We spent Thanksgiving with our Daughter and her family who live just across town. They have a new 4K Samsung 65", 4K Amp with 7.1 Surround, and 4K DVD player. We watched The Martian. Wow, what a great movie to see at this resolution.

I hope broadcast TV gets on board with this standard soon.
Mike

It’s better than the theater picture and audio quality if the right stuff is chosen and setup correctly. I’m done with the theater and the smart phone interruptions.

There are a number of bigger factors other than just resolution. More important are things like color accuracy, refresh rate, brightness capability, and High Dynamic Range compatibility. Folks will often be disappointed after running out and buying a cheap 4k TV, when it isn't any better than their existing TV, and is sometimes worse.

Besides, unless you're sitting closet than 9 feet away from that 65" 4k TV, your eye physically cannot distinguish between 4k UHD and standard 1080p HD.



Until you get into the really huge screen sizes, most folks are better served by buying a quality 1080 TV than a 4k TV. Especially a cheap 4k TV that may support that resolution but suffers in other areas.


Quality audio setups also make a huge difference in immersion/enjoyment. You can have great-looking pictures on the screen, but if you're trying to listen to the content through the cheap, tinny onboard stereo speakers built into your TV, or through a cheap 2.1 soundbar, it won't be the same.

I have only watched a couple of movies in 4k. Now that I have my Bose system, I will give that a go.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
There are a number of bigger factors other than just resolution. More important are things like color accuracy, refresh rate, brightness capability, and High Dynamic Range compatibility. Folks will often be disappointed after running out and buying a cheap 4k TV, when it isn't any better than their existing TV, and is sometimes worse.

Besides, unless you're sitting closet than 9 feet away from that 65" 4k TV, your eye physically cannot distinguish between 4k UHD and standard 1080p HD.

Until you get into the really huge screen sizes, most folks are better served by buying a quality 1080 TV than a 4k TV. Especially a cheap 4k TV that may support that resolution but suffers in other areas.

I disagree with much of this, and that chart is so played out.

I can tell a large difference on a 49” sitting 10-12 feet back. And that’s on a quality HDR Sony (X900E). I have 2 of those, a 55” X900F, and a 75” 940E. I can tell the 4k difference whether it’s sports or a film, substantial to my eye. 4k discs are outstanding. But I’ll agree with you, that if you are just going to watch 720p/1080i sources then what’s the point? It matters when you are going to 4k content via disc or streaming. And it also matters watching 1080p blu rays. The 4k sets upscale and it’s significant.

Talking about “cheap” tv’s is the same for 1080p sets as it is for 4k sets. A cheap tv is a cheap tv, period. You must do research and find the solid sets in the sizes you are looking for. Rtings.com is a decent site to view the various models.

When you watch 4K there are mind-control endorphins released.
With Dolby Surround Sound it is increased 7.1 times.
Approximately.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
When you watch 4K there are mind-control endorphins released.
With Dolby Surround Sound it is increased 7.1 times.
Approximately.

No.

What 4k is, is the first time that PQ at home on a good panel is better than what you can get at the theater. Sports, especially, are phenomenal. You can see the metal flake in the paint on a helmet.

As was said, with decent audio, it’s better than the theater now.

^^^^^

The mind control worked!

Glad I don't have one...

I'd like an excuse to upgrade our TV, but the 47" 1080p Phillips we bought 12+ years ago still looks fantastic.

Nope. Ain’t marketing, mind control, or any of this bullshit that is being spouted. Like the OP, same thing happened to me and that was it. So don’t go to someone’s house who has a solid 4k panel and 4k blu ray player. It’s damn nice to have the movie theater in the rear view. No more putting up with phones, talking, smacking popcorn and the rest of the bullshit.

The other thing is that 4K is perfect for, is passive 3D.

I know, I know, the 3D thing is so five-years ago....But I have a large-screen 3D setup with a bunch of 3D Blu-ray discs at a rental house, so I keep current on it.

link to a 2014 article on why 4K matters for 3D, for any interested. Quote from that article follows:

quote:

TVs are available with 3D capability -- and include the requisite glasses -- to handle playing those movies in the home. Until now, however, they all demanded severe picture quality sacrifices when you donned the glasses.

That is, until 4K resolution TVs with passive 3D came along. I just finished reviewing my first one, Toshiba's 65L9300U, and it delivered the cleanest, most artifact-free 3D image of any TV I've had in the lab. If you care about 3D TV -- and don't worry, I won't judge you if you don't -- you'll want to experience one for yourself.

The image difference on those 3D Blu-Rays once I put in a 4K-capable TV was amazing.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

No.

What 4k is, is the first time that PQ at home on a good panel is better than what you can get at the theater. Sports, especially, are phenomenal. You can see the metal flake in the paint on a helmet.

As was said, with decent audio, it’s better than the theater now.

They're broadcasting live sports in 4K now?

I'm not a fan of how these new TV's make older movies look "live" or almost like a soap opera.

I watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles on Thanksgiving Eve with my wife's family as that is their tradition and they had a new 60" 4K TV and it looked like total shit.

I'm sure it's a setting that can be turned off, right?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I'm not a fan of how these new TV's make older movies look "live" or almost like a soap opera.

I'm sure it's a setting that can be turned off, right?

Correct.

This effect is a function of refresh rate and motion smoothing. Newer TVs are capable of displaying 120 frames per second. But historically, most TV shows and movies were shot at 24 frames per second.

So newer TVs typically default to using software to attempt to "fill in" the missing frames with fraction-of-a-second approximations of what the pictures and motion would look like between the actual frames that were shot. This is called various things, such as motion blur/motion smoothing/motion interpolation/etc. It works well for some things, like making motion in live sports look smooth and dynamic, or for playing fast-moving video games. But it makes most other content look cheesy/fake (like a soap opera, hence the term "soap opera effect").

You can turn motion smoothing off and/or refresh rate down in the TV settings, to restore the "normal" look to that show/movie. Most newer TVs even have picture presets for this. For example, one for "Sports" with it turned on, versus one for "Cinema" with it turned off.

Definitely a better experience but you have to have good equipment to take full advantage of the tech. I recently upgraded to a Sony 65 inch 4k, with an anthem receiver and Paradigm Persona speakers. Huge difference.

I just want a really good popcorn maker.

No microwave crap.

Any suggestions?

Correction: Subliminal Mind Control.
You don't even know it's happening.

quote:

Originally posted by 1gkek:

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

No.

What 4k is, is the first time that PQ at home on a good panel is better than what you can get at the theater. Sports, especially, are phenomenal. You can see the metal flake in the paint on a helmet.

As was said, with decent audio, it’s better than the theater now.

They're broadcasting live sports in 4K now?

Yes.

https://www.sportsvideo.org/20...t-in-live-native-4k/

Fox Sports has also been broadcasting a number of 4k sports including Thursday night NFL games.

We need to get more of this rodeo. The sooner 1080i is dumped the better. I’ll take 1080p and be fine with it as the good 4k panels upscale excellently. But if they are gonna jump from 1080i to 4k I’m all for it. Sports look phenom, like you are right there.