According to Deloitte, 2013 is the year kicking off the 4K (aka UHD) TV roll-out, even if the technology still needs 18-36 months until it is technically and commercially ready for broadcast.
As seen at CES 2013 a fair number of vendors (10 in all) are preparing 4K sets, with around 20 different models to be available by end 2013. Such TVs already have buyers-- LG tells Korea's ChosunBiz 300 84-inch 84LM9600 sets, each worth around $20000, found a home already.
The number of 4K consumers will grow once more content will become available, as seen a few years back during the initial stages of HDTV. More professional and semi-professional 4K cameras will also be available, while the industry should agree on updated standards (such as HDMI) able to better handle 4K data rates.
Initial 4K TV transmissions are taking place-- Europe already has a dedicated demo channel, courtesy of Eutelsat Communications. Deloitte predicts commercial 4K broadcasts will take place from 2014-2015.
Further content will be commercially available in 8-layer Blu-ray format with enough storage (200GB) for uncompressed 4K footage. Streaming will much more difficult, since 1 hour of uncompressed 4K film weighs a tidy 160GB.
Videogames might also boost 4K TV growth, either in the shape of next-gen consoles or PCs with GPUs powerful enough to handle 4K resolutions.
The technology is also ideal for increasingly large TVs-- after all, a standard HD image on an 80-inch set looks pixellated from around 3m away. Such large displays can also find commercial applications as a projector replacement in boardrooms and meeting rooms.
Will the attraction of higher pixel densities bring about another TV boom? Perhaps, but only once prices go down and more content becomes available.
