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

I just used an OLED monitor all week while mastering a new sci-fi film, and I was really, really impressed with how it looked. I think the new Sony Z Series could be a real contender.

A friend of mine and I were looking at an interest story about starving people in Africa, and a UNICEF rescue worker was handing a starving child a bottle of water. I pointed to that picture and said, "our biggest problems are, 'hey, can we get some faster hard drives?' Running out of water is a lot more serious."

All of us get wrapped up in b******t, fretting about speakers and sound quality and wires and AC cables and vinyl and digital and big screens and Blu-rays, but the real problems are having clean air, getting fed, staying clean, having a roof over your head, and not roasting to death in the heat. Everything else pales compared to that. (And I would also add, be nice to people, think about people's feelings, use common sense, and use your damn signal when you turn left.)

 

But that's for near field viewing, correct? Is there still a difference in monitors used for near field work and TVs made for viewing at a distance?

 

Are there technical limitations on plasma technology that would prevent them from being capable of 4K ?

 

Yes, it was one of the contributing reasons why they died out. It comes down to cell sizes which contain the gas which makes up a pixel. To get 4k worth of pixels into the same physically sized screen, you need to make them four times smaller than HD, which was very challenging on a technical level, which in turn meant too expensive. Also, having much smaller pixels containing the gas (plasma) would have made the pixels much dimmer (less gas to ionize) and plasma screens already had brightness difficulties (compared to LCD/LED tv). So for technical and cost reasons they were dropped.

 

We were at a reasonable distance, maybe 10-12 feet. The 60" version of the same set would work in most living rooms.

It was discussed, and I think the bottom lines is that the yields are better with OLED and the power requirements are lower.

 

You think?

As soon as the manufacturers are able to hit price points that are currently offered on the non 4K models, they will drop anything less than 4K like a hot potato.

Manufacturers have their own unique ways of shoving their latest technology down our throats, whether we want or like them or not.

BTW, I am happy with my 10-year old JVC rear projection TV with Texas Instruments DLP technology (bought used for $200 a few years back).

I liked the picture on Plasma TV's and OLE displays but I have a real dislike for the LED displays. Every one that I have seen, seems to have garish unnatural colors.

And the new crop of TV's are all "smart" TV's, complete with camera's and microphones.

No Thank You!

I think that, on the next TV generation that I purchase, if I could, I would like to buy something 60" to 70", with no tuner, just a few HDMI inputs, and no "tuner". I want a TV that is a dumb as a computer monitor. I have not had the need for tuners since the early 80's.

Since it not the TV that is always changing, its all the do-dad's.

Why have out of date features on the TV? Why not just replace the streaming box for <$100. The TV signal people get from their cable and satellite boxes. Movies are streamed or played through DVD or Blu-ray players.

 

I'm 66. By the time 4k content becomes more or less universal, I will be dead or blind, or it will have already been bumped off by 16k, 256k, or whatever . . .

Besides, 1080p already matches my current visual acuity.

 

The whole 4K thing is a complete scam - it's just like that "color" crap NBC and RCA tried to foist on us in the 60's.

 

Yes, Smurfs 2 in 4K puts old black and white films like Citizen Kane to shame! We can always hope for 4K colorization of Kane. Until then t's Murfs 2 for Me!

 

If you think HD to 4K is as big of a jump as black-and-white to color, you're very wrong.

 

I'm not comparing black and white to HD or color to 4K as a technology or a thing or whatever it is; I just said what I said and it was wrong; or was taken wrong; and now it's all this...
Just making a joke about color. And, NBC keeping Star Trek on the air to sell color sets for RCA...

 

And a Beatles' reference to boot. You're alright, kid.

 

TV resolution is typically nothing more or less then a selling point, nowadays. A 60" screen at typical viewing distances does not need greater than 1080p. You won't see a resolution difference with 4K. Hell, I stream at 720p to our bedroom TV, because it makes zero visual difference, and saves bandwidth.

However, modern 4K sets are (hopefully) bringing other technologies to the game. Better blacks. Motion. Colour rendition. **** that does make a difference.

As a consumer, ignore resolution. It's sufficient. Focus on other things. They make a difference.

Or buy a projector. Put some time into the room - blackout curtains, bitchin' surround sound. It's like being an audiophile, only with really big images too.