There are still many of us who remember the old CRT monitors. While these monitors gave the best resolution available at the time they are a far cry from today’s ultra, and beyond, resolution monitors. We all thought that “Hi-Def” was going to be the ceiling until actual virtual reality was achieved but in 2013 the Digital Cinema Initiative, a joint venture between Disney Fox, Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros. Studios established a new standard resolution of 4096 pixels × 2160 lines (8.8 megapixels, aspect ratio ~17:9) for 4K film projection. The native resolution will be for all DCI-compliant digital projectors and monitors.
Ultra-HD Has Arrived
The new standard now has twice the vertical and horizontal resolution of DCI 2K and four times as many pixels but does not conform to the standard 1080p Full HD ration which is currently at 16:9. This turns out to be an advantage however because they are not multiples of the 1080p, but standalone. The positive aspect is that they can be scanned or stored in multiple formats. Which formats are used depends on the storage aspect ratio that is being used.
There are currently a few models of Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) available for under $1000 but lack of available content has slowed sales. Premium movie provider Netflix has been testing the new standard using in-house demo tapes and is planning on launching next year. But for gamers the new standard promises to be very special indeed. There are a number of companies, both monitor companies and graphics card manufacturers that already have released products.
The Samsung U28D590D 28 inch Ultra HDMI Monitor is a brand new 28″ 4k/Ultra-HD monitor that has a native resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and features more than eight million pixels that produces eye-popping detail at nearly skin pore level. This monitor is also very easy on the eyes and has a 1ms response time for impressive scrolling and lag free gaming.
Video games and television are far different in what they need to perform at peak efficiency.
Gamers need to add a good video card to get the most out of the experience. The new GeForce GT 630 seems to fit the bill rather nicely if you are on a budget. This mid-range powerhouse features Nvidia’s PureVideo® HD Technology, Blu-ray 3D support, TrueHD and DTS-HD Audio Bitstreaming, PhysX® Technology and 7.1 sound technologies and much more. When one of these cards, or comparable cards by other manufacturers, is combined with an UHD monitor the results are amazing to say the least.
The explosion of new graphics technology seems to peak every five years or so, and then someone raises the bar yet again.
This new development will probably have about the same life span before new developments in graphics and processing technologies take the next leap. But with prices coming down as rapidly as they normally do it will not be long before any self respecting gamer can afford to have a top notch 4K monitor for gaming.
