At the latest at the beginning of January, the trade in TV bargains is over. Top devices already exist for a few hundred euros.
A 55-inch 4k TV from Samsung currently costs only 600 euros. That sounds good, but: not all 4k TVs deliver equally good images, additional techniques are necessary. A UHD TV is worth its money only if it can HDR and, for example via similar streaming offers, is also supplied with high-resolution signals. Besides, the specialist Chinese device manufacturers confused with terms such as HDR, OLED, QLED or nano-the consumer.
A few years ago, screens with a meter diagonal (around 40 inches) were considered significant, and now up to 140 centimeters (55 inches), Large screens are the typical case. The new 4k TVs offer better image quality with lifelike colors and crisp contrast. Unfortunately, the manufacturers have different concepts. We explain what HDR and UHD mean, what nanoparticles are and whether QLED is better than OLED or vice versa.
Movies and series in 4k
Long was full-HD (1080p) The measure of all things, but for a few years, four times as many pixels are squashed on a screen. 4k (also known as Ultra-HD) is the current image standard. Although full-HD TVs will not completely disappear from the picture area, at the latest in the middle class with prices starting from 400 euro you will have to look for them with a magnifying glass. There are several reasons for this: UHD TVs are not much more expensive in production, and more and more films and series are offered in the ultra resolution. At the beginning of 2018, the new TV standard will be mass-compatible.
Difference between 4k and UHD
Ultra-HD (UHD) will soon become the new standard for TV screens, and it offers a resolution of 3840 times 2160 pixels. That's four times as many as full-HD and 20 times more than with SD. The aspect ratio is 16:9 for all formats. True 4k, on the other hand, is the standard for Digital Cinemas (DCI). It usually corresponds to a resolution of up to 4096 times 2160 pixels. TV manufacturers use the same label even if the decision is lower.
Do you need UHD at all?
All TV manufacturers agree: The trend is going to become more prominent and larger TVs. The average size of purchased equipment has now arrived at 55 inches, which is 1.40 meters of screen diagonal. Some top models even exist only from 65 inches, and at the last International Radio Exhibition (IFA), top models with 77-inch screen diagonals were already shown. If you are accessing such an XXL screen, you should buy a model with ultra-HD resolution. Even if you are sitting very close to the TV, you don't recognize pixels-assuming you have the right video footage. While TV stations still broadcast in HD, Streamingdienste like Netflix and Amazon Prime already offer many UHD movies and series. Also, more and more smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S7, S8 or Apple's iPhone 7, 8 or X, even dominate the recording of 4k movies.
What are nanoparticles?
SUHD, quantum dots, nano crystal-There, are many names, but in the end, there is the same result: current TVs with nanoparticle screens offer more colors. The color depth increases from eight to ten bits. Sounds unspectacular, but instead of 16 million, it can represent more than a billion different colors. This not only looks chicer but usually, the image is also much brighter.
Better images with higher contrasts: HDR brings more detail to the TV. With the dynamic HDR techniques Dolby Vision and HDR10 + are even the successors at the start.
The IFA 2017 has shown a trend: anyone who wants to have a beautiful picture in the living room should grab a TV with 4k/UHD resolution. However, is this alone enough? High resolutions do not always bring a better view. If the pixels are already so tightly packed that the human eye can no longer distinguish them, it also does not help to cram any more of them on the panel. Extremely high resolutions are only useful once the screens become larger. But not every living room is suitable, and even then Ultra HD is only half the rent.
LED and OLED TV with HDR
The solution is a combination of two factors: better resolution and higher quality of the image itself, as with HDR. HDR TVs can display higher contrast sizes. The lights are then rendered brighter and the shadows darker. The human eye can finally perceive a contrast range of 1:1,000,000. High dynamic range or in short HDR comes close to this, at least much closer than standard dynamic range or SDR, which is found in previous televisions.
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