Coming not so soon to a screen near you

[potwnc]

Just as many of us are getting comfortable with HD (1920 x 1080) shows, and, perhaps, starting to consider moving up to the 4k standard that is used in digital theaters (cinemas), along comes the newest standard (it was demonstrated at the London Olympics). See http://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1345799482.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Ray,

Excellent images on those huge higher resolution screens. It's coming - it will take some time because the industry will try to squeeze all they can from the 4K market first, so the 8K displays will probably be a niche product for some time.

I just wish that the developers would stop using the term "resolution" improperly. The 8K displays are decidedly "not" 16 times the "resolution" of the 2 megapixel HD (1920x1080). I actually got into a rather heated discussion via email with a tech magazine editor who parroted this marketing language in an article about this technology some months ago. He simply bought the manufacturer's message and couldn't understand how simple math is used to calculate the requirements for optical resolution with all other factors being equal. By simple math, it takes four times the pixel count to "double" the theoretical optical resolution. That's double the horizontal and double the vertical pixel count. So to double the actual optical resolution of an HD display which has the equivalent of two million pixels would take an eight million pixel display. It follows then that to have sixteen times the optical resolution of a two megapixel (HD) display with the identical sized display would take far more pixels than the approximately thirty two million pixel display design. And this is not even taking into consideration the pixel density differences of the much larger displays used for this technology which decidedly dilutes optical resolution from what it would be with identical pixel density of the HD display. To be exact, the 7680x4320 matrix of pixels can't theoretically out resolve the lesser of the two dimensions which, in this case is 4320 pixels. This equates to exactly four times the theoretical resolution of the 1920x1080 matrix of the HD system. So to be honest, the manufacturer would have to say that their new 8K display is four times the resolution of the HD system on a same size display. So they have inflated the true resolution by around 400 percent - LOL.

It's too bad that marketing people have made the mistake of "equating" resolution with pixel count. The new display certainly has sixteen times the pixel count, but not even in the universe of sixteen times the "resolution" of an HD system.... Why they can't just say it has sixteen times the pixel count is beyond me. Resolution is complex enough without further confusing the buying public with distorted claims.

Best regards,

Lin