The Video Revolution: 4k, Ultra HD or UHD

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Video offers a fantastic, engaging and at times awe-inspiring medium that has the potential to reach out to all people. It’s commonplace for people to have HD monitors, laptops and TV’s in their homes and the video quality of the content available is improving on nearly a daily basis. We are now beginning to hear about a new level of video content quality, 4k also known as as Ultra HD or UHD.

• A standard high definition image has a resolution of 1920 × 1080 and is capable of delivering an image comprised of just over 2 million pixels.
• A 4K image has a resolution of 4096 × 2160 and can deliver an image that is contains 8.8 million pixels.
• The majority of devices currently capable of displaying this media is limited and often the size of these monitors are well above the 60-inch range.
• In July 2010 Panasonic launched a native 4K plasma panel measuring an 152’ diagonally with a tag of around £500,000.

Here’s a brief video describing 4K video content:

The reason we don’t see more of these devices available is primarily due to the lack of content. There are some content creators that are beginning to produce video at this level, such as the makers of the film ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’, but for the most part it’s not being done. Another more practical problem is the size of the data required; a Blue-Ray disc could not do the job. Just imagine trying to transfer a file of that size over 4G to your mobile phone. We’re not ready for it yet, but, it’s coming.

Will we see this tech in reach of the general public anytime soon? Probably not. However, just the fact that major corporations like Panasonic are investing in devices made to deliver this content only reinforces the importance of video content in communications. The investment in quality video content continues to skyrocket. For now, 4K isn’t a necessity but HD is expected by consumers. Generating high quality video content that uses the latest technology to deliver the best user experience will not change; only the technology changes.

If you want to know how you can leverage video content email us directly at [email protected] or tweet us at @studioskylab

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