4K RESOLUTION is ready to Hit Home

4K that became a digital cinema standard in 2005 is now recognized as the next high quality image technology of HD in the market. With a growing selection of 4K televisions and recent announcements of affordable cinema-style camcorders, 4K resolution is poised to become a new standard.

VIVEK KEDAR

011 was a year of Tablets and mobile. - Hacktivism On one side where we saw new - 4G LTE technologies emerging, mobile devices became way more powerful than they 4K Buzzword 2were. TVs got better but their LG, Samsung and several others would showcase Technologies, especially, 3D, remained their 2012 range of products at CES 2012. The proprietary. major buzz this year would be about the 3D 4K TVs. 2012 would be all about: Not only these TVs would be large (~60″ they - Quad core Tablets, Mobile Phones would deliver super high definition content with a - 3D TVs with 4k resolution (4096x) smooth picture (~200hz and above). - Mobile payments One of the first companies to embrace the - Rise of NextGen Social networking resolution craze was Oakley founder Jim Jannard's 4K RESOLUTION

company, RED DIGITAL CINEMA. In 2007, they strong need of building integrated and distributed released a new camcorder called the RED One that environment for high resolution applications. could shoot at 4K resolutions for a much lower In simple words, the 4K is the resolution of 8-9 MPix price than comparable 4K camcorders. Then, in having about 4 thousands points horizontally. The 2011, the EPIC camera upped the resolution even resolution often depends on the screen aspect further to 5K. Even more significantly, RED also ratio, but the most common resolutions are DCI demonstrated its Scarlet-X line of cameras that (Digital Cinema Initiatives [Note - 1]) compliant record images at 24 frames per second in 4K which is 4096x2160 and Quad HD which is resolutions for less than $10,000, making 4K 3840x2160. In general the “4K” term states also affordable for high-end users. For those with even for the technology capable of recording, shallower pockets, JVC announced of a prototype processing and displaying the 4K resolution. 4K camcorder with a fixed lens that should cost Ever since the launch of RED Digital Cinema, 4K around $7,000. Currently, the camcorder records imagery has become an industry buzzword. The four simultaneous 1920x1080 feeds to four concept stems from 35mm film post, where the separate SD cards and stitches them together to get digital scan of a film frame at 4K is considered full the 4K resolution. Though it's not elegant getting resolution and a 2K scan is half resolution. In the 4K, it does so at an affordable price for prosumers. proper use of the term, 4K refers only to frame Not to be left out, also released a broadcast- dimensions, although it is frequently and incorrectly quality 4K camcorder called the F65 which should used as an expression of visual resolution or be available around the first of the year, It shoots up perceived sharpness. to 120 frames per second, has a rotary shutter, There is no single 4K size, since it varies with how it records RAW images, and has almost every other is used and the related . For example, bell and whistle cinematographers can't live full-aperture film 4K is 4096 x 3112 pixels, while without. However, at $65,000, it's likely to be a Academy aperture 4K is 3656 x 2664. RED ONE rental camera for most cinematographers. and EPIC use several different frame sizes. Most Canon made a splashy foray into the world of 4K at displays use the Quad HD standard of 3840 x a Hollywood event in November by announcing a 2160 (a multiple of 1920 x 1080), while the Digital new 4K concept DSLR camera. The camera will Cinema Projection standard is 4096 x 2160 for 4K have an APS-H size sensor, shoot in 24p, and be and 2048 x 1080 for 2K. The DCP standard is a similar in size to their EOS-1D Mark IV DSLR "container" specification, which means the 2.40:1 camera. or 1.85:1 film aspects are fit within these With all of these announcements, almost every dimensions and the difference padded with black major camera manufacturer has now shown their pixels. intent to embrace the emerging 4K video standard. Thanks to the latest interest in stereo 3D films, 4K- Though the initial prices on all of the camcorders capable projection systems have been installed in are relatively high right now, it seems like only a many theaters. The same system that can display matter of time before home movies will be captured two full-bandwidth 2K signals can also be used to in 4K resolutions or beyond. project a single 4K image. Even YouTube offers 4K Reality The development of visualization technologies from one side and requirements of research and industrial communities from the other, cause the consecutive growth of the resolution of video displays. Nowadays, when the High Definition technology becomes the leading resolution technology in the world, for many areas of the science, market and entertainment it is still to low. The forthcoming technology beyond HD, often called 4K or Ultra High Definition (UHD), is very demanding for both networks and storage. However, now the main usage of the technology is still digital cinema and broadcasting, there is a Fig. 2. Micrographic photo of an ant leg on a DLP chip surface 4K RESOLUTION

