I believe more than ever that 4K is the future not only of digital cinema, but of television and even portable devices. Red Digital Cinema has firmly implanted 4K+ of pixels as a common acquisition resolution for cinema, especially now with the availability of Scarlet at a unbeatable price point while most other digital cinema cameras are still only HD. Now with Sony’s F65 promising “true” 4K, and Sony bringing a high end “consumer” 4K projector to market, I think the future is clear.
Another clear indicator in my opinion is the current trend of near full HD displays migrating to smaller portable devices. For instance, take the impressive AMOLED 720p screen on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus of only 4.65″, it’s only a small stretch to see that a 1080p screen at a similar size is only a matter of time. Four of those panels equates to a 4K screen at a portable size.
Youtube now supports streaming media at 4K. The technology is already in our hands.
The reason however is not necessity, the reason is that we can sell it and fuel untold billions (trillions even) of dollars of business in cameras, post, data transmission and networking infrastructure, televisions, new portable devices and of course content production.
Since when has need ever really fueled consumption in the digital age?
