Sad State of 4K [TVs] (article)

For anyone on the fence about whether to purchase a 4K set yet:
http://www.computerworld.com/articl...inting-and-frustrating-state-of-4k-video.html

In short: give it a year or two before you even consider it. My personal feeling is unless your TV is 85"+ why bother at all?

EDIT: his comment about the IMAX image being near photorealistic is a strange one. Umm, of course an image taken with a camera is photorealistic.

 

Well, if it's just 4k by itself, you probably shouldn't bother. But these days 4k is also augmented by HDR and wide gamut color, and these things really do make a difference, especially with OLED displays. HDR + wide color sources are still in their infancy, therefore I wouldn't be upgrading unless I absolutely had to, but these features will become increasingly important in the coming months and years.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Haven't read the article yet but just got done shopping for a 40-43" tv. After some pretty intense comparing with a tv signal, I ended up with the top of the line non-4k Samsung . They don't seem to have the up conversion stuff worked out yet for regular television broadcasts.
Tv's seem to be in a sorry state of affairs because the manufacturer's want to sell you technology instead of a decent television viewing experience. And everything of any quality seems to be in the big sizes only. Sony has totally dropped the ball on anything in a smaller size.

 

Wait for 8K

 

The irony is that 8K exists already. (Japan)

 

I bought a new TV last week and had been considering 4K, as well as Android sets. Opted for last year's Sony KDL-40W705C, which is an LED screen, but no Android or 4K option. Delighted with the picture, which is excellent. Too little 4K content and it's an emerging technology. Maybe in five years when it's really bedded in. Android on TVs is interesting, but buggy at the moment I hear. Again, one to watch, just not literally for now!

 

Hopefully what this means is really great 1080p sets will have great bargains from here on out.

 

Yup. Mine certainly was. Think it had had good reviews last year, maybe an award or two, but the 40" model was just £380. Great picture and a very fine UI as well. Plenty more bargains out there to be had too I think.

 

As a former doubter of 4k, this guy is mistaken on a few points.
First off the curved screen Samsung he describes as "basically the best you can find" is flat out wrong.
The model he listed is several steps below the flagship Samsung 9500.
The LG OLED is the acknowledged best of right now, albeit for $5k.
None of the AV guys I know, and I know quite a few, including myself want anything to do with curved-screens.
They will go by the wayside.
The fact of the matter is, if you are in the market for a new flat panel there is no reason NOT to buy a 4k set.
If you don't have a need for a new set, there is no reason to run out and buy one unless you are an early adopter with spare cash.
Despite what the author said, a lot more 4k content is on the very near horizon.
Will it be perfect? No. Will it be better than 1080? It already is.
Providers have learned a lot from streaming 1080 content.
If you are in the market for TV now, you need to pay attention to several key features.
Is the set HDR and wide-gamut capable and do the HDMI inputs support the highest version of the spec and the latest copy-protection protocol.
Sure some of the apps have kinks etc., but you have to remember that these sets are processor controlled and are updated just like your PC.
You're not necessarily stuck with the apps or versions of the apps that come with the set.

One of the things that I feel will take awhile to get to is broadcast 4k. A lot of local affiliates just paid off or are still paying off the conversion to HD.
But as with anything else, a year or 2 can make a big difference.

As with anything else, if you are in the market for a new flat panel, do your research and take your time.
Figure out what features are important and what are important to you.
Just my 12 centavos.

 

This article is no surprise. An author sets up 4K hardware and is disappointed with the lack of support for it.

If you buy a 4K set today, you're going to be limited on content and you're still an early adopter. As much as I'd love to upgrade this season, no thanks.

 

I'm waiting, basically until my current panel dies. And....since my current model is <50", don't really think I'll be able to appreciate the upgrade.

 

4k is clearly better,and you can tell on much smaller sets ,this tool is in a long line of guys who don't really know what they are talking about

 

Which model did you buy specifically?

 

My wife just bought a 40" Samsung UHD set to replace our 32" bedroom set. We went with UHD not because content is currently available, but for future-proofing. Also, its Smart features seem pretty smooth. She wanted to be able to stream Netflix and Hulu w/out having a separate BD player attached, and it works fine for that. I found a few 4K clips on Youtube. Netflix charges $4 extra per month for 4K, but they only have a handful of titles available, so we took a pass on that for now. I wonder if that author of that article realizes he has to pay extra for the 4K content.

 

Not to crap on your decision but I think the point is the tech is too new at this point to be futureproofed; they're still working out the standards. But it's good that someone around here actually has it. Let us know how it works out.

 

I love my 4K! Not a lot of content, sure, but when there is content it looks great! And at normal viewing distances I can usually tell the difference between 1080 and 4K.

For the most part, I don't think I'd pay much more for 4K over 1080, but I was in the market for a new tv. I thought since 4K was the newest thing I'd be able to get a great deal on a 1080... I was wrong, for an extra $150 I went with the 4K. Very happy with the decision.

 

I jumped on the 720p/1080p bandwagon pretty quickly - high def screens, lighter than their tube-based counterparts. It seemed like a total win/win, especially with the onset of Blu-ray/HD DVD and later the ability to simply connect a PC to the HDMI input.

But I don't "get" the 3D and now 4K formats yet. I'm still happy with 1080p TV. Maybe when the old TV eventually dies on me I'll do 4K, but I'm in no rush right now.

 

Kind of ironic, how I'm fine with my 1080p RCA 22 inch widescreen. And I'm perfectly happy with my 26 year old (Yes, 26, manufactured in April of 1989) RCA 24 inch wooden TV, it can compete with any other new TV in the SD department. I've never understood 4K and 3D, I've tried to watch 3D TVs, before, and my eyes got sore within just a few minutes, and 4K is also weird, especially on YouTube, since 95% of devices that have YT on them can't manage to go above 1080p at 30 FPS, and mobile devices only go to 720p last time I checked.

 

I suppose I'd buy a 4k set if they cost the same as 1080p ones.

 

Rogers Communications Inc. seems to think it's the "next big thing".

 

Of course it is, in that consumers will have no choice on what is manufactured. The issue is whether or not it's time to adopt while the consumer still has a choice. What bothers me most is some companies are already trying to manufacture 8K TVs before 4K is even adopted.

 

Do 4K TVs using LCD screens* still include that motion-interpolation system - that most 1080p LCD sets use now - that gives film-based material a strange/crystalline/artificial look i.e. the "soap opera video" look?


* this includes LCD-equipped models with an "LED" label - this just means an LED light source is used to illuminate the LCD screen

 

I find this to be an incredible statement because Samsung in particular is well known for the quality of their processing engines (which includes HQ upscaling). Perhaps your settings aren't well chosen or the source signal reaching your TV is so horrible that no amount of processing can make a significant difference.

I think the reference model currently is a Panasonic OLED (using LG OLED panels - but curved ). It appears to have superior picture processing which addresses some of the flaws in LG TVs, such as greyscale/color accuracy and the lack of dark edges.gradation handling in the shadow end other artifacts.

Indeed. Just for the HDR spec side of things, there are at least 4 or 5 competing standards at the moment!

 

Yes, this is a standard setting. You can usually either turn it off completely or select a low setting which might not be too objectionable.