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 those questions in detail. The 4K revolution is not just limited to televisions, it is taking over smartphones, cameras, computer screens, tablets and the cinema; basically anything 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 regular 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 immaculate detail and excellent smoothness.
Watching 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 giant screen without any pixelated effect. Pixelating is when the small image is broken into small square boxes. Plus, this means you can see anything on a larger screen from the same viewing position. Although the technology is excellent, there is a flaw; it is not compatible with previous versions. This means that you will have to replace all external devices such as your TV box with 4K compatible ones.
When we talk about 4K technology, we need to shed some light on the availability of content and signals. After the introduction of 4K in the market, it has taken the place of 1080p Full HD resolution and now 4 standards are used for home 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 called Quad HD mainly because it uses a screen resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, this makes two Full HD 1080p screens wide and tall.
It’s not just about television screens; it’s about any display screen you know. Apart from the highly 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 brought about by this revolution in the display screen market is that now all types of content will be delivered to your devices over IP. Why is this an advantage? Streaming content over IP allows content to be available not only on a TV screen, but also on any device that can connect to the 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 4K compatible ones. 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 must not go into the details of these decoders for now.
What is the guarantee that this technology will remain in 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 every major and minor manufacturer has adapted the technology and committed to introducing more and more 4K displays this year. These newcomers range from ultra-large 105-inch curved screens from the market giants (Samsung and LG) to entry-level 50-inch screens.
If you’re looking to upgrade your TV, you should definitely go for a 4K display, though you may not be able to enjoy the benefits of 4K as soon as you buy the TV because less 4K content is currently available. Will 4K make your movies better? This depends on the originally recorded resolution of that movie. As we explained earlier, this technology is not just limited to 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 dramatically better than one that was shot in standard resolution.
The final word: Whether it’s HD, Full HD, Ultra HD, or Super HD, these manufacturers will never run out of new marketing tactics and tools to capture customer attention. The question is always does it meet your needs and fit your budget? If you can answer this, you can make an informed decision.
