Tweet
4K Ultra HD: the resolution giving you more pixels than ever in your home television.
Remember when Full HD seemed like the sharpest picture you could get? With four times as many pixels as HD, 4K resolution has completely changed the level of visual detail and clarity weâve come to expect from our screens.
Whereas traditional HD is limited to 1920 vertical columns and 1080 horizontal rows of pixels, Ultra HD has a total resolution of 3840 pixels by 2160 â a slightly smaller resolution than the 4,096 x 2,160 resolution seen on cinema screens (that, for the record, is called Cinema 4K).
Weâre used to being slightly wary of new television technologies that try to entice us into parting with our hard-earned cash (thanks 3D), but when it comes to 4K there are few downsides. The initial price barrier has dropped massively over the past few years too, with 4K coming to all sorts of budget and mid-range sets, and itâs never been easier to get a 4K UHD television into your home.
This is especially helpful on televisionâs that are 50-inches and above.
[ul]
[li]Check out our guide to the best 4K TVs.[/li][/ul]
At the end of the day it might not be the raw resolution of 4K that tempts you into your next TV purchase, but the inclusion of other cool technologies like High-Dynamic Range, Quantum Dot and OLED panels. Before we get into the specifics of each technology, hereâs a video outlining 4K in a nutshell.
Check out our video below for an introduction to the world of 4K.
What is 4K?
Pure and simple, 4K means a clearer picture. Itâs more pixels (8,294,400 to be exact) on the screen at once that creates images that are crisper and capable of showing more details than standard HD.
Thatâs it?
Thatâs it.
What is the resolution of 4K?
4K resolution, at least the way most TVs define it, is 3840 x 2160 or 2160p. To put that in perspective, a full HD 1080p image is only a 1920x1080 resolution. 4K screens have about 8 million pixels, which is around four times what your current 1080p set can display.
Think of your TV like a grid, with rows and columns. A full HD 1080p image is 1080 rows high and 1920 columns wide. A 4K image approximately doubles the numbers in both directions, yielding approximately four times as many pixels total. To put it another way, you could fit every pixel from your 1080p set onto one quarter of a 4K screen.
[IMG alt="cPULzeaxknqS7SEBJLPFQE" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/cPULzeaxknqS7SEBJLPFQE.jpg[/IMG]
Samsungâs new QLED TVs are 4K HDR with insanely high peak brightness levels of up to 2,000 nits.
Why is it called 4K?
Because the images are around 4,000 pixels wide. And before you ask, yes, the industry named 1080 resolution after image height, but named 4K after image width. For extra added fun, you also might hear this resolution referred to as 2160p. Welcome to the future. Itâs confusing here.
Do all those extra pixels matter?
They matter very much. More pixels means more information. More information means sharper pictures. Sharper pictures are more engaging. More engaging content is more fun. And fun⌠well fun is the thing, isnât it?
So Iâll see a huge difference?
Thatâs where it gets sticky. Weâre talking about a similar jump in resolution as the one from SD (480 lines high) to HD (1080 lines high). And 4K screens are noticeably sharper than 1080p screens. But there are a few reasons you might not feel the same thrill you did when you upgraded your old CRT to a flatscreen.
When most people went from a 480 to a 1080p set, there was a good chance they were making a big jump in TV size as well. In terms of wow factor, display size is more powerful than any resolution jump could ever hope to be. Last time around most people got big jumps to both screen size and resolution. But this time screen sizes are staying about the same, with the most popular models falling in the 40 inch to 70 inch range.
[IMG alt="5294c7a5bae453d4ba63d3c7f1e03c15" width="640px" height="360px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5294c7a5bae453d4ba63d3c7f1e03c15.jpg[/IMG]
If you have the bandwidth, you can now watch many of Netflixâs shows in Ultra HD 4K
Most importantly, though, youâll only be able to see the resolution difference on a 4K set if youâre 1) watching 4K content through it and 2) youâre sitting close enough.
Sitting close enough?
