Have you bought a 4K set yet? Do you see yourself getting one in 2017? (1 Viewer)

[Lord Dalek]

Pshaw I've still got my HD Plasma and bought an HD Projector. No 4k for me for a few more years.

What's worse... an HDR player is only 50 dollars less than what I paid for the screen. And that's the "cheap" one! >_<

But hey if it doesn't even work, why bother!

EDIT: Apparently the 43N61000u IS compatible so there's that.

 

[DaveF]

What's worse... an HDR player is only 50 dollars less than what I paid for the screen. And that's the "cheap" one! >_<

But hey if it doesn't even work, why bother!

EDIT: Apparently the 43N61000u IS compatible so there's that.

Projectors always lag direct-view displays by several years. That's why with my theater room, I want conduit run to the wall with the screen. While unlikely, it's possible it will be cheaper to buy a 100" 4K/HDR display than a 4k projector! Except, I don't know how I'd get such a beast into the basement...

 

[Sam Posten]

What's worse... an HDR player is only 50 dollars less than what I paid for the screen. And that's the "cheap" one! >_<

That's probably true until tomorrow when the new Xbox 1 S launches. I expect it will play streams in HDR and won't be more than $300, perhaps even lower.

 

[Lord Dalek]

That's probably true until tomorrow when the new Xbox 1 S launches. I expect it will play streams in HDR and won't be more than $300, perhaps even lower.

Well they'd be beating the PS4K out of the gate if that were true.

 

[Sam Posten]

And they did. $299, $399 day one edition, 4k, HDR (probably only HDR10 tho not DV but we'll see), and UHD support.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/13/11911184/microsoft-xbox-one-s-announced-price-specs-e3-2016
Boom.

 

[PaulDA]

And they did. $299, $399 day one edition, 4k, HDR (probably only HDR10 tho not DV but we'll see), and UHD support.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/13/11911184/microsoft-xbox-one-s-announced-price-specs-e3-2016
Boom.

Could this be like the original PS3? The least expensive (for the moment) and, with the CPU power needed for gaming, best performing (also for the moment) new "hi-res" player on the market? I bought the original PS3 as a Blu-ray player--my kids eventually started gaming on it but, for its first 3 years, a total of 3-4 hours of gaming happened on it. Hundreds of hours of movies, though.

 

[Lord Dalek]

And they did. $299, $399 day one edition, 4k, HDR (probably only HDR10 tho not DV but we'll see), and UHD support.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/13/11911184/microsoft-xbox-one-s-announced-price-specs-e3-2016
Boom.

Well that's $50 dollars less than the Samsung even at MSRP. Might be worth looking into.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Could this be like the original PS3? The least expensive (for the moment) and, with the CPU power needed for gaming, best performing (also for the moment) new "hi-res" player on the market? I bought the original PS3 as a Blu-ray player--my kids eventually started gaming on it but, for its first 3 years, a total of 3-4 hours of gaming happened on it. Hundreds of hours of movies, though.

The gaming market seems to have had the most impact on the HD format wars as PS3 supported Blu-ray out of the box and 360 did not (and HD-DVD for that matter). Also probably why 3D crashed and burned as gamers just didn't care outside of the DS.

 

[PaulDA]

Well, it seems like I'm going to get a 4K display this year after all. My 9 year old PJ crapped out on me Friday. I have a small space so my screen is small by PJ standards (64" 16:9). Was hoping OLED would be affordable by the time I intended to upgrade but I'm not planning to wait for two years with a 24" TV as a substitute. Within my budget, in Canada (important re: prices and available models), I'm most likely going to opt for the Vizio P-series 55". An articulating wall mount will allow me to increase its relative size to around a 72" equivalent (surprised more people don't do that). Don't know when I'll get around to it but before end of summer I presume.

 

[RJ992]

Epson has announced some 4K PJs (with 3D) for around $3000 this year. (Waaaay cheaper than Sony's 4K model or an OLED). I may consider one of those. As for players, any models coming this years are already obsolete. Why? Lions Gate just signed a deal for Dolby Vision. (I think Warners may have as well.) Of course, no DolbyVision discs or players at the moment...future players will probably add that and perhaps discs then may follow (if disc sales improve...right now they are in the toilet). So unless you're ready to buy a 2nd player in a year or two, better to hold off.

