Sony announced on Wednesday that it has developed an 84" 4K resolution TV that will ship later this year. The unfortunately named XBR-84X900 features a "quad full high definition" (QFHD) resolution of 3840x2160 pixels, and comes complete with a detachable 10-driver "virtual 5.1 surround sound" speaker system designed to offer a home theater experience on par with the latest digital cinema technology.
In addition to the usual networked "smart TV" features, the massive XBR-84X900 set incorporates "proprietary upscaling technology," which Sony claimed will "ensure that every frame looks clear and crisp, with a 4K resolution regardless of the content source." We're highly suspicious of those claims, but native 1080p content should scale well since QFHD is essentially "pixel doubling" of 1920x1080. Native 4K content is quite scarce outside of theatrical releases, but there are some existing sources available. And, Sony noted, digital still images look especially impressive displayed at 4K.
4K video technology has been working its way into the home for a few years, despite the slow adoption of Blu-ray and 1080p video streaming technologies. Sony launched a home 4K cinema projector last year, and we spied a couple of 4K TVs at CES in January. While a majority of consumers won't be rushing out to buy the expensive, massive displays so soon, the technology infrastructure for ubiquitous 4K video is nearly in place. Even Intel's lowly HD4000 integrated graphics chip can support 4K video resolutions, for instance. RED's 4K "Red Ray" disc player can play back compressed 4K video content shot with its digital cinema cameras. And the first-ever 4K music video (don't get too excited, it's from Sony spokesmodel Taylor Swift) is set to debut on Thursday.
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from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com
