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Old 04-27-2014, 03:57 PM
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ChrisW6ATV ChrisW6ATV is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Hayward, Cal. USA
Posts: 3,464
The big thing that gets missed in most discussions of high-technology displays is this:

MOVIE watching (at home) is one thing;

TELEVISION is another thing entirely. Entirely.

4K displays and other high-performance video equipment are mainly bought (and appreciated) by those who want to come as close as possible to the movie-theater experience, in their homes, within the necessary compromises. In this world, big screens and high detail, plus careful adjustment and attention to room lighting and other factors, make all the difference for a very enjoyable experience. Live sports events on video can be included in this type of system to some degree, as well.

Television, in contrast, is not at all even intended to be used or experienced that way. The one and only purpose of TV is to attract and keep the attention of viewers and to get as many of them to stay and watch the commercials. NO other purpose for the television industry, with rare exceptions (public television and pay-TV channels). In that world, quality (of either program content or the technical presentation itself) is only pursued to the degree that it will get more people to watch the commercials. HDTV, surround sound, stereo sound-none of these technologies have probably done much if anything to help sell soap and pickup trucks. Their only purpose in the television world has been to attract attention ("This is NEW! You should buy it!"... Hmm, just like the "New and Improved" laundry soap in the commercials, right? ) or to get ahead of/keep up with the other broadcasters/channels.

In the home-movie-watching world, though, every improvement has made a big difference in the experience. A good, large 1080 HD display with the Blu-ray version of, say, Casablanca, totally mutilates and crushes the DVD of the same movie. It just puts you there, as if you were sitting next to Humphrey Bogart himself. The best movie theaters in 1942 already did that, too (and have done so ever since); until HD displays and the Blu-ray format existed, nothing at home even came close.

4K displays have the potential to make the home experience even better, but only for those using very large displays (my 1080p screen is 92 inches diagonal) and sitting much closer than most of us are used to doing (I sit eight feet away from that 92-inch screen and would not want to be any further away from it; a 4K display should be much bigger if you sit eight feet away). NO, there is no point to use such equipment to watch a remake of "Green Acres", or "Survivor".
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Quote from another forum: "(Antique TV collecting) always seemed to me to be a fringe hobby that only weirdos did."
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