When does 4k become mainstream? I'm looking for a new TV and can't decide if I need 4k. Will you hel

The new amazon fire TV box supports 4k.

I think we will see a lot more 4k on streaming services rather than on other services like satellite.

Personally if I was buying now then I would be looking for a 4k panel, but then again I keep telling myself to wait for 55", 4k and oled all for less than £2k.
 
horrorwood said:
I think we will see a lot more 4k on streaming services rather than on other services like satellite.
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Possibly, but then most of the good stuff is on Sky so is it really worth paying extra just for the sake of a few shows or older movies on Netflix and Amazon?

Whatever route you take, you're going to be paying a hefty premium for 4K now just for the sake of having one when it eventually becomes mainstream, by which time the prices will have come down significantly.

The drive for 4K at this point probably means broadcasters are even less concerned with making their HD channels look and sound better, which is a real shame.
 
4K is "here" IMO. It's at the beginning of the curve instead of the middle however. What you really need to consider is whether you "need" 4k based on the TV size.

The comment about 8k is relevant here, the suggestion being at the moment that no one will make an 8k TV less than 60". I guess for 50" it's questionable either way, but 4k may make a difference. If on the other hand you were getting a 60"+ TV then it would be a no brainer.. 4k only.
 
Regarding SD, other than Sky channels most other channels pay for their bitrate on an individual basis. Some channels are shocking with poor detail and quality, but that's purely down to how much they pay. Also some of the source material is of such low quality or so old it really would look worse, not better. Garbage in, garbage out.
 
said it before. until tv companies can handle doing things in 1080P 4k is way off for the majority of people. as it will be to expensive or just not there quality wise.
 
Alpherah said:
Its amazing to think we're talking about 4k and you can't even get every channel available in uncompressed SD, let alone HD or 4k!
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You're never going to get "every channel" in HD, ever. Not even in a million years.

Name me one worthwhile channel that isn't broadcast in HD. Don't say QVC lol.
 
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asim18 said:
You're never going to get "every channel" in HD, ever. Not even in a million years.

Name me one worthwhile channel that isn't broadcast in HD. Don't say QVC lol.
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be nice if we could get a couple in HD as in 1080p and not gimped bandwidth. :rolleyes:
 
1080p broadcast won't happen. It's effectively double the bandwidth for only a slightly improved picture and when the HD Ready standard was set ten years ago it was 720p or 1080i. 4k will be next. I doubt 8k will take off as you will need a huge TV to take advantage of it.

Astra's 4k test reel looks stunning on my TV.
 
GAC said:
be nice if we could get a couple in HD as in 1080p and not gimped bandwidth. :rolleyes:
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Why are you focusing so much on broadcast TV? "1080P" has been here for a long time, it's extremely prevalent. The lack of its presence in broadcast TV should be an indicator that things are moving away from traditional broadcasting.

Also, why on earth did you completely miss off "It would" from the beginning of your sentence? Does that not sound really weird to you?
 
What other means though? Media content production is not some adventure that ends up as HEVC on torrent. If you run production company and plan to spend half a million on UHD/4k equipment from cameras to mastering level, you need to have a clear path.

For 4k to make any sense, it needs to have a proper mastering/production line established. It needs to have proper colorimetry, at least 10bit depth beginning to end, it cannot start and end as h265 or you'll be trading quality for resolution. What is my 4k production process? What codec and medium do my camera crew use to deliver 4k footage to my editor? What is my editing and mastering line? What is the professional medium? How am I delivering my presumably natively shot in 4k content to your "other means" to be delivered to your TV screen? What is the standard format or codec I'm exporting from my presumably 4k timeline in an NLE that I can then reliably deliver my new, beautiful 4k content with to all of the "other means" in the world so they can play it back from my master onto your screen? What equipment do they use for playback? What disc or tape format can I later monetise my expensive production with so it lives on, maintains fan base and cashflow with until sequel?

Have I just spent half a million on proprietary equipment that might be incompatible with everything next year just so my stuff is streamed @ 7Mbps from Netflix in some **** unregulated h265 compression mode for few weeks?
 
I never said anything about torrents. :confused:

Bluray releases have been a steady stream of 1080P content. UHD (it really isn't 4K) Blurays are going to be coming out soon, and bandwidth isn't much of an issue there.

Broadcast limitions of bandwidth haven't hindered Full HD Blurays, so I'm not sure why the same will happen to Ultra HD Blurays.

That's just one method, for people who have decent internet connections, high bit-rate streaming *is* an option, if you consider that a regular Bluray has a bit rate of about 50Mb/s.

That isn't ideal, but the world isn't based around the UK. Other countries have widespread very high speed internet.

Even digital distribution of movies is a more viable option than relying on broadcast infrastructure, if it's done properly.

People who are into movies and digital distribution already have no issue ripping their Blurays to hard disks.
 
Ricochet J said:
I'm looking for a new TV. I budgeted £500/£600 for the best TV & largest size I can get at that price point.

But then 4k TVs are in that £1000s price bracket. I can go up to that price as long as it's justified.

Our TV habits tend to be Netflix, Amazon Prime and online streaming content. Very, very little Freeview, and No DVDs/Blurays etc

What do you think?
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It depends, 4K TV is impressive, yet you need 4K resources to make full use of it, Take my TV Box, Tronfy as an example, I cannot stream 4K Netflix media with my box as Netflix does not support 4K.
 
Ricochet J said:
I'm looking for a new TV. I budgeted £500/£600 for the best TV & largest size I can get at that price point.

But then 4k TVs are in that £1000s price bracket. I can go up to that price as long as it's justified.

Our TV habits tend to be Netflix, Amazon Prime and online streaming content. Very, very little Freeview, and No DVDs/Blurays etc

What do you think?
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It depends, 4K is impressive when you got access to 4K media, take my tv box,Tronfy as a example, I cannot stream Nexflix 4K as Netflix does not support 4K
 
spoffle said:
They do have some stuff available in ultra HD, the problem is that it's restricted to certain hardware.
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Exactly, the App on the box might not be 4K updated, or you may not be subbed to the 4K option, lots of people assume it's just there, but it wont show until you go premium.

BBC are testing with LG a way to get 4K broadcast with slower speeds, Sky will eventually have a 4K package which anyone with a dish can get, Astra have already proved 4K looks amazing.

Bluray 4K looks to be coming in the new year now, Samsung have announced their box will launch in the new year, no one else has said anything yet.
 
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