Yup. Remember when Apple made a big fuss about âretinaâ displays a few iPhones back? âRetinaâ refers to screens that have sufficient resolution that at a normal viewing distance your eye canât make out individual pixels. Get far enough away from a 1080p set and, hey presto, itâs a retina display!
More importantly, at that same distance, your eyeballs wonât be able to squeeze any more detail out of a 4K image than a 1080 one. If youâre at âretina distanceâ from your 1080p set now and donât plan on moving your couch closer, upgrading to 4K may not make a big difference to your experience. This chart shows how close you need to sit at any given screen size to see the difference.
So I should sit closer?
Oh my yes. The ability to get up close to the screen without the image breaking down is one of the most intoxicating things about 4K. Sitting closer allows the same sized screen to fill more of your visual field, which yields greater immersion. The up-close factor is one of the reasons 4K computer monitors have become one of the technologyâs fastest growing sectors. 4K monitors remain pin-sharp even when youâre just a foot or two from the screen, as you are when youâre sitting at your desk.
Difference between Ultra HD and 4K
Technically, âUltra High Definitionâ is actually a derivation of the 4K digital cinema standard. However while your local multiplex shows images in native 4096 x 2160 4K resolution, the new Ultra HD consumer format has a slightly lower resolution of 3840 x 2160.
This is one reason why some brands prefer not to use the 4K label at all, sticking with Ultra HD or UHD instead. However, the numerical shorthand looks likely to stick.
Why should I care about 4K Ultra HD?
There are many reasons why 4K should make you rethink your next TV purchase (actually, there are eleven and you can read about them here), not all of them immediately obvious.
Photographers who routinely view their work on an HD TV are seeing but a fraction of the detail inherent in their pictures when they view them at 2160p.
A 4K display reveals so much more nuance and detail â the difference can be astonishing. While 3D has proved to be a faddish diversion, 4K comes without caveats. Its higher resolution images are simply better.
The higher pixel density of a 4K panel also enable you get much closer without the grid-like structure of the image itself becoming visible âthis means you can comfortably watch a much larger screen from the same seating position as your current Full HD panel.
[IMG alt="KYGKqfYEHvDkHfSfwsoxHP" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KYGKqfYEHvDkHfSfwsoxHP.jpeg[/IMG]
Ultra HD Premium
If youâre sitting there thinking that all these new technologies and acronyms sound confusing then youâd be right. Thatâs why a group of companies decided to form the UHD Alliance with the expressed aim of defining what technologies should be included in the next generation of TV sets.
The UHD Alliance is comprised of 35 companies including television manufacturers such as LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, Sharp, audio companies such as Dolby, and film and television production companies such as Netflix and 20th Century Fox.
The idea then is that if everyone can agree on what features they think UHD should include, then Disney (an example member of the alliance) can produce a movie that Netflix will be able to stream through a Samsung TV, and the eventual image will be exactly what the director at Disney intended.
The result of this alliance was the UHD Premium specification announced at CES 2016. The specification comprises a list of features that should be included in products like TVs and Blu-ray players to ensure maximum compatibility with other content and hardware produced.
Currently, in order to adhere to the UHD Premium specification a product must have:
[ul]
[li]A resolution of at least 3840x2160[/li][li]10-bit color depth, allowing for 1,024 shades of each of the three primary colors red, green and blue, as opposed to the 256 allowed by the current 8-bit standard.[/li][li]Be capable of displaying pixels at a certain brightness and darkness for HDR purposes (technically this light level is from 0.05 to 1,000 ânitsâ for LEDs and 0.0005 to 540 ânitsâ for OLED sets for all you number lovers out there). Adhering to these standards means blacks should look truly dark as opposed to just milky black and whites should really pop.[/li][/ul]
Now that this standard has been defined it should just be a case of checking that your next purchase has the âUltra HD Premiumâ logo and not having to worry about your set being incompatible with the slew of 4K content thatâs about to emerge over the next few years.
