LosOjos Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 (edited) Is the future really larger optical discs? Digital movie downloads set to take over from slumping DVD sales | Digital Trends Surely, if it was BluRay would have gotten a warmer reception? Whatever happened to Blu-ray? | ZDNet Well both those articles are talking about the US market, there are still huge areas of the world who don't have the luxury of a fast, reliable internet connection, including large portions of the UK. So, whilst downloads might well be taking over physical sales in the US, I don't think you can apply the same rules to the rest of the world. In terms of my personal experience, all the major high street retailers I shop in still have huge DVD/Bluray sections, and I'd say they average about a 60/40 DVD/BluRay split - hardly a dying format Edited December 10, 2014 by LosOjos
tmcd35 Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 From what I can tell 4k is around 20Mbps. With cable and BT Infinity, 4k streaming is currently doable. All you've really pointed out is how 8k isn't a viable format, not the requirement for a larger optical storage. IMHO the next step is 4k and Internet downloads and streaming is inevitable. I doubt broadcasting will move beyond 1080p. I think BT OpenReach have time to spare considering the current requirements of 8k. To be fair to BT, 30 years ago 14.4kbps modems were state of the art!
JRowley Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 (edited) From what I can tell 4k is around 20Mbps. With cable and BT Infinity, 4k streaming is currently doable. All you've really pointed out is how 8k isn't a viable format, not the requirement for a larger optical storage. IMHO the next step is 4k and Internet downloads and streaming is inevitable. I doubt broadcasting will move beyond 1080p. I think BT OpenReach have time to spare considering the current requirements of 8k. To be fair to BT, 30 years ago 14.4kbps modems were state of the art! 4K is certainly viable on current internet connectivity and physical media, I'm just saying that 8K isn't. A lot of people have been harping on about 8K being just around the corner in this thread, and in all aspects except the physical panel it is no way near being ready, and the likelihood is that to facilitate 8K as a format you would see a new physical media created to get it into peoples homes sooner, rather than waiting for countries to upgrade infrastructure, which takes a long time whichever way you look at it. To be frank it wouldn't take BT OpenReach very long to dramatically increase our internet speed if they dropped their obsession with copper. If they just bit the bullet and installed fibre to the house everywhere then we would see the effects significantly quicker, and it would probably cost less in the long run too. Edited December 10, 2014 by JRowley
abillybob Posted December 10, 2014 Author Posted December 10, 2014 So anyway guys... I may have stretched my budget a little but these three are what I quite like what do you reckon? Buy Sony Bravia KD55X8505 LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 55", NFC with Freeview HD and 2x 3D Glasses | John Lewis Buy Panasonic Viera 50AX802B LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 50" with Voice Control, Freeview HD, Freesat HD & freetime | John Lewis Buy LG 49UB850V LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 49" with Freeview HD & 2x 3D Glasses | John Lewis Which one would you go for? Im not to sure on LG but have previously owned Sony and Panasonic and both where very good.
localzuk Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 (edited) The thing is, there will come a point where new resolutions are entirely pointless. Beyond a certain pixel density, the human eye simply doesn't notice things. Improvements to compression, reducing things like motion blur and ghosting are better targets for investment for manufacturers. The difference between 4K and 8K, as far as I can see, is so imperceptible as to be pointless. That said, I'm of the crowd that rips all his DVDs to 1.4GB files, so I'm not someone overly obsessed with HD or that sort of thing. Streaming and downloads are the future - we just might end up with some stop-gap discs in the short term (10 years tops). With regards which TV? I'd say the LG. I've had a string of LG panels and they've all been flawless to me! Edited December 10, 2014 by localzuk
sted Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 The thing is, there will come a point where new resolutions are entirely pointless. Beyond a certain pixel density, the human eye simply doesn't notice things. Improvements to compression, reducing things like motion blur and ghosting are better targets for investment for manufacturers. The difference between 4K and 8K, as far as I can see, is so imperceptible as to be pointless. That said, I'm of the crowd that rips all his DVDs to 1.4GB files, so I'm not someone overly obsessed with HD or that sort of thing. Streaming and downloads are the future - we just might end up with some stop-gap discs in the short term (10 years tops). With regards which TV? I'd say the LG. I've had a string of LG panels and they've all been flawless to me! true but numbers are easy to sell
JRowley Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 So anyway guys... I may have stretched my budget a little but these three are what I quite like what do you reckon? Buy Sony Bravia KD55X8505 LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 55", NFC with Freeview HD and 2x 3D Glasses | John Lewis Buy Panasonic Viera 50AX802B LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 50" with Voice Control, Freeview HD, Freesat HD & freetime | John Lewis Buy LG 49UB850V LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 49" with Freeview HD & 2x 3D Glasses | John Lewis Which one would you go for? Im not to sure on LG but have previously owned Sony and Panasonic and both where very good. Do you actually want 3D? It's becoming less and less popular, personally I would just focus on getting a decent panel and use the money saved on something else.
