There are many reasons why 4K should make you rethink your next TV purchase (actually, there are eleven and you can read about them here), not all of them immediately obvious. However, the numerical shorthand looks likely to stick. This is one reason why some brands prefer not to use the 4K label at all, sticking with Ultra HD or UHD instead. However while your local multiplex shows images in native 4096 x 2160 4K resolution, the new Ultra HD consumer format has a slightly lower resolution of 3840 x 2160. Technically, 'Ultra High Definition' is actually a derivation of the 4K digital cinema standard. If you have the bandwidth, you can now watch many of Netflix's shows in 4K Ultra HD (Image credit: Netflix) 4K vs UHD: what's the difference? This chart (opens in new tab) shows how close you need to sit at any given screen size to see the difference. If you're at 'retina distance' from your 1080p set now and don't plan on moving your couch closer, upgrading to 4K may not make a big difference to your experience. More importantly, at that same distance, your eyeballs won't be able to squeeze any more detail out of a 4K image than a 1080 one. Get far enough away from a 1080p set and, hey presto, it's a retina display! Remember when Apple made a big fuss about 'retina' displays a few iPhones back? 'Retina' refers to screens that have sufficient resolution that at a normal viewing distance your eye can't make out individual pixels. How close do I need to sit to a 4K screen?

And 4K screens are noticeably sharper than 1080p screens.īut if you're sticking with roughly the same size of television, and are used to sitting pretty close, you may not see that much of a difference – especially if you're still mostly watching HD content rather than 4K video. We're talking about a similar jump in resolution as the one from SD (480 lines high) to HD (1080 lines high). For extra added fun, you also might hear this resolution referred to as 2160p. And before you ask, yes, the industry named 1080 resolution after image height, but named 4K after image width. It's called 4K because the images are around 4,000 pixels wide. (Image credit: Samsung) Why is it called 4K?

Video card for 4k tv as monitor