“4K”, and “Ultra HD” are terms that have been getting a lot of buzz lately. I for one find it a lot more exciting than 3D, and I know I’m not alone on thinking that. However, like 3D, I know that a lot of people have already completely wrote it off. Well, I’ll just start by saying that 4K isn’t for everyone, but I certainly think it is a positive step for anyone who cares about the quality of movies viewed at home. So let’s look past some of the marketing, and in to what it means for the typical person (or nerd in his man cave).

Before we go any further, lets first take a look at what 4K actually is. In general “4K” is a term that applies to displays or content having a horizontal resolution of roughly 4000 pixels. In the past we often categorized displays by their vertical resolution. For instance a typical 1920×1080 resolution display would be called 1080p. So in this case, 4K being 4096×2160 could also be referred to as 2160p.

So why not just call it 2160p? Well to answer that, let’s take a small (ok, a rather long) nerdy detour in to what is happening at your local cineplex. Movie theaters began converting from film to digital projection several years ago now, and the standard they use is slightly different than what we have as consumers. Most movie theaters have 2K projectors with a resolution of 2048×1080. Wait! So the movie theater is projecting something that has only 6% more resolution than the 1920×1080 projector in my basement? Yup! It is just slightly wider than what is in your living room. The difference is in the aspect ratio, which is actually near 17:9, vs the 16:9 display in your home. And as such, industry professionals call it “2K” to differentiate it from the 1080p resolution found at home.

So how does this pertain to 4K? Well someone (over at Sony) got this great idea that maybe we can market the extra 6% resolution found in cinemas and sell it to consumers. “True 4K” sounds a lot cooler than 2160p, and you will have the same resolution in your home that is found in the best movie theaters in the world. Well this actually creates some problems. If you take a 1080p picture found on a Blu-Ray, you can’t just digitally blow it up by a factor of four and have it work perfectly for that 4096×2160 resolution; you also have to account for how to fill that extra 6% of screen width. Do you cut it off? Do you do some weird stretch to fill that space, that also introduces scaling artifacts? Eventually, some industry folks came together and said “maybe we should just make the consumer version slightly narrower again with a resolution of 3840×2160?” So that is exactly what they did, and now we call that 3840×2160 resolution “Ultra HD” or “UHD”. So, technically Ultra HD, is not 4k, but the term stuck (with Sony and most of the web); and now it just muddies up what we are really talking about in the end.

Maybe you’re thinking “Holy Crap! That is still cool? I must have it… throw out everything!” Well, all I have to say to that is “Whoa there Mr. Magoo! How good is your vision?” Seriously, there is a limit to the benefit of this stuff. Ask yourself, how big is your screen and how close do you sit to it? A 42 inch 4k television at a distance of ten feet away would be stupid. Generally speaking, if you sit more than 10 feet away from your TV, and your display isn’t bigger than 50 inches diagonally, then you won’t be able to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p, let alone 4K. Honestly, it makes sense for really big screens (I’m talking bigger than 70 inches, and move your couch closer while your at it); as well as computer monitors where you sit a foot from the screen. I know that my local 18 screen movie theater only has three 4K projectors on the three largest screens! Check out this graph below for a better idea.

Now, usually I’m pretty critical of any consumer electronic trend that comes across like a blatant money grab without much visible benefit. For many, it seems like 4k or Ultra HD sounds like exactly that, but not so fast. Some exciting things may come along with all of those extra pixels. The one benefit that sticks out for me is the possibility of better color rendition. Think of your television having a box of crayons to make up all of the colors and that box or “color space” is called Rec.709. You go to the movie theater and they have a slightly bigger box of crayons, that box is called “DCI” or digital cinema initiative; now the proposed 4K standard has ridiculously huge box of crayons in a new standard called Rec.2020. Mind you this color space only exists as a specification as of now. No one has said if any future content will actually utilize Rec.2020. If the industry doesn’t make any effort to improve color fidelity along with new 4K standard then they will have lost a serious opportunity, and it will be a real bummer for videophiles. Despite this, the possibility of deeper and more vivid colors has me pretty stoked, more so in fact than the increased resolution

The other benefit lies in better future media content designed for 4K televisions. As the world moves more to streaming media, most folks will find it increasingly difficult to stream anything of high enough quality to really utilize the displays full potential. The required bandwidth is much greater than 1080p. As such, the studios and networks will have to either produce better quality digital downloads using better compression; or hopefully put some additional pressure on internet service providers to invest in faster internet infrastructure. Both would be a positive in my book.

