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Redray 4K player now shipping, UHDTV not included
4K televisions are all the rage right now, but they're still dogged by a slight problem: where's the content? Red has taken one step to rectify that, as it's finally started shipping it's Redray media player, which can send a native 4K (4,096 × 2,160) or up-converted HDTV signal to your UHDTV. It uses wavelet compression tech to play 4:2:2, 12-bit video over a relatively miniscule 2.5MB/s pipe, allowing up to 60 fps 4K video in 3D from a hard drive, USB key or other source. Red will also offer online 4K content via its Odemax.com network, though there's no word yet on when that'll launch. Meanwhile, those who pre-ordered the player for $1,450 last year (it's now $1,750 at Red's store) should be receiving it soon, along with an iOS app to control it, pending Apple's say-so. As for the Redray laser projector -- also promised earlier this year starting at $10,000 -- there's still no word on when it'll grace our eyes. Update: The original headline said Redray projector, but it's the Redray player that's shipping.
Redray 4K Cinema Player is ready to pre-order: $1,450 for high-res, high framerate home viewing
We got a peek at Red's Redray 4K Cinema Player and Projector back in April at NAB, but now you can bring the player portion of it to your own home very soon. You'll need to bring your own 4K Ultra HD display but for $1,450 you can pre-order a unit capable of native 4,096 × 2,160 or 3,840 x 2,160 video playback (in .RED file format) and upscaling. It connects to 4K displays via one HDMI 1.4 port or 4 HDMI 1.3 ports, with an additional HDMI jack needed to push 7.1 audio. It's even ready for the new high framerate 3D video that we'll see debut at theaters with The Hobbit. There's no mention of the Red Laser Projector yet, so you'll have to BYO 4K display, which right now would probably mean something by LG or Sony. To get content home Red is also launching its nationwide fiber-based Odemax.com over-the-top distribution network. Red co-owner Jarred Land calls it the "only comprehensive distribution solution for 4K," with built-in DRM, sales and analytics tools. He goes on to say that the Redray player will begin shipping at the end of December, with volume shipping promised in Q1 2013. A new RRencoder plugin for the Redcine-X viewer will launch in mid-December for converting external footage to the .RED format, and finally Odemax is scheduled to come online in January in time for the Sundance film festival. Check for more details after the break, plus a few more pics and a press release with all the specs.
REDray 4K cinema laser projector and player eyes-on (video)
There's no better way to control the visual experience from shoot to show than to create the camera and the projector. That's likely the thinking behind the REDray, the 4K laser cinema projector making an appearance at the company's NAB booth today. The device supports 2D and passive 3D (up to 120fps in 3D mode), with 4K projection for each eye and has a rated laser life of over 25,000 hours. While the device itself is likely to be hidden behind glass in an elevated projector room, the REDray has the same industrial look and feel of its Scarlet and Epic capturing counterparts, with a solid matte metal construction, heavy duty bolts and dedicated access panels for the lens filter, the laser phase adjustment oscillator and the angular refraction aberration indexer. There's also a T1.8 50mm lens mounted up front, sufficiently completing the beautifully monstrous package. Also on display was the tablet-controlled REDray Player, which includes four HDMI 1.4 video outputs with 7.1-channel audio output, the ability to move 4K video to the internal hard drive and an SD reader for ingesting content. You'll also find dual gigabit Ethernet ports, along with USB and eSATA connectors. The projector experience is much less about the hardware than it is the projections themselves, which certainly did a justice here -- especially considering the imaging device's mid-development status. During a screening of the 3D short Loom, which was shot with the RED Epic, images looked fantastic with accurate color and excellent dynamic range, allowing us to see every detail in a contrasty dark scene, where we were able to make out a very dimly lit female actress. The projection was incredibly sharp on the 24-inch foot screen, despite the film being displayed with 2K for each eye, rather than the maximum 4K. There will be two versions of the REDray projector, including a home theater flavor that supports screens up to 15 feet in size that'll ring in at under $10,000, and a professional model with support for larger venues. RED CEO Jim Jannard confirmed that the home-bound version will ship sometime this year, though he was unable to provide a more precise ship date. We weren't permitted to record video during the screening -- which is for the best, considering that there's really no way to do this thing justice -- but you can still flip through the gallery below for an early look at REDray.
RED teases 4K REDray player and projector for the theater / millionaire set
We don't deny our unhealthy love for RED's gear, so just imagine the look on our poor-but-aspiring faces when Jim Jannard teased a 4K laser projector coming this year. Now the spec-list is out, we can see that the subtly branded REDray Laser will display 2D or 3D for passive glasses at up to 120fps, while lasting over 25,000 hours and costing less than $10,000. At the same time, there are more details on REDRay, a compatible player that'll throw out 4K content from its internal HD, SD cards or flash media. Wish list. Added.
RED blows away small room of videophiles with 4k RED RAY footage at half the bitrate of MiniDV
While RED has been pretty tight-lipped about its planned RED RAY product, some footage shown off at RED's NAB party gave a sizable hint that RED RAY could be much more than meets the eye -- specifically a $1,000 device that can play cinema-quality 4k video off of standard DVDs. At the party they played an uncompressed showreel of 4k footage on a Sony 4k projector, which clocked in at 1.3GB per second, and then showed that exact same footage under the "RED RAY" codec at a mere 10Mb/s (megabits, not bytes; about half the bitrate of SD DV), at a compression rate of 700:1. Attendees claimed they could see zero visible compression, though a projector in a ballroom isn't exactly the best case scenario to test that sort of thing. Unfortunately, there's little other info about how they're achieving this (we hear "wavelets" come into the equation at some point), or to what nefarious aims, but with compression like this the implications for content distribution are pretty stunning: 1080p+ streaming for all. Naturally, the down side of all of this is probably some pretty hefty processing power on the consumer end, but we'll cross that I/O bridge when we come to it.[Thanks, Ben H]
RED keeps it coming with the RED RAY disk drive
RED's trifecta of hot new gear announcements at NAB wrapped up with the RED RAY optical disk drive, which promises to play back 4K video from the RED ONE, 3K video from the new Scarlet and the usual assortment of HD formats from RED Disc and RED Express media, as well as native R3D RAW files from CompactFlash. 5K video from the new EPIC isn't supported, though. As with all of RED's announcements today, specs are promised to change, but the clever name of the drive has us thinking that it's based on Blu-ray -- we'll keep digging for details.
