Graphics Teacher

James Cameron’s movie, Avatar (2011), about “the giant blue dudes” helped drive high-resolution 4K Sony projectors into theaters around the world, and made a lot of money in the process. Movie studios keen to maintain that momentum have released a slew of 3D films–mostly converted from 2D–and continued the expansion of 3D cinemas.

However, this forward motion hasn’t translated to a success for 3D TV in the home.

“Manufacturers would have wanted 3D to be bigger than it was; they wanted it to be the next LED, but it didn’t work out,” Lamb said.

Given a so-far-mediocre response to 3D, and the expense and bulk of active glasses, manufacturers have begun to search for an alternative, and 4K offers a way increase the quality of the 3D image with passive glasses or get rid of them altogether.

The 4K TVs will be big and expensive for the next couple of years.

Both LG and Toshiba will release 4K displays in 2012, and in the absence of 4K media to watch, the main benefit would seem to be the enhancement of 3D quality. The resolution disadvantages of LG’s passive 3D system can, in theory, be overcome by doubling the number of horizontal and vertical pixels, allowing 4K passive displays like theLG 84LM9600 (due this summer) to deliver 1080p to both eyes.

The first consumer-grade 4K panel to hit the U.S. market will likely be a 55-inch Toshiba LCD that features autostereoscopic 3D, or “glasses-less 3D” as it’s known. It uses the Quad HD specification, which is four times HD at 3,840×2,160 pixels.

No other 4K flat-panel displays have been announced yet. Sony announced its 4K home theater projector, the VPL-VW1000ES, in September, but does not make the product available through its Web site or stores and instead sells it directly to custom installers. Meanwhile, JVC announced four projectors in 2011 that upscale 1080p content to 4K but currently are unable to display native 4K content. Courtesy | Usman Khalid