4K vs. UHD: What's the difference?

Monday, April 27, 2015

many devices, particularly HDTVs and computer monitors, which bears frills 4K. Meanwhile there is also a term UHD or Ultra HD. Both of these terms, 4K and UHD is often considered the same. TV manufacturers, broadcasters, and blog technology used interchangeably in a single breath. Actually 4K UHD same and no hell?

4K UHD first and not the same. The technique is also not the same to this day. From the audience, the difference is not great. If you want a short answer, 4K is still alive, 

while UHD not.

4K vs. UHD

The easiest way to distinguish 4K and UHD is this: is the 4K production standards and cinema professionals, while UHD is a standard display and broadcast consumer.

Lah, continues how can both be mixed? Here's the story.

The term "4K" originally comes from the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI). It is a consortium of studios moving images that standardizes specifications for 4K content production and digital projection. In this case, 4K is 4096 x 2160, and this is exactly four times the previous standard for editing and digital projection (2K, or 2048 x 1080).

4K refers to the number of horizontal pixels (4096) which is about four thousand. 4K standard is not just a resolution. It also determines how 4K content is encoded. A DCI 4K streams compressed with JPEG2000, can have a bitrate of up to 250Mbps, and implement 12-bit 4: 4: 4 color depth.

Ultra High Definition, or UHD, are the next step of what is called Full HD, the official name of the display resolution of 1920 x 1080. UHD doubling the resolution becomes 3840 x 2160. This is not the same as 4K resolutions made above. But almost all the TV or monitor that you see is actually advertised as 4K UHD. Yes, there are panel 4096 x 2160, which gives aspect ratio is 1.9: 1. But most is 3840 x 2160, for the aspect ratio is 1.78: 1.

Why Not 2160p?

TV producers instead do not know the difference between 4K and UHD. But for marketing reasons, they have insisted on 4K label. So in order not to conflict with the standards of a true 4K DCI, some TV manufacturers use the term "4K UHD," and some are simply pressed "4K."

Which makes more confused, UHD was subdivided into two: 3840 x 2160, and 7680 x 4320. Both variants UHD can be referred to as 4K and 8K UHD UHD. But let me be more precise, 8K UHD should be named as QUHD (Quad Ultra HD).

In order not ambiguous, true 4K term left alone and instead used the term 2160p. Resolution display and broadcast always refer to the resolution as horizontal lines, with the letter "i" and "p" refers to interlacing, which jumped by one line, and progressive scan, which does not melombat: 576i (PAL), 480i (NTSC) , 576p (DVD), 720p, 1080i, 1080p, and so on.

Now, with the 4K TVs everywhere, need effort from at least one major TV manufacturers to rectify the already chaotic situation and abandon the use of 4K. Instead must use the term UHD and 2160p.

But unfortunately the rice has become porridge. Thus, the importance of the problem now is not the name or designation, but where we can get a real 4K content to watch. So far, 4K content is still not much. We can find it on Amazon Instant Video, and several proprietary hardware and software products from Sony. But this is not enough to make 4K truly populist.