abillybob Posted December 10, 2014 Author Posted December 10, 2014 With regards which TV? I'd say the LG. I've had a string of LG panels and they've all been flawless to me! See my worry about the LG is that it's refresh rate is only 100hz, the sony is a little better at 200hz but the Panasonic comes out on top at 2000hz which to me seems a ridiculous number. My main concern is ghosting. Do you actually want 3D? It's becoming less and less popular, personally I would just focus on getting a decent panel and use the money saved on something else. I don't want it but if it's included with the TV I'll have it. There's not a lot of 4k displays out there that aren't 3D that I can find.
sted Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 Do you actually want 3D? It's becoming less and less popular, personally I would just focus on getting a decent panel and use the money saved on something else. its a fair point but when i was looking the tvs i wanted that had smart features all seemed to have 3d even though i diddnt really want it
localzuk Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 See my worry about the LG is that it's refresh rate is only 100hz, the sony is a little better at 200hz but the Panasonic comes out on top at 2000hz which to me seems a ridiculous number. My main concern is ghosting. Refresh rates are often not comparable. The 2000hz is "motion handling" which for the LG is actually 1000hz MCI. Think of it this way - the videos that are actually displayed don't actually have that many frames per second anyway. What's the point in a screen that updates 200 times per second when your bluray only has 50 frames in a second? You're better looking at specific reviews of the individual models. Comparing numbers is kinda pointless, as a lot of them are simply marketing terms.
LosOjos Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 See my worry about the LG is that it's refresh rate is only 100hz, the sony is a little better at 200hz but the Panasonic comes out on top at 2000hz which to me seems a ridiculous number. My main concern is ghosting. It's a marketing con, the Samsung won't be anywhere near that refresh rate in real terms: Fake Refresh Rates Conversion: Samsung Clear Motion Rate vs Sony MotionFlow vs LG Motion Clarity Index
Quackers Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 So anyway guys... I may have stretched my budget a little but these three are what I quite like what do you reckon? Buy Sony Bravia KD55X8505 LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 55", NFC with Freeview HD and 2x 3D Glasses | John Lewis Buy Panasonic Viera 50AX802B LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 50" with Voice Control, Freeview HD, Freesat HD & freetime | John Lewis Buy LG 49UB850V LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 49" with Freeview HD & 2x 3D Glasses | John Lewis Which one would you go for? Im not to sure on LG but have previously owned Sony and Panasonic and both where very good. I would go for the Panasonic purely for reliability. I remember both our caretakers had engineers out to fix TV's few years back. 1 was a Toshiba kept breaking, he asked him which TV brand he recommended swapping it for, he said the Panasonic. The other had accidentally spilt water down the back of a Panasonic Plasma, the engineer commented this was the Panasonic set he had ever come out to as they seem to break the least (apparently Samsung was the one he went out to the most, normally power supplies, this was 2008). I've also noticed a lot of places that have the TVs on 24/7 have Panasonic Pro range, then you see places that have put the consumer class screens up and they have not lasted as long as there is a wall of mismatched models.
tmcd35 Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 There's a 55" Panasonic for £1199 on that John Lewis site. I'd probably look at that over the more expensive, and smaller, Panny or the more expensive Sony.
