Forget HD flat screens and 3D, the next big trend in the consumer TV market is Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV). UHDTV claims to offer viewers an unparalleled viewing experience that is leaps and bounds ahead of the current standard of High Definition Television (HDTV).
“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,” said Christoph Dosch, chairman of the Broadcasting Service Study Group.
UHDTV is 16 times the resolution of current HDTV standard. The technology is also known as Ultra HDTV, Super Hi-Vision, 4320p and 8K.
While UHDTV is not quite ready for prime time, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has announced that members of the ITU Study Group on Broadcasting Service (ITU-R Study Group 6) — which includes scientists, engineers and experts working in the field — have reached an agreement on “most of the pertinent technical characteristics of this exciting new standard for television.”
Trials of UHDTV are ongoing, the most recent of which was conducted by Japanese public service broadcaster NHK at the International Telecommunication Union in September.
The technology demonstration included a screen that displayed “a staggering 33 Million pixels, compared to a maximum 2 million pixels for the highest quality HDTV screens on offer today,” said the ITU in an October 14 press release.
In the near future, the technology will be used to film and broadcast part of the 2012 London Olympic Games in public venues around the world..
However due to technological limitations and a lack of available ultra high definition content, UHDTVs are not expected to reach consumer electronics stores until at least 2016.
If you can’t wait that long, you might be interested in Toshiba’s recently released 55” 4K REGZA 55X3 TV (aka the 55” ZL2 in Europe). The 55X3 TV sports a resolution of 3,840×2,160 pixels (four times that of Full HD) and will debut in Japan in December.