Except of course itâs not that simple.
Samsung and Panasonic are embracing the new standard, with both of their flagship lineups wearing their UHD Premium badges with pride. Sony however have decided to go down a more confusing route and have decided to stick with their internal â4K HDRâ label despite their sets all actually meeting the required specification. Philips wonât be using the allianceâs badge, but its sets donât currently meet the specification anyway.
Itâs only natural that while a technology is still emerging these problems will continue to exist, but we hope that soon weâll be able to recommend looking for a UHD Premium set without reservation. Until the whole industry unambiguously backs the standard however, weâd still recommend you tread carefully to ensure maximum compatibility.
[IMG alt="w8XfCUhqXmMApxbuLPktWb" width="690px" height="387px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/w8XfCUhqXmMApxbuLPktWb.jpg[/IMG]
And what about 8K?
We thought that might come up. You may have heard some of the buzz around 8K resolution - a new visual standard with four times the number of pixels of 4K.
Basically it doubles the pixel height and width again to yield approximately 32 million pixels. Itâs a regular pixel party - though you can find out more about the new resolution in our 8K TV guide.
Confusingly, an 8K display would also be considered âUltra HDâ.
Should I just get an 8K TV instead?
If you want? The 8K standard was, until recently, still primarily for the exhibition market (aka movie theaters). To make that many pixels matter, you need to be feeding a pretty big screen and sitting close enough to tell the difference.
Weâre starting to see commercial 8K televisions come to market, though theyâll cost you - and there isnât much in the way of 8K content to truly recommend them. Youâll still get the benefit of advanced upscaling from HD or 4K, though, and if you fancy being at the cutting edge of TV technology, an 8K TV is probably what you want.
[IMG alt="0bbbebf0a516ecf551fce19b3766db53" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/0bbbebf0a516ecf551fce19b3766db53.jpg[/IMG]
My friend told me about 4K OLED. Whatâs that?
More acronyms! Isnât this fun? OLED - organic light emitting diodes - have been around for some time, but producing big screens using this technology has proven to be prohibitively expensive, something which has so far prevented OLED television from being a mainstream proposition.
Itâs a real shame because OLED technology can be stunning, offering vibrant colors, deep blacks and bright whites. But donât give up hope just yet. Several companies (most prominently LG) are laboring away to bring OLED to 4K televisions. Theyâre certainly gorgeous, though pricing remains high years after they first came to market - and itâs generally accepted that they donât have the longevity of LCD screens.
Iâve heard Netflix has been streaming in something called HDR. What is that?
HDR, UHD, OLED⌠thereâs no shortage of acronyms in home entertainment.
HDR, or high dynamic range, essentially increases the difference between the lightest and the darkest portions of an image. Blacks get properly dark rather than milky grey, and whites get blindingly light.
This means that images have more depth to them, and you should also be able to perceive more detail in the lightest and darkest portions of the image.
Netflix was the first content provider to release HDR video in 2015, but Amazon Instant Video also offers high dynamic range content. HDR has also been included in the new Ultra HD Blu-ray standard. You can read our full explainer on High Dynamic Range here.
[IMG alt="boAovkERCVYhC9GQyxrRQn" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/boAovkERCVYhC9GQyxrRQn.jpg[/IMG]
Why isnât broadcast TV all in 4K?
Because every 4K frame contains four times the information of HD, 4K content is four times more bulky than regular HD content in terms of its raw file size. That makes it a challenge to get it to you.
Steps are being made to get 4K content into broadcast television. In the UK, Sky has started broadcasting select sports in 4K, and BT is also using IPTV technology to do likewise.
On the streaming side, bandwidth is a definite issue. The internetâs bandwidth is already dominated by Netflixâs traffic, prompting ISPs to go after them for extra cash, and thatâs with most of its streams at SD and HD levels. Upping everything to 4K doesnât sound like a reasonable option just yet. And even if it were possible to stream 4K content to everyone without breaking the internet, streaming 4K content requires a 25Mbps or faster downstream internet connection, which is faster than most people have at the moment.