some 4K content, so larger-than-HD production, post and distribution has quickly gone from the lab to reality. For now, though, most distribution is still 1920 x 1080 HD or a slightly larger 2K film size. Technological 4K Enablement In digital cinema projection, the terms 2K and 4K indicate the image resolution that is projected onto the screen. In contrast to digital still cameras (where owners like to impress each other with their number 4K ON THE WALL: The Sony VPL-VW1000ES home cinema projector is the first true consumer 4K device of ‘megapixels’), in cinema the commonly used resolution parameter is not the total pixel count. us with an image of around 2 million pixels. But a Because the aspect ratio (number of pixel columns new generation of screens are coming that deliver divided by number of pixel rows) is standardized, an 8 million pixel image. These so called 4K Quad you only need to know 1 dimension to calculate the HD, or Super HD, displays, have a resolution of other. Multiplying them both gives the total pixel 3840 x 2160 (give or take), and can offer count or resolution, expressed in megapixels (just unprecedented picture clarity. But their introduction like in digital still cameras). will prove complex in the extreme. Introducing a 4K In the particular case of 4K we are discussing here, TV isn't like adding LED backlighting to an LCD. It's 4K indicates that there are close to 4000 (actually about orchestrating a seismic shift in the broadcast 4096) pixel columns that can be projected onto the and entertainment infrastructure, not to mention screen. The aspect ratio used for the active chips in rewriting the consumer electronics handbook. digital cinema projectors is 1.8962 – so it’s easy to The first genuine 4K consumer product to hit the calculate that the number of rows in 4K digital streets is the Sony VPL-VW1000ES, a home cinema cinema equals 2160. Note that the total pixel count projector that borrows technologies originally of 8,847,360 (in digital photography, we’d call this developed for the brand's digital cinema 9MP) is actually 4 times higher than that in 2K! projectors. Indeed, the VPL-VW1000ES conforms So, what’s all the fuss about? Just add a few million to the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) specification. pixels, right? The devil is in the details: the microscopic details of the chips at the heart of Conclusion digital cinema projectors. In order to make these projectors as efficient, compact and affordable as 4K displays and auto-3D technology go hand in possible, these chips must be as small as possible. hand for many manufacturers who are looking to Texas Instrument’s DLP technology – which is the attribute some practical benefit to super high leading technology in digital cinema today – puts resolution screens. these 9 million pixels on a chip with a diagonal A lack of native 4K content is certain to impede the measurement of 1.38”. This means that each introduction of 4K TV in the early years. But there active pixel (in the case of DLP technology, this is a are huge strides that need to be taken before 4K digital mirror) is about 57 square microns in size. If screens become usable for super high resolution you would place a human hair on these telly-gazing. microscopic mirrors, it would cover up more than 40 rows or columns. (By comparison, we mention here that Sony’s LCoS technology for Digital Digital Cinema Initiatives Cinema puts the 4K image onto a chip measuring Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) was created in 1.55” diagonally.) March, 2002, and is a joint venture of Disney, Fox, It is important to understand that enabling 4K Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal projection is a major technological and Warner Bros. Studios. DCI's primary purpose is accomplishment by the chip manufacturers. People to establish and document voluntary specifications wondering when ‘8K’ will be available can now do for an open architecture for digital cinema that the math on the pixel miniaturization themselves. ensures a uniform and high level of technical TV is gearing up for another revolution in picture performance, reliability and quality control. quality. Today's 1920 x 1080 resolution Full HD TVs present