HDTV is So Last MacWorld
posted Friday Oct 21, 2011 by Scott Ertz
Isn't your new HDTV exciting? All of those 1920 pixels of amazingness makes watching television and movies fun again, right? Well, I have some news for you that you should NOT tell to your TV. The ITU Study Group on Broadcasting Service has announced that thye have come to an agreement on most of the specs on what Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) will be.
In case you haven't been following the UHDTV discussions, UHDTV is the equivalent of a 33 megapixel photo. When compared to current HDTV, which is the equivalent of a 2 megapixel photo, the picture will have more than 16 times the precision. The added pixels will make for higher clarity, for sure, but will also make the possibility of high-quality glasses-free 3D video a reality, since 3D requires more pixels than standard video. It should also allow for wider viewing angles.
When can we expect to see this in action and when will it be widely accepted? Hit the break to find out.
My guess is that UHDTV sets won't be available to consumers until 2013 at the earliest, and won't become popular until 2015 or later. A trial link has been established between London and Amsterdam and, if you are interested in seeing this technology in action, it will be in use around London during the 2012 Olympics in public areas.
Christoph Dosch, chairman of the Broadcasting Service Study Group, said, "UHDTV promises to bring about one of the greatest changes to audio-visual communications and broadcasting in recent decades. Technology is truly at the cusp of transforming how people experience audio-visual communications." ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré added, "UHDTV will create an immersive experience for viewers and will generate a host of new business and marketing opportunities."
We'll see how quickly consumers are willing to abandon one new technology for another this quickly. My guess is that people will not be as quick to switch away from HDTV to UHDTV, just as they are not quickly switching to 3D HDTV. What do you think? Will people make the switch or will this be a long-to-adapt technology? Let us know in the comments.