So what can I watch in 4K?
Your best UHD options right now come from Netflix and Amazon.
Netflix is leading the 4K streaming waters with most of its original shows (The Defenders, House of Cards, Dark, The Blacklist) being available in 4K, alongside select films (Ghostbusters, The Smurfs 2).
The selection might be more limited than the amount of HD content, but itâs increasing day by day.
Amazon has also gotten into the 4K UHD streaming game by offering some of its highest-rated shows â Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, Man in the High Castle, The Grand Tour and Mad Dogs â in Ultra HD.
Both streaming services say even more content is on its way and expects the roll-out to ramp up once more TV watchers make the jump to the higher-resolution standard.
[IMG alt="dSm8kGXxJ4tDnA6NFmF2TB" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dSm8kGXxJ4tDnA6NFmF2TB.jpg[/IMG]
If you have the bandwidth, you can now watch some Netflix shows in Ultra HD 4K
What about gaming in 4K?
We had 4K gaming on the PC for a while before consoles, but the more advanced versions of Sony and Microsoftâs gaming machines can certainly compete.
Sony got the ball rolling with the PS4 Pro, which uses an advanced form of upscaling to generate a 4K image. It might not be native 4K, but we think the results are excellent.
Although Microsoft dipped its toe in the 4K water with the similarly upscaling Xbox One S, things got serious with the release of the Xbox One X - a powerhouse console which offers native 4K resolution on a handful of titles.
What kind of cables will I need for 4K?
The two standard cables youâre most likely to use are either a standard HDMI, or if youâre connecting a PC to a Ultra HD monitor, DisplayPort.
HDMI cables now come in four flavors: high speed with ethernet; high speed without ethernet; standard speed with ethernet and standard speed without ethernet. Standard speed cables are capable of 1080i, but arenât able to handle the bandwidth of 4K. High speed cables can do anything higher than 1080i. Now, as long as youâre using the same class of cable, there is no distinguishable difference in terms of performance between one manufacturerâs set of cables and anotherâs.
The speed of your connection, however, will depend on the types of connectors. HDMI 1.4 connectors support a 3820x2160-resolution at 30 frames per second (fps), while HDMI 2.0 can output video at Ultra HD resolution at 60 frames per second, and HDMI 2.0a is capable of HDR.
The latest spec, HDMI 2.1, goes that bit further with 4K at 120fps, or 8K at 60fps.
The bottom line is that if your HDMI cable is able to handle 1080p (the standard for a number of years now) then it should be able to also do 4K. Donât get conned into buying expensive cables.
The other type of cable you can use is DisplayPort. DisplayPort carries 4K image and audio signal from most high-end graphics cards to monitors without any noticeable artifacts or delays.
[IMG alt="DfYVgPtTF39sLSJN6oNozX" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DfYVgPtTF39sLSJN6oNozX.jpg[/IMG]
PS4 games like God of War offer incredible detail in 4K
So should I buy a 4K set now or should I wait?
If youâre buying a TV thatâs 50-inches and above you should absolutely think about investing in 4K. All of the major players are embracing it as the new standard, and the amount of content is only going to increase over time.
If youâre buying a TV smaller than 50-inches, the answer is less obvious.
The problem is not that 4K doesnât make enough of a difference at these sizes, but instead that the additional technologies that have been combined with 4K in most sets havenât trickled down to the smaller models just yet.
As a result, while itâs totally possible to get a 4K TV thatâs as small as just 40-inches, at this point itâs unlikely to have a decent level of HDR (which weâd consider as going as bright as 1000 nits or more), 10-bit color, or wide color gamut.
Sure youâll get the right amount of pixels, but they wonât have the additional technologies to make them look really beautiful.
Eventually theyâll make their way to smaller sets, but for now 4K is at its best at 50 inches and above, where you can get all the bells and whistles that really matter.
Scott Alexander originally contributed this article.
