4K TV - worth it yet?

[chris2004]

Has anyone bought a 4k TV yet? The prices seem to have come down a lot recently - a 65in for 125,000.

Are there any 4k programmes available to warrant buying the TV or does the TV upscale HD.

[IMHO]

There's no readily available 4K content in TH, outside of a few stuttering Youtube videos.. But, an upgraded bluray specification is expected sometime in the near future that will support 4K UHD content, and all these sets have decent upscalers that will still provide a slightly sharper picture than the same content on a 1080P panel.

130K Baht used to be what a top-end 65" plasma costed only a year ago, so the same money for a 4K set seems like OK value.. The questions you need to ask yourself are:

1) Will I actually *see* the difference? you need to be sitting pretty close to a 65" 1080P screen to see pixels. 80"++ 4K screens still make the most sense for normal sitting distances (3.0-3.5M), IMHO

2) Will you have a bout of buyer's remorse when you see the prices halve again in a year, or when you see >= 80" sets fall to the price you just paid, or in 2-3 years when OLED screens with plasma-beating contrast come out @ reasonable prices, or when you look back and recall that a comparable PQ 1080P set would have cost you less then half the price?

If you answer Yes and No respectively, go for it

Just one thing if you do decide to go 4K - make sure it supports HDMI 2.0 (this requirement excludes some LG models)

[chris2004]

IMHO thanks, i think only one manufacturer supports HDMI 2.0 at the moment, Samsung and Sony don't which are the best sets around. Maybe best to wait and see if prices fall further.

[IMHO]

IMHO thanks, i think only one manufacturer supports HDMI 2.0 at the moment, Samsung and Sony don't which are the best sets around. Maybe best to wait and see if prices fall further.

Sony announced a few months ago that their 4K sets are all upgradeable to HDMI 2.0, and their Thai website also says that - not sure about the Samsung sets though. The next challenge after HDMI 2.0 is going to be getting a set that supports HDCP 2.2 - which it appears is going to be the protection system required for commercial 4K content.

If you can wait until the end of the year when it's expected 4K bluray is released and all the related standards have settled down, it'd probably be a lot safer to buy something then.

[kevvy]

Singulus technologies has been busy getting the new blu ray discs which are 100 gig which are triple layer.production of the new machines will be under the brand name Blueline 111.So maybe you will have to get a new player too?

100 gig movies will be great for watching on a 4k panel. I will wait till the software comes out which wont be this year.

?

Edited April 27, 2014 by kevvy

[wooloomooloo]

Was in John Lewis last weekend and liked the look of the curved 4K sets but can't justify an outlay of £2k plus for a format that hardly exists. It was nice to dream for five minutes though.

[IMHO]

Singulus technologies has been busy getting the new blu ray discs which are 100 gig which are triple layer.production of the new machines will be under the brand name Blueline 111.So maybe you will have to get a new player too?

100 gig movies will be great for watching on a 4k panel. I will wait till the software comes out which wont be this year.

?

Bluray 4K will definitely need a new player, yes. What I've been reading suggests that all the stakeholders are aiming for H2 this year so they can cash in on the xmas shopping season. All the big names are involved - there won't be any need to go to no-name brands.

[kevvy]

Was in John Lewis last weekend and liked the look of the curved 4K sets but can't justify an outlay of £2k plus for a format that hardly exists. It was nice to dream for five minutes though.

That are great arent they mate .. On my shopping list when they get all the software sorted out .

[kevvy]

Singulus technologies has been busy getting the new blu ray discs which are 100 gig which are triple layer.production of the new machines will be under the brand name Blueline 111.So maybe you will have to get a new player too?

100 gig movies will be great for watching on a 4k panel. I will wait till the software comes out which wont be this year.

?

Bluray 4K will definitely need a new player, yes. What I've been reading suggests that all the stakeholders are aiming for H2 this year so they can cash in on the xmas shopping season. All the big names are involved - there won't be any need to go to no-name brands.

Just wait for a couple of years , not long when you get to my age .. Then we will know what is going on. But it is going to be exciting . Have you seen the song throw projector

http://www.sony.net/Products/4k-ultra-short-throw/

[IMHO]

I saw the PR when it was released a couple of months ago yes, but in person, no. I haven't seen any pricing, but I expect being Sony (who know how to charge big $ for PJ's) it'll probably be not too far off flat panels of a similar size soon.

What I actually need is the opposite though (an ultra long throw PJ) - my next PJ needs a throw of at least 14M to work as I've planned, and needs at least 6,000lm, but also has to be 4K, and the standards there need to have been set in stone first too. So it's waiting game.

Edited April 30, 2014 by astral
Removal of long quote - Please use Reply button a the bottom

[kevvy]

Wow 14 metres... I have a Mitsubishi 3d PJ, cost a arm and a leg 15 months ago. The quality is great . But as I said and you too , it is a waiting game.The next theatre room will be 7 x6 as the one now is 7 x4 .That will be in the new house later this year

[GinBoy2]

The real 'wait & see' factor in my mind is content. There is precious little 4K content anywhere in the world yet. Netflix just announced a few 4K options in the US, but even with their compression its challenging downloads, so dont wait for that here in Thailand anytime in the next decade or so. So, you'll need to wait for upgraded bluray by which time price of the screen will have dropped. My advice, hold onto your money for the time being, wait to see some real world content out their before you decide, it could still end up going the way of 3D....and that seemed such a great idea at the time!

