4k TV

bigfreddiel

Buy one now or wait till broadcasts are 4k?

Then I guess 8k will come out!

What to do?

fj

globalds

wait for 16k ?

[Deleted User]

Currently a complete waste of money. I've been an "early adopter" of new technology in the past, but there is little point in buying a 4K TV until there are any broadcasts in that format.

wiogs

Agree. Nothing likely to be broadcast for a couple of years at best

Nilrem

Unless you're looking at a fairly huge screen, or will sit right in front of it at the benefits of 4k are very low given the current (and near future) cost.

There isn't even (from what I understand) much if any real content in 4k for home users as it's far too bandwidth heavy for BB delivery, and requires masses of disk space, with no (as far as i'm aware) consumer playback devices and zero commercial broadcasts in the UK*.

It'll probably be about 5-10 years (if ever) before we see broadcasts in it in the UK as it's a real bandwidth hog with current generation encoding (and the likes of Sky are running into the limits of available transponder space and licensed frequencies for satellite broadcasts).

From what I understand at the moment it'll probably be best suited for people playing games and doing video production/graphical work for whom the extra screen space will be usable and no problem with content delivery.

So at the moment I'd say give it time, the film companies don't even have many films that are currently in a format that can make use of the increased resolution, as most current transfers from old films are in about 2k from memory, and whilst they are scanning and remastering some for 4k (hence some blu-rays are now stating "from 4k masters"), the bulk of the film libraries aren't available with 4k masters yet, and from what I understand a lot of films won't look that great in 4k because of the film stock used in the original production (IIRC 16mm film which was fairly commonly used will tend to show a lot of grain at that res, especially in darker scenes).


*I think there have been some test broadcasts, and they are using it for broadcasts of some events and theatrical or musical productions to cinema's (where very expensive connections and receivers aren't a massive issue as they're already used for some film distribution), but no actual consumer level broadcasts.

anotheruser

I doubt we'll ever see 4K broadcasts in the main.
It'll all be over BB in an on-demand model by then.

InsideInsurance

bigfreddiel wrote: »

Buy one now or wait till broadcasts are 4k?

Then I guess 8k will come out!

Youll be a long time waiting for 4k broadcasts, we dont even get 1080p yet

That said, it depends on if broadcast TV or non-broadcast films etc are your priority?

Ultimately your choice, was in Severnoaks with the Mrs a few days ago, she is very keen on cinema/ surround sound etc but doesnt follow it in the slightest. She instantly honed in on the 3 screens they had with 4k contents whilst I was dealing with my fault sub.

She can certainly tell the difference despite some saying you have to be less than 1" from a 10' screen to tell. Of cause the problem is the lack of content and the lack of stability of the formats. The one saving grace on the second is that most are putting the brains in an external box so if things change then you can replace the box for circa £300 rather than having to replace the full set for £2k+

A number of providers are starting to create their own media players for 4k contents but currently all HD based with little info on how additional content will be delivered. Some of the streaming services are starting to do 4k content but you need a very good connection and high limits not to max it out watching just one film.

CruiserADI

No point in the 4K at all...

When the first TV was launched (Think it was Samsung) my friend flew out to America with her company WhatHiFi to see it and watch two films.

These two films were Spiderman and Quantum of Solace. There was no way of watching the films apart from streaming from a setup media server in Japan. The SPiderman film was huge. Visual Files were about 2TB and Audio was about 500GB. Until we see a new way of storage media its a pointless tech.

TV and Film producers haven't got the cameras. They've only just got round to the idea of 3D.

Herbalus

I'm not against future tech advances, but I really don't see the point in paying over the odds for a bad version of the next big thing.

Last year I bought a £300 32" TV with freeview HD built in and it's absolutely fantastic. The picture quality is great, sound is great, and for £300 I can't think of a better entertainment system.

Anybody who isn't satisfied with what's currently available might benefit from stopping to think just how far technology has come in the last 15 years. I'm sure the next improvement will blow my mind just like HD did, but I'm quite content to wait for it because I'm perfectly happy with what I've got.

Inner_Zone

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Youll be a long time waiting for 4k broadcasts, we dont even get 1080p yet

Yes we do some 1080P on Freeview HD.

bigfreddiel

Thanks everyone - 4k is off the agenda now.

fj