Too early for super definition TVs

A model stands next to Samsung 110-inch 4k Ultra HD TV at the Samsung booth at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Source: AP

THE message from the companies making the new breed of super resolution 4K TVs is good things come to those who wait.

If you were one of the few thousand people around the world who have rushed out and bought one off the first-generation 4K TVs, you could be forgiven for thinking you've dived in too early because there is currently no practical way of playing true 4K content on your set.

The 4K TV format gives four times the resolution of HD TVs and is designed to fill your field of vision more so that you sit closer to it than you would a HD TV.

With the first batch of 4K TVs released costing $25,000 to $40,000, the issue of 4K content has been something of a moot point for the industry as there were not enough people with 4K sets to worry about it.

But the second wave of 4K TV releases brings the technology closer to the general consumer market.

Sony will release two 4K TVs in Australia in the middle of the year. Local prices have not yet been announced but the Sony 55-inch HD TV sells for US$5000 in the US.

Jeremy Glassman, Sony's manager for emerging platform development, said consumers were understandably confused about the new range of super definition televisions and the content they will watch on it.

''These are still very early days,'' Mr Glassman said.

''There is still no native 4K solution right now. As interest grows, there may be a solution down the track.''

Source: Supplied

The Blu-Ray Disc Association has yet to ratify a standard for companies to put 4K content on a Blu-Ray disc.

In the interim, Sony has started releasing ''mastered for 4K'' Blu-Ray disks which are upscaled to look better on a 4K TV than on a conventional HD TV.

While cable networks, including Foxtel, have announced they were looking at 4K channels in the future, there is currently no way for a cable provider or broadcaster to get a true 4K signal into your home.

When technology companies like Sony and Samsung demonstrate the features of their 4K TVs, they screen high-definition content that is ''upscaled'' to look better on a 4K TV or connect special 4K capable computers to their TV.

''I think consumers are often looking for the next best thing,'' Mr Glassman said.

''And I think 4K, especially driven by CES this year, is really starting to permeate public consciousness.

''While a lot of consumers are still happy with DVD and a lot of consumers are still happy with Blu-Ray and rightly so, (4k) is gaining awareness.

''It's always the question whenever new technology arrives: where is the content; what do I do with this?

''As consumer awareness grows and interest grows, as TVs get out there and it becomes more mainstream, native 4k content will grow and come along which will be important for consumers.''

While technology companies and broadcasters continue to wrestle with how to deliver 4K content to 4K televisions, the pool of 4K content is growing.

Sony makes two 4K professional video cameras which are used in TV and movie production, including on films such as Skyfall, Oblivion, Argo, Salt, True Grit and Smurfs 2.

Nearly half of US cinemas now project 4K movies in 4K, and the international trend is for most cinemas to have 4K projectors in the next few years.

5 facts about 4K TV

* Because of the higher resolution, the optimal viewing position when watching 4K TV is about one-and-a-half screen heights away from the image compared to three screen heights away for HD.

* There is limited 4K content you can play on a 4K TV - but it does play higher definition content which will look better on a 4K TV than it does on a HD TV.

* Not all 4K TVs are equal. Sony, Samsung and LG have all released 4K TVs but each company has its own take on the standard. In a Sony demonstration this week, it put it's own 85 inch 4K TV beside the LG 85 inch 4K TV and played the same content. The image on the Sony TV was far clearer and had much more detail particularly in dark areas.

* You can save images on your camera in 4K resolution and then play them on a 4K TV in true 4K. There might not be 4K content to play on a TV yet, but it does make for a superb, if expensive, family album.

* As with other developments in TV screen resolution, the aim of 4K television is to match the image quality you see in a cinema where 4K projection is becoming more common.

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