What I was commenting on my earlier post is anything ABOVE 1080p MUST be marketable to the masses at a "Masses" price, plain and simple. Nobody except a few of us audio/videophile nutheads would consider spending any more than $1500 on today's tv pricing. The 978 will be meant to pass through at least a 1080p picture. Hopefully it is upgradable.

Anjora I understand you are not interested in watching movies but a 2k or 4k picture has to be produce in mass so that the MOVIE watchers can justify the change from their newly-bought flat panels. Ten years from today is about right for 1080p to last. The tv manufacturers want consumer sales which is what their factories can be tooled for in order to make any sort of overhead on this "no margin" category. They need the next BIG thing that the masses will buy.

Face it...you and I will be at the mercy of Joe Sixpack who buys at Best Buy, Fry's, Wally World etc, etc.

What will bring 4k to the masses is likely to be next generation gaming consoles. The suported resulution is ofcourse one thing and the actual used is another. Expensive graphic cards will drive up the price of the unit. Lover price usally results in more sales. Still there was a few(inimportant) titles on ps3 and 360 that had true 1080p resulution.

High qality pc monitors over 1080p has been pretty affordible. 2560*1440 is usally more affordible than 2560*1600. I wouln't call $500 for a monitor expensive.

Sorry Hank, but you must be having long term memory issues. First top of the line TVs like the Sony XBR line still have MSRP's in the $3,500 range (e.g. XBR-55HX929). It was only a few years ago that other top of the line TV's could and did sell for close to $6K. Do a google on the 50" Pioneer Kuro FD111 if you don't believe me. Hell when I purchased my rear projection Toshiba it wasn't unusual to find 50" 720p plasma's with burn in issues selling for over $4K with some units in the 8K price range. Nor was it that long ago when buying a 1080p TV commanded a substantial premium (as did the first 3D units).

Yes, prices have come down, because of demand and the economics of silicon. Will it take 20 years for 4K resolution? I very much doubt it. Nor will it require source material. All it will take is a good scaling chip. If you recall, it was DVD's with their 720x480 maximum resolution that drove early adopters to wide screen TV's. At that time, sales started picking up, broadcast TV was 4 or 5 years away from the first digital broadcast and satellite was digital but of SD quality (640x480). It was a long time before bluray came out.

Sorry 73 Bruin, you're ignoring the point. Those astronomical prices aren't reachable by most people - only a few well-heeled. No, it won't take 20 years to get to 4k, but there won't be affordable products anytime soon. To restate the obvious: most people are happy with 720p and thrilled with 1080p.

Also, what beyond 100 stated in post #90277 above.

Hey, why are we discussing 978 features? It's too late. Let's talk about fun stuff, like start a football style "pot" as to number of weeeks until the 978 is available for shipping?

I agree. The 978's features are locked in. The hardware has been locked in for a while, and my guess is the "software" side is only being tweaked to function correctly. Software features are locked in by now as well. The 998 is still a dream away, so maybe someone should start a thread specific to the 998's suggested features?

Me too.
Scott said in his March posting that the certification testing usually takes about 2-3 months. Not sure I buy that. In my experience 3 months is kinda the minimum. I going to be conservative and say 4 1/2 months. Now the question is: Will Outlaw do a production run and ship units to their warehouse early, risking re-work/re-programming, assuming that all will go well with certification testing? Or wait until the unit is fully tested to kick of production? I'm going to say they'll kick off a little early because testing is going so well (I'm an optimist) and they'll be ready to ship shortly after testing is complete.

Part of me wants to say it's going to be a July 4th, Independence Day Sale but I think my official date is August 15th to hit the Labor Day holiday.

Labor day at the earliest and likely Halloween. I hope it isn't too scary.

Ha, ha, ha! Good one XenonMan.
I was previously thinking mid-October but I now think, it'll go into mid-November, say November 14th. Hope I'm wrong though and that it's sooner.

Actually, I am not. I am describing the prices and conditions that led to the current day. Here's a quote from Sound and Vision from July 2006 describing a Samsung Plasma HDTV with an MSRP of $3500. "Spotted online for as low as $2,800, the HP-S5053 appears to be a ridiculously good deal for a 50-inch flat-panel HDTV".

If you want to see the high end, google the price the Pioneer 50" Kuro Elite FD111 from 2008. Or you can search the forums to see Outlaw selling its refurbished Sony OO6 Qualia's at $6K down from $13K.

If what you stated is true, we would not be at our current price points. It was plenty of sales at "astronomical" price points that led to manufacturers building more glass fabrication plants and ultimately lower prices (supply and demand).

As for beyond100's point, I don't think it has a lot of credence for two reasons. One, there are still TV's selling for above 1500 even at the high volume dealers like Costco(and this is at the end of the model year). Two, I don't think the bottom end ever drives the market. If that were the case, we would all have black and white CRT TV's. Nor would Apple be the world's highest valued company.

In either case, I don't think consumer's will drive this any more than then it was consumer demand that led to 3D TV's becoming available. It was manufacturers thinking that they could increase profits by offering this feature. I am sure it will be the same with 4k.

Hey 73Bruin

The $1500 price tag is a roundabout figure I threw in. Of course more expensive tvs will sell but what I am saying is that the masses and I mean the majority of those buyers just bought 50 to 60 inch models. Nobody is about to toss them in ye ol' garbagio just yet. Some of those people are on the 2nd set. Any 4k tvs will be specialty for now. Not for a very long time will the market be viable for such sets UNLESS the tv manufacturers just throw them in at near current prices and discontinue 1080p. This of course has to fair well with the movie makers. The AVS division in my company sells only what is the better price. The $2300 units are....just sitting there in the back collecting dust. Over 90% of our customers are even coming with competitors' flyers to price match if we are a wee too expensive for them.

Anjora

Gamers are not going to persuade the manufacturers to make a mega expensive tv just for them. It would be nice but I feel it is a long way away.


If it ain't under 2k it ain't being paid by me even if it's 8k resolution.