4K TVs are the talk of the town in the tech world. What is 4K? How does it work? What is all the hype about? This article will answer all of these questions in detail. The 4K revolution is not just limited to televisions, it is taking over smartphones, cameras, computer screens, tablets and cinema; basically everything that has a display screen.
Let’s start with an explanation of what a 4K TV resolution is. 4K literally means four times the picture quality and detail of any normal 1080p HD TV. That means instead of two million pixels, it uses eight million pixels. In terms of image clarity, this means the best viewing experience we’ve ever seen with pristine detail and excellent smoothness.
Viewing in 4K is like watching something in real time. For now, all 4K UHD TVs are available in screen sizes of 50 inches or more. This is because a pixel density like that of this technology allows the viewer to see anything on a huge screen without pixelation effects. Pixelate is when the small image is broken into small square squares. Also, this means that you can view anything on a larger screen from the same viewing position. Although the technology is excellent, there is a flaw; it is not backward compatible. This means that you will have to replace all external devices, such as your TV box, with 4K-capable devices.
When we talk about 4K technology, we need to shed some light on the availability and signals of the content. After the introduction of 4K in the market, it has replaced the Full HD resolution of 1080p and now 4 standards are used for the domestic TV signal: UHD (Ultra High Definition) – 2160p, Full HD (Full High Definition) – 1080p , HD (high definition): 720p and SD (standard definition): 480p / 540p. Before gaining popularity as 4K, this technology was named Quad HD mainly due to the fact that it uses a screen resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, this makes two 1080p Full HD screens in width and height.
It’s not just about television screens; it’s about any display screen you know. Apart from the very attractive 4x pixels, there are many other things that have changed with this new technology and these changes may not be very prominent or noticeable to a normal user. Everything has its advantages and disadvantages, just like 4K technology. One of the biggest changes that this revolution has brought about in the display screen market is that now all kinds of content will be delivered to your devices over IP. Why is this an advantage? Streaming content over IP makes content available not just on a TV screen, but on any device that can connect to IP and has a display screen. It is obvious that this change will not be very visible until our devices adapt to it and adapting means replacing our old devices with new ones that support 4K. In order to view this content on your device, you must have a 4K display and built-in decoders such as VP9 and HEVC. We shouldn’t go into the details of these decoders for now.
What is the guarantee that this technology will remain on the market for a long time? Honestly, there are no guarantees in the tech world; there may be something next month or there may be nothing new for the next two years. Expert analysis says that 4K technology will lead this market for quite some time and is the future of display screens. Almost all major and minor manufacturers have adapted the technology and committed to introducing more and more 4K displays this year. These newcomers range from ultra-huge 105-inch curved screens from market giants (Samsung and LG) to entry-level 50-inch displays.
If you are looking for an upgrade for your TV, you should definitely go for a 4K display, although you may not be able to enjoy the 4K benefits as soon as you buy the TV because there is less 4K content currently available. Will 4K improve your movies? This depends on the originally recorded resolution of that movie. As we explained above, this technology is not limited to just screens, the final output resolution depends on the camera that was used to shoot the movie. A movie that was originally shot with a 4K camera will obviously look much better than one shot in Standard Resolution.
The Final Word: Whether it’s HD, Full HD, Ultra HD, or Super HD, these manufacturers will never be short of new marketing tactics and tools to capture customer attention. The question is always: does it meet your needs and does it fit within your budget? If you can answer this question, you can make an informed decision.