I also found Bernard's article interesting, but I suspect that much of the advanced technology he refers to will take a very long time in development before it even approaches the capability of displaying the subtlety of detail one can find in a fine art print.
I've long been interested in the transition from standard definition TV to high definition TV, but the process is taking such an inordinate amount of time, I'm beginning to lose interest.
I recall reading about 30 years ago that the Japanese had developed their own analog HDTV system, but the transmission wasn't compatible with existing standard definition sets.
One could say that the transition from SDTV to HDTV has been going on for at least 30 years and that it's not complete yet by a long shot.
It so happens that I have a very fine, but old-fashioned, German-made Loewe CRT TV set that has a 'tint' control that can be used during PAL transmissions and which allows for very accurate fine-tuning of color hues. The black levels, contrast ratio and flicker-free image quality are superb, yet it's only a standard definition set.
Every time I go shopping, and get the urge to pop into an electronics store to check out the latest plasma and LCD screens on offer, I come away disappointed. I get the unshakable impression that there's no High Definition option that retains the same over all image quality of my old Loewe set. I see lots of garish images with blown highlights, blocked-up shadows and inaccurate hues.
Now I know that this impression may largely be due to the fact that those displays in the store are not calibrated. With a device like the ColorMunki I might be able to get a vast improvement, but the ColorMunki requires a computer to be connected to the display and any calibration profile created resides on the computer (or laptop). Such calibration would definitely be useful for displaying photos, having a slide show for one's guests.
After a bit of research on the net regarding plasma & LCD display quality, I find it is true that these large plasma & LCD displays (40" to 60" diagonal) have not yet caught up with the black levels of a good CRT set. The ones that come closest seem to be the Pioneer Kuro models (kuro being the Japanese word for black).
The latest Pioneer Kuro models are expected in Australia around October, about the same time as the latest Epson wide-format printers that provide reduced ink costs, no ink wastage when switching from matte paper to glossy, and presumably increased gamut and less bronzing compared with my 7600.
New technology can be expensive, but $5,000 for the latest high definition display which, by still photography standards, is not high definition at all, but very low definition, and which doesn't even have the black levels of an old-fashioned TV set of even lower resolution, doesn't seem a great buy to me.
Consider: 1920x1080p is approximately 2mp. Even the cheapest and most basic P&S camera will exceed that resolution. My next DSLR will likely by 24mp.
I'm not aware of any movement to progress beyond the HDTV standard to the next level.
I think Bernard's futuristic scenario is a long way into the future.