Hasta La Gadget!

Now that Ultra HD TVs are poised to hit the market in force, it’s more important than ever to have receivers that can handle them — even if our bank accounts often can’t. Harman Kardon knows this well enough to ship its AVR 2700 and AVR 3700 receivers, both of which carry 4K passthrough and upscaling on their eight HDMI ports as a matter of course. The two also support AirPlay streaming alongside more commonplace DLNA media sharing and offer remote control mobile apps. Home theater futureproofers mostly have to decide on audio channels and network support before they buy: the $800 AVR 2700 produces 7.1-channel surround and sticks to Ethernet alone for networking, while the $996 AVR 3700 introduces 7.2-channel audio and WiFi. Few of us will use either receiver to its full potential right now, but well-heeled 4K TV owners (or just the well-prepared) can pick one up today.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Harman Kardon (1), (2)

The entry price for Ultra HDTV plunged by more than $10,000 earlier this week thanks to Sony’s new 4K sets, but now it’s going even lower with this model from Seiki. The brand is new to the US market and as such unfamiliar to most, but with a $1,300 listing on TigerDirect it’s been lighting up AV enthusiast and deal-hunting forums alike. We haven’t yet had a chance to see this display, but hope to take a look shortly. In the meantime, there are plenty of reasons not to be an early adopter — the infamous eye charts suggest 4K’s impact at this size may be reduced, it’s an unknown company with unknown standards for quality and service, a new HDMI standard may be incoming and there’s no content until the $699 FMP-X1 player arrives this summer — but with a sub-$2K pricetag some would say you can’t afford not to have an Ultra HD set in your possession. Those same people would also suggest inviting us over to watch the game (sports, console, but most likely a super high-res PC title if you can manage) on it, and indicate we are willing to bring refreshments.

[Thanks, Eric Kotz]

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: TigerDirect

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

The past decade has now seen at least three industry-wide technologies vie for the future of television — HD, 3D and now 4K or UHD. The first of these — HD — represented a massive change for television that affected nearly every aspect of the TV experience from how it was captured to how it was consumed. A decade later, it is nearly impossible to purchase a TV that does not support high-definition. The second — 3D — was a mixed bag. While the technology became commonplace on high-end TVs, it has remained relevant for only a small fraction of programming. The question, then, is which of these paths, if either, 4K will follow.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

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While NHK’s Super Hi-Vision 8K TV is still some distance away from becoming an everyday presence in our living rooms, we may get the next best thing soon. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications expects to broadcast the 2014 World Cup next July in 4K, using free capacity on its communications satellites rather than the usual delivery methods — the bandwidth required is reportedly too much for conventional sources. The 4K airing is still coming two years earlier than originally planned, however, and should eventually spread to broadcast satellites and terrestrial networks. The fortunate ones who can tune in to the ultra-sharp futebol will need an exorbitantly-priced 4K TV set to watch, but it’s safe to presume that they’ll have some of the best viewing parties around.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Via: Broadband TV News

Source: Asahi Times (translated)

Throwing a $20k Ultra HD TV set onto the market when there’s no 4K content of any kind in sight is quite the leap of faith, but LG told ChosunBiz (and confirmed to us) that it’s already found 300 deep-pocketed videophiles in Korea for its 84-inch 84LM9600 since it went on sale. Judging by CES 2013 the industry is all-in on the tech, so that news hopefully bodes well for the near future of UHDTV. It’s safe to say that consumer interest has been piqued by the pixel-rich screens, but whether that’ll translate into the kind of numbers we’ve seen recently for run-of-the-mill HDTV will likely depend on the all-important sticker price — which will have to be much, much lower than recent models.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, LG

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Via: The Verge

Source: ChosunBiz (translated)