This looks like a nice one to own:

http://www.hdelite.eu/en/

upscaling to 4k resolution
usb powered
What's next

Price seems to be reasonable.
Might be interesting if one doesn't have an upscaling receiver.

Think about it... having a composite or S-video plug upscaling to hdmi in one single cable!
you could input composite or S-Video into a switching unit (or dvdo , lumagen whatever) and output the signal hdmi wise...
I'm sure there are several ways to prove it's use.

I love the idea

It certainly "looks cool." But these a very expensive HDMI cables. Unless your getting signal loss it really doesn't matter what kind of HDMI cable you are using. I would get one for $3 from monoprice. As for the scaler. Invest in a good scaler. They don't mention the scaler chip and considering the price range they are probably using something really cheap. The problem with these cables is that it's way too expensive for a simple HDMI cable and way to cheap to be a good scaler.

I would not recommend. For a simple HDMI cable, look at monoprice. For a good upscaler to 4K for blu-rays, I would look at the higher end Oppo players. For laserdiscs, even going to 1080p is already a significant up scaling and going to 4K is going to start introducing a lot of artifacts or simply won't make a difference due to low native resolution.

I'm waiting for UHD blu ray player(s)
Panasonic is planning on getting these available by the end of this year.

First ones around are going to be expensive I and are going to be outdated soon. Think HDDVD or first gen Blu Ray players... no onboard decoders etc.... always a mess these first gen machines. Not to mention the loading speeds.

I own an upscaling (4K) Panasonic Blu Ray player these days. Does a great job do far. nothing too fancy, I'm not investing in any "high end" gear right now with UHD around the corner. Gave Oppo some thinking, decided to wait for UHD playback.
Watched Fury (mastered in 4K) last week. It's breathtaking to watch. Detail and colours are superb.
Curious to see what UHD is going to reveal next.

The upscaling hdmi cable could be useful for cable tv to me. I hate 1080i 50hz actually.


Was thinking about routing my Telenet box trough the receiver but the marantz only does " 4K " upscaling when it's ON. I don't watch tv surrounded anyway
I use diff. picture settings on my Panasonic display when using the Telenet Box straight into the 2nd hdmi port on my tv . The Marantz receiever only has basic limited picture settings.
That's why the hdmi upscaling cable looks interesting to me. I can't imagine it being absloute rubbisch anyway.
At that price won't be too much of a dissapointment anyway

In all honesty, I have not been very excited about 4K at all. For one simple reason, there is no content. Scaling doesn't magically make things look better, ultimately the original content is where the data is and unless they come up with an entirely new format (which I seriously doubt will happen in the next few years) 4K is more of a selling gimmick. Actually, it's already a gimmick with that "4K" labeled blu-ray's they have been selling. And let's not forget that probably about 1% of viewers have a large enough TV size to viewing distance to actually perceive 4K anyway. I don't know anybody that has a 60" 4K TV and sits 3 feet away.

Unfortunately, misleading branding such "digital" Imax, 240 hz refresh rates (for 24 fps content), 4K blu-ray, and currently even 4K TV's which do not have any content available will ultimately back fire for the manufactures. Sure, it's something nice to have on your machine, but I view it as a minor bonus, not a "must have feature." And certainly not something that I would pay a large premium for at this point.

Lets give it some time. It is true there is a great chance it wont stick. Early adopting is risky.

Here are the benefits of 4k.

- 4k is a good match digital representation of 35mm film. For the forst time we will have near 1:1 match to original master at our homes. 65/70mm films require 8k scans but there is only about 70 films ever shot in the format. Vast majority is 35mm or less. Some newer films are shot in 4k digital which will be a direct copy.

-4k bd will support rec.2020 color space and 10 bit. All 4k scans so far are in d3 or dci color space(less than rec2020) but more than current rec709. So there will be significantly more colors than anything today and potential to have even more colors if they start to grade films in rec2020.

-current video is encoded in 8bits. This gives 256 shades for each color. 10 bit gives 1024 shades. This is significantly more gradual transitions. No more banding on blue/grey skies!

- higher refresh rates are allowed.(up to 4k60 or 1080p120)You can watch the hobbits in its native 48fps. I am sure more films will follow.

- ht guru joe kane said that it is much easier to color grade when you work with high color spaces. The mistakes happen when you have step d3 down to rec. 601 for example. On 4k bd you can literally copy master scan to 4k bd without color grading or down scaling. Potentially we can have 1:1 copies. In lesser formats like bd and dvd, you need to adopt colors are that are on the master which is d3 , to rec.709 which those colors dont exist. This creates issues.

I agree. There is great potential for higher resolution formats, more robust color spaces, higher frame rates, etc... My point is that all these technologies have to come together to be worthwhile and not just a gimmick. Want to take advantage of 4K, that's great. You need a big TV, you need to sit really close, and you need 4K content. Right now most people have access to 1 of these 3 parameters that would make 4K worth it. Sitting 12 ft back from a 42" 4K set playing an upscaled 1080p Blu-ray is not "the 4K experience". If you look at advertisements, they make it seem like 4K is already here. They have the label plastered on the TV (but without viewing distance instructions), a 4K sticker on a 1080p Blu-ray, and no current actual 4K content readily available. Hence, it's currently a gimmick. In 10 years with the next format out, who knows, maybe it will be a reality. But as of today 4K is nothing more than a "premium" that is used to move TV's and Blu-rays on the sales floor. It unfortunately has very little to do with getting the next level of video performance.

True gimmick but not entirely dishonest. They are labeled mastered from 4k. They do have higher bitrate and coming from better masters are significantly better looking. They are still 1080p only of course.

New 4k discs are uhd-bd that is ultra hd bluray. They are scheduled to be released this holiday season(q4/2015). There is already a panasonic prototype player. You need a tv with hdmi2 and hdcp2.2 which can show 4k60 10bit in d3 color to take full advantage. These sets today exist.


It definitelly warrants 70" or bigger tv for viewing distance of 6-8 feet. 80" and up is even better. 4k with dolby atmos audio is truely a different league of experience. I cant wait to watch a film like interstellar or gravity on a 12' screen in 4k with 13.1ch barco aora/ dolby atmos. I know most homes will not accommodate such setup but for those who can it is nice its out there

It will be great once 4K will be the standard as I am generally an early adopter. Frankly, I am a little less excited about 1080p to the 4K jump than when we went from DVD to blu-ray. This comes down to the fact that you really need to be sitting close to the screen (or have a huge screen) to appreciate the difference between 1080p and 4K. The vast minority of people are sitting close enough to their TV right now to appreciate 1080p, so 4K is going to be an ultra minority advantage. I would be surprised if more than 10% of TV's in the US right now have seating positions that would be able to discern 1080p with 20/20 vision. You also talk about color depth and other important attributes of a new format. Let's not forget that probably less than 3% of all TV's ever get a good calibration. That means all that extra fidelity is essentially lost on all but us enthusiasts.

When the technology is readily available and the format is established, I will have to take a close look of whether I want to invest in all new equipment. As of today, it's a definite no.