How To Get 4k On Tv

No, but seriously: Should you buy a 4K TV?

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Unless you're living under a rock and just crawled out to read this, you know the Super Bowl is this weekend. As you contemplate your plans for the Big Game, thoughts turn to beer, nachos, burgers, wings, or perhaps wine and crab-stuffed stuffed mushrooms for football's last hurrah of the season. Regardless of your food proclivities, thoughts inevitably turn to your TV as well — unless your friend with the $10,000 4K projector and 120-inch screen invited you to watch the game in his or her home theater.

If not, you may be thinking your old flat panel isn't big enough, or thin enough, or doesn't have the brightness and motion blur compensation you might want for this year's extravaganza. It's not too late to go to Best Buy, Costco, or Amazon on your favorite device to check out the latest big screens.

And then the nagging question surfaces again – is a 4K TV really worth the extra money? Well, only you can answer that question for yourself, but we'll try to present some information here that will help. Spoiler alert – yes, it probably is for many buyers, unless you're looking for the most gigantic screen at the lowest price.

What exactly is 4K, you ask? It is about resolution — often 3840×2160 for TVs and 4096×2160 in theaters, but either way, roughly 4,000 horizontal lines of pixels. But 4K also encompasses more than that.

For example, manufacturers are calling 4K UHD, because they're building in more capabilities to enhance the picture quality. UHD sets incorporate more powerful chipsets for faster processing, which is critical for HDR — perhaps the most important new capability in 4K TV. HDR stands for high dynamic range, and if you're a photographer, you likely know what it is. But as applied to TVs it's somewhat different, even if conceptually they're both about improving color and contrast.

Vizio HD TV

HDR on TVs is about displaying more accurate color, and with a wider color gamut, along with a better contrast ratio — including the all-important art of making blacks look black. LED-backlit TVs have had difficulties with black levels in the past. But new local dimming array technology – now becoming available on affordable models — can better control the backlight to make the black in dark scenes blacker. Also in TV HDR, the content must also be mastered in HDR for you to really be able to appreciate the difference. While HDR processing can be applied to non-HDR content, it is akin to upscaling 1080p to 4K – it may look a bit better, but you may not notice that much of a difference, depending on the program.

HDR is likely the most important new feature out there in UHD/4K TVs, but there are no set standards yet. Dolby Labs has been working on Dolby Vision and its predecessors since around 2008. Using its market position in movie and TV audio from mastering to decoding in consumer electronics, Dolby Vision aims to define HDR from the content creation to the display.

At CES 2016 last month, the UHD Alliance, comprised of some of the heaviest hitters in consumer electronics and video content, announced its specifications for HDR and more for UHD TVs. The alliance has a licensing and logo program for vendors that meet the criteria to earn the Ultra HD Premium specification, which has specific requirements for HDR color and contrast criteria, resolution, and even has recommendations for more immersive audio.

Samsung, LG, and TCL announced Ultra HD Premium sets, but Sony, while a member, announced 4K HDR sets, but not Ultra HD. Dolby is a member company and Dolby Vision is compliant with Ultra HD Premium. Netflix and Amazon are also members of the consortium, and both have announced support of HDR streaming content, with Amazon jumping in with some content in 2015.

HDTV TV

Where's the 4K content?

Perhaps the most important question: If you buy into 4K, where's the content? Most of it, right now, is in the streaming world. Both Netflix and Amazon are streaming an array of content in 4K resolution at the time of this writing. Netflix shows include House of Cards, Bloodline, Frankie and Grace, and others that are Netflix-financed exclusives, plus a limited set of movies. Amazon's content includes its exclusive series like The Man in the High Castle, Alpha House, and Mozart in the Jungle as well as some movies. In the U.S., While Amazon includes 4K content in the $99 Amazon Prime subscription, you have to step up to the $11.99 per month tier on Netflix to get their Ultra HD service, which also includes four simultaneous streams. At CES, Sony announced its Ultra service, an app which would offer 4K movies and titles on its Android powered sets, but it's not out yet.

