As if KFC for Christmas dinner isn't reason enough to move to Japan, how about TV shows in Ultra High Definition? Well there's not long to wait, as broadcasts in the format will start in Japan next year -- that's two years ahead of schedule, proving it's not just the trains that run on time over there.
Reuters reports the Japanese government will launch the world-first service in July 2014. That's just in time for the World Cup final in Brazil, which sounds like pretty nice timing to me.
Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun is the one bringing news of the government's plans.
Ultra High Definition -- previously known as 4K -- has four times the resolution of HD, so expect some pretty stonking visuals. The likes of Sony, Panasonic et al were in attendance at CES, showing off their 4K sets, and some are on sale in the UK now -- though you'll need quite a trust fund to afford one. Like all emerging technologies, there's a dearth of content to watch on it at the moment, so if you invest right now you could end up with a very expensive dust-gatherer.
The format isn't just for tellies. Panasonic has lifted the lid on an Ultra High Definition 20-inch Windows 8 tablet. It'll be a tool for creative professionals like photographers and artists, and blew our socks off at CES.
If you think that's impressive, Japanese companies are already developing 8K TVs, with -- you guessed it -- eight times as many pixels as High Definition. The Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to launch test broadcasts using this format in 2016, which is again two years ahead of schedule. I know technology moves quickly, but this is ridiculous. Buy a 4K telly in 2014, and it'll be out of date in two years.
Are you looking forward to Ultra High Definition? What would you like to watch in that resolution? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
Comments 13
Add your comment
JohnsonDion1 27 January, 2013 15:55
It's a nice idea UHD but what's the point? We aren't broadcasting in 1080p yet, we currently only get 720p or 1080i broadcasts at that moment! And as pointed out they are already on 8K, its going to be the whole should I get a 720p TV or a 1080p TV thing again. Honestly I still buy DVDs!
anonymous 27 January, 2013 19:26
4K looks to me to be another wheeze to revitalize the Japanese electronics industry. It was only a few months ago that 3D was being pushed in the same way. Before that digital was touted as couch potato nirvana and we were forced to junk perfectly good analog kit. What have we got? The same old rubbish is somewhat higher definition. Virtually no broadcasts make any use of the alleged advantages of digital that were touted in numerous promotional programs especially on NHK. No longer innovative or competitive, the Japanese electronics industry appears to be looking to government mandated planned obsolescence in order to survive.
EHK
Tokyo
anonymous 28 January, 2013 02:09
actually, 8k has 16x the number of pixels as HD
billfred 28 January, 2013 15:27
@ JohnsonDion1 - You should have never bought a 720p TV and if you did (and it wasn't small) you were a moron.
Apparently the real world difference between 4k and 8k is absolutely minimal even when sitting close to a cinema sized screen.
anonymous 28 January, 2013 16:37
Full HD (1080p): 1920 x 1080 = ~2M pixels
UHD (4k): ~4000 x ~2000 = ~8M pixels
8k: ~8000 x ~4000 = ~32M pixels
8k has 4 times the number of pixels as 4k, which has 4 times the number of pixels as 1080p, which means 8k has 16 times the number of pixels as 1080p.
Why is it reporters always seem to get their maths wrong, especially with screen resolutions.
anonymous 28 January, 2013 17:01
I can't see the UK getting 4K before 2020.
billfred 28 January, 2013 17:17
What they said ^^^
mattbabs 28 January, 2013 21:27
I was lucky enough to see a test broadcast of the Olympic swimming last summer in 8K (Super Hi-Vision is what the Japanese are calling it). It was shown on a cinema screen at the National Media Museum in Bradford along with 22.2 Surround Sound. It was almost like being there but I found that on a big screen they could only move the cameras very slowly as you can get motion sickness. I would imagine the effect would be less on a smaller screen but as we couldn't see the pixels on a huge screen do you really need 8K in the home?
anonymous 29 January, 2013 10:29
Why are luddites posting on a tech site? Just because our country sucks hairy ones when it comes to implementing new technology its not a reason for the Japanese to hold back on innovation
Yes we may only be getting 1080i broadcasts here (and not enough of them) but things are totally different in Japan, tech-wise we're 3rd world by comparison.
anonymous 29 January, 2013 11:02
All those people who bought "HD Ready" TV's and find they can't have a "Full HD" picture.
All those people who bought 3D TV's (admittedly mostly by default), who find there is almost no 3D content and the experience is totally underwhelming anyway.
The Broadcasters, who have spend a large amount of money on upgrading all their equipment to HD.
The lack of high enough broadband internet speeds and capacity to deal with today's needs, never mind the heavy bandwidth needed for even higher quality video streaming.
The lack of money and general spending power.
4K TV in the UK?
Pass !
JohnsonDion1 29 January, 2013 22:10
Billfred I didn't buy a 720p TV, I am not sure why you thought that. We were bought a 1080i 40" TV as a present 4 years ago and I bought a 1080p 22" TV for my room 1 year ago, so as you can see I am not behind tech wise, I just don't see the point of it. I wish we just stayed at 1080p for a while as we get used to it and then move on, tech moves so quick now I just don't try to keep up with it.
billfred 29 January, 2013 22:38
@ JohnsonDion1
I totally understand. I still use DVDs and I'm just skipping over BluRay entirely. Just need Netflix catalogue to get a whole lot better! I was just saying that buying a 720p TV was rather short sighted (never implied you bought one).
I remember a comparison they reported on TheVerge a little while back and by the sounds of it I get the feeling that we should stay at 4K for a while. But for the UK it'll be ages down the road anyway.
JohnsonDion1 30 January, 2013 16:35
I am a big Netflix fan to, and that is good news that we will get to 4k and stay there for a good amount of time, all I hope now is that there won't be that huge price difference there was between DVD's and Blu-ray's.