[ozymandious]

definitely wait.

there is a new format war and 4K is it. 4K content from Sony can only be viewed on Sony TV's. 4K content from Samsung can only be viewed on Samsung TV's.

http://www.cnet.com/news/why-are-sony-and-samsung-keeping-4k-content-to-themselves/

maybe Netflix 4K steaming can help us all if you have a fat enough internet pipe

[Sandman77]

In the eu some test channels on satellites on 10 degree east

Thailand nothing yet!

For Brazil world cup prices go

Down

Cheapest Modell samsung beginn

1200€

And the 4k streaming sony box

Was only avalible in us

But now on sometime areived in Europe soon

[IMHO]

maybe Netflix 4K steaming can help us all if you have a fat enough internet pipe

My internet 'pipe' is about as good as consumer grade gets in TH (20mbps, which does that domestic, and still manages >13mbps to USA), and it still can't play a 1440P stream without chopping it up:

Also bearing in mind that YouTube have local servers, and the last I looked they had 27gbps to the domestic backbone. Netflix don't have any direct connections to TH, or indeed most countries, so they're out of the running.

If they don't make a physical media format for it (disc, flash, punch cards, whatever), 4K will sit on the shelf for a long time to come.

[Sandman77]

20 Mbit should be enough for 4k

A nice programm is also U stream!

[IMHO]

20 Mbit should be enough for 4k

A nice programm is also U stream!

It's not enough for that video I embedded... and that's "only" 1440P.. Maybe the h.265 codec will help 4K streaming, but fact is, on TH consumer connects I just don't see it working smoothly for a long time to come.

[bobbin]

I saw a 4K 55in. Sony (I think) on sale at Tesco yesterday.

Sale price just over 37,000 baht. The demo video was football (World Cup) related. Picture was fantastic.

Wonder if I'll live long enough to see holographic television.....

[IMHO]

I saw a 4K 55in. Sony (I think) on sale at Tesco yesterday.

Sale price just over 37,000 baht. The demo video was football (World Cup) related. Picture was fantastic.

Wonder if I'll live long enough to see holographic television.....

I think you'll find that the 37K Baht is the finance deposit, or 1/3 of a 3 month instalment plan - the cheapest it sells for elsewhere is 9x,xxx Baht.

[KhunBENQ]

4k via internet?

Must be a nightmare for the providers.

Who should pay for the explosion of bandwidth while they already struggle to transport all those "funny youtube videos" which already make up the biggest part of traffic.

[Sandman77]

BBC brings Brazil World Cup in 4 k

[Sandman77]

This week first 4k test transmission

Starts for Asia region

Eutelsat 70,5east

[astral]

BBC brings Brazil World Cup in 4 k

But not for public viewing, only testing

[Chicog]

4K not worth it yet. They're all making them en masse, they'll build up load of stock for Xmas and they'll be 1/3 of the price in 1Q15.

[JesseFrank]

I saw a 4K 55in. Sony (I think) on sale at Tesco yesterday.

Sale price just over 37,000 baht. The demo video was football (World Cup) related. Picture was fantastic.

Wonder if I'll live long enough to see holographic television.....

I think you'll find that the 37K Baht is the finance deposit, or 1/3 of a 3 month instalment plan - the cheapest it sells for elsewhere is 9x,xxx Baht.

I doubt Tesco would have a 4K tv for sale, more think it was just the demo played on a regular flatscreen.

[muratremix]

I saw 4K 49" LG 2014 model for 47k baht, forgot what model was it (obviously not the top model). However, I'll wait until 4k content (HEVC) available to us all (mkv).

[JaswinderSingh]

Not right time to buy 4k.Still have some bugs so it will take time.

[astral]

Apparently there is no standard that manufacturers agree on yet...........

http://www.whathifi.com/news/new-4k-guidelines-see-existing-ultra-hd-tvs-fall-short?utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=ENews%20Bulletins&utm_source=July%2009,%202014&utm_content=article_1_image

[IMHO]

Apparently there is no standard that manufacturers agree on yet...........

http://www.whathifi.com/news/new-4k-guidelines-see-existing-ultra-hd-tvs-fall-short?utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=ENews%20Bulletins&utm_source=July%2009,%202014&utm_content=article_1_image

It seems like they are all now working towards the baseline of:

HDMI 2.0

HDCP 2.2

HEVC codec

Mainly thanks to Netflix actually getting out there and publishing some commercial 4K content it seems.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/13444

[muratremix]

Download a 4K video with high bitrate and watch it in full hd monitor or tv, big difference.

I watched some naughty 4k videos for test, picture quality in full hd is amazing.

I'll buy 4k probably next year, LG sells them for good price this year but next year it should be even cheaper.

Also, several flagship phones can record 4k videos, so it'll be great to watch them in 4k tvs when you have them.