Bye Bye 1080P, YouTube is Now 4K Ready…But When Will We Be?

I guess RED cameras are selling even better than I thought.

YouTube yesterday at VidCon 2010 conference, promises video “that you typically see on 25 foot IMAX screens.” You can watch videos shot in 4K, a resolution of 4096 x 3072, meaning that now Youtube supports original video resolution from 240P all the way up to 4096P.

Back in March of 2009, AMC Entertainment announced that it has reached an agreement to install Sony 4K Digital Cinema Projection systems in all of its theaters across the USA.

Here is another way to think of it, a 4K system results in a picture containing 8.8 million pixels. A 2K system has 2.2 million pixels, and your home HDTV has either 2.1 million (1080p) or 922,000 (720p) pixels.

The  movie below  was shoot on a RED Camera. (I have the playback set at 360P, so everyone can watch it. You can pick to play it back  at 4K by choosing “original” from  the resolution  dropup box. See below for why most likely you are still not watching it in 4K, even when you pick the original resolution setting.)

Here is a  link to a  playlist of YouTube videos which are already available in 4K.

Now watching videos in 4K, even on YouTube, will require ultra-fast high-speed broadband connection.   Plus there is the little problem that the best montiors most of us have access to have a max resolution of 2560 x 1600, like the  Dell UltraSharp 3008WFP 30-inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor.   That monitor sets you back $1599 and can only display 2K video.     So for most of us this move by YouTube is something  we can only really enjoy to the fullest  at theater for now.   Mr. Jobs do you have a 30 inch Retina Display in the works which will bring 4K viewing to more people?