PotNoodleTech Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 Considering most 1080P feeds are compressed to heck and the camera work is often shoddy - I'd say there's no point in spending money on 4k if it's live TV or streaming you're after. I was lucky enough to have the SKY+HD package when it first came out and some of the HD feeds looked absolutely fantastic. The best I've ever seen. Unfortunately as the years have ticked by, the number of HD channels has rapidly increased and so the quality has rapidly decreased due to bandwidth constraints and high levels of compression. 4k TV is a cash cow to sell more TV's frankly. I aint buying into it this time!!
abillybob Posted December 10, 2014 Author Posted December 10, 2014 (edited) There's a 55" Panasonic for £1199 on that John Lewis site. I'd probably look at that over the more expensive, and smaller, Panny or the more expensive Sony. Where? the only 55" 4k panel I can find is like more than £2,000! Considering most 1080P feeds are compressed to heck and the camera work is often shoddy - I'd say there's no point in spending money on 4k if it's live TV or streaming you're after. I was lucky enough to have the SKY+HD package when it first came out and some of the HD feeds looked absolutely fantastic. The best I've ever seen. Unfortunately as the years have ticked by, the number of HD channels has rapidly increased and so the quality has rapidly decreased due to bandwidth constraints and high levels of compression. 4k TV is a cash cow to sell more TV's frankly. I aint buying into it this time!! Will be only using it as a computer monitor, will be downloading 4k content onto my computer and playing it through the TV plus I'll be using it for certain games. Edited December 10, 2014 by abillybob
tmcd35 Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 Buy Panasonic 55AX630B LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 55" with Voice Control, Freeview HD & freetime | John Lewis
sonofsanta Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 LG TVs are great, I have two at home. And honestly, >£1k on a TV is just silly IMHO; that's some serious early adopter tax. Those are the sort of tellies that are half the price in six months. I'd go with the LG at £900.
PotNoodleTech Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 Will be only using it as a computer monitor, will be downloading 4k content onto my computer and playing it through the TV plus I'll be using it for certain games. Ah - in that case, crack on my friend
JRowley Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 (edited) Depending on your budget this might be suitable? Samsung UE40HU6900 40-inch 4K Ultra HD Smart WIFI LED TV with Freeview HD and Freesat HD: Amazon.co.uk: TV http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/tv-audio-video/televisions/flat-tvs/UE40HU6900UXXU It's not the most feature rich TV as it doesn't have 3D of any form, the refresh rate claims "200", so expect it to be 100Hz. Anyway thought I would let you know about it, consider it a budget alternative. Edited December 10, 2014 by JRowley
abillybob Posted December 10, 2014 Author Posted December 10, 2014 Depending on your budget this might be suitable? Samsung UE40HU6900 40-inch 4K Ultra HD Smart WIFI LED TV with Freeview HD and Freesat HD: Amazon.co.uk: TV Samsung 40-inch HU6900 Series 6 Smart UHD Flat LED TV - Samsung UK It's not the most feature rich TV as it doesn't have 3D of any form, the refresh rate claims "200", so expect it to be 100Hz. Anyway thought I would let you know about it, consider it a budget alternative. Thankyou mate. I did see that although my previous experience with Samsung TV's has been.... lets say feeble. Plus call me weird but I don't think that TV looks as pretty as the others It'll be my living room show piece in a year or two it needs to look like a gorgeous goddess
JRowley Posted December 10, 2014 Posted December 10, 2014 Thankyou mate. I did see that although my previous experience with Samsung TV's has been.... lets say feeble. Plus call me weird but I don't think that TV looks as pretty as the others It'll be my living room show piece in a year or two it needs to look like a gorgeous goddess Ah my apologies, well by all means buy the most blingtastic TV you can reasonably afford
abillybob Posted December 11, 2014 Author Posted December 11, 2014 This is the end result, I ordered this TV in the end from PC World. Buy Sony Bravia KD49X8505 LED 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart TV, 49", NFC with Freeview HD and 2x 3D Glasses | John Lewis John Lewis seemed a lot more expensive as from PC World the same TV is £200 cheaper! Thanks to everyone that helped
abillybob Posted December 11, 2014 Author Posted December 11, 2014 John Lewis is expensive? Who Knew? I know they're not cheap, although what surprised me was the fact PC World was the cheapest out of all the other online retailers I looked at!
LosOjos Posted December 11, 2014 Posted December 11, 2014 I know they're not cheap, although what surprised me was the fact PC World was the cheapest out of all the other online retailers I looked at! To be fair, I've found Curry Pc World's prices quite competitive lately. Not always the cheapest, but usually cheap enough that I'll buy from them rather than order online and wait. Perhaps they've finally realised that if they don't offer prices comparable to online, they'll go out of business! Some things they still rip you off on, especially cabling of any description, but appliances and electronics seem fairly priced now.
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