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4K Ultra HD tv's

Mar 2, 2008
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So for those of you that have them, how long did it take you to adjust to difference in the way everything looks? I bought one Friday. I had a 9 year old 50 inch plasma and went to a 60 inch uhd. The difference is crazy and had to figure out how to get rid of the "soap opera effect".
 
I'm interested to hear about this. I saw a 4K a couple weeks ago at Best Buy but was curious how much programming is available in UHD
 
I bought a 70", I love it. Turn off the clear motion effect, & enjoy clarity like you've never seen. Old movies look a little strange, but sports are amazing. I have really enjoyed golf this year and the NBA Finals were awesome. Also I bought a Vizio for $1999, figuring OLED was coming in 3 or 4 years, instead of springing for a Samsung. It was definitely a good call.
 
I bought a 70", I love it. Turn off the clear motion effect, & enjoy clarity like you've never seen. Old movies look a little strange, but sports are amazing. I have really enjoyed golf this year and the NBA Finals were awesome. Also I bought a Vizio for $1999, figuring OLED was coming in 3 or 4 years, instead of springing for a Samsung. It was definitely a good call.
That curved 78 inch Samsung is so sweet but for $4k plus, no thank you.
 
It's called Tru Motion on LG TVS I believe. It's the worst featured added to TVS in years.

I got a 4k a few months ago because of how great it looked at best buy but took it back after 2 days. There's not any programming for it and the picture is actually worse on a 4k TV unless the content is in 4k.

I got the 4k TV thinking I'd be saving money since the 4k content is only a few years away but it's not worth the bad TV getting to that time.

So I instead got a 55" LG smart tv and love it.

If everything was in 4k right now I'd say get one, but I wouldn't recommend it until that time.
 
Most 4k's should up-convert 1080p content which includes almost all sports on major networks and most of what you want to watch on ESPN. Netflix is mostly 1080p too if your Internet speed is fast enough. I think Netflix adjusts the clarity based on your network though, and we have a 70 mbps connection so it works at our house.
 
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I don't have enough personal experience to really comment, but I'd venture to say the improvement has more to do with the 9 years of technological advancement between one TV and the next than it does with increased resolution.

But at 70 inches, I'd imagine the difference is quite noticeable.... that's what she said, har har har.

I'd never consider buying a 1080p TV of that size anyway, the same way I wouldn't consider a computer monitor over 24 inches at 1080p... it just doesnt make sense
 
I'm looking for a 50-inch TV for our living room to replace a smaller TV we have (we have a 50-inch in our bonus room, but haven't spent as much time upstairs since we had a baby). I don't want to spend big bucks, I'd say $1200 or below. I don't need the top of the line, just something that is good enough for watching sports and lasts for awhile.

Should I go for one of the 4K TV's that are in the $900-$1200 range (are they any good at all) or for a non-4K TV (those are generally $500-800 from what I've seen). I didn't know everyone's true thoughts on 4K and what is available now in all TV types.
 
We got a 60" Samsung Curve after Xmas last year for the man cave and I couldn't be happier with it.

Sure theres not a lot of actual 4K programming right now, but the difference in picture between that and my 2yr old 43" Samsung Plasma is unbelievable.

Someone earlier mentioned old movies looking strange, to me that one of the things that surprised / pleased me the most since Iam an big classic movie fan. The sharpness and clarity is almost like your watching them perform it live.

Maybe that's what the OP is referring to as the "soap opera effect"?

And of course sports are off the charts on it.

We will most likely be getting another 4K TV (albeit a little smaller) for the living room and making the plasma our 3rd TV.
 
Most 4k's should up-convert 1080p content which includes almost all sports on major networks and most of what you want to watch on ESPN. Netflix is mostly 1080p too if your Internet speed is fast enough. I think Netflix adjusts the clarity based on your network though, and we have a 70 mbps connection so it works at our house.

None of the major TV, cable or satellite networks broadcast anything in 1080p.

NBC, CBS, PBS broadcast in 1080i
ABC, FOX, ESPN Family broadcast in 720p

The only original content I know of that is 1080p is Blueray DVDs. There are people who download 720p and 1080i content, then use software to re-encode to 1080p.

Back when the TV networks were transitioning to HD, they decided to use 720p and 1080i, and spent billions of dollars to convert their transmitters over to those formats.
 
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I bought a 70", I love it. Turn off the clear motion effect, & enjoy clarity like you've never seen. Old movies look a little strange, but sports are amazing. I have really enjoyed golf this year and the NBA Finals were awesome. Also I bought a Vizio for $1999, figuring OLED was coming in 3 or 4 years, instead of springing for a Samsung. It was definitely a good call.


I was looking at buying the Vizio 70". I have a space for it now. I have two 47" TV's but since I saw the 70" up close I wanted it. I am waiting as long as I can for a deal to come up but may go ahead and splurge. Thanks for the tip on the clear motion effect. I have read some good reviews on Vizio. (Vizio M702i-B3 &0" 1080p 240Hz Class LED Smart TV) I hope it works out. (I'm frugal but darn I want to spend on this...)
 
I'll likely get one eventually.....though with most technologies I'll get it about 5-10 yrs after it's already outdated. I'm just a patient and cheap bastard.
I can relate. There is never a good reason other than ego to be on the cutting edge of technology when it comes to tvs. By the time 4K programming is available you'll be able to get a 4K capable tv for half the price you'll pay today...plus you'll miss and not pay for those fads that never catch on. 3D tv anyone???
 
