There are plenty of rumours swirling around the tech world about what Sony is up to. They have hinted about big changes to the Bravia range soon and many are speculating that this means they’re going to be one of the first to make the resolution jump to 4K.
According to BGR’s sources, Sony plans to introduce an 80 inch 4K flat panel LCD display soon – perhaps at the IFA in Berlin next week. As soon as the first widely available consumer product is launched, there is likely to be a big push to get customers upgrading – much like there was for HD, Blu-ray and 3D in recent years.
Now, according to more BGR sources (on Yahoo! news), the PlayStation 4 will fully support the new resolution as a driving force to get the capability into people’s homes. This is a strategy they’ve attempted before with the PS2 and DVD, the PS3 and Blu-ray (and 3D, belatedly) so it makes sense that the PS4 will sport the latest technological feature that Sony wants to convince us we need.
4K resolution isn’t yet firmly defined, there are a few standards that all claim to be 4K ranging from 7 megapixels to over 12 megapixels. Generally, it’s just over four times the size of 1080p
I dread to think how blurry all the sub-HD games of this generation will look scaled up to 4K.
Sympozium
i sure hope 4K isn’t another reason to charge so much for new shiny TV’s.
hol
Jeez, I’d be happy when everything runs in 1080p, let alone 4K!
Dazbobaby
+1
1080p would be a nice start.
how many games run natively at this resolution? Around a dozen?
Greg Aldridge
4K is just the next reason for manufacturers to allege you need a new TV. You don’t.
For most people it’s pointless, much like Sony’s currently available Blu-ray player that upconverts to 4K.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57366319-221/why-4k-tvs-are-stupid/
Forrest_01
That’s pretty interesting actually – So in order to get the most out of 4k, you would basically need a full wall display by the sounds of it.
Very futuristic sounding of course, but also very impractical.
Jas-n
Sony has a 4K projector that’s already on the market, and all yours for around 10k.
You say it’s pointless for most people, but look at the new iPads pixel density, and that screen’s only 9.5″.
As for the definition 4K refers to QHD, and I am expecting to see a building full of them when I’m at IFA next week.
KeRaSh
The resolution of the new iPad is pretty stupid, too. They had to go that high because otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to support legacy apps.
The only content that’s widely available in such a high quality is raw photo content. Anything else is usually capped at 1080p but even at that resolution the content usually gets raped by the outdated aspect ratio or simply takes up too much space compared to 720p content, which still looks very nice on a 10″ tablet sporting the same resolution.
bunimomike
Misplaced logic, if you ask me. The retina displays (on iDevices) are stunning from the viewable distance we tend to use them at. Also, all text and most games (including all of the native graphics in the iDevice which is built in vector, not raster images) will look utterly glorious.
The idea (and it’s been around for decades) is that our screens will ultimately get to print resolution (300 DPI) which it finally is. This means that pixel density (dot pitch) will become small enough where we can’t easily define individual pixels. Screen/display nirvana!
Greg Aldridge
Yes, but for most people their TV is already a ‘retina’ display which is why 4K in the home is little more than a marketing exercise. 4K resolution is high enough for cinema screens. The ‘1%ers’ will want one in their homes but for the mainstream there’s no need.
cc_star
Totally agree Greg, won’t stop me wanting one. Affording one will be a different matter… and I will always, always wait for the 2nd wave.
Lymmusic
4k on a massive tv with a ps4. Just imagine the possibilities. Amazing games in 4k like wipeout, oh erm… Well… Never mind
KeRaSh
Too soon… ;(
Bilbo_bobbins
thats just stupid IMO, I want 1080p first, let alone this. Just another piece of techno for the nerds to masturbate about for a while.
Jas-n
Yup, I’ll be maturbating live on next weeks podcast over all the 4K hardware I see that day and the day before.
Bilbo_bobbins
please take tissues with you, we don’t want sticky screens now
djhsecondnature
4K resolution “support” with 1080p as standard. Quite possible.
Kennykazey
Yep, that’s what I’m thinking too. For menus and photos and likely video. Games will be 1080p, anything else is madness. Thankfully Crazy Ken has retired. Although you have to love the man, in a professional way.
teflon
That’s pretty much how I read it. PS3 effectively has 1080p support with 720p as the standard resolution for games (barring a few exceptions).
Even if it didn’t “support” 4K out of the box, it would almost certainly have a HDMI 1.4a port on the back which, surprise surprise, can handle a resolution of 4096×2160. Beyond that it’s more a matter of software.
Greg Aldridge
Took me a while to find the link I’d seen, but PS3 can do 4K already. Who needs a PS4.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/03/ps3-will-support-4k-stills-after-a-future-update-moving-picture/
(Yes, I know it’s only still images at the moment.)
rufusruffcutt
It would be interesting if the PS4 console was built into the 4K screen itself… but maybe that would hurt sales rather than a stand alone unit.
Just a thought.
KeRaSh
Jeez, they can’t even get the majority of games running at 60 fps at 1080p…
I’m still watching 95% of my content in SD quality on my HDTV and Germany is not the fastest country to introduce media in higher quality to the masses (TV broadcast) so I’m not bothered. The prices will probably be ridiculous anyways. I’ll wait for the cheaper, better looking Samsung model. :P
Joshua Hood
In all honesty, I’d be happy with games running at 1080p, maybe even 60fps. I have no interest in going any higher than that.
Nickboss1
Haven’t Sony learnt anything from blu ray and 3d tv’s. If Sony go down this rd again Samsung will release a 4k tv at half Sony’s prices.
too many old men over at Sony HQ making some terrible judgements.