- Mar 10, 2003
- 438
- 23
the 4k tv's have fallen in price dramatically this year, but there is hardly any content. i'll be in the market for one once there is more 4k content.
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id love to watch a show in 4k
basketball :x
Why not wait until they normalize? Want to be the first one on the block to have one? I say just wait.Thinking about getting a new TV soon, even tho my TV is pretty good I keep hearing about this "Ultimate HD" TV thats out there. I don't know much about it but is it worth it for some of you who have it? Do channels even offer 4k?
That article was written by an wannabee tech elitist
Eventually all TVs will be 4K, just as all (or nearly all) of today's TVs are 1080p. That's just how it works. There will be 4K content too, eventually. Wait a year, and the shiny you've got your eye on now will be cheaper, better, and actually able to play back some real 4K content. Save your money.
Lol people are buying curved TVs but calling 4K a gimmick. I haven't looked at any 4K content on my TV yet (cable/internet being installed on Monday) , but if you see 4K in person you know its the truth.
Vizio will bring down the prices of 4K TVs. Copped my 60in P series for 1K.
4K size is just crazy high, I remember trying to download one and it was like 45-50 GB?
I think I'll stick to downloading 1080p films at 4-5 GB each for now.
It's crazy watching 4k content on youtube though.
I think this is my favorite so far:
5. Why 4K?
Ah, now this is an interesting question. It's clear many seem to think TV manufacturers are some sort of altruistic entities that only do new things if there's a benefit to the consumer. How adorable, but no. Ultra HD isn't the "new technology" it appears. Modern TVs are made from huge sheets of "motherglass." From this big piece, companies slice up smaller pieces to make televisions. It's easier (read: cheaper) to make a big piece and cut it into smaller TVs.
Originally this was in case there was a problem with part of the glass, the rest could still be sold as TVs. When you read about "yields" as part of TV manufacturing, this is largely what they're talking about.
But manufacturing has gotten really good, so most of these pieces of motherglass are fully used. Instead of slicing up one piece of motherglass into four 42-inch 1080p LCDs, what if you just kept the whole thing as one piece? What would you have? You'd have an 84-inch TV. Use the exact same (or similar) drive elements/electronics and all the various bits, and you've got a 3,840x2,160-pixel, 84-inch UHD TV. Hey, wait .
You see, TV companies are pushing 4K because they can. It's easy, or at least easier than improving the more important aspects of picture quality (like contrast ratio, color accuracy, motion blur, compression artifacts, and so on ).
6. 4K is easy to market
OK, so 4K is easier to manufacturer than an actual new technology ( OLED ), but there's more to it than that. Ultra HD is an easy sell. It's a number, greater than another number; therefore it's "better." In the confusing world of televisions, simplifying "superiority" down to a single number is marketing gold.
This is just like megapixels on a camera. An 18-megapixel camera does not necessarily take better pictures than a 16-megapixel camera. I guarantee my SLR takes better pictures than a "higher-resolution" point-and-shoot. Numbers are easy to understand, and for nonenthusiasts, distilling a TV down to a single number is desirable. This was rampant in the early days of 1080p. I actually heard people say "I don't know what 1080p is, but I know I'm supposed to want it." And looking at a spec sheet in BigBuy, 1080p is more than 720p, so it's better, right? 4K is an easy sell: it's higher than 1080p.
9. There are bigger issues
My biggest complaint about Ultra HD is what it doesn't address. Resolution is not the most important aspect of picture quality. Nor, as we've discussed, is it even a problem with current picture quality. How about improving contrast ratio, color, and compression artifacts ? These all have a significantly greater effect on picture quality than resolution.
I'll add another problem to the list of things 4K doesn't address: motion resolution. All LCDs suffer from motion resolution problems, in many cases, losing upward of 40 percent of their visible resolution when anything on the screen moves. All announced (and most of the previewed) Ultra HD displays are still just LCDs, with all of that technology's shortcomings . These so-called "next-generation" televisions will still have poor off-axis picture quality and mediocre contrast ratios. They'll likely have poor picture uniformity, too, as many models are edge-lit. True, they all have higher refresh rates, but without motion interpolation, higher refresh rates do little to fix motion blur. If the drop in resolution with current LCDs is any indication (and No. 5 shows it is), these "2160p" TVs will resolve something like 1,296 lines with motion.
