Dubai-Futurescape Now courtesy Apple  🎞

When Peter Falk’s character, Lieutenant Columbo in the 1980’s television series, was about to nail the last blow to his adversary, he would say ” … There’s just one more thing” and more recently, Steve Jobs of Apple, nearing the end of his presentations on the San Francisco stage, would say, ” … before we end …, we have one more thing“. RIP Steve Jobs.

The below quote, made famous by Robert Kennedy, expresses my viewpoint.

“Some men see things as they are and say why – I dream things that never were and say why not.” George Bernard Shaw. Listen.

In these times … his words are more relevant than ever.

Challenge convention, don’t accept the status-quo, work harder and smarter, innovate, and never give up. If we do these things, we win. 

On September 12, 1962, John F. Kennedy said:

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone ….”

On January 24, 2004, this author mused:

“It is the human race’s destiny to explore the great ocean of space. The last century, the new century, is a mere nano-second in the scope of time.

Millions, perhaps billions of years from now, earth will cease to exist, a cinder crisp of space dust due to the sun’s demise.

The human race will have long before left this planet we love so dearly and which sustains us.

Tonight, we take a small step into our destiny.

May Opportunity be safe. May Opportunity give us that small step to sail that great ocean to our destiny.

Dream the impossible and make it real”.

❤️

Let’s go.

March 3, 2011

This magazine showcased all the old, nice vintage stuff. Now we move on to the present and future.

These three images are real holographic images.

Hologram courtesy Video Age International Hologram courtesy HNGN Hologram courtesy Forbes Magazine

Holographic television may come sooner than you think. Researchers all over the world are working to bring this dream into your living room.

Update May 12, 2015: Over 4 years ago, we wrote that the holy grail of television would be full size color holographic television. That dream is one step closer.

A holocaust survivor participates in preserving his family’s history through the use of interactive 3D holographic photography. Soon you and your family will be able to do the same thing. Viewers can ask any question and through a complex algorithm, the holographic image of yourself will answer the question. This is one step closer to the dream of holographic television in your home one day. Watch in HD, courtesy of Comcast/NBC/Universal Television.

WHAT’S NEXT?

In the short-term, Mobile TV start-up in late 2010 and 2011. Twenty two cities were included in the first roll out. Right now in the U.S. we can enjoy free over the air digital portable television, but if one moves the set the signal is lost. Mobile TV allows the digital signal to be received in high-speed moving objects. Once again, we will have hand-held television devices for free over-the-air television. As of this writing, three manufacturers have introduced products. Look for more as the roll out is implemented.

OLED, (organic light emitting diode) display technology is here in limited quantity, superior in all performance parameters to LCD and Plasma. Look for a breakthrough in the manufacturing process to bring prices down. Sony, LG and Samsung have OLED products on the market now with larger screen sizes promised. Sony just introduced in 2011 a 25-inch OLED color monitor for the professional market.

Update October 12, 2013:

As of this date, Samsung and LG have introduced into the market 55 inch OLED televisions. Sony and Panasonic have shown 55 and 56 inch prototype 4K, or UHD OLED televisions. Additionally, LG has shown a prototype 77 inch OLED UHD television. See it here.
Finally, 2013 became the breakout year for OLED television with added models to follow.

Samsung KN55S9CAFXZA OLED TV courtesy Samsung LG 55EA9800 OLED TV courtesy LG

Glasses-free 3D will be here soon. Various applications are being tested at this time. http://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/technology/dolby-3d-glasses-free-3d.html

2K, 4K and *8K. 2K is double the 1920X1080 high-definition standard and 4K has 4 times the resolution of the 1920X1080 HD standard. 2K and 4K monitors and projectors are now in use by Sony and others for professional use and in movie production and theaters. The Japanese government has funded research in display technology that goes beyond 4K. Watch for eventual mainstream implementation.

* Update: At the IFA 2011 trade show in September, Sharp Corporation demonstrated their stunning 8K 85 inch LCD television. It has 33,177,600 pixels! Read about it at this link with photos. http://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1315414379&newsletter

In 2012, the Olympic Games in London were broadcast by NHK Broadcasting Network of Japan in stunning 8K resolution. The two photos below were taken by J. Halphen in Amsterdam during a demonstration of Sharp’s 85-inch, 8K LCD television and NHK Broadcasting Network, of Japan broadcast technology. The photos are screen shots directly from Sharp’s television. They don’t do justice to the superb image quality. Mr. Halphen commented that the detail in the faces of the athletes, which occupy small portions of the screen, are as good as a standard high-definition image (1080P) displaying a full frame image of a face. See the full report here.

