[jarcher]

So I went over to a local Best Buy that sports a full "Magnolia Design Center" (not to be confused with the lower end "Magnolia Home Theater" section found in most regular BB's).  First thing that caught my eye was the Mcintosh tube based stack feeding Martin Logan speakers.  Unfortunately it was mostly for eye candy because sitting out there in the open it didn't sound that great - and I've heard the newer MC275 classic tube amp sound awesome in an all MC room 2 years back at Capital Audio Fest.  Have wanted one ever since. 

Anyway - I digress -

The other thing that caught my eye was a prominently displayed 84" Sony Bravia 4K Utra HD set.  It was evident before confirming by asking that this wasn't a run of the mill 1080P set.  It was being fed by some dedicated Sony server w/ 4K content hid away some where.  And yes - it did look awesome - a noticeable step up from even 1080P blu ray.  Pre-order price : $25K!  Of course there were also 55" Sony sets w/ pre-order price I think "only" in $7K range (55 inch). 

I think the bigger deal is 4K content, and the sale person seemed to expect that question & was coached on an answer : a Sony media server service (he didn't mention the upcoming Playstation or any other particulars, other than to say the last Lord of the Rings was shot in 4K & that was one of the titles you'd be able to get basically in native 4K resolution).  He also mentioned something about a 4K upconverting blu ray player that Sony would bring out later.

I'm still somewhat skeptical on the reasonable resolution of the content issue - particularly as 4K files promise to be gargantuan, and the video streaming / downloading world still seems to fragmented.  Need to take a "wait & see" approach there.

What I will say is that to these fading eyes 4K at that 84" size w/ that material was truly impressive : and if you want to demo it, find a local Best Buy with a "Magnolia Design Center" near you to try it out for free.  I think 4K will be where to go with large screen front projection, if they can resolve the content delivery issue...........

P.s. The local Magnolia Design Center was better than I expected : decent gear, rooms, and at least the sales person I dealt with had the appropriate knowledge & training for the level of gear they deal with : i.e. Mcintosh, Arcam, Marantz, Peachtree, Denon, Pioneer Elite, Martin Logan, Sonus Faber, B&W, with JVC, Runco, Epson projection (along with the usual higher end models in flat panels). 

My experience w/ Best Buy, and even with some Magnolia's, has been pretty pathetic, but at this Magnolia Design Center I got more than I expected.  Pricing was often full retail though - and for a Sunday afternoon I was approached at least once by a half dozen of their salespeople - they didn't seem to have a lot of customers, and the one or two I saw were walking out with relatively low ticket items such as a headphone or a Sonos unit.  Anyway - I'm happy they're trying : for some folks a "Magnolia Design Center" maybe the best exposure they are going to get to the high-end anywhere reasonably close. 

[Phil A]

Yes the 84 inch TV in the Sterling store looks really nice.  If the price comes down a bit, I could see a 55 inch eventually in a spare room. 

[mcgsxr]

Interesting to hear about 4K making its way into the market.  No surprise, as another format war can be manufactured!

I will see what hi rez is when I next need a display, but hopefully not for a while.  I just setup my first blu ray player and 1080p display this year...

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yea, I'm not chasing this one. 
In the last year I've bought a new projector and a (few) AVR.
I doubt the wifey will approve of replacing those in addition to a source unit anytime soon.

In fact, I think I should stay our of BB. I don't want to catch that "bug" anytime soon. 

Bob

[jqp]

I saw a 4K set in action at CES 2011. Of course they had some very good 4k content. It looked like 3D almost, it was that realistic, good lighting, good subject with a background that gave some depth.

I am really looking forward to it, once there is some good content out there. Not sure how long that will take. Probably all will come from the internet,

[Phil A]

I remember reading that the Sony PS4 can do 4k downloads.  I am skeptical of getting that quality on a download/stream.  However, I have not viewed any streamed content as of this date.  One of these years I'll try it.  Just too many movies and too much music to catch up on along with other things going on.

[wushuliu]

4K development will go hand in hand w/ the growth of Google Fiber. The goal being using the TV to stream all content including 4k (which Google Fiber can handle easily I believe) as well as being a nexus for various local wireless-based functions. Like previous technologies it will be about 10yrs before 4K reaches 'affordable' mass adoption. Certainly wouldn't be worth purchasing before then as the content just isn't there.

[jarcher]

If anyone wants to geek out some more about 4K, there's an interesting program / video @ Home Theater Geeks on Youtube.  It is about an hour long & may be discussing too many arcane things to maintain interest, but I found it brought about a lot of interesting information I wasn't aware of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZqhA3iIHm4

Some conclusions from the "guru":

- You're unlikely to realize the full potential of 4K resolution (or 2160P as he suggests) without getting to the 10+ foot wide screen.

- The move to 4K brings with it the opportunity to improve image quality in other ways, as the standard calls for a higher color depth (10 or 12 bits), and perhaps even more importantly an expanded color space.  I.e. the UHDTV recommended standard (Rec.2020) color space covers almost 76%, whereas the current HDTV standard (Rec.709) covers about half that (36%). So it ain't just all about the resolution.......

- Displayport would be better than HDMI - even the proposed 2.0 HDMI - as a 4K interface. 

There's some controversy about these claims based on comments on AVS forums (particularly about the benefits at smaller than big-screen sizes).

