The music video for Taylor Swift’s blockbuster #1 single -- “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” – is the first ever to be shot in true 4K using Sony’s F65 CineAlta™ digital motion picture camera.
That only serves to prove a point: according to DisplaySearch, 4K2K may reach commercial success before AMOLED TV. And content is a large reason why that might happen.
Samsung and LG offer AMOLED TVs, with models seen most recently at IFA 2012. Both companies were to start mass production by Q2 2012, in time for the London Olympic Games. DisplaySearch’s David Hsieh says those AMOLED schedules have slipped... all the way to the end of 2012.
His theory is that more vendors appear to be working on 4K LCD TVs, with panel makers such as Samsung Display, LG Display and Sharp gearing up. LCD TV makers Sony, Sharp, Toshiba, Samsung, LGE, Haier, Hisense, ChangHong and THTF have announced 4Kx2K models.
Without a bandwagon, the band doesn’t march in unison… which is another way of saying makers usually feed off each other’s interest in the race to market new technologies.
So what’s the problem with AMOLED? Price, of course. Can the consumer tell what differentiates an OLED TV from a large screen LCD with similar slim form factor and image quality?
Meanwhile, 4K TVs offer higher resolutions, a feature that consumers not only recognise (thanks to the success of smartphones, tablets and high-end PCs) but are willing to pay for. 4K content and broadcasting are also moving forward, with improving upscaling technology and Hollywood content available in the format.
Manufacturers also have an easier job with 4K panels-- AMOLED demands entirely different technology, while 4K only changes pixel sizes.
That’s why DisplaySearch predicts 4K TV will account for 2% of all LCD TVs by 2017, and 22% of the 50-inch+ segment. Read their blog…