Look, we wouldn't want to be paused for your wicked, Quad HD amusement either. But seeing such a vivid demo on JVC's 4K2K (4,096 x 2,400), super high definition LCD as we strolled through IFA's digital playground reminded us of something: maybe not everything looks better in Quad HD. Think about it before you hustle on over to Japan for Panasonic's 150-inch Quad HD set next year.

All juvenility aside, the image above was created using JVC's "soon to arrive" ultra high-definition player attached over dual-link DVI to the 4k2k display. The video uses MPEG-4AVC compression to convert the 6Gbps original 4K source into 50Mbps. More pics in the gallery below.

Although it's impossible to tell without another object in the display box, that's Panasonic's 150-inch TV up there -- here at IFA, intimidating its neighbors. Now get this: this massive plasma sporting a 2,160 X 4,096-pixel (4 times 1080p) Advanced HD display will hit the assembly lines just as soon as Panny's newest factory comes on-line in the May 2009 timeframe. At the moment, the single 150-inch sheet of glass is hand-made and fitted into four of these behemoths currently touring the world. That means 150-inches of goodness could be yours before the year is up. College shmollege, this is quad HD!

Bargain alert! No need to liquidate every asset you own to bring home (wherever "home" would end up being) one of Sharp's 108-inch LCD HDTVs, as Westinghouse has just announced that its 56-inch D56QX1 Quad HD display will be on sale as of this month for half of that. Yeah, we've seen it (along with its 52-inch sibling) around forever, but we're thrilled to hear that a handful of affluent aficionados will finally have the pleasure of watching one in their 4,800 square foot den.

[Via TG Daily]

Samsung's stream of 82-inch monsters packing the company's latest technology continues unabated, this time a minor update to the QuadHD behemoth we saw at CES brings so-outdated 120Hz motion processing and LED backlighting to keep blur and judder far, far away. We know what you're thinking, its 3840x2160 resolution is no good unless you can write on it, luckily Samsung also has an 82-inch ultra high definition e-Board in its SID 2008 booth. OLED fans take heart, Samsung has reached economies of scale, hopefully meaning reasonably priced (and longer lasting) thin screens are due sooner instead of later. The Korea Times notes LG's at the show as well, showcasing LCD roll-printing technology to replace the photolithography process that currently births the flat panels on our walls, but we simply can't be bothered with a company that's only the number two LCD manufacturer in the world.

[Via TV Snob]

If you thought a 4K x 2K resolution was a bit much for an 82-inch display, imagine what 3,840 x 2,160 pixels looks like on a 56-incher. Astro Systems is apparently gearing up to launch the DM-3400 to appease the "needs" (read: extravagant desires) of its digital cinema and broadcast studio clients, and by the looks of it, we doubt it'll have any issues accomplishing that. This bad boy also supports four channels of DVI and HD-SDI for some of that quad-view action, and there's even contrast, gamma and brightness adjustments for each RGB channel. Unfortunately, we've no idea how much coinage this beast will demand, but there's little no doubt that this is one of those "if you have to ask..." type scenarios.

[Via StudioDaily]

1080p and QuadHD / 4K can take a step back, the Japanese government has announced plans to bring Super Hi-Vision (a.k.a. Ultra High Definition) to life as a broadcast standard by 2015. With its 33 megapixel (7,680 x 4,320) resolution and 22.2 channel surround sound, challenges so far have included building a camera that can record it, and equipment to transfer the 24Gbps uncompressed stream. Fortunately, some forward thinker in Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry -- that we are strongly considering as a write in candidate for the presidential elections -- is beginning a joint project with private companies to make this happen, beginning with a research investment of about $2.7 million this year alone. If you're still confused as to how much more res this is than anything you currently own, check out the handy chart after the break.

Samsung can join Hitachi while crying into their sake as its 52-inch "thinnest non-OLED HDTV ever" is around 4x as thick as Pioneer's 9mm heroin-chic Kuro. Take heart Sammy, because your 82-inch -- and btw, what is with the 82-inch obsession (2005 & 2006 CES), we need to talk about that -- Quad HD display is like looking out of a window, if we had bigger and cleaner windows. Check out the gallery to see what we mean.

We promise this post isn't just a cheap excuse to drool over Halo 3 -- no, no -- this post is a cheap excuse to drool over Crysis running at native resolution. Westinghouse got smarter this year and made its two Quad HD LCDs on display a more prominent attraction in the booth, showing off 47-inch and 56-inch models. For those who haven't been keeping score, the 56-inch display is running at 3840 x 2160 Quad Full HD resolution (think 8.3 million pixels is enough for ya?) -- its little brother runs at 2560 x 1440 Quad HD and 3.7 million pixels. Both of these units are going to be released this year in Q2 ("March or April"), but you'll have to part with $10,000 to pick up the 47-inch and a whopping $50k to take home the 56-inch. The rep we spoke with mentioned they obviously weren't targeting consumers with these things so much as engineers, architects, visual imaging and editing professionals and production studios, and medical and geological professionals, as well as mining companies who've shown interest in the technology. We fully concede there's no rational way to justify shelling out 50 grand for one of these things but damn, it doesn't stop us from wanting one at Engadget HQ.

Following in the footsteps of so many others that have come before it, Gateway is finally introducing a 30-inch display of its own, and it's tooting its own horn all the while. Notably, the firm claims that its XHD3000 is the "world's first Quad-HD display" -- which we're sure more than a few outfits would dispute -- and the 2,560 x 1,600 resolution mimics that found on monitors offered up by Apple, Dell, Samsung and HP. The screen does utilize the Silicon Optix Realta HQV video processor, and it also offers up a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 brightness, a six-millisecond refresh rate and 178-degree viewing angles. Moreover, buyers will find a plethora of ports on the rear including HDMI, VGA, DVI, two component inputs, composite, S-Video, six USB 2.0 sockets and a variety of audio connections. It's up for grabs right now for $1,699.

Just when you thought you had a handle on HDMI 1.3, along comes a new sub-class of HDMI switches supporting (are you ready for it?) HDMI 1.3a Category 2, otherwise known as HDMI 1.3 High-Speed. Learn it, live it. Accell's UltraAV 2-port switch supports a 1440p (2560 x 1440) resolution and 10.2Gbps (340MHz) high-speed data transfer without the need of an external power supply. Sure, there aren't any 1440p sets out there yet, but they're coming, as are those 2160p Quad HD monsters. Sorry, no launch date specifics. We only know that it'll cost $99 and receive a proper unveiling in early September at the CEDIA Expo. Of course, you'll still have to find content and a source to pump that superior resolution but this is all about "future proofing" which often has little to do with rational thinking.

In the all hype that built up before CES this year we were really excited to check out the Quad HD display from Westinghouse. We went by the Westinghouse booth to check it out, the odd thing was the display was in the back of the booth and not marked very well. After receiving some help we found the display with some scientific data showing. Other than industrial uses we're not sure what we would use this 52" display with a resolution of 3840 x 2160. It would take one good scaler to scale the image that big.