Canon is showing off some impressive kit at its Global Expo 2015 in Paris, a camera which records in 8k resolution along with displays capable of the same impressive pixel count of 7680×4320. None of these products are close to being released but do show what the next generation of video technology holds for us. It is probably good that we won't have these cameras soon, you don't want to see any of the crew here at that level of detail. It is of course impossible to show off just how beautiful the video The Inquirer saw on lesser monitors such as we mortals possess but it is still worth popping over for a peek.
"CANON has shown off its latest range of ultra-high definition imaging technologies, including 8K cameras, displays and projector demonstrations."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
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- Lexar outs cards across SD, XQD and CFast with sizes up to 512GB and USB-C @ The Inquirer
- In 2015, your Windows PC can be owned by opening a spreadsheet @ The Register
- How to Convert Videos in Linux Using the Command Line @ Linux.com
- Google Web History – Everything You Need to Know @ Hardware Secrets
Which is more expensive a
Which is more expensive a gallon of Canon printer ink or one of these 7680×4320 8k monitors when it is released!
The ink, of course.
The ink, of course.
It makes a lot of sense to
It makes a lot of sense to record video in 8k for production but delivering 8k to the consumer is a bit premature. This drive for resolution over anything else isn’t a good thing. One of the reasons that 4k televisions look so good in the store is because they are usually showing some high bit rate content. This will look really good compared to what most people get at home. Resolution is only one element of video quality. I have had Comcast for a while, and when I first got it, it looked terrible. The reason I could tell that it looked terrible is that I could get a few local channels over the air. The over the air broadcast were actually significantly higher bit rate (up to around 18 Mbps) compared to the cable signal and looked significantly sharper. Since then, the cable company has pushed the bit rate up significantly, but I think it is still lower than over the air broadcast. Over the air broadcast is still quite a bit lower than blu-ray, which allows up to 48 Mbps.
I see lots of video posted on line that are encoded at ridiculously low bit rates. I don’t know why people take 1080p video and encode it at less than 5000 Kbps. I have seen some 720p video that was encoded at 10 Mbps, and this still looked quite good on a 2560×1440 display. Resolution is really just an upper bound, not a lower bound. Unfortunately, resolution plus bit rate often doesn’t tell you very much either, since a lot depends on other factors. Noisy video will take a lot of bit rate without giving you good quality. It can be denoised, but this can just make it blurrier. Hopefully, we will not be stuck with 4k or 8k at low streaming bit rates. It is only relatively recently that the cable company in my area got their broadcast up to high enough bit rate to make 1080p look reasonably good. I don’t have any idea how they are doing in other areas. Although, I do have fast enough internet to stream Netflix at good quality.
I would like to see more focus on higher quality video (high bit rate, HDR, etc) rather than just resolution. Resolution doesn’t guarantee anything. I have seen 1080p videos posted online that were actually not even up to good quality DVD standards. I am currently going to wait until they sort out the HDR and color space support before purchasing a new display. I don’t really trust “HDR ready”.
Real 4K and 8K UHD will also
Real 4K and 8K UHD will also have Rec.2020 color, which is the only real reason to care about future 4K and 8K cameras and displays.