Though they touched on the massive amount of data that might need to be stored & moved around to make this happen, they did not really get into media to either store or stream this content - which is one of the potential issues I've most be interested about. 

[Rclark]

I remember reading that the Sony PS4 can do 4k downloads.  I am skeptical of getting that quality on a download/stream.  However, I have not viewed any streamed content as of this date.  One of these years I'll try it.  Just too many movies and too much music to catch up on along with other things going on.

Sony just purchased a network that set a guiness speed record. They've also already announced a 4K streaming service to be available on PS4. Considering their other product, Bluray. and their direct involvement in the movie industry, I would assume they'll pull it off, at least, when it launches.

Another thing to consider, though, is that Bluray was designed from the beginning to be highly scalable, so it's very possible we'll see terrabyte sized Bluray, and that the 4K service will only approximate that level, much the same way Vudu is excellent but doesn't quiet get to current gen Bluray level.

[tabrink]

Just got Google Fiber here in Kansas City and the ability to open up 10-12 1080 Youtube videos without nary a bump is almost freaky!
Just keep opening and no worries!
Just did a quick speed check.. 956.46 Mbps. 
Curious if it will slow down as they spread their service nationwide!

4K development will go hand in hand w/ the growth of Google Fiber. The goal being using the TV to stream all content including 4k (which Google Fiber can handle easily I believe) as well as being a nexus for various local wireless-based functions. Like previous technologies it will be about 10yrs before 4K reaches 'affordable' mass adoption. Certainly wouldn't be worth purchasing before then as the content just isn't there.

[Bob in St. Louis]

What kind of cables are required between the components of a 4k system?

[Phil A]

What kind of cables are required between the components of a 4k system?

I would assume just HDMI as HDMI 1.4 can handle 4k - http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/hdmi_1_4/

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks for the link Phil. Within your link, I found THIS PAGE that talks about the types of HDMI and which ones have what capability.
I would have assumed that 4k would have needed something better than HDMI, like an optical type, or whatever.

[ajzepp]

Yea, I'm not chasing this one. 
In the last year I've bought a new projector and a (few) AVR.
I doubt the wifey will approve of replacing those in addition to a source unit anytime soon.

In fact, I think I should stay our of BB. I don't want to catch that "bug" anytime soon. 

Bob

Which projector did you go with, bob? I remember a while back when you upgraded the lamp on your trusty Sanyo Z2 (which was also my first projector).

[WC]

Thanks for the link Phil. Within your link, I found THIS PAGE that talks about the types of HDMI and which ones have what capability.
I would have assumed that 4k would have needed something better than HDMI, like an optical type, or whatever.

Depends on the frame rate you are looking for. HDMI 1.4 is limited in this respect. You can send 4k to a display using display port, but it currently doesn't have HDCP protection. 

So the cable type is still up in the air.

[kenreau]

I thought I recalled reading a report / interview from CES 2013 where an "industry rep" was dismissing the 4K format as short sighted and to be short lived as 8K was expected to be out shortly (following year?) and it 8K was described as the real video performance game changer.  It gave me the impression that 4K was more an interim "new bell & whistle" fodder until 8K rolls out.

Regardless, content is king.  Until the big & small screen studios adopt the new cameras, technology, etc. well have to live with very limited content and upconverting old def material

Kenreau

[jarcher]

Depends on the frame rate you are looking for. HDMI 1.4 is limited in this respect. You can send 4k to a display using display port, but it currently doesn't have HDCP protection. 

So the cable type is still up in the air.

My foggy memory from reading / hearing about this is HDMI 1.4 can handle "4K" up to maybe 30FPS, but not up to 60FPS.  So movies which tend to be 24/30FPS would be ok, but if there were a "4K" video @ 60FPS, then it wouldn't have the bandwidth. HDMI 2.0 on the other hand would do at least 4K / 60FPS as well as doubling the bandwidth (from about 10 to 18 gb/s). 

Also your devices would have to be able to process this enormous amount of data - i.e. the chip on a receiver would have to have adequate processing power - or else be "4K" pass through.....

As for HDCP on DisplayPort, this along w/ DPCP has been part of the standard since 1.1 (now at 1.2). Considering that v1.2 supports up to 20gbit/s, has other advantages, and is fee & royalty free - and gives cable co's something new to sell - I wouldn't be surprised is manufacturers don't start supporting DisplayPort more in the future.  HDMI is now more than 10yrs old.

As for 4K vs 8K - if a 4K movie download is potentially 100GB and I've heard streaming can require 10mbs or better connections, I can't imagine how 8K would be manageable in any short to medium term future........

[WC]

As for 4K vs 8K - if a 4K movie download is potentially 100GB and I've heard streaming can require 10mbs or better connections, I can't imagine how 8K would be manageable in any short to medium term future........

Considering that most people don't have screens large enough or sit close enough for 4K to be a noticable improvement over 1080P... 

[neekomax]

Just got Google Fiber here in Kansas City and the ability to open up 10-12 1080 Youtube videos without nary a bump is almost freaky!
Just keep opening and no worries!
Just did a quick speed check.. 956.46 Mbps. 
Curious if it will slow down as they spread their service nationwide!

Holy shit. I hate you.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Which projector did you go with, bob? I remember a while back when you upgraded the lamp on your trusty Sanyo Z2 (which was also my first projector).

Epson Home Cinema 8350.
Love it.