ULTRA HD TVS
Now that you’ve finally outfitted almost every room in your house with a flat-panel HDTV, there’s a new technology being touted as the next big thing: ultra high-definition (UHD) TV, says Consumer Reports. It sounds impressive, with super-detailed pictures that have four times as many pixels (picture elements) as a 1080p HD set.
And UHD isn’t just a concept that will take years to materialize. It’s here. There are currently a few dozen major-brand UHD TVs, all LCD/LED models, with screens from 49 inches up to 85 inches, and prices from about $1,500 to $10,000.
So are 1080p TVs past their prime? Not by a long shot. This isn’t like the move from standard definition to high definition, which was a huge jump in quality. With 1080p and UHD, the difference can be difficult to detect. It’s more of a baby step, and one you don’t have to take immediately — unless you’re ready for a new TV, you want the state of the art and you’re willing to pay for it.
Consumer reports outlines the basics
n What is ultra HD? Despite the fanfare, UHD TVs aren’t a new kind of TV. UHD is simply higher than high-def resolution. The first UHD sets are all LCD models with LED backlighting. A 1080p TV has 1,920 pixels horizontally by 1,080 vertically, which is about 2 million pixels. A UHD TV has a screen resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, or more than 8 million pixels. With all of those extra pixels, even the smallest details stand out — the finest strands of hair and the subtle texture of a cotton shirt, for example. (The 3,840 number is close to 4,000, which is why UHD TVs are also known as “4K” sets.)
n The more pixels, the better the picture? If it were that simple, all UHD TVs would look great — but that’s not the case. Consumer Reports has seen some that had only middling picture quality despite having extra detail. Top picture quality also requires rich, accurate colors, high contrast images, deep blacks that render shadow detail even in very dark scenes and sufficient brightness. Like top-scoring HDTVs, the best new UHD TVs have all of that, plus amazing detail, and the resulting picture quality is stunning.
n Are you saying that one of these new sets can blow away my current TV? Not really. It depends on a few factors. In Consumer Reports’ labs, experts scrutinizing 1080p and 4K versions of the same movies on HD and UHD sets sitting side by side could see noticeable differences, including finer texture, sharper type and smoother edges on the UHD set. But when they stepped back to a normal viewing distance, the differences were hard to detect — in fact, a casual viewer would have trouble telling the HD and UHD sets apart.
n What is there to watch on a UHD set? There’s a limited amount of 4K content available now. Netflix is streaming a few programs such as “House of Cards” in 4K, and Amazon and M-Go should have offerings later this year. Sony sells a media player, $500, with 50 free titles and pay-per-view downloads. Samsung offers a hard drive, $300, loaded with a handful of titles. Both work only with the same brand of TV. DirecTV plans to offer 4K programming within the next year, and Comcast has announced plans to stream 4K video on demand. But it will take a while until we have Blu-ray discs, and even longer for 4K broadcasts. Until then, you’d be watching a lot of regular high-def programs on your UHD set.
n How is that going to look? You might be pleasantly surprised. Consumer Reports found that Blu-ray movies actually looked a bit better on a UHD TV than on an HD set. That’s because 1080p content is up-converted to the ultra HD TV’s higher resolution, and the greater pixel density of the 4K screen enhances the detail.