Don't get me wrong. If I were a millionaire, I would certainly have a 4K in every room of the house. My goodness, when I walk through BestBuy they look simply amazing. I'm just a cheap and simple guy.
 
If you do purchase a 4K TV, make sure it has HDMI 2.0(a), HDR, and is HDCP 2.2 compliant.
Along with an 4k ready receiver if you have a surround sound system. I looked at some a few weeks ago and after I priced everything together it was completely unexplainable to make the purchase. When there are a lot of 4k programming available then I will make the move. TV prices and all will be much cheaper by then.
 
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Do they have a setting on them where I can get the damn weather scrolls and school closing off my TV? I think I might pay $4,000 for that.
 
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I would rather buy a very nice large LED TV right now than a 4K TV. More bang for your buck. You won't see much on a 4K TV that looks like the demo's they show at Best Buy. At least not yet. I will probably wait a couple more years before considering the 4K TV's.

I also probably wouldn't buy a curved TV. I think a curved TV would only be a benefit for a very large TV that you sit kinda close to it. It would make it easier to see what is going on near the sides of the screen. So unless the TV is like 10' diagonal and you sit like 7 or 8' away, I don't think it really is necessary. I can see the benefit on a giant screen at the movies if you are stuck in one of the first few rows but not for normal at home use.
 
I talked to a Directv tech last night about 4k. He actually recommended a wait and see approach to 4k. He mentioned what happened to the 3d craze. With 3d the only provider that really adopted it was DirecTv so networks never developed programming because their product was only going to be seen by DirecTv users so they could not justify the cost of creating 3d programming. Now that may not occur with 4 k but need to really wait to see what happens. Of course DVD viewing of 4 k will be there as the case in 3d movie watching.
 
A curved screen would provide worse viewing angles for parties, IMHO. Everything I've heard is that it is a gimmick to get people to buy new TV's before 4K took over. That notion seems to be correct.
 
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Most 4k's should up-convert 1080p content which includes almost all sports on major networks and most of what you want to watch on ESPN. Netflix is mostly 1080p too if your Internet speed is fast enough. I think Netflix adjusts the clarity based on your network though, and we have a 70 mbps connection so it works at our house.








None of the major TV, cable or satellite networks broadcast anything in 1080p.

NBC, CBS, PBS broadcast in 1080i
ABC, FOX, ESPN Family broadcast in 720p

The only original content I know of that is 1080p is Blueray DVDs. There are people who download 720p and 1080i content, then use software to re-encode to 1080p.

Back when the TV networks were transitioning to HD, they decided to use 720p and 1080i, and spent billions of dollars to convert their transmitters over to those formats.
 
I talked to a Directv tech last night about 4k. He actually recommended a wait and see approach to 4k. He mentioned what happened to the 3d craze. With 3d the only provider that really adopted it was DirecTv so networks never developed programming because their product was only going to be seen by DirecTv users so they could not justify the cost of creating 3d programming. Now that may not occur with 4 k but need to really wait to see what happens. Of course DVD viewing of 4 k will be there as the case in 3d movie watching.
I don't think 3D movies and 4K really share the same hurdles to adoption. With 3D it was very expensive to create content, you needed those 3D glasses, and there was not a compelling reason to have everything in 3D. But 4K is really just making tv/movies look even sharper than they already do. So I believe it will eventually take off like HD has. But, it may be quite a while before there's a lot of content. The quickest way to get adoption is to have sports shown in 4K format. That would prod a lot of people to upgrade because guys are generally the ones who make these purchases.
 
Had a DirecTV tech out on Wednesday to install our Genie receivers. He told me DirecTV was "working on" 4K receivers at the current time but they were going to be "really expensive". Right now, if it had not been for my wife wanting 4K I think I'd have gone with an OLED HD TV and waited a few years for more 4K content to be available. OLED picture is unreal.
 
OLED is far more important than 4k, at 65" or below you are unlikely to tell the difference in resolution. There are a thousand charts online you can reference for distance/res. It's just science. Also there is zero chance 4k content and distribution becomes standardized any time soon, I mean 1080p content/dist isn't even standard. Maybe if Google Fiber increases 10x in the next couple year ie not happening.

On the other hand OLED is a remarkable tech and is the true heir to Plasma as the premier tech.

Don't buy a curved 4k 3d led just because the dweeb at Best Buy told you to, you're getting fleeced.
 
I love the SECT Network on my BIG SCREEN...all those people still using BW TVs...what a bunch of losers.

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I think it works best with DirecTV. It'll be some time before most programming becomes high quality enough to get the full effect but I still love it.
 
I wanted to top this since I bought a 4K Sony the day before Thanksgiving. It was the XBR55X810C 55-inch and was just below $1000 (which was my price range and the ratings were good).

Maybe it is my brain tricking me, but the regular HD content just looks better too. And the 4K stuff that is on-demand right now is crazy good. Of course it will be a long time before it is adopted into regular programming.
 
I have the 60" 4k Samsung. Love it.

Word of caution. It is amazing how ugly most of the ESPN talking heads are in ultra high definition.
 
Best Buy had a small 43" UHD in on sale for 399
I almost bought that one. I don't watch a lot of tv and our tv room is too small for anything bigger. Giant tv's in small rooms just look weird to me, they overpower the room.
 
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