In Japan, 8K is called Super Hi-Vision.

Sharp 8K Screen Shot courtesy J. Halphen Sharp 8K Screen Shot courtesy J. Halphen

Update October 12, 2013:

All major manufactures of flat panel televisions, introduced 4K (UHD) LCD televisions to the market in 2013. One example, the Sharp LC-70UD1U 70 inch 4K Ultra HD LCD TV below.

Sharp LC-70UD1U UHD LCD TV courtesy Sharp Corporation

Update: December 18, 2013

LG today announced that they would be displaying a 105 inch, curved Ultra HD television at CES 2014. It uses a 21:9 aspect ratio, and boasts a resolution of 5120×2160 pixels. No further information is available. Shortly after this announcement today, Samsung also announced that they too, would be showing a 105 inch, curved Ultra HD television with the same features at CES 2014. Is LG and Samsung sharing technology or spying on each other? Let the size wars begin. Below a photo of the LG model. Update July 22, 2014: Got cash? This television went on sale today and can be yours for $120,000.

LG 105 inch Ultra HD courtesy LG Corporation

Update October 25, 2013:

The first home 4K cinema player is called REDRAY. More information at this link: http://www.red.com/products/redray

October 25,2013:

Yesterday, I went to audition the Sony 65 inch 4K Model XBR-65X900A LCD television and the Samsung 65 inch 4K Model UN65F9000AF television.

The Sony was displaying a 4K movie from their proprietary 4K media player. My impression: I wanted more. The image quality looked better then a 1080P image, but it looked like an upscaled image and did not impress me.

The Samsung displayed a master 4K video demonstration loop imputed to the display from a USB device. This demonstration was spectacular! I had no doubts that I was viewing “real” 4K. The video displayed master artworks from museums across the world, video and still clips, the best image quality I have seen to date. The only criticism is that the set was not calibrated and the colors were over saturated. I have not yet viewed an OLED television.

Screen Shots from the Samsung 65 inch Model UN65F9000AF television. The white streaks at the top of the images are ceiling light reflections. These images do not do justice to the actual image because all the fine facial hair, pores and imperfections were clearly visible. Tap or click on each image for full resolution image.

Photographed November 30, 2013

Below same screenshot on my 2012 Sharp Aquos 70 inch ISF calibrated 1080p television. This LCD television has 25 per cent more pixels then a standard HD LCD television due to the fourth sub-pixel yellow. The image is the same 4K image and the source was from YouTube. You can see what calibration does for a television image. Even though the Samsung is a 4K set, the lower resolution set looks better then the above non-calibrated Samsung 65 inch 4K television displayed in a big box store. The Samsung non-calibrated television lost detail in the dark areas and color fidelity is way off. Download both full resolution images for comparison on your computer screen. Both images were shot on the same camera and unretouched. Photographed December 22, 2015.

Photographed November 30, 2013

With the adoption of the new HEVC H.265 Codec, we will see mainstream implantation of 4K entertainment in our homes soon. Read why here. Very soon, as early as 2014, we will see physical (not streaming Internet) 4K media players, the next generation Blu Ray player. Once common standards are adopted for 4K televisions, we will be on our way. Most new movies and TV dramas are being recorded in 4K right now. Older movies are being re-mastered in 4K. Look for new products and industry alliance announcements at CES 2014.

UPDATE, JANUARY 2, 2018

South Korea’s biggest display panel manufacturer LG Display announced Monday that it would unveil the industry’s first 8K 88-inch organic light-emitting diode display panel at the Consumer Electronics Show next week, vowing to lead the 8K resolution market.

LG dismissed the industry’s concerns about limits of OLED panels’ ability to display at the 8K level of 33 megapixels per inch — four times the resolution of 4K panels. The company said it made the panel using an innovative process it had developed.

An OLED panel is easier than a liquid crystal display panel to have the 8K resolution without additional costs or power consumption, according to the firm. Courtesy, Korean Herald

So now what?

In the future, the holy grail would be full size, color, holographic television images that would seem suspended in your living room like Star Wars.

Star Wars Hologram courtesy 20th Century Fox

You could walk around the images and see all angles just as a real world object.

Actually this may not be too far off. Already, there exists systems for video-conferencing in board rooms that project holographic images, but they are not full size. Will we live to see such a wonder in our homes? I for one, certainly hope so. 🙂

Oh, … one more thing,

“Dream the impossible and make it real”.

Back to Vintage Micro TV.