4K Ultra HD 2.0

The transition from full HD (1080p or 1920x1080) to Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) (2160p or 3840x2160) is well underway, but like previous transitions, the wider emergence and transition to new technologies (e.g. visual enhancements coming to UHD) will be progressive. Among these updates to UHD, high dynamic range (HDR) and wider color gamut are the key visual enhancements along with higher frame rates. Immersive audio (e.g. object-based audio) is also part of future UHD updates, but it is not covered in this report. While standards such as Rec. 2020 have defined the UHD color space, new technologies like quantum dots will help display manufacturers reach these new color levels.

In many use cases enhancements like HDR and wider color gamut can provide a stronger visual upgrade to content than resolution gains alone. Full HD content could also benefit from these enhancements on UHD TVs through more saturated primaries and upscaling. Despite some early product releases the market continues to evolve with new standards still on the horizon.

While technical and market considerations will impact the value chain end-to-end (or put differently “glass-to-glass”) this research project focuses on the post production elements, services, UHD TVs, and in particular the visual enhancements coming to UHD. The transition from full HD (1080p or 1920x1080) to Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) (2160p or 3840x2160) is well underway but like previous transitions, the wider emergence and transition to new technologies (e.g. visual enhancements coming to UHD) will be progressive. Among these updates to UHD, high dynamic range (HDR) and wider color gamut are the key visual enhancements along with higher frame rates. Immersive audio (e.g. object-based audio) is also part of future UHD updates, but it is not covered in this report.