On the 8th day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me:
A wide screen 4K TV!
If you’re still struggling with a gift for someone special on your Christmas list, hang out with me for a few minutes as I explain why a new 4K TV would be the ultimate holiday gift.
4K TV is the New Gold Standard
4K TV is the best quality video screen you can get today. That ‘4’ in 4K TV stands for the approximate number of horizontal pixels in the screen; there are about 4000; a regular HD TV has only about 2000 pixels. The pixels are basically the teeny tiny units of colour and light that make up the entire screen. (Fun fact: the term “pixel” comes from the words “picture” and “element” the two things that make up what you see.) So when your TV has over eight million total pixels, you can expect to see rich life-like colour, vivid brightness, and majorly realistic detail.
(It’s worth noting that when you’re shopping for a 4K TV, you’ll also see the term “Ultra HD”. These two terms are interchangeable and while a couple years back a bunch of suits somewhere rubber-stamped Ultra HD or UHD as the “official” name for the technology, the term 4K has been in use far too long for people to give it up. It’s also fewer characters in a Tweet, so that didn’t hurt.)
The main screen is the home’s nerve centre: 4K TV Improves TV, Movies and Gaming
With so much family time spent in front of a screen, it pays for you to make an investment in the canvas, if you will. You’ll be using a new 4K TV for everything from basic channel surfing, to TV series binge-watching, to blockbuster movies as well as gaming. It makes sense to pick the best possible screen for all those activities to unfold on. You’ll get better video quality overall, like less motion blur on sports or fast-paced scenes, and a higher contrast ratio, meaning lots of depth and colour, especially when watching dark scenes or playing video games set in the netherworlds.
4K TV is a Gift the Whole Family Can Enjoy
No matter who’s watching the new 4K TV, it improves the experience for everyone. Kids shows are more bright and colourful and more visually dazzling for those little eyes and growing minds, while teen TV can unfold in great detail. Gamers in the family will love playing the hottest new games and taking advantage of all the coolest new effects with sharpness and millions of colours. For moms and dads, there’s sports and series viewing, and as the list of made-in-4K content grows (Netflix is the top dog in this pack) there will be even more to enjoy.
4K TVs are also Smart: more bang for your buck!
Increasingly, 4K TVs are also smart TVs, meaning you can connect to the internet with them, or surf streaming services like YouTube and Netflix; no need for a separate streaming device!
For example, Samsung’s line of 4K Smart TVs allow you to stream plus they do a bunch of other neat techy things that will allow you to maximize your content. For example, if you have a bunch of lower resolution media like movies or TV shows you’d like to see in better detail, you can take advantage of Samsung’s proprietary upscaling technology to enhance it to near-4K UHD picture quality.
Speaking of smart, this Samsung 55″ 4K Smart Tizen, and its cousins can allow you to start a video on your smartphone and pick it up seamlessly on the big screen, or vice versa. How’s that for versatility?
This particular Samsung TV is also curved, allowing you yet another advantage in viewing. Curved screens are specifically designed to match the natural curve of your eyes and they mean an ultra-wide viewing angle so you and your whole family can spread out, kick back, and enjoy the same amazing viewing experience from nearly anywhere in the room.
Samsung also has what the company calls “Auto Depth Enhancer technology” which gives you a greater sense of depth by auto-adjusting both the foreground and background picture. Everything from sprawling mountain ranges to dense city skylines gains more realistic dimension so your TV shows virtually jump off the screen.
Sony and Philips also make smart 4K TVs too. You’ll have an enormous amount of choice based on wherever your brand loyalties lie.
Just See it!
The thing about 4K TV is you’ve got to see it for yourself to believe just how much better the video picture can be. I was blown away when I put a 4K test model beside my HD set. I thought I had a top notch TV before I saw them together. My old TV is so out of date now it makes me want to cry. (Are you listening, Santa?)
Any Best Buy store has a massive Game of Thrones sized wall of brand new gorgeous 4K TVs you can browse, and in many cases compare side-by-side. If you’re gun shy of heading to a Best Buy right now because of the holiday rush, you’ll just have to trust me that it’s going to look outstanding, and then use my great holiday hack to pre-order online, then dash in to pick one up on the spot.
