Although the ground still hasn't settled around HD DVD's grave yet, some companies are already hard at work at replacing 1080p HDTV (on which Blu-ray is based) with even higher resolution devices.
One such device, Panasonic's new 150" Plasma screen shown off at the recent CES, uses a quad-1080p panel (3840x2160). The 8' tall by 10' wide screen should hit the market in 2009, with an estimated price in the $100,000+ range. That price doesn't include construction costs for the room you would have to build around the new set.
At the same show, Westinghouse showed off their own 52" LCD monitor that also operates at a native 3840x2160. No word on street date yet, but rumor is the device will sell for a 'mere' $15,000.
But before you rush out to buy a new "quad-HD" set, however, be prepared for it too to be put to shame by an upcoming Japanese standard being developed by NHK. Under authority granted by the Japanese Communications Ministry, NHK has been working on a new "Super Hi-Vision" standard for a few years now, with plans to market the new system by 2015. The "Super Hi-Vision" specifications call for 7680x4320 resolution and 22.2 channel surround sound... which I'm fairly sure means it will look and sound far better than anything you could see or hear in real life.
NHK has made some amazing advances, getting the 24Gbps video stream compressed down to 180-600Mbps. By comparison the max video transfer rate of Blu-ray is 40Mbps. So, I guess we can all look forward to another format war between "Super Blu-Holographic Discs" and "Super Awesome holographic HD DVD" in about 10 years time.
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