Another major source of 4K content is YouTube. While a lot of it isn't professional material, there's a surprising amount out there and it's worth exploring. Many video blogs and reviews are shot and uploaded in 4K. Sony and Panasonic have both launched 4K YouTube channels to feature content shot with their equipment.

On the TV provider front, DirecTV and Dish both have 4K capable set-top boxes and DVRs. The content side is fairly limited to date, as they feature mostly recent movies and TV shows you can rent in 4K. At CES, Dish announced its latest Hopper 3 DVR, which features 16 tuners and 4K support, including 4K capability with its built-in Netflix app. Dish also announced new 4K content from Sony pictures, the Orchard, and Mance media. No word from either on linear TV available in 4K.

Time Warner Cable? AT&T Uverse? Comcast? There's been talk and announcements of future 4K boxes and content, but nothing is available yet. And that brings us to perhaps the big gorilla of cable: ESPN. The ABC-owned sports network commands more per-subscriber revenue than any other cable channel. With cord cutting, that revenue has been falling off of late. But that base still enables ESPN to outbid other networks for the rights to televise a vast array of sports content. Just don't expect any of it in 4K next year. The problem is the broadcast infrastructure and the mastering: Most sports today isn't shot with 4K cameras. It will require an upgrade of the entire ecosystem for that to happen, and it will take time.

Super Bowl 50

But we started this piece talking about the Super Bowl — and that's key. Notably, CBS will shoot the Super Bowl in 4K, just as Fox did in 2014. We don't have the infrastructure for either cable or broadcast to deliver 4K at this point, unfortunately. But as 4K TVs become more prevalent, the ability to monetize the higher-quality broadcast (just like HD channel tiers did) will drive more of the content to be produced in 4K. On the broadcast side, the upcoming ATSC 3.0 standard hopes to be out soon, which will enable H.265 video encoding which will be needed for those UHD broadcasting. While some demos were shown at CES, realistically ATSC 3.0 capable tuners won't come till 2017 or 2018.

What about 4K Blu-ray? Yes, it's coming. At CES, Panasonic, Samsung, and Philips all announced players that support the new Ultra HD Blu-ray specification. Like all new tech, expect higher initial pricing in the $300 to $400 range, just like the first wave of Blu-ray (and HD DVD) players rolled out almost 10 years ago. That said, unlike then, we're in the streaming era, so it remains to be seen if physical UHD media becomes mainstream and not just a niche product for dedicated home theater rooms.

4K TV pricing

While the content availability isn't all good news, pricing on the latest crop of 4K/UHD TVs mostly is. Taking a look at TVs sized 50 inches and above, where you'd notice the 4K differences, the sweet spots in pricing seem to be around the 55 to 60-inch panels (again, at the time of this writing). At Best Buy, for example, 55-inch 4K sets range from $499 to $899. The increasingly less available 1080p (HD) sets run from $399 to $799. At Amazon, you can buy the 55-inch Sony XBR 55X810C or the 55-inch Samsung JS7000, both for $998; the latter model includes HDR support. And Amazon is selling the 55-inch Vizio M Series for just $799; it's a 4K model with five HDMI reports and 32-zone local dimming.

At the low end of 1080p, you can still find a non-smart TV, but in 4K sets it is almost impossible to find one that is not also a smart TV. The price difference here is around 15-20% for 4K. With 65-inch panels, the prices range from $1,350 to $1,999 for 4K, while 1080p 65-inchers are going for $899 to $1,079. These are just representative prices, and shopping around for closeouts and Amazon specials can yield greater savings. The point is, unlike just a year or two ago, the price points are such that it makes sense to get the latest technology and be future-proofed for several years.

One final note: 4K isn't 3D. While 4K may not be the leap SD to HD was, it's not a fad, and the content and ecosystem is coming. If you've been on the fence, and you're looking for a new TV or an upgrade, the time is right for 4K. Typically the newer tech from CES doesn't make it to market until spring or fall, so you may want to wait for those. If you buy 4K now or later, you will be ready for Super Bowl 55 in all its 4K/HDR glory.