4K Videos : In and Out

What Is 4K?

Ultra HD (4K), or Ultra High Definition, is the next big step in HDTV resolution. For a one liner 4K means more pixels. About 8 million which is around four times what your current 1080p set can display. Think of your TV like a grid, with rows and columns. A full HD 1080p image is 1080 rows high and 1920 columns wide. A 4K image approximately doubles both those numbers, yielding approximately 4 times as many pixels total. To put it another way, you could fit every pixel from your 1080p set onto one quarter of a 4K screen. More pixels mean more information. More information means sharper pictures. Sharper pictures are more engaging.

Collectively, the format was originally known as 4K, but technically it is called Ultra HD (UHD for short) but the 4K label appears to be sticking.

Depending on the variety (discussed above), 4K generally offers four times the resolution of standard 1080p HDTVs. Even so, 4K content will still be compressed for home use.

4K video also takes a solid 1Gb-per-second connection for reliable playback (unless it's compressed in some way), which means fast hard drives and faster-than-usual Internet and network connections. The HDMI connections on your current devices might not be enough to show 4K video at its smoothest; most entertainment devices and HDTVs use HDMI 1.4 which supports an Ultra HD picture at 30 frames per second. HDMI 2.0, which is starting to appear on most 4K HDTVs, supports Ultra HD at 60 frames per second. Like the display technology itself, it will take some time for the HDMI standard to become common enough for both HDTVs and media players. 4k technology is also called 2160p technology.

What 4K HDTVs Are Out There Now?

The third round of 4K HDTVs are already hitting the market, and at much lower prices than they were last year. Plus, they're coming from big-name vendors like Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, and LG. Now that there are 4K HDTVs in the low-to-mid-four-figure range—still too dear for most of us, but not unlike what big-screen plasma TVs cost in, say, 2005—it's more realistic to look at them now, at least from a hardware standpoint.

Is there any 4K Content that we can watch on an HDTV?

In a word: barely. In a few more words: Sure, sort of. Back in 2012, the first 4K digital movie available for purchase was TimeScapes, a beautiful 50-minute film of night sky cinematography. There are a few shows here and there; moreover you can always check You Tube for 4K videos which are already inundating the website.