 

[Jim517]

Epson has announced some 4K PJs (with 3D) for around $3000 this year. (Waaaay cheaper than Sony's 4K model or an OLED). I may consider one of those. As for players, any models coming this years are already obsolete. Why? Lions Gate just signed a deal for Dolby Vision. (I think Warners may have as well.) Of course, no DolbyVision discs or players at the moment...future players will probably add that and perhaps discs then may follow (if disc sales improve...right now they are in the toilet). So unless you're ready to buy a 2nd player in a year or two, better to hold off.

Yeah, but his screen size is only 64". There's no way I'd use a projector for such a small screen size.

 

[Sam Posten]

Epson has announced some 4K PJs (with 3D) for around $3000 this year. (Waaaay cheaper than Sony's 4K model or an OLED).

Don't be fooled. They aren't 4K PJs. They are fake 4k upscaling 1080p. Will they look better than 1080p? yes. Will they have HDR. Yes, HDR10 not Dolby Vision. Will they look as good as real 4K PJs? Probably not but maybe good enough for you. My advice is to not buy fake 4K but a lot of people are doing so. I believe they will regret it when real 4K with full DV support comes to market but that's just like my opinion man.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Projectors always lag direct-view displays by several years. That's why with my theater room, I want conduit run to the wall with the screen. While unlikely, it's possible it will be cheaper to buy a 100" 4K/HDR display than a 4k projector! Except, I don't know how I'd get such a beast into the basement...

With OLED technology it's quite possible that a 100" 4K/HDR display could eventually be configured into a "roll-down" cylinder which would hang from the top of your wall!

 

[PaulDA]

Epson has announced some 4K PJs (with 3D) for around $3000 this year. (Waaaay cheaper than Sony's 4K model or an OLED). I may consider one of those. As for players, any models coming this years are already obsolete. Why? Lions Gate just signed a deal for Dolby Vision. (I think Warners may have as well.) Of course, no DolbyVision discs or players at the moment...future players will probably add that and perhaps discs then may follow (if disc sales improve...right now they are in the toilet). So unless you're ready to buy a 2nd player in a year or two, better to hold off.

True. Though no different than the JVC versions of pseudo 4K, early reports seem promising. But 3000$ US is not in this year's budget (exchange rate alone puts it at nearly 4000$ CDN, roughly double my budget). If my PJ had lasted another 18-24 months, then maybe. As to a UHD player, I'll wait until next year at least (same as I did with Blu-ray--a year after the projector).

Yeah, but his screen size is only 64". There's no way I'd use a projector for such a small screen size.

9 years ago, it made sense. Flat panel TVs of that size with the same PQ were 4-5x more expensive. No longer the case today. However, I could expand to about 80" but that would add to my expenses. Also, the least expensive PJ I'd consider is the new Sony 45ES--it plus a larger fixed screen would put me at 3300$ CDN. Too rich this year.

Don't be fooled. They aren't 4K PJs. They are fake 4k upscaling 1080p. Will they look better than 1080p? yes. Will they have HDR. Yes, HDR10 not Dolby Vision. Will they look as good as real 4K PJs? Probably not but maybe good enough for you. My advice is to not buy fake 4K but a lot of people are doing so. I believe they will regret it when real 4K with full DV support comes to market but that's just like my opinion man.

I'm coming from 720p, so even "fake 4K" would be great. However, the 55" could move to the living room in 4-5 years and then I could perhaps redesign the whole "cave" layout and go with a 90" or so screen and PJ. By then, real 4K with HDR etc. wouldn't be too expensive. Till then, I'll still be going from 64" to something in the low to mid 70s (depending on the final wall mount installation), in relative terms AND jumping from 720p to 4K to boot. Not bad, overall.

 

[RJ992]

Don't be fooled. They aren't 4K PJs. They are fake 4k upscaling 1080p. Will they look better than 1080p? yes. Will they have HDR. Yes, HDR10 not Dolby Vision. Will they look as good as real 4K PJs? Probably not but maybe good enough for you. My advice is to not buy fake 4K but a lot of people are doing so. I believe they will regret it when real 4K with full DV support comes to market but that's just like my opinion man.

Perhaps, but comparisions to Sony's "True" 4K models have been favorable so far. Since even the current 4K is barely distinguishable from good 1080p (on most displays), I can live with "barely distinguishable" from the Sony. And, since most UHD sets have been gimped to exclude 3D, the Epson seems like a "win-win" and for thousands of dollars less. Will have to see one for myself when they hit the racks.

