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Doctor Who In 4K?
Iqbal_M
Posts: 4,093 Forum Member
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With Netflix starting to stream content in 4K http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/s233/house-of-cards/news/a563389/netflix-begins-4k-streaming-of-house-of-cards.html#~oAWbLuHVjicyO3, do you think the BBC should start making Doctor Who in 4K as well?
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Well...That just about sums it up really, doesn't it?
For Netflix, 4K is possibly a revenue source. The TV manufacturers need content to sell sets, and as all the new 4K TVs are smart Internet connected devices, the new services such as Netflix are natural commercial partners. They're probably receiving some support on the additional production costs, along with promotion on each new set sold.
For the UK market, I would expect the promotion and marketing to focus on Sport. Apart from technical trails the BBC (and our other broadcaters) won't be going anywhere near this for years.
What?
What's the point? You couldn't get any better than HD quality, surely?
Yes, 4K is much better than HD quality but I've heard you only really notice if you have a really big screen (at least 55" I think). I'd have trouble even fitting a 55" in my living room never mind sitting far enough back that I can see the whole thing
Not really practical for me
55 inches would be much too big for my living room, too! It wouldn't be practical to have such a big television.
I can sort of see the potential for DW to eventually be in 4K, but people would have to spend a lot of money on 4K TV sets.
I've got Sky+ in my house, in my main sitting room so I can record whatever I want, but I can only record one programme at a time. I can also rewind and pause live TV.
As for HD channels, I can get the 'free' ones, like BBC1 HD, BBC2 HD, and so on, but not other ones like Sky Atlantic HD and any HD Movie channels.
Ab Fab on 'Gold' last night at around 12.30am was really good. It was the one from series 4 when Saffy put on a play about her life. I think that's my favourite Ab Fab episode ever!
Anyway, that's for another thread in the general TV forum.
(This is an enormous over-simplification I hasten to add!)
Most movies are now shot using 4k (or even now 8k) video cameras instead of 35mm film.
The new version of House of Cards was also shot in 4k for Netflix, but it's rarely used for TV at the moment.
So there's no chance of DW being filmed and watched in 4K, any time soon, then?
We may get DW in 4K if Labour win, but I won't get my hopes up. The Tories may stay in power. But all of this is over a year away yet.
In any case, even if programming is being shot and produced in 4k (aka UHD), broadcast bandwidth would always be an issue, and would make 4k a premium product that only a limited number of people could view. So I doubt very much if the BBC Trust would see this as in the best interests of the Licence Fee payer.
Plus, to get the most out of 4k, you really need a very large screen, and a large room in which to house it!, or sit very close to the screen!
There's more here: http://www.iptv-news.com/2013/11/mark-harrison-bbc-we-are-taking-4k-very-seriously/
HD is 1080 (or 720) "lines" of course.
2k is not the same as "normal" HD.
Full 1080p has 1080 pixels vertically (1080 lines) and 1440 pixels horizontally (if anamorphic) or 1920 pixels horizontally if using square pixels. So, in "k" terminology, today's 1080p is nearly 2K.
Funnily enough, they already shoot with Arriflex digital cameras that have a higher native resolution than 1080p, but not yet "4k". This gives greater flexibility later when in post production, or even in camera too, as they can reframe shots, selecting a 1080p frame from a larger captured image.
Some YouTube videos offer it, but you need a NASA control center to play them smoothly...