Price breakthrough - 50" Vizio 4K TV with 240Hz refresh rate for less than $1000

This is a big deal - for both producers and consumers of Ultra High Definition content. US-based Vizio is the first of the major manufacturers to break the $1000 barrier with a 50" 4K TV.

They are also the first to deliver a 240Hz refresh rate at this price point - which will reduce or eliminate blur and artifacts.  It is also 802.11ac and H.265 ready for ultra fast, high quality streaming.

Interestingly, this TV does not have 3D capability.  Vizio seems to have made a conscious decision to ditch 3D in favor of higher resolution.   Good riddance, I say.

Announced at CES in January, this milestone TV is now available for pre-order at Amazon.

As with 1080p a few years ago, screen prices will have to continue to come down for more UHD "4K" content providers to come on board - creating a virtuous cycle and driving screen prices down even further.

In this interview on the Verge, Vizio CTO Matt McRae says "One of the things we like to do is drive transitions faster...use disruptive technology to get people technology they thought they couldn't afford..."

Their stated goal is to "get people to transition to an Ultra Hi Def living room quickly".  Specifically, they want to compress the HD to 4K transition from 3-4 years down to 1-2 years.

With YouTube's rollout of 4K delivery in December 2013, Netflix's delivery of House of Cards and Breaking Bad in 4K - and the Weather Channel's recent announcement of conversion to '4K in 4 years', it looks like the Ultra High Definition era is well and truly on its way.

4K Blackmagic Production Camera Workflow Demo!

Courtesy shootonline.com

In what may be a good sign for those who have pre-ordered the Blackmagic Production Camera - here is one of the first sightings "in the wild' since NAB last year!

According to shootonline.com, on January 16th, at the Society of Television Engineers meeting in Burbank, California, workflow specialists LumaForge teamed with Blackmagic Design to demonstrate an "inexpensive" (by broadcast standards) 4K workflow.

Pictured above is the $3995 Production Camera connected, via Thunderbolt, to the new drum-shaped Macbook Pro (starting at $2994)  and a $1999 Seiki 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD TV with a $945 Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Breakout Box.

Blackmagic is really working hard to shake things up in the world of high-end, high resolution image acquisition and processing.  For broadcasters, $10,000 for 4K acquisition, processing, delivery and consumption is a game changer.  It means a significantly lower cost of production and more money on the bottom line.  For indie filmmakers, this means a much lower cost of entry to projection-quaiity 4K theatrical production.

For the rest of us, it means there are going to be a lot of used 1080p "cinema" cameras on the market soon. Used C100 or F3, anyone?