As for Dolby, right now no players or discs exisit with that. Since Lionsgate and (I think) Warners have signed deals with them, that may change in future players...so even more reason to wait. (The Panasonic UHD player, without DV, coming in September is $700??? Ummmm....no.)

 

[Sam Posten]

Every streaming system is supporting exclusively DV. Disks are HDR10 exclusively so far. If your deck and your display can't work with both you are going to be limiting your choices. That may be ok with you but don't go into those purchases uninformed, and I see a lot of people pushing advice to others without those caveats.

I get that people need to buy today and that fake 4K is the bridge we have today. I can't recommend them tho because everyone who buys one is going to be kicking themselves as soon as the real deal shows up. If people make an informed decision to buy that is one thing, but if they rush to purchase without knowing the limitations that's another.

 

[PaulDA]

I'm afraid I won't be joining the UHD crowd this year after all. I did a lot of reading, went to see a lot of TVs (not all I had on my list, as some won't be available in store in Canada--P-series Vizio). There are still a few places where I can see a TV in an environment like my home rather than just the super-bright Costco environment and I also looked at TVs friends and family have acquired (recently). In the end, I noticed too many things about LCD TVs that reminded me of what I didn't like about them some years ago (when I pined for a plasma as an eventual replacement/addition). OLED looked great, but was out of budget. In fact, all the TVs (LCD or OLED) that did not show the flaws that bothered me were considerably out of budget. Nature of an unplanned purchase, I suppose.

Instead, I got an excellent deal for an Epson 5030ub (ultimately lower than what I could find in US stores, accounting for currency exchange, shipping, customs/duties, taxes, etc.). Canadian MSRP, with the free spare bulb, would have been well over budget at 3100$ plus 15% tax. (My budget target was, ideally, 2000$ CDN, tax in, or under, but plus tax at the limit--so 2300$ CDN.) The deal I got came to 2200$ CDN, tax in. I wasn't planning an upgrade for another 2-3 years anyway, so an extra couple of years (to amortize the purchase) is not a big deal. Also, I'll put off the upgrades of the DVR, AVR, 4K Netflix subscription, new HDMI cables, UHD Blu-ray player--all of which I would have wanted sooner than later to fully implement 4K in the "cave". I'll be in a better position to do that 5 years from now (at which time, I hope, the HDR/Dolby Vision thing will be universal and 4K OLED or true 4K PJ will be in my budget).

The 4K upgrade will likely happen in the living room first, in the end. At some point, that SD CRT has to stop working, right? I wish all the 4K people a wonderful time with their displays--I'll catch up later.

 

[Sam Posten]

The Vizio P series is in Canada now.

 

[PaulDA]

The Vizio P series is in Canada now.

It is. But according to my local Costco manager (I asked if they'd be on display in the store), Vizio will not be shipping P-series TVs to the stores. Costco.ca will have them and ship them. The thing is, the more I looked at various TV options, the less convinced I was about them (across multiple brands--not picking on any one in particular). With the 4K demo loops, they all looked great (from the D-series Vizio to the top Samsung--KS9500?--I saw). With non-4K, the quality varied greatly. I know in some stores things were very sub-optimal re: sources/environment, but I went to higher end shops that still set up rooms reflecting home environments and use better non-4K sources. The ones that looked acceptable were out of my budget. And, ultimately, it came down to budget (and timing).

I'm not usually an early adopter (often for financial reasons, but also to avoid "growing pains"), though I don't usually wait overly long. The most annoying thing about this whole situation was the timing--I research things well in advance, set aside funds and take the plunge at the appropriate time (for me). Don't have that luxury this time. I also know myself well enough to know that, once I had a 4K display, I would be on the quick path to upgrading the rest of the system (or be annoyed at not being able to do so). I've usually staggered audio and video upgrades, but with HDMI, such staggering is more awkward than it used to be, at least with 4K.

There won't be a 4K display next to my 1080p image at home, so I won't miss what I don't have (too much ). I've spent 9 years at 720p, I think I can handle 5ish at 1080p (and if my eyes keep going at this rate, I might never need more than that).

 

[DaveF]

http://www.cnet.com/products/epson-5040ub-series/#!
http://t.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?UseCookie=yes&sku=V11H713020

My plan to upgrade to 4K projection in three years continues to look promising, as pseudo 4K prices plummet and HDR is being added.