Hotel megazine- Technology: Entertainment

TECHNOLOGY: ENTERTAINMENT

4K screens promise a much more vivid and lifelike picture than alternatives.

PICTUREPERFECT

Ultra-highdefinition 4K TVs are the next big thing in the screen market. Whether they make sense for hotels is a much trickier question.

contributed by BRENDAN MANLEY

AS

the latest entry into the premium TV market, 4K televisions represent the next generation in entertainment through ultra-high-definition viewing, but the day when that experience delights the average consumer — let alone the hotel guest — is still a considerable distance away. According to experts,

time will tell whether the technology becomes the next 1080p, at least for the hotel business.

For starters, in many cases hotels have only recently upgraded to 720p or 1080p HDTVs. The industry has barely even embraced 3D TV — another socalled entertainment game-changer

— let alone the current embryonic wave of 4K product that just debuted at this year’s HITEC. “From the hospitality perspective, it hasn’t really come on the radar,” says Derek Wood, managing director and principal consultant at Derek Wood Associates, Bristol, England.

www.hotelsmag.com November 2014 HOTELS

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Technology: EntErtainmEnt

“Everybody is kind of standing back to see how it goes.”

Generally

what you have to consider is that

[the price of a 4K tV] is

coupled with a premium desiGn,

so there’s a significant premium

at this point. we are, however, seeinG the cost curve

continue to decline.

– RichaRd Lewis, LG

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HOTELS November 2014 www.hotelsmag.com

Viewing is believing Offering greater color depth and some 4,000 pixels of resolution (roughly four times that of a 1080p TV), 4K TVs provide what’s broadly called an ultra-highdefinition TV (UHDTV) picture. The technology is intended for larger screens — at least 49 inches (124 cm) — since the increase in pixel quality is indiscernible on smaller sets. The first-generation 4K TVs also frequently incorporate highquality casing designs.

“The major attractiveness for a hotelier would be the picture — the pixel density’s much higher, so it gives a much more vivid and lifelike picture,” says Richard Lewis, vice president of B2B research and technology for LG. “But also, there’s a great convergence of a fantastic picture with these high-end, outstanding industrial designs.”

With smaller-sized screens, a TV stand or swing-mount on an armoire or credenza often works well in a hotel room, but not so with the larger 4K designs.

They generally perform best when wallmounted, but the requisite planning isn’t for naught: reportedly they offer stunning clarity even when watching from a close distance, like a hotel bed.

“With the 720p display, if you’re sitting close to a large screen, you might see the pixel structure, so it didn’t really give you that lifelike feeling,” Lewis explains.

“With 1080p and moving into 4K, you’re seeing a much denser pixel structure.

The big screens look more lifelike, even though you might be sitting closer.”

New 4K TVs and other ultra-HD-type sets are also increasingly integrating flexible screens, which may curve at the sides to create a wraparound effect in one’s field of vision. These designs are then paired with surround sound and responsive lighting to create a high level of sensory immersion. It all sounds fairly leading edge, but purveyors assert the lowered costs that will follow mass production of 4K TVs mean affordable ubiquity for these sets in the future. For now, they simply remain too pricey for most.

“Generally what you have to consider is that it’s coupled with a premium design, so there’s a significant premium at this point,” Lewis says. “We are, however, seeing the cost curve continue to decline.”

The content conundrum At the moment, if the 4K TV’s price tag doesn’t scare off buyers, the lack of programming most likely will. Experts say it will be a real ongoing problem obtaining 4K content, and although some key players have started exploring the format, there’s currently very little offered.

“The raw availability of programming is really thin at this point,” says Robert Cole, president and founder of RockCheetah, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. “Who are you going to tie your horses to for getting that content?

With a hotel, you get roped into agreements … I think that’s going to be interesting for the hotels to deal with, because it’s really bleeding-edge.”

Although the major cable companies have been oddly quiet on this front, sources indicate satellite provider

Technology: EntErtainmEnt

DirecTV has started work on 4K content (DirecTV declined comment for this story), while Netflix has already entered the fold, offering ultra-HD versions of all 62 episodes of TV series “Breaking Bad” as well as movies “Smurfs 2,” “Ghostbusters” and “Ghostbusters 2” in the United States. It’s a fringe proposition for now: Netlfix estimates it only has a few thousand subscribers currently capable of viewing the 4K content.

Plus, for hotels, even if the content existed, present-day data networks would likely have significant issues accommodating the bandwidth requirements of a signal four times denser than 1080p, multiplied by however many guestrooms. Future infrastructure would need to significantly adjust.

“Although you may have a fiber infrastructure in the hotel — and if you haven’t, forget it — it doesn’t even mean you can automatically run [4K],” Wood says. “You need the switches capable of switching 4K, and you need the bandwidth. If you had something big that everyone wanted to watch in 4K, it could bring your network down.”

It all goes back to the content conundrum, too, since you’d need to know the 4K programming was out there before massive required bandwidth upgrades would even be utilized. Some observers wonder when, if at all, there would be a return on such a potentially expensive refitting.

“How do you plan for peak capacity without going broke? That’s the problem,” Cole says. “I think it also does get back to the programming availability.

You go, ‘Okay, we figured out how to get [4K] to all the rooms,’ and there’s not

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really any 4K programming out there, so people aren’t really watching it. Is there a revenue stream associated with it? I don’t see in-room movies coming back.”

Trendsetters Residential networks will be first to be put to the 4K test. Early consumer adoption of the 4K TV — the first step in the chain — has already begun; Lewis says LG will have its 4K line available in the commercial market in 2015. From there, he anticipates speedy growth and rising popularity, with 4K TVs being comparable in price to 1080p sets within the next two to three years.

Lewis says, “I don’t think we’re talking a long adoption curve, because I think what you’re going to see is much of what happened with 1080p [when it surpassed 720p]: the manufacturing process just becomes more mature, so there’s no reason to make a 1080p panel that’s, say, 55 inches (140 cm), and a 4K panel that’s 55 inches, because they end up costing the same. And who really wants to buy the 1080p panel when for the same cost it’s available in ultra-high definition?”

That conversation may eventually extend to hotels, too, when investing in 4K TVs is finally worth it to wow guests — if ever. But for now, it looks like only the world’s most exclusive properties would likely explore the upgrade.

“I recently finished a very large 5-star resort in Turkey, and it wasn’t even mentioned as a possibility when we were looking at the TVs,” Wood notes. “If it gets into hospitality, I think it will only be the very high-end hotels that consider it for their best rooms and suites.”

Residential netwoRks

will be first to be put to the 4K test.

Early consumEr adoption of thE

4k tV has alReady begun,

and lG will havE its 4K linE availablE in thE commErcial marKEt in

2015.

4K tVs may become

compaRable in pRice to 1080p sets within thE nExt two to thrEE yEars.