General Category > General Discussion
4K TVs.. waste of time?
marioxb:
And guess what? This aint Einhander. Anyway, does anyone else think 4K and curved inward TVs are a waste? Personally, I don't think home TVs should look crisper/ "better" than movie theaters. I think theaters should be the end all, highest quality you can get. Plus, I already hate that "soap opera look" on regular HD tvs. It makes it look like a movie set, rather than an actual movie. I can't really even tell DVD from Blu Ray personally. But then I do wear contacts and am red/green color blind, meaning I can't see rainbows.
larryinc64:
From a technical standpoint, almost nothing is shot in 4K resolution. All movies and TV shows are 1080p or lower currently, with probably a few expectations. Most game consoles are barely going at 1080p. I think some very powerful PCs can force 4K, but that's about it.
It's like 3D, it's useless. It may become the standard years from now, but 4K is only worth wile on huge TVs, hell 1080p is useless if the TV is small enough.
For a quick resolution lesson, the numbers represent the pixel height.
480p is 480 pixels tall, 1080p is 1080 pixels tall, 4K is around 4000 pixels tall. The higher the resolution, the smaller the pixels.
"p" or "i" represent interlaced of progressive.
If you can't tell DVD from Blu Ray, you do not need 4K.
TDIRunner:
--- Quote ---From a technical standpoint, almost nothing is shot in 4K resolution. All movies and TV shows are 1080p or lower currently, with probably a few expectations. Most game consoles are barely going at 1080p. I think some very powerful PCs can force 4K, but that's about it.
--- End quote ---
That was true when 1080p came out, and now it's just about standard.
--- Quote ---It's like 3D, it's useless. It may become the standard years from now, but 4K is only worth wile on huge TVs, hell 1080p is useless if the TV is small enough.
--- End quote ---
Bolded part is key. The same thing was true when HD first came out. Before HD, 32" was about the largest TV you could get with a decent picture quality. After HD, 44" was pretty much standard. Now with 4K, even larger screens are possible without loosing quality. It has a lot to do with how big of a TV you can fit in your living space.
Like with any new technology, it's expensive to be an early adopter, especially since most media isn't in proper resolution to take full advantage. But eventually, the prices come down. At this point all that matters is whether or not it's worth it to you.
KalessinDB:
Was just having this conversation earlier today. It obviously depends on your biology since everyone's eyes are different, but in order for 4k to be truly worth it (this is of course assuming the content is 4k as well as the device), you need either a gigantic, room-filling TV (I personally find 40-50 inch to be perfectly large for the vast majority of houses built in the 70's-80's and before, more modern homes do often have larger rooms though) and/or you need to be sitting absurdly close to the television. Various TV rating sites will post various charts, and consensus seems to be if you want to be sitting say 10 feet away from your set, you'd need a screen of approximately 78" to really make 4k worth it.
Me? I don't want my TV to be 80" big, not by a long shot, and 10 feet away is pretty standard for me. But other people may feel differently.
Megatron:
--- Quote from: marioxb on September 08, 2015, 10:02:34 PM --- Personally, I don't think home TVs should look crisper/ "better" than movie theaters. I think theaters should be the end all, highest quality you can get.
--- End quote ---
For me, theaters have always been crap pictures. The IMAX ones are OK, but theaters are for SOUND. Nothing compares to the epic boom of a good theater sound system, especially for films designed for it like Inception or Jurassic Park.
As for picture, I remember seeing Man of Steel in Imax, NOT Imax 3d, and thinking this would look better on my TV at home. Sure enough, it did.
I like the crystal clear, 260 fps smoothness I get. I like feeling like it's happening right in front of me. That soap opera effect is called Image smoothing or something, and I love it - though that is a matter of taste.
However, for GAMES...I think 4k is a bit much right now until we get some hardware that can actually display it. Now I have heard there are some PC games that do 4k, but I have yet to see anything like that.