4K DISPLAYS
HD TV TAKEN TO A NEW LEVEL
The text you’re reading and all other images on your computer monitor are made up of millions of pixels, the smallest controllable picture element in a digital image.
So what does this 4K thing have to do with pixels? Think of your computer screen or TV, for that matter, as rows and columns made up of pixels. A full 1080P HD image is 1,920 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels(P) high. A 4K display is 3,840 pixels wide and 2,160 pixels high.
Unlike the current HD standard of 1080P, which was named after image height (in pixels), 4K displays are named after image width, which is around 4,000 pixels.
With 1080P displays there is an optimal distance to sit to fully enjoy the HD image. If you sit too close you will start to make out the individual pixels, but at a far enough distance your eyes can’t make out the pixels, producing what Apple coined “Retina” displays. 4K displays have a little over 8 million pixels. That’s roughly 4 times the amount of pixels a 1080P HD display has. More pixels mean sharper images and sharper images mean a more engaging viewing experience.
On the other hand 4K displays allow you to sit closer without making out the individual pixels, filling more of your visual field. The display will remain extremely sharp even when viewing from a foot or two, as you would a computer monitor.
Major TV manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony, Sharp, and Panasonic all have 4K displays available and prices are starting to drop. Yet, there is very little content available to take advantage of a 4K display.
Computer monitors are different. Most operating systems – Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, and Chrome OS all can output images higher that 1080P as long as the graphics card supports higher resolutions.
