Sony’s SRX-R105 consumer 4K projector, with accessories, will run you around $100k.
Really, how much better can video get? Do you wonder if there could be more than 1080p and 2.35:1 CinemaScope presentation for your home theater? The only thing better is what’s displayed in true movie theaters, and we’ve showcased some cool home theaters that have come pretty close.
Space may prohibit a 50-foot screen, but videophiles seeking the ultimate picture—and have the means to procure it—can own the same technology that’s serving up images in theater chains like AMC, Landmark and Muvico. It’s called 4K projection, and “it has as much impact as the leap from standard definition to high definition,” says Andre Floyd, Sony’s marketing manager for SXRD systems.
Simple math shows 4K digital cinema projectors, at 4096 x 2160 pixels like those from Sony, deliver images with more than four times the resolution of 1080p, at 1920 x 1080 (also called 2K). That’s almost 9 million pixels versus a little more than 2 million. Last year, JVC unveiled a 4K projector with a resolution of 4096 x 2400, which I got to see paired with a short called The Trident, which was filmed in 4K. The movie stars David Carradine as a shopkeeper, and the color and detail of every little shelf item in his shop was unlike anything I’d seen before.
Unfortunately, movies shot or post-produced and then released in 4K are scarce (Spider-Man 3, The Da Vinci Code and Ocean’s 13 are a few). So for the most part, we’re seeing the projector’s upscaling capabilities. However, more cinemas are converting to 4K projection systems or installing them upon construction, like the 18-screen Muvico Cineplex that opened last fall in Rosemont, IL.
Sony’s SRX-R105 consumer 4K projector, with accessories, will run you around $100,000, says Floyd. “Projection from a 4K system is so much brighter, cleaner and smoother if you put an HD image on the screen and compare apples to apples [against a 2K projector and screen],” he says. “If you take the 2K and 4K versions of the same movie, there’s so much more information on the 4K image, it’s like night and day.”
Screen manufacturer Screen Excellence has even developed a special material for 4K projection, though John Caldwell, whose StJohn Group is Screen Excellence’s North American distributor, thinks it will be 10 years before 4K makes its mark with anyone besides “the guy who just has to have the best.” I’ll be envious of that guy.
Stephen, if you’re going to use strong language, like calling someone “complete wrong,” you should first at least know what you’re talking about—which you don’t. You need to educate yourself on the definition of resolution. Let me help you: resolution is smallest interval that can be resolved. So suppose you have a digital TV that can resolve two points that are 0.1 inches apart. Now suppose you double the number of pixels in both the horizontal and vertical directions (thus increasing the total number of pixel by 4x). Doing so now allows the TV to (at best, assuming there are not other limiting factors, like the optics) to resolve two points that are 0.05 inches apart. I.e., the resolution has been doubled. It has not increased by 4x. If it had increased by 4x, you would instead be able to resolve points that are 0.025 inches apart, which you can’t. If this does not make sense to you, keep reading it until it does.
Aron, you are completly wrong.
2K (at 16:9) is 2048*1152 (a bit larger than HD).
4K (at 16:9) is 4096*2304 - twice the size in each dimension, or four times more. So, it has four times the surface area, and therefore four times the pixels…
So it is four times the size, four times the resolution of 2K (and even more than four times HD). It is two times the horizontal resolution, but we’re talking about total resolution here.
The only reason to spend the money on a 4k projector at home is if you have a huge screen. I don’t see this being widely adopted except for people with 12+ seating.
haha, I work with a SRX-R110 on almost a daily basis, and the trident, while it may look stunning maybe be the worst thing i have ever seen. The whole thing is just ridiculous. If you want to see jaw dropping watch a Baraka on a 4k projector. It is just stunning and you aren’t laughing at how terrible the movie is to notice how great it looks.
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I haven’t seen Apoclypse Now on anyones list of great surround sound movies.… 
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Stephen,
One other thing: please don’t bother citing instances where people misuse the term resolution the same way you do. They’re simply wrong as well:
From the Wikipedia entry on “image resolution” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_resolution):
“The term resolution is often used as a pixel count in digital imaging, even though American, Japanese, and international standards specify that it should not be so used, at least in the digital camera field.”
See also “Misconception #3: Resolution is expressed in megapixels” in JR Jeffrion’s “Understanding Digital Camera Resolution (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/res-demyst.shtml)