Haven’t seen anyone “poo pooing” anything. a lot of people have no need to upgrade immediately though. When my 55" TV dies will likely be the time.
DaveLong
2008
Uhhhh… when you’re all sitting around like old grandpas saying how “I don’t need to upgrade anything… get off my lawn!” then you’re poo pooing.
Technology didn’t slow down just because the old men of Qt3 have.
stusser
2009
Yeah, I hate to replace a perfectly fine TV. If my TV breaks I’ll buy a 65" LG OLED the very next day.
Jazar
2010
I’m in the same boat. My Samsung LN52A650 52-Inch 1080p from 2008 is still kicking and I’m still happy with the images that it produces. Part of me would love a new TV but the other part doesn’t see a reason to put my existing set out to pasture. It doesn’t help that brand new TVs still come with compromises like OLED brightness (vs LCD) and burn in scares.
Timex
2011
Again, someone already pointed out that 4k TV’s only have like 30% market penetration… so it’s not like only ludites aren’t getting 4k TV’s.
For something like resolution though, there’s an actual limit to where it matters. Beyond a certain point, your eyes simply cannot see the difference.
(From this cool article here, where Carlton Bale does the math)
https://carltonbale.com/does-4k-resolution-matter/
Note, he also cites sources like Sony themselves, where they’re talking about sitting 3.5 feet away from a 55 inch TV to appreciate 4k. Who the fuck is sitting less than 4 feet from their TV?
In my living room, I’ve got a 55 inch TV, and I’m probably around 8-10 feet away from it. At that distance, resolution, and screen size… it literally won’t look any different.
All the OTHER stuff about the TV, like HDR, or it being an OLED screen, actually would matter to me… but the resolution? Eh, it just doesn’t seem like it’s gonna be visible.
The next TV I get will almost certainly be 4k, just because it seems like you’d have to go out of your way to NOT get a 4k TV… but the 4k aspect seems superfluous. And it seems like it’d be better to run games at 1080p, with a higher framerate.
CPUs didnt matter as much before because the console cpus currently used sucked so they couldn’t do new things. The same with slow HDs. That’s the whole point you just cant comprehend. Both were key points MS got from developers while designing the new consoles. It’s not just about GPUs.
Right. Totally! Buy more electronics! Support the economy! Who cares about waste!!! Me and the other 70% without 4K are not poopooing anything. We just don’t buy stuff just for the sake of buying stuff. But you do you, as long as it supports your narrative that Series S is useless and it scores one point for PS5. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
stusser
2014
I comprehend the argument, it just doesn’t hold water.
PC games aren’t all console ports these days, and I can’t think of a single PC game that’s particularly CPU bound at 4k other than MS Flight Sim, but it’s apparently nigh single-threaded.
That doesn’t mean CPU performance is meaningless at 4k, just that it has a much smaller impact on framerates than the GPU.
My kids, because no matter how many times I yell at them they insist on being right up in front of the screen when playing Minecraft.
Clearly the correct answer looking at this data is to buy a bigger TV!
All 4K isn’t equal. I’m sitting about 7 feet from my 77" TV. I don’t notice the resolution as much as the colors, lack of banding, and real blacks. Those things are not going to be the same on a $400 4K TV versus a $4000 4K TV.
rrmorton
2017
I recently joined our local Buy Nothing facebook group and it’s awesome. We hadn’t been using our old 45" 1080p Samsung tv that we had in the basement. When I decided to replace it with a bigger 4K oled, I put it up for grabs on the Buy Nothing group and had plenty of takers willing to give it a new home. It ended up going to some friends of ours who said it changed their lives and love it to death. A couple months ago, he actually said it was malfunctioning because it only plays Hamilton. :D
Timex
2018
Absolutely, that’s why I keep saying I’m actually interested in an OLED TV. It costs much more, but it has advantages that I know will be visible.
He he. Nice initiative. A couple of such groups have started in our area during confinement. It’s been nice to see people talking to and helping each other more. One of the few good things to come out of 2020 so far.
I don’t really care about the jump to 4k but would like HDR. Replacing a TV just seems like a bit of a pain in the ass, I still have an old DLP sitting around not hooked up to anything because of the effort to get rid of it.
rrmorton
2021
Yeah, I was always jealous of my mom and dad in Cape Cod who had “Dorothy’s Swap Shop” at their local dump where they could take still-usable items someone may want. But the Buy Nothing system is even better. We’ve given away tons of stuff. Next item is my daughter’s old IKEA bed which is currently disassembled in the garage until we take a photo for Buy Nothing and see if anyone might want it.
One thing I like about the group is that you can give your item to whoever you want, or you can choose randomly from the folks who say they’re interested. I typically do random drawings but when some friends of ours wanted that TV, it was within the rules for me to play favorites and just give it to them.
Forge, maybe look into Buy Nothing in your area. One of the joys of it is that it’s really no hassle at all. Arrange a no-contact driveway pick up and just set it outside at a pre-arranged time.
Enidigm
2023
Not so sweet summer child?
That was two year old data showing the penetration doubling each year…
Deadline
2025
I wonder what percentage of people actually sit close enough to perceive the 4K diff? I’d wager it’s really low.
I just got a 55” 4K tv for my mom, which is humongous in her small living room. And despite the size of the room, the closest viewer is about 6 feet away. The other viewers would be about 8 feet away.
I have watched some 4K stuff at close range, and it’s cool. But the jump from standard to HD was a much bigger deal.
Not trying to blaspheme the March of Progess or anything.
stusser
2026
Yep, I’ve been HRosing that for years. 4k is not particularly noticeable on TVs. It’s useful on monitors, because you sit 2 feet away. But even there you really can’t tell much of a difference in moving content like videogames and movies, it’s only noticeable reading text and doing A/B comparisons.