Continue readingâŚ
Remember when Full HD seemed like the sharpest picture you could get? With four times as many pixels as HD, 4K resolution has completely changed the level of visual detail and clarity weâve come to expect from our screens.
Whereas traditional HD is limited to 1920 vertical columns and 1080 horizontal rows of pixels, Ultra HD has a total resolution of 3840 pixels by 2160 â a slightly smaller resolution than the 4,096 x 2,160 resolution seen on cinema screens (that, for the record, is called Cinema 4K).
Weâre used to being slightly wary of new television technologies that try to entice us into parting with our hard-earned cash (thanks 3D), but when it comes to 4K there are few downsides. The initial price barrier has dropped massively over the past few years too, with 4K coming to all sorts of budget and mid-range sets, and itâs never been easier to get a 4K UHD television into your home.
This is especially helpful on televisionâs that are 50-inches and above.
[ul]
[li]Check out our guide to the best 4K TVs.[/li][/ul]
At the end of the day it might not be the raw resolution of 4K that tempts you into your next TV purchase, but the inclusion of other cool technologies like High-Dynamic Range, Quantum Dot and OLED panels. Before we get into the specifics of each technology, hereâs a video outlining 4K in a nutshell.
Check out our video below for an introduction to the world of 4K.
What is 4K?
Pure and simple, 4K means a clearer picture. Itâs more pixels (8,294,400 to be exact) on the screen at once that creates images that are crisper and capable of showing more details than standard HD.
Thatâs it?
Thatâs it.
What is the resolution of 4K?
4K resolution, at least the way most TVs define it, is 3840 x 2160 or 2160p. To put that in perspective, a full HD 1080p image is only a 1920x1080 resolution. 4K screens have about 8 million pixels, which is around four times what your current 1080p set can display.
Think of your TV like a grid, with rows and columns. A full HD 1080p image is 1080 rows high and 1920 columns wide. A 4K image approximately doubles the numbers in both directions, yielding approximately four times as many pixels total. To put it another way, you could fit every pixel from your 1080p set onto one quarter of a 4K screen.
[IMG alt="cPULzeaxknqS7SEBJLPFQE" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/cPULzeaxknqS7SEBJLPFQE.jpg[/IMG]
Samsungâs new QLED TVs are 4K HDR with insanely high peak brightness levels of up to 2,000 nits.
Why is it called 4K?
Because the images are around 4,000 pixels wide. And before you ask, yes, the industry named 1080 resolution after image height, but named 4K after image width. For extra added fun, you also might hear this resolution referred to as 2160p. Welcome to the future. Itâs confusing here.
Do all those extra pixels matter?
They matter very much. More pixels means more information. More information means sharper pictures. Sharper pictures are more engaging. More engaging content is more fun. And fun⌠well fun is the thing, isnât it?
So Iâll see a huge difference?
Thatâs where it gets sticky. Weâre talking about a similar jump in resolution as the one from SD (480 lines high) to HD (1080 lines high). And 4K screens are noticeably sharper than 1080p screens. But there are a few reasons you might not feel the same thrill you did when you upgraded your old CRT to a flatscreen.
When most people went from a 480 to a 1080p set, there was a good chance they were making a big jump in TV size as well. In terms of wow factor, display size is more powerful than any resolution jump could ever hope to be. Last time around most people got big jumps to both screen size and resolution. But this time screen sizes are staying about the same, with the most popular models falling in the 40 inch to 70 inch range.
[IMG alt="5294c7a5bae453d4ba63d3c7f1e03c15" width="640px" height="360px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5294c7a5bae453d4ba63d3c7f1e03c15.jpg[/IMG]
If you have the bandwidth, you can now watch many of Netflixâs shows in Ultra HD 4K
Most importantly, though, youâll only be able to see the resolution difference on a 4K set if youâre 1) watching 4K content through it and 2) youâre sitting close enough.
Sitting close enough?
