, and given a few hours to have at it without anybody looking over my shoulder.
I can see Sony adding support for xvYCC via a software upgrade in this set. I have a calibrated 65VT50 PDP now but have always wanted a much larger screen (no smaller than 75"). I'm looking forward to 4k sets being more affordable and to native 4k movies. I hope they don't give up on disc based distribution of movies though as I like physical media.
Film - yes, "old fashioned" analog/photochemical technology - is far superior to digital movies/HDTV, even 4K - even upcoming 8K. A 35mm film has the equivalent resolution of approximately 40 million pixels - 70mm large format film (IMAX, for example) has the equivalent of over 75 million. You think a mere 2, 4, or 8 million pixels is the same thing? Well, it isn't. Additionally, the regular pixel structure of a digital image is far more objectionable to the human eye/brain than the random grain structure of film, which changes from frame to frame. Digital is cheap compared to film - that's it. It's too bad that the least common denominator will prevail though, and what is better but "old fashioned" will not.
Michael, Ph.D., Consulting engineer (communications, video signal processing, imaging).