Future of TV is brighter than ever Mike Snider.
For the first time, most of the televisions on sale will be 4K sets, writes
They are likely never wrapped – who wants to wrestle with all that wrapping paper? – but bigscreen televisions historically top holiday wish lists.
Usually, TV shoppers only have to think about: ‘‘How much can I spend?’’ and ‘‘How big a TV can I get?’’
However, this season there are few more considerations, so a little homework could lead to a less confusing, more successful shopping experience and a result that satisfies you for years to come. For the first time, most of the TVs on sale will be 4K television sets. And many of them will tout the ability to handle High Dynamic Range (HDR) content. Shoppers who are looking to treat their families or themselves to a new, bigger screen TV should understand 4K TV and HDR for several reasons.
Quality
4K TV, or 4K Ultra High Definition TV, was developed to make bigscreens look even better than standard HDTVs. 4K TVs have four times as many pixels as HDTVs. That extra helping of pixels lets you display video on a larger display without degradation. ‘‘You are going to see the difference in the colours, crisper lines and sharper details than on HD,’’ said Kerrie Downey, vice-president for product strategy at DirecTV. ‘‘The depth of detail is much higher.’’
And for those looking to really increase the quality of the video they watch, 4K TVs that handle HDR have even ‘‘smarter pixels ... to show brighter brights, deeper blacks, more shadow detail and an expanded palette of colour for a more realistic viewing experience,’’ said Tim Alessi, head of home entertainment product marketing for LG Electronics.
HDR or not?
If your new TV is going to be the centrepiece of your home entertainment setup, you want to consider a 4K HDR TV. A growing number of TV shows and movies are being created with HDR, so they appear brighter and more colourful on TVs able to display the higher quality video. (Netflix already has some HDR-produced series, for instance.)
There are multiple flavours of HDR with the most popular being HDR10 and Dolby Vision, so if you plan to use this new TV purchase for video bingeing and movie watching, you will want to make sure your 4K TV of choice handles one or both.
Expect to pay about $1400 for a 55-inch 4K TV with smart TV features and HDR.
You may find some bargainpriced 4K TVs advertised as HDRready. However, they may not be high-tech enough to actually produce an obvious difference.
Price
The first 4K Ultra High-Definition TVs to go on sale in 2012 carried a $20,000 price tag. And four years ago, the price of entry was about $7000. While good quality 55-inch to 65-inch 4K HDR TVs are likely to cost about $1400 or more, standard 4K TVs can be found far below those prices.
If you are using this new purchase for a bedroom or secondary TV watching spot at home, you don’t really need to worry about HDR for now. But even if you are buying a TV smaller than 50 inches, you want to consider a 4K TV because there’s a larger selection. And all 4K TVs will handle current HD video from your pay-TV provider or streaming service.
If you are in the market for a high-end big-screen, check to see if the price is right. If not, check again during the Boxing Day sales as that is another prime TV shopping season.
Content
In its full fourth year, 4K has begun to amass a sizeable content library.
4K UHD Blu-ray Disc players have been available for almost two years and Microsoft’s Xbox One S, released last year, and the newlyreleased Xbox One X will play them, too. There’s 200-plus 4K UHD Blu-ray Discs to play on them.
Recent releases include Atomic Blonde, War for the Planet of the Apes, and on the way is Moonlight, Dunkirk and It.
Video game lovers have likely been eyeing 4K TVs for a while because Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro and the Xbox One S stream 4K content from services such as Netflix. Sony’s PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X will play 4K video games, too.
All the systems also display some games and some apps in HDR (yes, some traditional highdef games can have HDR richness, too).
Other devices such as Apple TV 4K and Google’s Chromecast will also stream 4K video.
In addition to your 4K TV, you also need a fairly robust broadband connection.
Netflix recommends broadband speeds of at least 15 Megabits per second.
In New Zealand, Sky TV, TVNZ and TV3 only broadcast in high definition so if you buy a new 4K television you won’t get the full benefit of the extra pixels.
‘‘The wealth of 4K content options is constantly growing,’’ said Dave Das, senior vicepresident for consumer electronics product marketing at Samsung Electronics.
‘‘And while being able to view content on-demand and on any device is expected, there is nothing like being able to enjoy sports, movies, or games in 4K from the comfort of your own home.’’ – TNS