High-definition television has been around for about 15 years in various countries around the world, and it is only in recent years that LCD or LED HD televisions have fully replaced the older style standard definition televisions.

I remember owning a 32-inch widescreen standard definition TV one, and it weighed so much that it was virtually impossible for one person to lift it up! Thankfully those days are gone, and lightweight LCD televisions are here to stay!

In most countries, you can easily access high-definition programming either through a digital terrestrial set-top box, or through a satellite or cable TV set-top box. Television technology is always evolving, as the race to build the next big “thing” in the television continues in what is seemingly a never-ending competition.

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Ultra HD Television: the Next Big thing!

Presently, high-definition television screens display a resolution of 1920 x 1080, which is commonly known as 1080p or “full HD”. This is the standard attained by pretty much all televisions and monitors manufactured today, and even many mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

But in our search to come up with really crisp and clear video from our TVs, a new standard has emerged, and it is called ultra HD. This is a term used to describe televisions that have an aspect ratio of at least 16:9 and are capable of presenting a native minimum resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, which is basically four times bigger than the resolution of full HD.

And that’s not all; the term “ultra HD” also refers to two even higher resolution standards: 4K (8.3 megapixel), and 8K (33.1 megapixel).

Although 8K on paper sounds pretty awesome, there aren’t really any televisions out there that you can buy with 8K technology (at least, not without having to remortgage your house first), but there are plenty of TVs you can buy today which boast 4K technology.

What Exactly is 4K?

4K refers to a specific display resolution of 4096 x 2160, and although this is the resolution used for all 4K recordings, many people generally refer to 4K as any display resolution that has at least 4,000 horizontal pixels.

OK, so your head might be spinning slightly with all these different technical terms and television jargon buzzwords, but essentially what you need to know is that if you want a higher resolution television that you can buy today which will enable you to embrace tomorrow’s technology, then you need to buy a (ultra HD) 4K TV!

What Size TVs are Available?

You will need to have a pretty big living room – or at least, lots of wall space – because 4K televisions are quite big! They tend to start from 55-inch all the way up to about 84-inch in size. If you’ve not seen a TV that big before, the best thing to do is check out your local home electronics store to see some on display!

The good thing about 4K TVs is that you can still use your existing electronics kit with them like DVD players and Blu-ray players, and you won’t need to buy any new cables because you can use your existing HDMI cables with them.