What is 4K TV?
What's the deal with 4K?
Read on to find out.
What does 4K mean?
A 4K TV is a TV set with 4K resolution. That means the TV has 3,840 horizontal pixels and 2,160 vertical pixels, for a total of about 8.3 million pixels. On TV product specifications, resolutions are usually shown as "3840 x 2160" for 4K TVs.
Resolution is a term that tells you just how densely these tiny dots, the pixels, are put together on the display. Individual pixels collect together to make up the image you see on the screen, so the higher the pixel count, the higher the resolution. The "K" in 4K stands for Kilo (1000), meaning a TV with a horizonal resolution of about 4,000 pixels.
How good is the quality?
4K TVs have four times more pixels than traditional Full HD (1920 x 1080) TVs. Even on TV screens of the same size, the 4K TV picture quality ends up being more vivid and detailed, thanks to the greater pixel density. This difference is especially obvious in big screen TVs. For example, if you compare the quality of a traditional 65" Full HD TV to a 65" 4K UHD TV, you'll notice a difference in the pixels that make up the screen.
For high-resolution TVs, the pixels are smaller than in a lower-resolution TV of the same size, so you can enjoy a more immersive experience without restrictions on viewing distance and watch from up close without noticing the individual pixels.
Image simulated for illustrative purposes. Picture quality will vary depending on quality and source content.
What 4K content is available?
When 4K TVs were first introduced, there was not much 4K content to watch. This caused some consumers to hesitate purchasing the TVs. Now there's so much 4K content available that it's no longer an issue.
Currently, there are various forms of 4K content from 4K broadcasting, 4K streaming services, 4K Blu-ray players & discs to even user-generated videos filmed with 4K cameras or 4K smart phones. In Singapore, streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ also offer a wide range of contents such as 4K movies and TV series. Plus, if you have a 4K Blu-ray player, you can easily purchase and enjoy 4K videos from places like Amazon.com.
Recently, a lot of people enjoy filming videos using 4K cameras or smartphones with 4K cameras built-in and share that content with other users through video sharing platforms such as YouTube. So, feel free to explore whatever catches your interest.
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Enjoy all your content in 4K-like quality
It would be great if all recorded content were filmed in 4K, but there's still a lot of lower resolution content out there in comparison to 4K content. However, thankfully this is not a concern because of upscaling.
So what is 4K upscaling and what can it do for you?
When you watch lower-quality FHD content on a 4K TV, upscaling is the technology that increases its resolution, converts, and optimises it to fit the display panel of a 4K TV. In other words, it doesn't just stretch the image — it upgrades it for the 4K display. Upscaling automatically analyses resolution to reduce noise, improve details and provide optimum contrast and colour so that you can view this content in 4K-like quality. And since every brand does upscaling differently, be sure to choose the one that does it the best.
Picture and sound quality of upscaled content will vary depending on quality and resolution of source content.
What is 4K? What is UHD?
To put it simply, UHD stands for Ultra High Definition and 4K Resolution is a type of UHD resolution.
Different brands use various expressions to say the same thing, such as Ultra HD, 4K TV, Ultra High Definition TV and 4K UHD TV. As time passed, the TV industry found the phrase "4K" easier and more intuitive for consumers and began to use it more and more. Today most manufacturers and distributors now use the term 4K TV or 4K UHD TV. Recently, another type of UHD TV has begun to show up on the market: the 8K TV.
Get on board
with 4K
High-resolution TVs are something to consider when purchasing long replacement products like TVs. If you're going to buy a new TV, then do yourself a favour and choose a 4K TV.
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