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Samsung's 85-inch 4K TV
- Thread starter Rogifan
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That is what I am saying, the prices for blu-ray have finally come down. I can get them for 5-10 dollars also. Blu ray has been out for some time and it did not pick up steam like DVD did. The format war probably didn't help.
But 4K blu-ray, meaning the consumer has to buy a new player and a new tv. Sorry don't see it taking off for a few more years. You know sort of like HD 3D.
Same for when DVD came out, the Sony unit I bought early on (and my first stand-alone DVD player, after using a Creative Labs DXR2 kit) cost me about 500$.
1080p TVs came out before Blu-ray was really mainstream or even out. We just didn't have any 1080p content.
The thing is, the electronics industry understand one thing. The "Chicken and Egg" problem. The thing is, Content will never get released if there's no way to play it back. If they hold back the devices that can play it back while waiting, they will wait forever basically and we'll get stuck forever.
So they release their devices with little if any content and content eventually comes. It makes for slower take-offs (being an early DVD adopter and an early Blu-ray adopter, I can tell you both took their sweet time) but at least it eventually gets here.
You won't see me disagree about 3D though. But that's just the name of the game when you try new gadgets with little content, you risk it not being adopted at all. 3D TV was a solution in need of a problem. The benefits of higher definition are indeniable though (the larger the TV, the more apparent it becomes, that, or if you sit closer to your TV).
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What content supports 4K?
Samsung announced an upscaling Blu-ray player along with their 4K TVs, so at least, you'll be able to upscale 1080p Blu-rays to 4K which should give decent results (if not great image quality), kinda like upscaling DVD players give better results on LCD TVs than normal DVD players.
I think that would be great in my double wide. How much does it weigh and do you think I could mount it on my wall?
What content supports 4K?
I believe Sony has something in the works which is like a set-top box that downloads from Sony at a cost per movie basis for 4k content. Its only movies from Sony Studios though. I don't believe its a streaming device but just downloads the entire movie. I might be wrong on that on whether its streams or not.
I'm quite certain 4k content will come from the cloud. Physical media is dead. Though to get 4K close to the standard that 1080p is on Blu Ray and not something that is highly compressed like Netflix, we will need some serious internet bandwidth.
Netflix has a SUPERHD service coming out but only for Canadians and requires a 5Mbps connection but tops out at 7mbps to get the highest setting. Its just a higher stream of 1080p. Currently Netflix tops out at 3Mbps I believe. As for 4K, Gizmodo said that Netflix 4K/ UHD demo that was shown at CES2013 was not good. According to them it was quite grainy. Honestly I think Netflix should focus on premium 1080p with 7.1 sound first.
You're think of Sony's UltraViolet :
http://www.uvvu.com/
It's not a 4K content service, in fact, its quality is much less than Blu-rays. New 4K blu-rays or 4K Blu-ray players that can upscale current 1080p releases will be the content for 4K this year and the actual native 4K discs will be probably rare and limited to a few big titles at first (like when DVD launched or when Blu-ray launched).
Early adopters will have little content, like always, it'll take a few years to become mainstream.
I am more talking about content. DVD if I remember correctly was one of the fastest forms of media to be accepted and purchased. The players, I agree, I had a Panasonic 310 which cost me under 400.00. There were players that were pretty cheap, in the 100-150 range and then you had the high end stuff.
Actually the 720p was far more prevalent than the 1080p up until the last few years. Probably became more available with the advent of Blu-ray. Which really kicked up the 1080p TV.
I just don't see the 4K taking off anytime soon especially with those having to purchase all new gear in order to take advantage of it. Not saying there won't be those on the bleeding edge. I can't wait to see the section at CES (in a few hours) to see how many are jumping on the 4K bandwagon.
I hope it does, I am all for better video quality, but the price has to be right.
Remember when blu-ray came out, $40+ was a price for a disc when you could get the same dvd movie for half or even under $15 if you hit the week it is released.
We are not seeing the same for blu-ray disks, some 5-6 years after it hit the market. Granted again, the format wars didn't help it much lol.
3D I couldn't agree more.
I for one can't wait to see the TV's not looking forward to the price but then again those seem to come down within a few years.
DVD took its sweet time if you ask me. Took at least 3 years before the section at our local places grew beyond 1-2 racks of movies. My initial purchases were mostly made off Amazon back then (late 90s/early 00s). Of course, I remember DVD as a very early adopter, the war between "Digital Versatile Disc" and "Digital Video Disc".
I think the thing with people perceiving Blu-ray as slower to get adopted is that there were simply quite a few more early adopters of Blu-ray thanks to the PS3 (which launched about the same time as Blu-ray) vs most "early" adopters of DVDs came with the PS2 (which really helped push DVD out as a definitive format), a few years after DVD's actual introduction.
But really, both formats took off about at the same pace and Blu-ray was even said to be outpacing DVD sometime around 2009 before slowing down again and plateauing.
Ha that is funny, I remember that now too since you mentioned it.
The Best Buy and Circuit City's were stacked around me not to mention the local video stores and music stores. I remember waiting for the big name movies to come out on DVD. Oh the memories. Buying 1-2 dvd's a week as they would come out. Crap I can't remember when the last time I bought a movie. Mainly rentals for me now.
Most of my purchases came from buy.com before amazon became my main place to purchase. Or the laser disc store, the name is escaping me had a really nice selection in my area if I didn't want to wait for shipping.
Then you probably also remember DivX (not the codec, the first "Rental throw-away" format) ? That was a stupid industry move if you ask me, even more so than 3D TV.
Its actually the TV that does but it has to be Sony one. I was wrong about the set-top box. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9235478/Sony_doubles_down_on_4K_resolution_technology
That's true of most things at CES though. Companies show off prototypes/cutting edge devices and it takes a few years for them to trickle into the marketplace and a few more years before they hit critical mass and flood into the mainstream. DVD, for example, hit the U.S. in '97 but didn't top VHS rentals until '03 and DVD is typically seen as the most successful, fastest adopted consumer tech ever.
I have to say seeing the 4K content next to the Blu-Ray content. There was not a real big difference. I was really underwhelmed as was the group I was with. And judging from the people we were talking to, they felt the same way.
However LG had a wall of tv's showing 3D content that was pretty damn cool.
For the 4K TV. Very unimpressed and this was my first time actually getting to see them side by side.
I wonder how many billions of dollars Samsung will have to pay for these mega-sized TVs.... when another class action lawsuit hits them for defective TV capacitors or some other across-the-board flaw (high risk of defects for a 1st-gen product)
http://www.samsung.com/us/capacitorsettlement/
http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/23/samsung-may-cough-up-millions-over-kaput-tvs/
http://www.samsung.com/us/capacitorsettlement/
http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/23/samsung-may-cough-up-millions-over-kaput-tvs/
Don't know but I can say Samsung along with a few others spent a pretty penny on CES as they had some of the largest booths/display floors around. Not to mention Samsung had a second booth outside of iLounge giving out free shirts and coffee mugs with pictures you have taken on the phones. Lots of people getting merch.
There were a couple of other large ones LG and Sony to name a few.
I have a feeling you will get some good years out of your TV. I wouldn't worry about it to much.
I think you'll be perfectly fine with your new TV. Could you actually see a difference between your new TV and a 4K?
CNET had a good article about this last year:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57366319-221/why-4k-tvs-are-stupid/