4K TV?

[alx]

The average viewer doesn't perceive resolution alone as a significant factor in display quality. Contrast and colour are far more important for casual watching. There was a test done a few years ago at the InfoComm expo to illustrate this.

Resolution without good motion handling (i.e. with bad scaling/deinterlacing) on a panel with a slow response rate and that has poor contrast and patchy brightness (poor uniformity) and where the colours are inaccurate and over-saturated to the point where the picture looks like a flat 2D cartoon is still a rubbish picture. That's what a lot of these budget 4K TVs are offering. It's the same every time there's a resolution step. We saw this particularly acutely in the step to 1080p. A well sorted 1080p TV is a much better investment than a price-fighter 4K TV that is trading on a headline resolution figure and price.

The idea of buying a budget 4K TV now as future-proofing is somewhat flawed logic too unless it supports HDMI 2.0, HDCP2.2 There's also the as yet unsettled question of a 4K TV tuner.

Everyone has their own reasons and motivations to justify whatever upgrade path they decide to take. For some it doesn't matter if their new 4K TV doesn't support High Dynamic Range or a true 4K source when it arrives; so long as they can get 4K Netflix now then that's fine. Others want to PC game at 4K. That's fine so long as the graphics cards in the rig are up to the task. Remember, it's not just the resolution but the frame rate that's important. Just as big an issue though is the slowness of the pixel response rate. TVs are nowhere near as quick as desktop monitors in this respect.

In the end I suspect it comes down to whether a person thinks of a new 1080p TV as dead money when 4K seems tantalisingly close. Personally I'd rather have a great image that's usable now than suffer four years of a poorer image from some hardware that isn't so well supported until it comes time to upgrade again. IMO neither TV will be worth a great deal, so it's not like there'll be a tonne of money coming back from a used 4K TV when the market has moved on and expects HDCP2.2 etc.

Agreed, my post was a bit simplified. As you say picture quality, motion handling etc are key factors and I wouldn't trade those just for 4k for the reasons you mention.
It's a difficult decision at the moment as 4k TVs are starting to come down a lot in price, then you've got OLED technology breaking through as well.

But what I'm tending to see now is that the cost difference between 1080p and 4k sets of similar PQ etc aren't that far apart (small enough to go for the 4k set in my eyes anyway). The 4k sets I've been looking at have HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2, I wouldn't look at one without it currently.

On the flip side 1st gen technology goes out of date very quickly and you pay a premium for it - there's no obvious choice for what is best to go for!

 

[alx]

Right now as we stand in time if you spend £6-800 on a 4K screen and a 1080p screen the 1080p screen will look much better. The 4K TVs available at the moment lack the refinement that the current 1080p screens have got to the point of. There is barley any content for. 4K as well so to me you might as well get what will give you the best experience for the next years instead of " future proofing" with a screen that looks tacky has no content and the only reason people are impressed by it is because it has a sticker that says 4k

I agree, if you spend the same amount on a 1080p and 4k tv the 1080p will be better, but for not that much more (in my eyes) you can get a 4k tv of similar picture quality.
I will agree it's not a cut and dry decision, it really depends how quick the uptake of 4k content is.

I've been umming and ahhing about 1080p vs 4k for a few weeks now, will probably change my mind again next week

 

[danoliver1]

Just set up my pannasonic 55cx608c set today and all I can say is wow, what an awesome tv picture quality is great hd and 4k youtube look absolutely stunning. I was worried about viewing angles being a va screen but I shouldnt have it looks great, it does lose contrast and saturation at extreme angles but from my sofas not a problem.
Firefox os is very nice only gripe is that with youtube i cannot use my usb keyboard to type into the search box?
The sound on this set is ok not as bad as i was expecting just sounds a little base lite and tinny but acceptable for tv viewing.
Check for back light bleed and dead pixels and i cannot see any, saw a bit of banding in youtube clips but I think this was due to youtubes compression rather than the tv because it wasnt there with blueray discs.
Overall iam very happy. 4k is the future.

 

[dholdi]

Just got the 55W805C from RS @ £679 with a 6 year guarantee.
I'm not likely to have a 4k source any time soon so it suits me.

 

[FurryLemon]

Makes sense, what with the almost complete lack of 4k content available to you.

I will get a 4k player on release because it interests me. If my TV doesn't get the HDR upgrade, I will purchase an OLED set that does. If current set does get the firmware upgrade, then I will hold off on upgrading until OLED has ironed out the wrinkles.

4k is for enthusiasts. Gen pop will be happy with DVD upscaled to 1080p for years to come yet.

 

[danoliver1]

Just got the 55W805C from RS @ £679 with a 6 year guarantee.
I'm not likely to have a 4k source any time soon so it suits me.

Price has gone down, email them and they will refund the differance.

 

[dholdi]

Price has gone down, email them and they will refund the differance.

Just noticed that and sent them an email thanks.

 

[james.miller]

I will get a 4k player on release because it interests me. If my TV doesn't get the HDR upgrade, I will purchase an OLED set that does. If current set does get the firmware upgrade, then I will hold off on upgrading until OLED has ironed out the wrinkles.

4k is for enthusiasts. Gen pop will be happy with DVD upscaled to 1080p for years to come yet.