The Blu-Ray Disc Association is already discussing the technical aspects of the implementation of 4K Blu-Ray discs. Personally, I don’t see this as becoming anything more than a niche’ product. You probably will not see more than a handful of older movies re-released in 4K, due to the high cost of re-scanning and the mastering process needed by the studios. Think Lawrence of Arabia, the Wizard of Oz and then newer movies originally shot in 4K like Skyfall.

Regardless of what television you own, an increased focus on video quality by the networks and studios can only be a positive thing for the consumer. A while back, I had the opportunity to watch some 4K content off of a server on a home theater projector that cost nearly $25K. It was great, I could literally put my nose up to a 130 inch screen and I couldn’t make out a single pixel.Then again, was it 25 grand great? Heavens no! Would I love to have a 4K projector for myself in time. Undoubtedly yes, but more importantly, if it ushers in better quality content at the same time then I’m all for it.

Hey everyone! I apologize for the hiatus. Things got crazy around here with visiting friends from out of state. Then last week I found myself stuck in a hotel room for two whole nights without working wifi. So, my blogging opportunity was dashed there!

In my last post I discussed how I felt streaming media had a long way to go to really offer the same experience as physical media; and how the best of both worlds would be a kind of media server or movie “juke box” like the Kaleidoscape system. The Kaleidoscape has two big drawbacks, the primary being the high purchase cost, and the other is the need to verify ownership of the file being played by keeping your disc inside their carousel for verification. This really has me looking at two alternatives. The first is a dedicated home theater personal computer or “HTPC”, and the second being a network attached storage device or “NAS” coupled with a separate smaller device near your display for playback.

The HTPC idea has been around for several years now and during that time has gained a lot of popularity within the AV community, and for good reason! They do pretty much anything you ask of them and they are easily upgraded. The primary advantage of the HTPC is that everything involved in this system is handled by a single computer. The backup, the storage, and playback is all in one machine, and is arguably easier to manage as well. The downside is that the computer is usually tied to your primary display. You probably aren’t going to fire up this thing up to do your taxes; and as such the whole concept limits what you can do with the computer somewhat.

The alternative is to break up the components that do each of these steps. Backup is accomplished on any computer you choose with a Blu-Ray disc drive. Storage is done on an external hard drive or NAS connected to your home network. Playback is accomplished on a small device near your display. In this scenario, you could rip and back up your movie of choice in the home office, save it to the NAS downstairs, and play it back on potentially any display in the home. Over time, I found this option to be the most appealing

So at this point you might be asking yourself “wait a minute, what box are you talking about putting by the t.v. to do this?”. Good question! I haven’t completely settled on the best one as of yet. Things are changing so fast that I have had a hard time figuring out which is the best value for my needs, but I’m going to throw a few up here that are on my “short list” of devices that may potentially work. Remember, that it must be easy to navigate, and be able to play high definition video that is stored on a hard drive attached to your home network. This is a tall order, and you won’t find this capability on an Apple TV, or a Roku box.

Popcorn Hour A400 Media Player

The first option is from a company called Popcorn Hour. Now, Popcorn Hour has several models, and the newest even includes 3D Blu-Ray support as well as the ability to play Direct Stream Digital audio files (a high resolution audio file originally seen on Super Audio CD that you can now download directly from some sites). MSRP is modest, starting around $209. This company also offer a somewhat pricier model even includes an internal hard-drive as an all in one solution. Very cool. http://www.cloudmedia.com/

DuneHD Media Player

The second option is a number of products from Dune HD. This company offers a slew of different models. The main differences seem to be the inclusion of an internal hard-drive and the ability to play back full Blu-Ray menus, rather than just the movie itself. Prices are a little steep compared to the competition but they appear to be a polished product with good company support. MSRP is around $299 to $359 for the models with full Blu-Ray menu support.  http://dune-hd.com/eng .

BoxTop Theater Jynxbox Pure XBMC media player

My last choice is from a company called BoxTop Theater. Now, these guys are offering several boxes all built upon open source software. Some of the boxes run on Android for the operating system, and a few run on straight Linux. All of them use open source software called XBMC for file navigation and video playback. I’m not sure if they offer full Blu-Ray ISO support, but on the other hand they appear to be very customizable for streaming other content. I would think you would have to be a little more tech savvy to utilize this product to its full potential. On the other hand, they also offer a significant savings over the other two options with prices ranging from $75 to $150 dollars. http://www.boxtoptheater.com/

Screenshot of XBMC Media Center

So there you have it. This stuff changes so quickly that I’m sure I will post a follow-up at a later time. Doing homework on all of these choices entails surfing forums usually dedicated to each company. Unfortunately, it seems like most people on said forums only have experience with a single product. I would love to get all three of them together to make a comparison, but at this point I would be happy to find another reviewer who has experience with even two different options.