Yup. Remember when Apple made a big fuss about âretinaâ displays a few iPhones back? âRetinaâ refers to screens that have sufficient resolution that at a normal viewing distance your eye canât make out individual pixels. Get far enough away from a 1080p set and, hey presto, itâs a retina display!
More importantly, at that same distance, your eyeballs wonât be able to squeeze any more detail out of a 4K image than a 1080 one. If youâre at âretina distanceâ from your 1080p set now and donât plan on moving your couch closer, upgrading to 4K may not make a big difference to your experience. This chart shows how close you need to sit at any given screen size to see the difference.
So I should sit closer?
Oh my yes. The ability to get up close to the screen without the image breaking down is one of the most intoxicating things about 4K. Sitting closer allows the same sized screen to fill more of your visual field, which yields greater immersion. The up-close factor is one of the reasons 4K computer monitors have become one of the technologyâs fastest growing sectors. 4K monitors remain pin-sharp even when youâre just a foot or two from the screen, as you are when youâre sitting at your desk.
Difference between Ultra HD and 4K
Technically, âUltra High Definitionâ is actually a derivation of the 4K digital cinema standard. However while your local multiplex shows images in native 4096 x 2160 4K resolution, the new Ultra HD consumer format has a slightly lower resolution of 3840 x 2160.
This is one reason why some brands prefer not to use the 4K label at all, sticking with Ultra HD or UHD instead. However, the numerical shorthand looks likely to stick.
Why should I care about 4K Ultra HD?
There are many reasons why 4K should make you rethink your next TV purchase (actually, there are eleven and you can read about them here), not all of them immediately obvious.
Photographers who routinely view their work on an HD TV are seeing but a fraction of the detail inherent in their pictures when they view them at 2160p.
A 4K display reveals so much more nuance and detail â the difference can be astonishing. While 3D has proved to be a faddish diversion, 4K comes without caveats. Its higher resolution images are simply better.
The higher pixel density of a 4K panel also enable you get much closer without the grid-like structure of the image itself becoming visible âthis means you can comfortably watch a much larger screen from the same seating position as your current Full HD panel.
[IMG alt="KYGKqfYEHvDkHfSfwsoxHP" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KYGKqfYEHvDkHfSfwsoxHP.jpeg[/IMG]
Ultra HD Premium
If youâre sitting there thinking that all these new technologies and acronyms sound confusing then youâd be right. Thatâs why a group of companies decided to form the UHD Alliance with the expressed aim of defining what technologies should be included in the next generation of TV sets.
The UHD Alliance is comprised of 35 companies including television manufacturers such as LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, Sharp, audio companies such as Dolby, and film and television production companies such as Netflix and 20th Century Fox.
The idea then is that if everyone can agree on what features they think UHD should include, then Disney (an example member of the alliance) can produce a movie that Netflix will be able to stream through a Samsung TV, and the eventual image will be exactly what the director at Disney intended.
The result of this alliance was the UHD Premium specification announced at CES 2016. The specification comprises a list of features that should be included in products like TVs and Blu-ray players to ensure maximum compatibility with other content and hardware produced.
Currently, in order to adhere to the UHD Premium specification a product must have:
[ul]
[li]A resolution of at least 3840x2160[/li][li]10-bit color depth, allowing for 1,024 shades of each of the three primary colors red, green and blue, as opposed to the 256 allowed by the current 8-bit standard.[/li][li]Be capable of displaying pixels at a certain brightness and darkness for HDR purposes (technically this light level is from 0.05 to 1,000 ânitsâ for LEDs and 0.0005 to 540 ânitsâ for OLED sets for all you number lovers out there). Adhering to these standards means blacks should look truly dark as opposed to just milky black and whites should really pop.[/li][/ul]
Now that this standard has been defined it should just be a case of checking that your next purchase has the âUltra HD Premiumâ logo and not having to worry about your set being incompatible with the slew of 4K content thatâs about to emerge over the next few years.
Except of course itâs not that simple.
Samsung and Panasonic are embracing the new standard, with both of their flagship lineups wearing their UHD Premium badges with pride. Sony however have decided to go down a more confusing route and have decided to stick with their internal â4K HDRâ label despite their sets all actually meeting the required specification. Philips wonât be using the allianceâs badge, but its sets donât currently meet the specification anyway.
Itâs only natural that while a technology is still emerging these problems will continue to exist, but we hope that soon weâll be able to recommend looking for a UHD Premium set without reservation. Until the whole industry unambiguously backs the standard however, weâd still recommend you tread carefully to ensure maximum compatibility.
[IMG alt="w8XfCUhqXmMApxbuLPktWb" width="690px" height="387px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/w8XfCUhqXmMApxbuLPktWb.jpg[/IMG]
And what about 8K?
We thought that might come up. You may have heard some of the buzz around 8K resolution - a new visual standard with four times the number of pixels of 4K.
Basically it doubles the pixel height and width again to yield approximately 32 million pixels. Itâs a regular pixel party - though you can find out more about the new resolution in our 8K TV guide.
Confusingly, an 8K display would also be considered âUltra HDâ.
Should I just get an 8K TV instead?
If you want? The 8K standard was, until recently, still primarily for the exhibition market (aka movie theaters). To make that many pixels matter, you need to be feeding a pretty big screen and sitting close enough to tell the difference.
Weâre starting to see commercial 8K televisions come to market, though theyâll cost you - and there isnât much in the way of 8K content to truly recommend them. Youâll still get the benefit of advanced upscaling from HD or 4K, though, and if you fancy being at the cutting edge of TV technology, an 8K TV is probably what you want.
[IMG alt="0bbbebf0a516ecf551fce19b3766db53" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/0bbbebf0a516ecf551fce19b3766db53.jpg[/IMG]
My friend told me about 4K OLED. Whatâs that?
More acronyms! Isnât this fun? OLED - organic light emitting diodes - have been around for some time, but producing big screens using this technology has proven to be prohibitively expensive, something which has so far prevented OLED television from being a mainstream proposition.
Itâs a real shame because OLED technology can be stunning, offering vibrant colors, deep blacks and bright whites. But donât give up hope just yet. Several companies (most prominently LG) are laboring away to bring OLED to 4K televisions. Theyâre certainly gorgeous, though pricing remains high years after they first came to market - and itâs generally accepted that they donât have the longevity of LCD screens.
Iâve heard Netflix has been streaming in something called HDR. What is that?
HDR, UHD, OLED⌠thereâs no shortage of acronyms in home entertainment.
HDR, or high dynamic range, essentially increases the difference between the lightest and the darkest portions of an image. Blacks get properly dark rather than milky grey, and whites get blindingly light.
This means that images have more depth to them, and you should also be able to perceive more detail in the lightest and darkest portions of the image.
Netflix was the first content provider to release HDR video in 2015, but Amazon Instant Video also offers high dynamic range content. HDR has also been included in the new Ultra HD Blu-ray standard. You can read our full explainer on High Dynamic Range here.
[IMG alt="boAovkERCVYhC9GQyxrRQn" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/boAovkERCVYhC9GQyxrRQn.jpg[/IMG]
Why isnât broadcast TV all in 4K?
Because every 4K frame contains four times the information of HD, 4K content is four times more bulky than regular HD content in terms of its raw file size. That makes it a challenge to get it to you.
Steps are being made to get 4K content into broadcast television. In the UK, Sky has started broadcasting select sports in 4K, and BT is also using IPTV technology to do likewise.
On the streaming side, bandwidth is a definite issue. The internetâs bandwidth is already dominated by Netflixâs traffic, prompting ISPs to go after them for extra cash, and thatâs with most of its streams at SD and HD levels. Upping everything to 4K doesnât sound like a reasonable option just yet. And even if it were possible to stream 4K content to everyone without breaking the internet, streaming 4K content requires a 25Mbps or faster downstream internet connection, which is faster than most people have at the moment.