I think you missed the irony of your post when you said it will be useless unless you can stream 4k, which you can't, and then told us you bought a 4k tv when no physical media is available. That makes it pretty useless!

The first UHD player is on sale in Japan now, isn't it? Second one due early next next. There's still no release date for the UK so I guess what? Middle of next year? Don't know what level of content we will have available when it does. Basically... too early to buy in to 4k imo, unless you have a decent 4k source (which only the PC counts, really) right now to take advantage of it.
But hey if you're going to buy one now and and buy another in six months then the cost (probably way north of 2k for a HDR OLED? ) isnt prohibitive so fair play. The rest of us plebs will probably wait though.

 

[FurryLemon]

I think you missed the irony of your post when you said it will be useless unless you can stream 4k, which you can't, and then told us you bought a 4k tv when no physical media is available. That makes it pretty useless!

The first UHD player is on sale in Japan now, isn't it? Second one due early next next. There's still no release date for the UK so I guess what? Middle of next year? Don't know what level of content we will have available when it does. Basically... too early to buy in to 4k imo, unless you have a decent 4k source (which only the PC counts, really) right now to take advantage of it.
But hey if you're going to buy on/e now and and buy another in six months then the cost (probably way north of 2k for a HDR OLED? ) isnt prohibitive so fair play. The rest of us plebs will probably wait though.

I was 3 sheets to the wind....

I'm in the process of upgrading all my AV gear in my 'space' so I'm 4k ready, so it made sense (in my mind) to take the plunge on a set. If the upgrade happens, happy days. If not, it'll be relegated to the lounge to replace the 32" sammy in there.

 

[TripleT]

I've just ordered a 55" LG UF770v that I got for a good price with staff discount. Don't need it, just got a bit caught up with the black Friday madness (I'm an ecommerce manager so have to be involved!)

Looking forward to it though! Decent upgrade from a 5year old 42"!

 

[james.miller]

I was 3 sheets to the wind....

I'm in the process of upgrading all my AV gear in my 'space' so I'm 4k ready, so it made sense (in my mind) to take the plunge on a set. If the upgrade happens, happy days. If not, it'll be relegated to the lounge to replace the 32" sammy in there.

Both my AV amp and tv are 7 years old now. To take advantage of 4k I'd need to replace both and that's the best part of £3k. It's just more than I'm willing to spend unfortunately!

 

[lucid]

4k is for enthusiasts. Gen pop will be happy with DVD upscaled to 1080p for years to come yet.

I disagree here. I think the general population will flock to 4K as "the next thing" in the same way that they eschewed superior quality 720p and 768p TVs once 1080p became cheap enough. TBH I doubt most folk would know a decent picture if it hit them between the eyes. Screen size, low price and bragging rights trumps quality in the mass market.

I think the only people debating whether cheap 4K isn't just a case of The Emporer's New Clothes right now are the enthusiasts.

 

[Ayahuasca]

I found it hard to notice a difference between the 1080p LG OLED and the Samsung 4K LED it was next to in Curry's, the Samsung was playing a 4K demo as well. The colours and blacks were actually better on the OLED and the detail was still brilliant.

 

[FloppyPoppy]

I found it hard to notice a difference between the 1080p LG OLED and the Samsung 4K LED it was next to in Curry's, the Samsung was playing a 4K demo as well. The colors and blacks were actually better on the OLED and the detail was still brilliant.

of course the colors and blacks were better on OLED it's miles better than LED. 4K IMHO really is not going to be worth while until the good panels aren't like £6500. Until then my tv is still blowing me away with quality.

 

[danoliver1]

My mum who isnt interested in tvs and has never heard of 4k watched some youtube 4k clips on my new tv, to say she was impressed is an understatement she wouldnt shut up about how life like the picture was.

 

[danoliver1]

I must be blind cos the blacks on my 55cx680b look very BLACK, how much better can oled make them?

 

[danoliver1]

I found it hard to notice a difference between the 1080p LG OLED and the Samsung 4K LED it was next to in Curry's, the Samsung was playing a 4K demo as well. The colours and blacks were actually better on the OLED and the detail was still brilliant.

Must have been a very poor 4k file, there is no comparison between 1080p and 4k.

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Must have been a very poor 4k file, there is no comparison between 1080p and 4k.

You will find that footage captured on a 4k camera will look almost identical when played on a 4k screen next to a 1080p and you would need to be pixel peeping for that. This is not speculation this has been proved time and time again.

 

[Destination]

You will find that footage captured on a 4k camera will look almost identical when played on a 4k screen next to a 1080p and you would need to be pixel peeping for that. This is not speculation this has been proved time and time again.

Why?
I don't quite understand this.
Is it something to do with the compression codecs?
How can it not look better?

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Why?
I don't quite understand this.
Is it something to do with the compression codecs?
How can it not look better?

Im not sure exactly why or how but it's documented often. Understandably watching 1080p content on a 1080p screen will look better than on a 4k screen.

A lot of people for some reason compare YouTube 4k vs 1080p as proof 4k is better and they say this without realizing the truth behind it is 95% of youtubes 4k content is 1080p upscaled in 4k because the 4k setting allows users to use a higher video bit rate and that's what makes it look better.

I will find a comprehensive video about this for you now.

EDIT : Video here for you.