If you are thinking about buying 4K equipment, read this....

Someone on the forums has already adopted the tech. Perhaps they'll chime in on their experiences soon.

 

I liked the part where he said, "Many of the new colors in the expanded gamut are beyond the range of human vision – and of those that are visible, most of today’s two-tone, digitally graded, teal-and-orange movies will never use them."

BURN!

The only reason to upgrade is when your 1080p sets bust and there are only 4K options to chose from.

Meh. Can't wait to see the ad campaign for 8K sets.

 

I know the dictionary meaning. I like to use language fast and loosely 'cause et's funn!

 

Yes, I'm one of the six! This is very disappointing to hear...

 

I plan on running my 2013 Panasonic VT-60 55" into the ground. By the time it goes unusable hopefully the next-gen of TVs is in a nice, mature part of the tech cycle for consumers.

 

Make that seven.

 

Eight. I love watching 3D discs.

 

Except then you'd have to watch The Smurfs 2...

 

This seems to be the case with every new format, though. When blu-ray first came out, it was all nature documentaries and big Hollywood blockbusters. I feel like it's only just barely now that we're finally getting deep catalog titles on BD.

 

Another notch on the 3D belt here. I love it, and always have.

Hey I even have "Noah" in Blu-ray 3D. Didn't like the movie that much in its 2D theater presentation, but 3D makes it kinda fun. (It's also clear it was intended to be seen in 3D all along.)


Okay, now everybody return to the topic of how the potential improvement in 4K color spaces are not a scam.

 

I wouldn't take anything this guy says seriously cause he was a big proponent of hddvd during the format war. Basically he loves mediocrity.

 

Yes, the current tech will have matured, but by then there will be newer tech to entice the market!

But yeah, unless you're an early adopter, there is no reason to upgrade now, especially since the new standards are just starting to kick in. Give it a year or so maybe.

What's in store in the near future - say five years from now? These are the trends I can see:

1) LCD/LED technology being phased out in preference to OLED. New OLED manufacturers coming on stream (other than LG).

2) Bigger and bigger screens, working in concert with OLED tech. The screens will become bezel-less and about the thickness of a credit card, making it suitable as a 'wallpaper' display (the connections, etc will be routed to a separate soundbar type device).

3) With the bigger screen sizes will come 8k or higher resolutions.

4) Colorspace will continue to get wider (and deeper) until it matches human visual acuity.

5) HDR and higher framerates will be routine.

6) There will not be another physical disk format beyond the just released UHD (however, there likely will be extensions).

7) Dark horse - VR and VR based film/video will start making an impact due to it's ability to be totally immersive and viewed anywhere within the home. It won't displace dedicated TVs as those can be viewed by more than one person at a time and has the sociability advantage, but I think it will still become a factor.

 

What of glasses free 3-D? Some companies aren't giving in yet.

 

There's no buzz in 3D TVs anymore, and there hasn't been for a while. I don't see it making a comeback anytime soon.

It may have a chance with VR based material, but that would be limited to CGI games, etc. The problem is always going to be the widespread availability of source material, even if VR devices can deliver 3D with fewer limitations than traditional TV sets.

 

Count me in with 3D. My wife and I love it!

 

HD-DVD actually had a lot of good things going for it, mainly in compatibility with earlier drives. The main thing I disliked about it was it just didn't have enough capacity, so it required slightly more compression than single-layer Blu-ray. I think even Toshiba would concede that had they known how quickly dual-layer Blu-ray was going to be perfected, they would've given up sooner.

Just because a guy was a ***** about one format doesn't mean he isn't right about a different subject. In this case, 4K is very problematic right now. Unless and until HDR stabilizes, I don't think UHD monitors are a good buy right now.

 

It doesn't please me.

 

I don't watch 3-D. It gives me a headache, but after pushing it so hard, it seems crappy to turn their backs on the devoted. On the other hand, they can always just release 3-D on Blu-ray. If UHD Blu-ray goes anyplace in the market, it could be packaged much like Blu is now. One might buy the latest film in a box that comes with 2 or 3 formats....DVD, BD, 3-D BD, Digital Copy, all might be in the mix....???

If UHD has any legs at all, I might buy a player if I need a new Oppo....and if I have a nice enough display....which is a big if.....my 60" plasma is in it's prime and refuses to show it's age.

 

I am thinking about going 4K with my next TV purchase. I had settled on the Sony XBR65X850C, which is 3D and HDR capable. Good choice or no?

 

I'm sure it's a fine set, but a word of warning about HDR support. Currently there's a bit of a battle going on between different industry players, with each proposing their own implementations of HDR metadata. Some have it as a single layer, some use two layers and some have additional 'enhancements' to the core spec as defined in the UHD standard (called HDR10).

The UHD Alliance has recently announced its minimum requirements for “HDR Compatible” TVs. It wants to build on that by defining a “premium” or “quality” specification that will separate the wheat from the chaff. So keep an eye on that product branding.

It's likely that support of several HDR implementations will be common in the near future. Netflix had announced that it will support both the core HDR10 and Dolby Vision HDR, starting with Marco Polo & Daredevil...

 

I would wait. I'm not convinced anything can do HDR right yet. Maybe in a year or two, but only at the very high end.

 

I'm happy with my zt60 but I'm curious if a new uhd player and some of the uhd movies would change the look even more.... Curiosity persists. Always interested in making things look even better. I'm assuming since this is not a straight 4k TV it may make no difference but I really cannot say. Would love to see standard Blu-ray of the Martian up against the uhd version on my TV. Very curious if there would be differences...

 

There would be no difference. As your TV can only display Rec.709 colorspace and doesn't handle HDR, it would ignore those UHD features and display the same picture as a standard bluray would.

 

Good to know, I figured that would. Be the case anyway. It looks fantastic right now anyway

 

Thanks for the advice, @Deesky and @Vidiot. From what I understand, the Sony TV I locked in on (XBR65X850C) originally was just HDR-ready, but the feature was not yet supported; a later firmware update added HDR. Current units of that model are shipping HDR-enabled. Likewise, Pioneer issued a firmware update adding HDR support to my Elite receiver. Is it reasonable to expect future updates for the TV and receiver, to keep both up to date with the HDR spec as it evolves?