While the market for High-Definition TV (HDTV) has hit the mainstream, the industry has already started speculating about the commercialisation of Ultra-High Definition (UHD), according to market research firm, In-Stat, which believes there will be a lengthy time period before the UHD market reaches a critical mass of five per cent household penetration.

In-Stat suggests, however, that as the initial market debuts over the next five to ten years, there will be ample opportunities for technology companies, manufacturers, service providers and media companies to experiment with business models and strategies to make UHD a strong business in the long term.

"UHD formats provide between four and sixteen times the resolution of Blu-ray or 1080p high definition as well as 22.2 multichannel three-dimensional sound," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. "This is a vast improvement over the currently available end user viewing experience in the home."

As originally proposed, UHD comes in two levels of resolution: 7680 x 4320 pixels (i.e., 8K resolution), and 3840 x 2160 (i.e., 4K resolution).

Recent research by In-Stat also revealed that the rising popularity of high resolution digital cinema will expose consumers to high resolution content. Then, early UHDTVs will be made available to provide a digital cinema high resolution viewing experience in the home. Ultimately, broadcasters will start offering UHD content to an addressable market of UHDTVs, between 2017 and 2022.

In-Stat expects the total installed base of UHDTVs in Europe to approach five per cent household penetration until 2021, and increase to over 28.2 per cent penetration by 2025. In Asia-Pacific, Japan will be among the early adopter countries. (Source: advanced-television)

Story filed 03.11.09