Perhaps this is why nearly every demo at CES of 4K and 8K TVs showed slow pans and still images. Check out "What is refresh rate?" for more on motion resolution.
Will some models offer methods to combat motion resolution that don't cause the dreaded Soap Opera Effect, like black frame insertion? Many will, yes, but not all.
10. Ultra HD OLED
Sony and Panasonic previewed 4K OLED TVs at CES last year. Since OLED does address the contrast ratio issue, I have no problem with 4K OLED. When I saw LG 4K OLEDs at the CEDIA Expo, they looked amazing. This is because OLEDs create a better overall picture, regardless of their resolution.
During the CES lest year I tweeted the following:
55-inch 4K or 55-inch OLED? Duh, OLED. 4K is just better tires on an old car. OLED is a whole new car.
12. 4K TV is inevitable
When I first starting pointing out most people didn't need 1080p TVs (in the age of 720p flat panels), I knew -- and said at the time -- that 1080p was inevitable. I was just trying to save people some money. That's all I'm trying to do here. Nothing I say will have any effect on what the corporate giants decide to force on us mortals. I'm just trying to point out that increasing resolution in itself is not the improvement in picture quality it "appears" on paper. I'm trying to point out that even when these TVs come out, your money is better spent elsewhere. What I want is better, cheaper TVs and better picture quality for everyone. So thank you to everyone who made personal attacks against me for pointing out what should be obvious (that your favorite TV company is not your boyfriend).
15. More voices
I'm not the only one talking about this anymore, thankfully.
CNET's own David Katzmaier just wrote Is now the time to buy a 4K TV?.
Check out Chris Heinonen's 4K Calculator to see if you'd benefit from a 4K TV given the size of the TV you're considering, and where you're sitting.
The Wall Street Journal weighed in.
Cinematographer Steve Yedlin (Looper, The Brothers Bloom) wrote an interesting blog post about 4k..
And oh yeah, Consumer Reports did a side-by-side comparison: 4K content on 4K TVs, and the same movie on Blu-ray with a 1080p TVs. They found, "...yes--the 4K films did show a noticeable bump in image detail compared to their HD counterparts. But there's a caveat: These differences were not present on all movies, and were visible only when viewed less than 2 feet from the screen, and even then only on certain scenes. When I moved back about 7 feet from the displays, differences between 4K and HD content were not discernible to any meaningful degree."
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Bottom line
Nothing I say will stop Ultra HD. Look no further than our own CES coverage for proof of that. TV manufactures are smelling margin like blood in the water. This is something they can do, now, and for a profit. So it's happening, whether it's necessary or not. Instead of improving aspects of the image that need fixing, we get 4K because it's easy to do, easy to sell, and easy to demo. Awesome.
So before you jump down my throat for being "anti-technology" or "anti-innovation," understand I just want better picture quality in the home, for less money, and Ultra HD 4K is not the best way to do it.
Got a question for Geoff? First, check out all the other articles he's written on topics like why all HDMI cables are the same, LED LCD vs. OLED, active versus passive 3D, and more. Still have a question?Send him an e-mail! He won't tell you what TV to buy, but he might use your letter in a future article. You can also send him a message on Twitter @TechWriterGeoff or Google+.
If your first post had been more like your last, people would take you more seriously. Try not to sound like such condescending prick.
If your first post had been more like your last, people would take you more seriously. Try not to sound like such condescending prick.
Thanks for the info.
Now I'm sensitive and in my feelings. Ok tough guy.
Do you even read the **** you type?
You look like a clown. Seriously though you obviously have some kind of complex man, you should really think about getting that checked out by a professional.
That's just how he posts. Don't waste your time, bro.