4K TVs may not be a necessity, but if you plan on getting one soon, you have little to fear. But don’t run to Best Buy just yet—right now is not the perfect time to buy an Ultra HD set. Just wait a few months. The 4K TVs coming out later this year should have all the right encoders, HDMI specs, and copy-protection formats to make them future-proof.
Lack of content has been the biggest gripe in the fledgling 4K world, but that’s only going to get better—and soon. More importantly, good old HD programming, whether it’s coming in from HD cable boxes, Blu-ray players, streaming services, or over-the-air antennas, will look great on a 4K set.
For you, dear TV viewer, the transition from HD to Ultra HD will be a cakewalk compared to the SD-to-HD shift. Apart from the resolution difference, 4K TVs and modern HDTVs share many of the same traits: HDMI inputs, flat panels, web connectivity, built-in apps, and digital tuners.
The transition from HD to Ultra HD will be a cakewalk compared to the SD-to-HD shift.
But here’s the big one: 4K and HD have the same aspect ratio. That means HD programming will play perfectly with a 4K set: No letterboxing or stretchy effects like when you watch standard-def fare on an HDTV. It’s a crucial piece of compatibility, as we’ll be leaning on HD cable boxes to see live TV for the foreseeable future. The high-definition video will just need to be adjusted by a video upscaler to match the native resolution of the 4K screen.
That doesn’t mean HD video will automagically turn into 4K when it’s displayed on a 4K TV, but in many cases, the signal will look better than HD. On some 4K sets, at least.
Not All Upscaling Is Created Equal
According to Consumer Reports senior editor Jim Willcox, upscaling performance can vary greatly from set to set. Willcox, who has helped conduct tests for Ultra HD TVs in the Consumer Reports Labs, says it’s better to stick with top brands.
“It’s just going to upscale automatically—you don’t have a choice,” Willcox says. “There are some cheaper secondary brands that have 4K sets in the marketplace, and what we’ve seen is that they just don’t do as good a job. Even though they do have higher-resolution screens, they’re not good at upconverting. Typically, companies get better at that as time goes on.”
A 4K dud is still a dud. Willcox says consumers shouldn’t assume that an Ultra HD set will be better than an HDTV. It may have more pixels at a low price, but that doesn’t mean it’s any good at things like image uniformity, color, brightness, or contrast.
“It’s hard to separate the upscaling from all the other bad things a bad TV does,” Willcox says. “Certainly that upscaling process is one of the more complicated things. If you look at some of our ratings, some of the Ultra HD TVs we tested aren’t even good 1080p TVs, let alone 4K TVs. They’re just not at a level of quality where there’s any benefit to that greater resolution. With some of the other TVs that we’ve seen, there is extra detail in the picture, and everything else is fine.”
Willcox points to Consumer Reports‘ upscaling tests conducted with first-generation 4K TVs, which showed a positive difference when using a Sony set. Compared to HD video played on an HDTV, the 4K TV’s upscaling was sharper—not 4K-sharp, but somewhere in between HD and 4K.
A Much Easier Transition
In the transition from SD to HD, you had to contend with many hurdles right out of the box. Ironically, many of the differences were what made upgrading to an HDTV such an attractive proposition. Stepping up to an Ultra HD TV will require fewer hardware and cable upgrades, and you won’t need to settle for a boxed-off lower-def picture. Still, 4K may be a harder sell for the mainstream.
“From SD to HD, you had several distinguished markers of difference,” says Greg Ireland, research manager for multiscreen video at IDC. “One was the aspect ratio, second was the transition from tube televisions to flat panels, and then third was that there was a noticeable quality difference in the picture. 4K is missing key elements that were there to make HD more enticing. We’re dependent only on a visual distinction that may not be as dramatic to most viewers as the SD-to-HD transition.”
Over the next few years, 4K TV adoption will sort itself out. If you’re interested in a modestly sized set—these days that means up to 55 inches—a 1080p TV is still the smarter buy. Even the best HDTVs will be very cheap from here on in, and unless you’re sitting really close to your set, you likely won’t see the effects of all the extra pixels on a 4K TV. But in the 55-and-up sizes, you won’t really choose to buy an Ultra HD set. Ultra HD will be your only choice.
But your first foray into 4K video may not even involve a TV at all. Smartphones and tablets are often described as second screens, but they’re increasingly the screens we rely upon first, even for video. When this Ultra HD transition is complete, your phone and your tablet will be full-on portable 4K TVs.
4K Isn’t Entirely About TVs
Four times the pixels is the most obvious benefit of a 4K panel, but other changes are invisible to the human eye. The big one is the way in which Ultra HD content is delivered: It’s all streamed via IP, which has its share of pros (flexible access to what you want to watch) and cons (you’re going to need a bigger data pipe).
One of the biggest checkmarks in the pro column is that IP delivery will be compatible with devices that aren’t TVs. You’ll likely need a mobile device with a 4K display and built-in decoders for newer 4K standards like HEVC and VP9, but that video may soon be available on every screen you own.
“We’re moving beyond the set-top box, and service providers and programmers are already thinking about how to reach consumers across all their different screens in more flexible ways,” IDC’s Ireland says. “Ultimately, you need to have a consistent IP distribution platform that can serve all screens. This idea of migrating everything to IP makes a lot of sense to create that consistency.”
We’ve been able to do this for years with mobile devices and “TV everywhere” apps from cable and satellite providers, but many of those apps have limitations: Sometimes not all the same programming is available through the app and on TV. Content can be limited depending on the mobile device user’s location. The app might not be compatible with the platform you’re using.
And of course, we’ve been able to do this even longer with “place-shifting” devices like the Slingbox. The major difference this time around is in the streamlining. Our expectations have evolved with regards to what a mobile device should deliver. Live television is a logical next step.
Internet delivery may simply be a holdover for watching live TV on mobile devices, too. The Advanced Television Systems Committee has proposed a new digital-TV broadcast standard called ATSC 3.0 that would support higher-resolution broadcasts and seamless compatibility with next-gen mobile devices.
4K and VR Are on the Same Page
You can count on an explosion in 4K mobile devices, in part because of another nascent video revolution: Virtual reality. While lower-resolution smartphone displays are sharp enough for normal usage, you can really see those “Retina Display” pixels when they’re strapped close your actual retinas.
Modular facemasks like the Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard—you slip a phone into a pair of goggles—magnify a screen that’s just an inch or two away from your eyeballs. With VR video content in particular, visible dots can weaken the sense of immersion.
So while it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have a 4K smartphone display for everyday use, expect next-generation bigphones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 to sport one. What makes sense for VR makes sense for the future of mobile—and TVs won’t be far behind.
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