July 9, 2010

YouTube Plays 4K Videos

YouTube added support for playing videos that are bigger than 1080p. "Today at the VidCon 2010 conference, we announced support for videos shot in 4K (a reference resolution of 4096 x 3072), meaning that now we support original video resolution from 360p all the way up to 4096p. To give some perspective on the size of 4K, the ideal screen size for a 4K video is 25 feet; IMAX movies are projected through two 2k resolution projectors," explains YouTube.

There aren't many 4K videos uploaded to YouTube, but you can find some examples in this playlist. To switch to 4K, select "original" from the list of versions that are available. YouTube says that you need an "ultra-fast high-speed broadband connection" and it's probably a good idea to play the videos in fullscreen on a big-screen TV.


For now, the support for 4K videos doesn't mean too much, but it's nice to see YouTube pushing technological boundaries.
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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 9, 2010 at 4:06 PM

    Please! Like YouTube can handle playing videos at 720p. Now it's going to play videos at 4K?

    With my 6.0Mbps connection, I can play full-screen HD video elsewhere on the Web except YouTube.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RonnieJuly 9, 2010 at 5:21 PM

    I thought that 720p for example was talking about the HEIGHT of the picture, and now they call this 4096x3072 for 4K and then uses the same way of describing the size as 4096p... shouldnt it be 3072p ??

    also, 4096x3072 is a 4:3 resolution... so are we moving AWAY from HD standards which is widescreen 16:9... ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. MeowJuly 9, 2010 at 7:11 PM

    Not necessary at all. I wonder when uploaded videos will not lose much quality.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 10, 2010 at 3:59 AM

    one more step turning YouTube into YouTV!

    ReplyDelete
  5. ssj4gogetaJuly 11, 2010 at 7:32 AM

    @above:
    You've got a 4096x3072 TV? :P

    ReplyDelete
  6. JPJuly 11, 2010 at 3:09 PM

    Is there any specified Minimum, Recommended, and Best Performance System Requirements? I'm buying a new PC soon and wanted to know if chips like Intel's I7 980 (6-Core) chip will be able to handle those resolutions. I know I need more like video cards and Ram, but I'm more concerned about the overall specs. Thank Google and or commenter in advance. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousJuly 20, 2010 at 10:46 PM

    @Ronnie:

    It's 4k because that's the traditional term for film resolution [horizontal, not vertical].

    Also, they updated their numbers to 4096 x 2304, not 3072.


    Also, Google's crazy, Flash is too slow to do this on most machines! And then there's the fact that *nothing* on the consumer market that can play this at full resolution [unless Apple makes a retina display the size of a normal monitor].


    Nifty though. Now kill the 10 minute limit.

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  8. Florin SevSeptember 9, 2010 at 11:32 AM

    Great news!
    I just upload my 4K clip on YouTube. Enjoy!
    View in HD or 4K!!!

    4K Timelapse - American Cities

    ReplyDelete

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