Is TV Becoming the New Cinema?

The International Consumer Electronic Show,
Las Vegas, 2015 Source

Earlier this month, the annual International Consumer Electronic Show (CES), held in Las Vegas between (6^th - 9^th January), was once again the breeding ground for thousands of manufactures around the world to showcase their newest technological innovations.  One of the most highly coveted technologies was the TV screen, with particular focus on 4K (Ultra HIgh Defintion (UHD)).  Sony had four more 4K TV monitors on exhibition than 1080p TV (High Definiton) series putting them further along the transition to 4K than any other TV maker. 

Ross Rubin, Reticle Research Principle Analyst, reckons that 2015 is the year for 4K Televisions: “We have seen 4K television in the past few years, but this certainly marks the year of them becoming affordable and much of the premium over high-definition vanishing”. 

4K seems to be so mainstream that CES was inundated with additional display enhancing technologies, in order to attract attention.  For example, LG unveiled one of their new 4K Ultra HD Television monitors to feature the new Quantum Dot display technology, one of the first products to use this technology. 



Quantum Dot Display Technology Source 

It uses light-emitting crystals “100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair and the crystals range in size from two to 10 nanometers, and emit different colours depending on their size”.  LG claims that Quantum Dot can display an extremely wide colour gamut which is ideal for 4K content.   “By adding a film of quantum dots in front of the LCD backlight, picture colour reproduction rate increases by more than 30 per cent, and overall brightness is also improved, ” making the images more vibrant.

The Samsung UNHU9000, Samsung's most expensive
curved TV monitor which was shown at the CES.  Source

Samsung announced two new series of curved TV monitors, the only TV maker to do so in the lead up to the CES, including a curved 4K TV monitor and a curved 1080p monitor.  





Curved technology has been met with mixed reviews from critics, with some arguing that because you have to sit a very specific position to reap the limited benefits, the cost is too high for such a limited enhancement, it’s just a gimmick that no one will pay the price for the premium.  However, fans of the technology claim that the sense of depth is enhanced as the curved edges of the screen towards the viewer enhances the visual perception of depth, and therefore become more immersed as the screen ‘wraps’ around the viewer.

An Aliance was born

Ofcom Consumer
Research 2012 (Click here)

Major television manufacturers, movie studios and streaming video services have joined forces in hopes of showing that 4K ultra High Definition television is not a gimmick, unlike 3D televisions.  This is because from 2012, significantly more people opted to purchase TV sets that had Digital Video Recorders (DVR) built in rather than those that were 3D ready. 

Therefore, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG and Sharp, plus Netflix and movie studios Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Brothers and Disney have all united to form the UHD Alliance in order to "push the adoption of 4K video and help cement it as the next video standard".  

Both Netflix and now Amazon Instant have announced a selection of titles available to stream in 4K, but this alliance "will ensure UHD content and devices are ready for the mainstream, for a healthy UHD economy with the best possible content delivered in the easiest and best way to consumers", argues Hyunsuk Kim, Samsung's president of visual display.  Although it probably won't boost sales dramatically, the formation of such a group will put confidence in the technology for consumers. 

UHD Alliance was announced at a press conference at the CES, 2015.Source

Is TV the New Cinema?

Answer is, not any time soon.  Firstly, one problem with Quantum Dot technology is that it requires the chemical, Cadmium, which is on the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulation list, although LG has said that it has found a way to employ the technology without using cadmium.  Curved monitors are still in its infancy, with many people sceptical over its benefits outweighing the high cost of the monitor, and most cinema screens are curved because of audio benefits, not visual.   Although 4K TV monitors are dropping in price, in a time where disposable income is still limited, people are not going to buy a new TV when their HD TV is suiting them just fine.  And with better cameras coming out which can film up to 8K, cinema projectors will adapt and 4K TV screens will eventually become obsolete, just like VHS tapes, and even newer, even better technology capable of doing things we can only dream about now, will become mainstream.

The combination of the larger than life screen, the cinema seats, the immense sound, the atmosphere and the popcorn, all make the cinema going experience all the more unique, one which is hard to emulate at home, even with technology enhancing screens at home. Although people can watch films in much better quality than they could 5 years ago, technology is always going to change, and by the time home technology has caught up with cinema technology, cinema technology will be doing something completely new, which is one of the reasons film formats, and film technology is always changing - and it keeps the films coming out of Hollywood interesting.