The Future of High Bandwidth Streaming: 4K, 5G and “Ultra HD”

The big story as technology improves always seems to come back down to bandwidth and resolution. Recent years have seen increases in video resolution to so called “SuperHD” versions such as 1080p. But the most recent trend is towards something called “Ultra HD.” One of the variations of this is known as “4K” which has 4000 pixels, meaning it’s 4 times higher definition than the current 1080p HD versions. Since streaming sites seems to be the way of the future, a question remains about just how long it will be before sites that currently stream in HD will make the changeover to Super HD and 4k streaming.

Early Adopters

Netflix is an example of a service that’s already made the transition to Super HD last January with shows like House of Cards . There are additional rumors that Netflix may already be looking to upgrade to 4K streaming with that show later in the year. So one of the first 4k streaming shows may already be on the brink of coming out. It has been confirmed that the show was shot in 4K, so it’s certainly possible for it to be streamed that way if Netflix I sable to get the tech out in time.

5G

In other bandwidth news, some companies are already announcing 5G capability. Samsung recently announced that it’s 5G will be “several hundred times” faster than 4G. Obviously this hasn’t been confirmed as of yet with any kind of certainty, but this is exactly the kind of news we would need to hear in order for the future of Ultra HD s streaming to really take off. After all, with that kind of extreme bandwidth requirement, you’ll need companies that can handle it in order to get you your Ultra HD on your remote device.

Ultra HD

Even beyond 4k HD is the 8K HD which has 8 times the resolution of the standard 1080p HD TV. YouTube is also rolling out some 4K Ultra HD options for monitors that can handle it. Overall, it’s pretty likely that we are looking at the future of television when we look at Ultra HD. It’s every much a trend just as HD was over the standard definition (SD) monitors, and just as much as the 1080p Super HD were over HD. As technology continues to accelerate in its advancement rate, it’s becoming more and more of a wild ride for manufacturers and consumers alike to keep pace.

 

Sohail Qaisar

Sohail Qaisar is the Founder and Managing Editor of GamesHT.com, he founded this site in 2011. He loves to write on video games, tech & hardware. Contact him on this email address: contact@gamesht.com

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