Tuesday, January 08, 2008

CES 08: 4K Technology Unveiled!

Well, Sony has done it. They have unveiled a display capable of showing video at 4 times the resolution of 1080p. You may call it 4320p if you wish, but for now it's just 4K Technology. In their display they showed this technology with a soccer game being played. However, there is currently no timetable for it's release.

Now, let's think about this from another perspective. As far as the format wars go, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are the top contenders, and while Blu-Ray seems to be getting more support from production companies, the format wars are far from over. Technically speaking the only advantage Blu-Ray has is about 5 GB more storage space per layer, with the possibility of 8 layers later down the road. However, as of now as far as we know, these formats can only play in 1080p, and with something 4 times as powerful out there, how can these formats live much longer? Not to mention if there isn't a medium to play 4k Technology with, what would be the point of purchasing such an insane TV? Unless, the currently unexplored 8 layers of Blu-Ray could potentially open up the possibility of 4k technology, the life cycle of these format wars may not last long. But at the current pricing of the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players, this generation could be skipped altogether.

On the gaming sides of things, this technology will definetely be utilized in the next generation of consoles, but now cost is the question. Considering how early in this generation that this is coming around, it will most likely be much more affordable once the next consoles come out in about 4 to 5 years. But as we have no idea, of 4k's official release or current pricing it still could be a bit pricey. Though, I have a feeling Nintendo will probably just stick to 1080p, to be more cost efficient and since it would very easy for them to produce this far down the line.

However, the very technical specifications of how 4k technology works is still very unknown so I could be very wrong in my speculation right now. I'll keep you posted on any further developments.

No comments: