Say Hello To The 4K Ultra HD Television
TV
technology was at the forefront of new items displayed at this year’s
CES in Las Vegas, Nevada. In fact, the big innovation featured this
year was that of 4K, or Ultra HD, televisions. So what exactly is a
4K/Ultra HD television, you ask?
Currently
most TVs on the market are what we call Full HD, or 1080p. These TVs
are shown at a 1920 x 1080 resolution, or 2.1 megapixels worth of data.
4K Ultra HD features a resolution of 3840 x 2160 (exactly double in
each direction of Full HD) and has 8.3 megapixels of data. In all,
Ultra HD features 4 times the total pixels of 1080p Full HD. Ultra HD
can also include the 8K resolution, which is 16 times the pixels of
1080p, but this format is still in its very early stages and not ready
for consumers just yet. So what does 4K Ultra HD offer that Full HD
cannot? Simply put, it offers a cleaner, crisper, and more fluid
picture.
If you are a
big name in producing televisions, you can bet you were showing off a
brand new 4K Ultra HD television primed (or soon to be released) for
consumers. Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG, and Toshiba are just a sample
of the companies displaying their new units. The sizes most companies
had prepped for viewing pleasure were of the 84 to 85-inch varieties.
Westinghouse was also crazy enough to debut a massive 110-inch Ultra HD
television. Take a moment to process that… I’ll wait. Many of the
84-inch models are already available for consumers, while models in the
50 to 65-inch range will be available in the coming months and into
spring.
Don’t expect
to see these new TVs flying off the shelves just yet. Because of how
new Ultra HD is, and the fact that most content we view is tailored for
1080p, there is not a lot of media out there that can make full use of
the 4K resolution. Most companies are realizing this issue and have
made efforts to show how well their TVs can “upscale” existing content.
Upscaling 1080p to 4K resolution is actually not much of an issue,
since 1080p resolution can scale perfectly upwards to match 4K. A
single pixel on a 1080p Full HD picture can be broken down and display
as 4 separate pixels on a 4K Ultra HD television. We may not see native
4K content become common for the next few years, so the ability to
upscale well is important now. Sony also sees this issue and is taking
the initiative to get 4K content in the hands of the consumer. Native
4K content on a 4K television will give you the absolute best quality
and take it from personal experience… it’s definitely impressive. To
push this idea, Sony is bundling a server with its 84-inch model that
includes 10 movies in 4K Ultra HD resolution. This will allow people to
taste the full experience right off the bat.
Of
course I had to leave the best for last… the price. Right now most
84-inch 4K Ultra HD televisions are going to run you north of $20,000,
depending on which company you buy from. Luckily LG has a deal for
their 84-inch model, running it at about $17,000 (wow, the savings!).
The pricing for most 50 to 65-inch models is currently a mystery, but
most are predicting a price range of $10,000 and under.
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