Monday, June 24, 2013

When is good enough, good enough?

 
 


"You might not need a better mousetrap if all the mice are caught by the current mousetrap..."
 

Years ago, when I worked at "Big Blue" (IBM), my job primarily was to ensure engagement documents we had with clients met the legal "sniff test". Lots and lots of fine print. Lots and lots of discussions with the client's legal reps concerning the lots and lots of fine print. Many times my job was as exciting as watching paint dry. However, every now and again I was exposed to the "geek" aspect of my company. That I loved.
 
Much of the techo genius stuff at IBM starts in their Watson Lab. This truly is where the "Wizards of Smart" live. At one of our tech briefings in New York, the chief engineer for computer screens gave a presentation. What was fascinating to me was the amount of innovation that goes into making even the smallest computer screen. The engineer gave a demo on the latest and greatest screen which would have the highest resolution on the market. We were all very impressed. Someone raised his hand as asked if the lab had the next version ready to go should the competition beat ours. The engineer responding by saying this is it - there will be no more versions after this one. Why? The human eye. Even though the lab was capable of producing a higher resolution screen, nobody would notice. The human eye simply could not discern any higher resolution.

I thought about that story when I read about Sony's new 4K flat screen. It is suppose to have four times the resolution of the current 1080p televisions. My thought on the current technology is this - if you are watching a show that was filmed in high definition and then broadcasted in high definition, it is about as sharp a picture as you could imagine. Every mole, zit scar, and wrinkle are visible on the evening news. Make-up will not help you - it will not camouflage imperfections enough to escape the probing eye of high definition. Sometimes high definition is almost too good in my opinion.

So why then do we need a new "shabang" like 4K? People who have seen the $25,000, 82" Sony 4K say it is very impressive. I'll bet it is. Who would pay that much to have a seven foot television that the human eye can only see marginal improvements? My guess is even though it is four times better technically, only a fraction of that improvement can be picked up by the human eye. It would become a trophy to add to the trophy case. The ultimate "want" instead of a "need". A toy for the very rich indeed.

How about for the rest of us - will the 4K do anything at all for us. ABSOLUTLY! Those who have been waiting for a big price break in a 1080p television might not have to wait much longer. In the eyes of Sony, the 1080p will soon become yesterday's news, aftermarket stuff. I look for the price point on the 1080p to start dropping and dropping noticeably.

I will conclude with the following. When my wife and I watch a HD movie on our televion in the family room, all it has is a 1080p picture with a kicking surround sound. To me, it is just as good as sitting in a movie theater. The only difference is the tickets are free, there are no cell phones going off, and the popcorn is not quite as good.

 

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