Blu-Ray can't be expected to be the final resolution level in video entertainment. Japan has already made sure that something better will soon be here, and it's called Ultra High-Definition. Japan, along with two other countries, want it a reality by 2015...
The Blu-Ray industry has been doing a good job in convincing the consumer that it’ll be the last format in DVD you’ll ever need. But anybody who follows what’s happening in the development of high-definition in other countries knows that 1,080 lines of resolution isn’t the final number we’ll see in our lifetimes on a DVD. What would such a thing be called and how many lines of resolution could there be?
Here’s what might be happening in America within a mere five years:
Ultra High-Definition is 16 times higher resolution than 1080p
How the American populace would warm to or deal with a DVD resolution level that’s close to virtual reality would be a fascinating economic and sociological experiment. As always, Japan may have a say in getting it to our living rooms. When their major TV network NHK first experimented with a higher resolution video format in 2003, they let the world know several things:
- They decided to name their super hi-def picture experiment Super Hi-Vision. It’s better known now as Ultra High Vision Television in Europe--with a more logical name of Ultra High-Definition once it comes to America.
- Resolution levels for Japan’s initial Super Hi-Vision experiments were an eye-popping 7680 x 4320 pixels. With a resolution that may be hard to fathom for many people, the first demonstrations lasted a mere eighteen minutes due the clarity level taxing even Japan’s technology of the time.
- Japan’s NHK was so concerned about Ultra High-Definition, with its potential physical and psychological effects on viewers, they considered it a major health threat should it get into people’s homes.
Could Ultra High-Definition Bring Illness to the World?
There's no insinuation here of Ultra High-Definition spreading a deadly virus to anybody who decides to look at it. It was Japan’s NHK that showed initial concern over how our eyes and minds can take looking at an 8k resolution on a TV screen without causing a mental imbalance in comparison to current standards. NHK gave these concerns as a call to bring Ultra High-Definition into reality as a professional endeavor instead of making it available to every household: