In the last decade, both the screen size and the resolution of televisions have dramatically increased, largely due to the economies of scale that were achieved in LCD display panels during that period. The worldwide transition from standard-definition to high-definition resolutions was the driving force creating the market for large-screen televisions. As television screens increased above 40 inches, LCD was the one technology that could scale to the meet consumers’ desire for larger screens at mass market prices.

By 2005, LCD panels with 1920-by-1080 pixels had been introduced to the market, although they garnered a minuscule market share in that first year of production. By 2008, 1080p LCD panels dominated the television market with an over 90% market share. This market transition put high-resolution flat-panel televisions in tens of millions of homes worldwide. This trend has continued, and inexpensive televisions with 1080p LCD panels lead the market by a wide margin.

This drive for larger screens was motivated by consumers’ desire to bring the movie theater experience to their homes. Even with these major advances, the home theater does not bring the fully immersive experience of the modern digital cinema, which now touts 4096-by-2160 (4K) pixel resolutions in a majority for the digital cinema theaters.

As a result of these theater improvements, many TV manufacturers are planning for the next revolution in home theater video quality – increasing television resolution to 3840-by-2160 pixels (2160p). In fact, several consumer electronic companies have already introduced home projectors and televisions at 2160p resolutions.

This new wave of higher resolution televisions should cause another transition in display panels, and a need for new video processing technologies that can reproduce every video resolution with extreme clarity. Marseille has the expertise and technology that can catalyze this new transition to 4K video.