I’m sure most of us have gone to electronic showrooms to checkout Full HD TV with Smart features, 3D TV’s and now Ultra HD TV’s which have a resolutions going far beyond the Full HD TV (1080p); which can be 4 times (also known as 4K TV – 2160p) or 8 times ( also known as 8K TV- 4320p) the resolution of Full HD TV. We all are tempted to buy this smart idiot box but is there a real need or use of these features after we buy them and set-up at our home?
Most of the recent “innovations” that were supposed to tempt you into upgrading your TV have flopped dramatically because of limited or not content available. Remember 3D?
3D TV:
At the launch of 3D technology in TV, the manufactures were so much excited – the next big thing after colour TV but it didn’t worked out very well due to limited 3D content available and also the experience of 3D you can get in movie theatres is far better than the tiny piece of the art you have put in your living or bedroom. The other problem with 3D glasses is, it works well in dark room than in open living room. Converting your regular 2D content to 3D on the fly is totally gimmicky and those who paid obnoxious prices for those 3D sets won’t be smiling when you ask them how often they use the 3D feature these days.
At the launch of 3D technology in TV, the manufactures were so much excited – the next big thing after colour TV but it didn’t worked out very well due to limited 3D content available and also the experience of 3D you can get in movie theatres is far better than the tiny piece of the art you have put in your living or bedroom. The other problem with 3D glasses is, it works well in dark room than in open living room. Converting your regular 2D content to 3D on the fly is totally gimmicky and those who paid obnoxious prices for those 3D sets won’t be smiling when you ask them how often they use the 3D feature these days.
Smart TV:
Smart today, dumb tomorrow; this is what happens in technology world. Due to fast innovations and break-through in technology world- product life cycle have decreased a lot in last 4-5 years. You buy a flagship product today, a new & improved version with tempting new features are announced in couple of months which will make your premium product outdated. Updating status on Facebook, twitter from your smart TV sounds foolish and hard to use rather than to use on your Smart Phone. Using YouTube or making skype call from your smart TV are the other smart features but the Smart TV from two years later will easily make yours look like a dumb joke! Again, you would have sent lot of money down the drain, or rather brain, for something that will get obsolete soon.
Smart today, dumb tomorrow; this is what happens in technology world. Due to fast innovations and break-through in technology world- product life cycle have decreased a lot in last 4-5 years. You buy a flagship product today, a new & improved version with tempting new features are announced in couple of months which will make your premium product outdated. Updating status on Facebook, twitter from your smart TV sounds foolish and hard to use rather than to use on your Smart Phone. Using YouTube or making skype call from your smart TV are the other smart features but the Smart TV from two years later will easily make yours look like a dumb joke! Again, you would have sent lot of money down the drain, or rather brain, for something that will get obsolete soon.
Ultra HD:Meanwhile, the latest innovation to hit our shores is UHD – Ultra HD (3840 pixels × 2160 lines). Popularly known as 4K. With four times the resolution of current 1080p sets, 4K TVs promise to redefine TV viewing – at such high resolution, you will be able to see the details which you can’t even imagined before. Of course, you will have to pay through your nose for such a TV set! Well, don’t!
Currently, apart from a few demo videos, there is a dearth of real 4K content out there. And hardly any consumer grade video player to play it on. Till now we don’t even have full HD content available and to expect Ultra HD content through digital cable TV operators is nightmare– the entire infrastructure will have to change for this to work out. From video recording to editing to broadcasting to satellite capacity to receiver and cables… Imagine the massive increase in bandwidth that 4K will require! Our advice would be to let another 2-4 years pass and then decide if 4K is worth buying. Prices would also have come down to sane levels by then.
So what do I buy?So what do you buy, if you are currently in the market for a TV? Advice – buy a Full HD TV 1080p with minimum 100Hz motion flow rate, least possible fancy features. Ideally, just the panel with HDMI and USB ports can solve the main requirement –no Smart TV components, and no 3D, no great speakers.
All these features can be added later based upon the requirements like
1) Android Stick PCs, aka Mini PCs – for under Rs 5,000, you can turn any regular TV (with a HDMI port) into a top-notch smart TV
1) Android Stick PCs, aka Mini PCs – for under Rs 5,000, you can turn any regular TV (with a HDMI port) into a top-notch smart TV
2) 3D kits are also available into the market at a price range of 5K to 7K
3) 5.1 channel sound system with optical input can we used to get true HD sound.