So what can I watch in 4K?
Your best UHD options right now come from Netflix and Amazon.
Netflix is leading the 4K streaming waters with most of its original shows (The Defenders, House of Cards, Dark, The Blacklist) being available in 4K, alongside select films (Ghostbusters, The Smurfs 2).
The selection might be more limited than the amount of HD content, but itâs increasing day by day.
Amazon has also gotten into the 4K UHD streaming game by offering some of its highest-rated shows â Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, Man in the High Castle, The Grand Tour and Mad Dogs â in Ultra HD.
Both streaming services say even more content is on its way and expects the roll-out to ramp up once more TV watchers make the jump to the higher-resolution standard.
[IMG alt="dSm8kGXxJ4tDnA6NFmF2TB" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dSm8kGXxJ4tDnA6NFmF2TB.jpg[/IMG]
If you have the bandwidth, you can now watch some Netflix shows in Ultra HD 4K
What about gaming in 4K?
We had 4K gaming on the PC for a while before consoles, but the more advanced versions of Sony and Microsoftâs gaming machines can certainly compete.
Sony got the ball rolling with the PS4 Pro, which uses an advanced form of upscaling to generate a 4K image. It might not be native 4K, but we think the results are excellent.
Although Microsoft dipped its toe in the 4K water with the similarly upscaling Xbox One S, things got serious with the release of the Xbox One X - a powerhouse console which offers native 4K resolution on a handful of titles.
What kind of cables will I need for 4K?
The two standard cables youâre most likely to use are either a standard HDMI, or if youâre connecting a PC to a Ultra HD monitor, DisplayPort.
HDMI cables now come in four flavors: high speed with ethernet; high speed without ethernet; standard speed with ethernet and standard speed without ethernet. Standard speed cables are capable of 1080i, but arenât able to handle the bandwidth of 4K. High speed cables can do anything higher than 1080i. Now, as long as youâre using the same class of cable, there is no distinguishable difference in terms of performance between one manufacturerâs set of cables and anotherâs.
The speed of your connection, however, will depend on the types of connectors. HDMI 1.4 connectors support a 3820x2160-resolution at 30 frames per second (fps), while HDMI 2.0 can output video at Ultra HD resolution at 60 frames per second, and HDMI 2.0a is capable of HDR.
The latest spec, HDMI 2.1, goes that bit further with 4K at 120fps, or 8K at 60fps.
The bottom line is that if your HDMI cable is able to handle 1080p (the standard for a number of years now) then it should be able to also do 4K. Donât get conned into buying expensive cables.
The other type of cable you can use is DisplayPort. DisplayPort carries 4K image and audio signal from most high-end graphics cards to monitors without any noticeable artifacts or delays.
[IMG alt="DfYVgPtTF39sLSJN6oNozX" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DfYVgPtTF39sLSJN6oNozX.jpg[/IMG]
PS4 games like God of War offer incredible detail in 4K
So should I buy a 4K set now or should I wait?
If youâre buying a TV thatâs 50-inches and above you should absolutely think about investing in 4K. All of the major players are embracing it as the new standard, and the amount of content is only going to increase over time.
If youâre buying a TV smaller than 50-inches, the answer is less obvious.
The problem is not that 4K doesnât make enough of a difference at these sizes, but instead that the additional technologies that have been combined with 4K in most sets havenât trickled down to the smaller models just yet.
As a result, while itâs totally possible to get a 4K TV thatâs as small as just 40-inches, at this point itâs unlikely to have a decent level of HDR (which weâd consider as going as bright as 1000 nits or more), 10-bit color, or wide color gamut.
Sure youâll get the right amount of pixels, but they wonât have the additional technologies to make them look really beautiful.
Eventually theyâll make their way to smaller sets, but for now 4K is at its best at 50 inches and above, where you can get all the bells and whistles that really matter.
Scott Alexander originally contributed this article.
Continue readingâŚ