When will we get 4K broadcast/cable?

Maybe somebody more knowledgeable about the industry has heard something I haven't.

When will we get to watch broadcast (or cable) 4K TV?

On one hand, You have to really look to find a non-4K TV set. Everything over 42" is 4K at the local WalMart, and has been for awhile

On the other hand HDTV started in '97 or '98 and it was 2016 before the last Network I watched (CW if anyone cares) finally went HD (there may even still be some SD channels I never look at).

Anybody know for sure? 2019? 12th of never?

 

I've heard estimates of 2019 or 2020 but it depends on the sale of spectrum space by television stations. The FCC has asked for any stations that want to, to sell off their spectrum space in exchange for millions of dollars. That was attractive to a lot of also-ran public stations and some shop-at-home stations as well as some religious broadcasters. Once that spectrum space is gobbled up, they are once again going to reallocate the spectrum space that is still left for broadcast television, and will begin the process of conversion to a 4k system.

The current ATSC system will go away to be replaced by something that is 4k compatible. So - if you've got one of those new sexy, new 4k TVs with a built-in ATSC tuner and expect it to tune in your favorite over the air signals, be prepared to once again rely on over-the-air converters that will be government subsidized.

That's what I've read anyway. I don't know if plans have changed, but I know of some TV stations that will go off the air this fall.

 

Since OTA or cable aren't even in 1080p yet, I think you might be waiting a while.

 

Technically, we have 4K now via streaming. That's assuming your internet bandwidth is fast enough. I've been regularly watching 4K via Netflix for the last few weeks, and it looks terrific.

Broadcasters are struggling as it is just to do what they're doing now. 4K is much, much harder to do. There are technically transmitters that can broadcast 4K, and there is an interim standard, but I don't think anybody is rushing to get it out quickly. 2020 sounds like a reasonable estimate for early transmissions. But I remember it took the local LA stations 10 years to completely go to stereo (and even then, many processed a lot of fake stereo content from mono), and stereo was cheap and easy. 4K is an absolute nightmare for over-the-air.

 

If I can get a 4K Tivo with 4K UHD/HDR HDMI out and OTA antenna RF in to feed my current 4K HDR TV, everything will be okay and I might say bring it on. Otherwise I don't need the destruction of my broadcast (and UHD/3D/all-region Blu-ray) infrastructure just so home viewers can watch broadcast UHD/HDR laser-fight content.

So let me vote "12th of never" since (short of external converter box--which generally destroys reception programmability) every cable/OTA using television now in existence would become best used for landfill.

 

What Cord Cutters Need to Know About ATSC 3.0 | Over The Air (OTA) DVR | Tablo

 

4K Cable, how about genuine 780p/1080i without being downrezzed/compressed first. Broadcast, GOOD LUCK. Many small markets are barely paid for on the DTV rollout. Discs, baby, Discs if you want 4K. Cable and Broadcast, DREAM ON! N'yet!

 

12th of never is reality! We can't even get cable or satellite without content being downrezzed. How about real 780p and 1080i without the extra cableco compression! Make HD service standard on cablecos.

 

Doh, that's more than I knew about it. I had no idea they had abandoned ATSC 2.0! So basically, everybody is being eased off of broadcast and onto internet streaming? Jesus...

The simultaneous two-pronged ATSC 3.0 approach sounds like ordering a hamburger but having to pick up the meat patty at McDonald's and the bun and lettuce & tomato at Burger King, then putting the whole thing together.

 

We have 4K broadcasts now, via DIRECTV. Even live sporting events like golf (looks incredible), baseball, and a few concerts.

If the question is "when are we going to have The Bachelorette in 4K?", I think the answer is... you'll be waiting a long time.

 

Vidiot, you made me laugh so hard it hurts. That final paragraph is a "Unix or a BSD Hamburger". Has to be compiled from scratch from source code. Off Topic, yes, but couldn't resist.

 

I can't help thinking that Pied Piper's middle-out compression algorithm has a role to play in all this.

 

Huh?

 

There are still a ton of cable channels not available in HD.

 

How are people in rural areas that don't have broadband going to use this new 3.0 standard?

Is a high speed connection required to receive a 3.0 signal over the air? I currently watch OTA. I hope high speed internet isn't required.

 

Ah, I see what you did there.

 

ATSC isn't available yet -- it won't be out until at least 2019, and I suspect it won't really be widespread until 2020. I think going with broadband is a better idea.

If I had anything to do with state or national government, I'd make it a very high priority to give everybody in the country access to high-speed internet, at least 100Mbps or higher.

 

"I've been cheated
been mistreated
when will I...get broadband"

We'll have 4k which we'll try to squeeze through crummy little cables compressed to death

 

Gee, we're getting 350Mbps down on Spectrum here, and I don't have a problem with the quality of 4K from Netflix or Amazon at all. H.265 or VP9 compression is not quite the same thing as the way old data compression used to be.

 

That's actually encouraging to hear. I don't get squat from AT&T U-Verse, which I think is actually a settings problem they are unable to help me fix (changed the modem, speed tests show OK but real websites slow, then the same machine at my mom's on Crummycast was zippy).

I'm already planning to try Sling when my DirecTV contract is up in January, and thinking to try Charter again.

 

The FCC's current standard for home broadband is 25Mbps down/3Mbps up, which is pretty weak but is considerably higher than what they used to define broadband as in the recent past.

Not content with that, however, the FCC chairman is busy trying to convince everyone that if your access is via a mobile network, broadband should be considered 10Mbps up/1Mbps down:

FCC wants mobile data to count as broadband internet



With "leadership" like that, is it any wonder that US consumer-grade internet speeds (and the associated costs for internet access) are laughable compared to almost all other first-world countries?

 

Haaaaaarible. Nobody should have to live with less than 100Mbps down.

 

Talk about politics!

 

That's what happens when you have regional monopolies across large swathes of the country and where local, community based efforts to build decent broadband networks are quashed by the local ISP monopoly. Gotta love the free market.

 

A lot of stuff is still 720p