Hold off on that 4K TV purchase.....

[Chicog]

Early adopters of Ultra High Definition (UHD) televisions, also known as 4K TVs, could find their expensive new screens unable to handle broadcasts in a super-sharp format when they finally take off.

Heralded as the future of television, screens of 3840 x 2160 (UHD) to 4096 x 2160 (4K) resolution are the first major resolution milestone reached since HD Ready and Full HD arrived almost a decade ago.

But due to a lack of global standards set out by regulating authorities and the United Nations, consumers who bought a 4K television in 2013, 2014, or even in the first half of 2015, may find it impossible to watch UHD sports when they are broadcast in the years to come.

Speaking at a conference in London to discuss the future of television, Chris Johns, chief engineer of broadcast strategy at Sky, said: "If you bought a set in 2013 and early 2014, then sorry, it won't do sport. It'll only go up to 25 frames per second (fps). If you bought a set last year, even a set in the sales this summer, this spring, then I'm sorry - it won't do High Dynamic Range, which gives you better, brighter pictures."

The problem is that many UHD televisions cannot support content broadcast at more than 25fps, a problem tied to the refresh rate and underlying hardware of the UHD screen panel. This is the speed used by almost all Hollywood films, so while they will play without a problem, broadcasters are yet to agree on what frame rates to use for sports, which are typically much faster and suffer from poor picture quality when played at low frame rates.

Johns suggested that 100fps would be ideal for sports broadcasts. Higher frame rates require better HDMI cables, but also improved hardware on both the transmitting and receiving ends of the signal, so a software update won't improve a television's frame rate.

A partial - and expensive - solution

When IBTimes UK put this to Samsung, the South Korean company said it recognises the changing UHD landscape and offers the UHD Evolution Kit, a £400 device which plugs into 4K televisions from 2013 to give them the performance upgrade of a quad-core processor and HDMI 2.0 connectivity.

But because TV stations haven't yet decided on how to broadcast UHD content, there is no way of knowing if this kit will make older sets compatible with future broadcasts.

Samsung said it "will be working closely with all streaming and other UHD services to ensure that we continue to meet any new standards that come into the market."

IBTimes UK has also spoken to Sony and LG, and will update this article when we get a reply.

Samsung sells a £400 kit to upgrade older UHD televisions(Samsung)

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/sky-4k-tv-early-adopters-wont-be-able-watch-sports-broadcast-uhd-1504433

[IMHO]

Current HDMI2.0(+a) will only go so far as 4K60P, and the only readily available content is 4K30P (it's simply not viable to stream higher frame rates). 4K100P? I'd love to see that... but I fear I might be holding my breath for a very long time

PS. I'm not sure where he gets that current UHD TV's will only do 25fps - All of them, even the HDMI 1.4 ones from 2013 are 30fps, and 2014+ models with HDMI 2.0 can all do 60fps.

[Henryford]

Not a problem in Thailand. I can't see them broadcasting in 4K any time soon.