In the past, we've cautioned against buying "Ultra HD" 4K TV deals; there was barely any content for the higher resolution, and, despite third-tier manufacturer's getting into the game, the sets were still mostly too expensive — especially compared to standard models.
A year has passed at this point, however, so has the situation changed? Netflix has been streaming 4K content for several months now, and Amazon just announced that it, too, will offer 4K streaming content. Moreover, prices are cheaper than ever before, with even high-end sets seeing massive price cuts during the Black Friday season. But does that mean that now is the right time to buy a 4K TV?
In this brief — yet lively — video, our experts discuss if 4K TVs are now a smart purchase.
Update: Joel McHale weighs in on the debate!
As you might have already heard, the film branch of Sony was recently hacked by a group known as "Guardians of Peace," and in the process, many personal email exchanges were leaked to the internet. A harmless, yet extremely adorable, example of such a leaked email comes from Joel McHale.
Introducing himself as someone you "might remember from such canceled Sony TV shows as Community," McHale proceeds to ask about how he can get a discount on a Sony 4K TV. (See the full email here.) When the internet caught on, McHale stuck to his guns — and inadvertently took a stance on the 4K debate.
U bet your sweet ass I want my employee discount! 4K's r outstanding RT @chilibeanie67: Sony Leak Reveals McHale Nice http://t.co/SwuCsXGsIp
— Joel McHale (@joelmchale) December 11, 2014
So there you have it! They r outstanding! Case closed, everybody invest in 4K immediately.
What about you, readers? Where do you stand on 4K TVs? Are you going to jump on the next deal you see, or are you going to bide your time, waiting for more content? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
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Those who argue 4K is waste, probably should Buy one. 8K is very far. Definitely Satellite/Cable TV Providers won't skip 4K Because the Internet speed also should Jump high.
All has been considered:
1) Watching 4K streamed content over internet - is a gimmick (intentionally increased video compression level to utilize smaller bandwidth to allow content delivery).
2) Watching 4K content on physical media in true quality - non existent and not even in the works.
3) Watching cable/satellite in 4K - non existing content and anybody who will attempt will follow the 4K streaming gimmick.
4) Playing games in 4K on console - none gaming consoles support this.
5) Playing games in 4K from a PC - may be, be sure you have top of the line graphic card and the rest of hardware components.
6) Viewing photographs in 4K - BINGO!
7) Watching your home video you recorded in 4K - BINGO!
For instance, if I owned a professional photo studio I would definitely got a few high quality screens to display photographs to my customers. This is the true job for a 4K TV.
What about game consoles? Well many (not all) ps4 games run at 1080p, but the Wii U and Xb one, nope 720p for most games.
Long story short, the resolution of your current tv isn't fully utilized yet so 4k is just nonsense atm.
Also common sense check here.... put in a Blu-ray disc and sit in front of your tv normally. Do you see pixelization? Then you don't need 4k.
I'm closing I'll remind everyone that HD tv was invented in the 80's. It took until 2003-ish before the infrastructure was in place to actually make hd TV's viable and affordable.
Netflix: "It’s around 15Mbs". (talking about their 4K streaming).
- "Thank you so much!!" :-)
I'm not into 4K TVs until there is 4K content on physical media such as Blu-Ray.
So you would know, 1080p (2K) video is recorded on Blu-Ray discs at 20-25Mbs and this is bit rate for compressed (encoded) video stream. If you wanted to record a 4K movie at the same quality bit rate would have increased almost four times.
Samsung also offers a New Smart 3D Blu-ray Disc® Player With UHD 4K Upscaling - Model BD-F7500/ZA so now anything you can get on Blu-ray you can play in 4k.
If you watch 1080p Blu-Ray movies, 4k TV will not do any better job for your experience than an 1080p TV. Yes, I've heard some salesmen stating about increased sharpness of 1080p content when it is watched on 4K TV. This may be true when your TV is relatively large (65"+) and you watch it from close distance.
If you primarily watch cable/satellite, then taking 4K TV would bring you into the crowd of early adopters of 4K TV (and into investors into 4K technology) :))
But there are few more points missed out that may be important for some of you. It all depends on what how you use your TV. Mostly cable/satellite? Or mostly Blu-Ray/DVDs? Do you watch your photo albums often?
Regarding 4K content availability from Netflix and Amazon and whoever else. Let's talk about bit stream :)
While _true_ 1080p quality content is averaging about 25-30Mbs, true 4K content will take four times more network bandwidth. I have not streamed any 4K content yet and can't tell for actual bandwidth it takes - it would be interesting to find out. But If your 4K movie is streamed at 30-40Mbs then guess what happened :)
4k is a waste of money right now. Don't give in to the hype.