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Old 7th September 2015, 22:20   #18  |  Link
benwaggoner
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 4,750
Quote:
Originally Posted by BadFrame View Post
The 4k push is already derailed due to the forming of a second HEVC patent pool with demands the content distributors will never accept.

As for how much pent up viewer demand there really is for 4k, it's hard to tell as the whole 4k push is a marketing campaign to sell the HEVC codec and new hardware capable of viewing it.

Let's just say I doubt a 4k delay will make a dent in Netflix and Amazon viewership, including lack of 10-bit.
Given Netflix and Amazon launched UHD streaming in 2014, I don't think I'd describe the situation as "derailed" . The number of capable TVs in homes and available content are both growing rapidly.

Also, there would have been HEVC without 4K and 4K without HEVC. "4K" (let's call it UHD, since it is really 3840x2160) was because manufacturing the panels became possible. HEVC was because it was time for the next gen MPEG/ITU codec. Timing worked out nicely because HEVC is particularly good at >1080p and streaming 2160p with H.264 wouldn't have been nearly as feasible (10 Mbps HEVC and 25 Mbps H.264 are roughly equivalent at UHD resolutions). But optical disc certainly would have provided more than enough capacity and throughput for H.264 UHD.
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