Ultra HD is the buzzword on the lips of tech aficionados everywhere and with good reason. Consumers might be forgiven for wondering exactly how Ultra HD differs from the standard HD they’ve been using for years. Ultra HD is set to become the standard around which all home entertainment will be based. Here’s why you should make your next purchase an LG Ultra HD TV.

Bigger and Better

Ultra HD TVs are bigger and better compared to their HDTV counterparts. Ultra HD ups the ante of picture quality by offering four times the resolution of normal high definition.

Ultra HD (or 4K) offers four times the number of pixels than the current 1080p (or 1 920×1 080 pixel) benchmark. It boasts the greatest level of detail and clarity ever seen on a commercial TV, with a standard resolution of 3 840×2 160 meaning an incredible 8 million pixels per frame. Images are more naturalistic and detailed than ever before.

Size is another factor that distinguishes Ultra HD TV from current HD displays. Standard TVs all have the same amount of pixels no matter their size, but the bigger the surface area, the fewer pixels there are per square inch. Ultra HD TV, meanwhile, does not lose picture quality over large surface areas.

This allows for 55-inch displays and larger, such as the LG Ultra HD range of TVs to offer the same sort of image quality as smaller screens. With 8.3 million pixels and up to 84 inches of screen real estate, the Ultra HD series takes full advantage of the capability offered by Ultra HD, and features detail and clarity like never before.

The Home Theatre

To put the numbers and figures into perspective, when you watch a movie at a South African movie theatre, you’re likely watching it at 2K (conventional HD). Cinema chains are piloting 4K in selected theatres, as it is expected to become standard, but right now 4K Ultra HD TVs offer better-than-cinema quality resolution. Many claim that Ultra HD is as close as you get to a true theatrical experience in the comfort of your own home, but that’s understating it. At the moment Ultra HD actually exceeds most current cinema specs.

Resolution isn’t the only advantage that Ultra HD has over standard HDTV: it also supports faster frame rates, better contrast ratios and a wider colour range.

Today, televisions act as multimedia centres. Ultra HD TVs drive forward just about every activity you can use your TV for. Cameras, for example, take snaps at higher resolution than we normally see them onscreen. Ultra HD JPEG playback allows you to view all of your photos at a resolution closer to the one at which they were captured. Similarly, companies are already releasing camcorders and smartphones that record in 4K so that you can relive important events as vividly as if you were there.

LG’s Ultra HD series aims to bring the full home cinema experience to your living room, with Ultra Surround and Multi-Channel Surround sound included, depending on the model. Meanwhile, features such as Smart TV, Smart Share, in-built Wi-Fi, and a magic remote voice make it the ultimate multimedia centre.

Content

The amount of native content for Ultra HD is still low compared to that for HDTV, but this is all set to change as more content providers prepare for the 4K revolution. Internationally, even pay TV and streaming video providers are beginning to roll out content for Ultra HD.

Netflix has already released Ultra HD streams of some of its premier shows such as House of Cards (which was filmed in 4K), with more such as Breaking Bad and True Detective planned. Similarly, Amazon has plans to release its original programming in 4K.

For movies, the transition is expected to be even more seamless. Many film studios already shoot at least some portion of their movies in 4K. By 2015, disc manufacturers will begin producing three-layer Blu-ray discs capable of storing 100GB of data and supporting high frame rate UHD. As the technology matures, manufacturers will be able to fit native Ultra HD movies onto single discs.

And even though the majority of content is not yet 4K capable, Ultra HD can still render it better than standard HD through the process of upscaling. All LG ULTRA HD TV’S has Resolution Upscaler Plus inbuilt for razor-sharp picture quality, whatever the content.

The Future

The praise for Ultra HD’s level of visual quality has been overwhelming. LG’s pioneering range of Ultra HD TVs has earned numerous awards from home entertainment experts as well as rave reviews that single out their “breathtaking” images.

Ultra HD is here to stay, and as the format becomes standard, consumers can expect to enjoy the most incredible visual experiences ever seen on a television set.