Electronic Products Word of the Week: 4K TV

A 4K TV is an ultra-high-definition digital  television. The 4K refers to an estimated 4000 pixels (picture elements) of horizontal resolution, complying, since 2011, with the Digital Cinema Initiatives 4K standard. The standard specifies a resolution of 4096×2160 and an aspect ratio of almost 1.9:1.

Commercially, 4K UHD televisions have a resolution of 3840 pixels × 2160 pixels (8.3 megapixels), one of the two resolutions of ultra-high-definition television, the other being 8K UHD, which is 7680 pixels × 4320 pixels (33.2 megapixels). With the standard aspect ratios of 16:9, both are aimed at consumer televisions. A 4K UHD unit has twice the horizontal and vertical resolution of the popular 1080p HDTV format, with four times as many pixels overall.

Frame size, in pixels, is described as the number of horizontal pixels × number of vertical pixels, for example 1280 × 720 or 1920 × 1080. Often the number of horizontal pixels is implied from context and is omitted, as in the case of 720p and 1080p. (The “p” means progressive as opposed to “i,” which means interlaced.) A second metric is the one that has always been used for televisions, simply how big the screen is diagonally, in inches, the metric on which price is based.

Any 4K TV is pricey; someone has said to think of the price in terms of buying a car. Some prices quoted in Wikipedia are as follows: From the Chinese manufacturer Hisense, the model XT880 comes in 50-, 58-, and 65-in.-diagonal screens and are priced at less than $10,000. LG’s 84-in. 84LM9600 model sells for between $16,999 and $19,999. Sony’s XBR 4K Ultra HD TV advertises for $24,999.99.

LG’s 84-in. 84LM9600 ultra-high-definition television sells for between $16,999 and $19,999.

Purchasing a 4K TV puts the buyer ahead of the game literally, because the Asahi newspaper in Tokyo, Japan, reported on Jan. 27, 2013, that the Japanese government is set to launch the world's first 4K TV broadcast in July 2014, roughly two years ahead of schedule. Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications had aimed to kick-start the 4K TV service in 2016. That has been brought forward to July 2014, when the final match of the 2014 soccer World Cup is set to take place in Brazil, the Asahi report said.

When you buy such an expensive television, and maybe even take the time to understand why it's so expensive, it's nice to have something cool to watch on it.