4k

If $25,000 for an 84-inch 4K TV seemed a bit too steep for your wallet, take heart: Sony has revealed prices for more budget-friendly sets that won't take up half your living room or all of your savings account.

The electronics giant announced today that 55-inch and 65-inch 4K Ultra HD LED TVs will cost $4,999 and $6,999, respectively. They will be available for order beginning April 21. The new sets, which were unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, are now available for in-store demonstrations at Sony stores in New York, … Read more

The Korean electronics giant today talked up new features of its 2013 lineup during an event in New York. We also now have information about pricing and availability for Samsung's other TVs, including its LED 8000-series and its plasma 8500-series TV sets. (Check out the handy chart for LED and plasma TVs below). Many of those products are already popping up at online and brick-and-mortar retailers.

Samsung also said it has added three new apps to its smart TV portfolio -- Fox, Spotify, … Read more

A new report by TV industry tracker NPD DisplaySearch says Ultra HD resolution LCD TV panels, the principal component in new UHD/4K TVs, will increase significantly in 2013.

The firm says the number will top out at 2.6 million by the end of the year, up from a paltry 63 thousand in 2012.

A summary of findings in its "Quarterly Large-Area TFT Panel Shipment Report" says five suppliers will be responsible for the growth in 4K LCD panels, feeding a number of TV brands worldwide. China will play a key role, and growth will be driven by sizes between 50 and 65 inches.

"4K×2K panel manufacturers' shipments are primarily focused on 50-inch, 55/58-inch, and 65-inch sizes, which are expected to have the highest volume shipments, especially in China," says David Hsieh, NPD DisplaySearch vice president, Greater China Market, in a statement.

To put the 2.6 million panel number in perspective, consider that DisplaySearch reported that shipments of all TV types totaled 237 million in 2012. The firm predicts flat demand for TVs worldwide in 2013.

If you're wondering about OLED, DisplaySearch says its 2013 volume will be significantly less than that of 4K -- just 50 thousand units worldwide in 2013.

… Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--LG is showing off a new system that transforms your smartphone into a 4K media hub.

The South Korean company is calling the new platform the "world's first wireless Ultra HD transmission technology." If you've got a game or video playing on your mobile in HD, the new platform will upscale the feed to a 4K resolution, before beaming it out wirelessly to another device.

In this situation that second device was an LG 4K television, acting as a simple monitor for the 4K feed that the phone was pumping out.

At Mobile World Congress, … Read more

Japan is expected come July 2014 to become the first country in the world to broadcast in 4K Ultra HD resolution. This is almost two years ahead of the schedule set by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in its bid to revive the country's ailing domestic consumer electronics industry.

4K offers four times the resolution of a Blu-ray movie. The launch of this 4K broadcast service is timed to coincide with the knockout rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2014 football tournament.

To mitigate the bandwidth limitation of existing digital broadcasting systems, dedicated communication satellites will … Read more

As we all expected, the big news at CES this year was Ultra HD 4K displays. It seemed that every TV manufacturer had one, ranging from massive LED LCDs to midsize LED LCDs to midsize OLEDs.

We've talked about this before, but now with more info, and definitive product announcements, let me explain in exacting, excruciating detail why 4K TVs are still stupid. … Read more

If a report out of Korea is to be believed, LG's 84-inch Ultra HD television isn't exactly setting the industry on fire with its sales.

According to news site Chosun Ilbo, LG has sold about 300 units of its high-end television. The company's monthly sales have averaged about 70 of the TVs since the product's launch last year.

So, why might sales be so underwhelming? Price may have something to do with it. LG is currently selling its 84-inch Ultra HD set for about $20,000.

Ultra HD technology took center stage at the Consumer Electronics … Read more

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Will flat-panel TV picture quality get even better in 2013?

I'm guessing "Yes" in the case of the Best of CES nominee Panasonic TC-PZT60 and the re-engineered Samsung UNF8500, very likely the two best-performing TVs of 2013 under $10,000.

But those two are hardly the TV hardware poster children of the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, where all the headlines touted expensive 4K and OLED sets -- still stupid and chronically under-delivered, respectively -- as well as new gadgetry of questionable usefulness. Finger-gesture control, anyone?

I got a chance to see both the Panasonic and the Samsung … Read more