Is the World Ready for 4K?

I too bought a 4k TV last week ... but not necessarily because I'm going to see fabulous 4k content anytime soon. It was only about $50 more than a decent HD version would have cost, so the decision was easy.

As you said, Netflix and YouTube are your main 4k sources right now unless you shoot your own. I suppose things will catch up eventually.

Another thing you mentioned: A humongous TV makes most programming look awful on close inspection. Ours is 40", which is just about perfect for our room and viewing conditions.

The frame interpolation thing is unimportant and often annoying. I'm glad it can be turned off.

And one thing you didn't mention unless I missed it: screen reflectivity. Why are the current TVs all so reflective? The one we're replacing has a nice matte screen that diffuses all reflections without impacting sharpness.

Yeah, and after all that innovation the ultimate audiophile set up is still turntables spinning LP's through vacuum tube driven amplifiers.

I have a 12 year old plasma television that's not even HD. I was thinking about getting a new TV and then thought: meh. I had originally thought I would replace it when it got to be 10 years old then 2015 came and went and I was like, maybe I can push it to 20 years. At this point I'm more interested in seeing just how long it will work till it dies than replacing it.

Miranda F wrote: ... 5 1/4" floppies ...

I thought I had gotten rid of those ... now that I look, I see they're still in my closet. I have no drive installed anywhere to read them, but a bare drive might be around here somewhere.

Good thread. I to have a pretty old plasma and could easily upgrade. Just don’t see the need as I only watch football, American and European on it. Rather blow my money on camera gear which gets phased out similarly quick as all the previous tech items mentioned

Hi, interesting and relevant topic, one I've been struggling w too and most of us will sooner or later
My situation goes back not long ago I had several eye surgeries, both, and my vision must have deteriorated quite a bit. My TV was a 720, 32" Toshiba and had my mac hooked up to it. Using it as my monitor and TV. Working it w wireless keyboard, trackpad and a remote from were ever I was

The combination of deteriorated vision and the TV I was missing a lot of imperfections in my photos and uploading the photos w them. Unknowingly embarrassing myself in the process. Several times people tried to point it out to me and I didn't get it. I had purchased an iPad loaded my photos and then saw all my imperfect photos and was Really embarrassed. I even wrote an apology thread here: http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/forum_posts.asp?TID=123902

So a yr ago I was basically forced into buying a newer bigger set. I wound up w a 50" 4k, Ultra HD, what they call "Home Theater" and is too big. Should have a 45" max.

______________I viewed your video and you bring up many good points. Folks should absolutely view the vid before buying.


I use it mostly as my monitor that I process my photos with. I have "Cut the Cord". Being here in SF I have a Gig speed but no cable TV, I get over the air HD TV, which all the major networks are. I'm Good. I'm a news junky so I don't do many movies, no Netflix\, stream lots of news on youtube. I'm probably on flickr and iPhoto most of the time and here. Content is not an issue w me.

I'm certainly glad I don't get your side view distortion, at least not that bad. Your screen, you can't really call them TV's anymore is brand new. I think your going to have to do a lot of tweaking on it, till you get it more dialed in to your liking, after a while your going to get more and more pleased w it.
I've been working on getting the right size screen res on mine for most of the yr.

Syber:___"And one thing you didn't mention unless I missed it: screen reflectivity. Why are the current TVs all so reflective? The one we're replacing has a nice matte screen that diffuses all reflections without impacting sharpness."
Thats one of the most difficult things to get used to, going from a nice matte screen, to what I call plasticly like screen.

After viewing your vid I do have one suggestion that might help your viewing experience. Make your screen much more, stand alone. Move as much of your furniture and clutter as far from it as possible. Let that big screen have room to breathe and perform.

But in the end a real good 4k, Ultra HD show looks very good on these screens!

Thanks for the topic__________Coast

I can't help wondering where this is all going. TVs are heading toward high Mp the same way as cameras but they are a long way behind.

I have an HDTV which is very nice, and I can show pics from my cameras on it. But I edit photos on a square monitor which is basically 1.3Mp and photos get shown here on Dyxum at <1Mp. My HDTV is only 2.5Mp, and even a new 4k TV is 12Mp (I don't expect to get one of those for a while!) and I'm not sure I'd see the difference anyway at the distance I sit (around six feet from the TV).

Why am I concerned whether my camera is 20Mp or 24Mp or 42Mp?