4K = Never on U-Verse?

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@jhy1978 wrote:

With Directv launching 4K on demand and well as netflix, amazon prime etc. is it safe to say that due to bandwidth limitations and already overly compressed HD streams 4K will never come to U-Verse in either ondemand or live tv (once channels go live in 2015)? Just curious since we are limited to only 3 to 4 HD streams I cant imagine a 20 meg 4K stream being possible.

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Interesting that on Cnet they are talking about 4K LED LCDs not really being much better than current plasma TVs in their learned opinions.  Glad I have my 42" Panasonic plasma that's as good as the day I got it more than 6 years ago.

Have to wonder if this going to be as big a flop as 3D TVs were.

Chris
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3D was more of a gimmick due to having to phsycially wear something. 4K is a natural progression by increasing the size and pixels. Plasma's are not simiar. They were discontinued because they are big, bulky, and let off way to much heat. But back to the topic, I didnt see you give any insight or opinion about the bandwidth limitation and what they are going do when, eventually, 4k does become more standard.

AT&T is constantly increasing the bandwidth they can make available over twisted pair copper, and is also expanding the areas where they are providing Gigabit service.

I would think that 4K will require somewhere between twice and four times the 6 Mbps currently required for an HD U-verse stream, so between 12 and 24 Mbps.  To allow four streams of that will require at least 48 Mbps.  AT&T has just started rolling out 75 Mbps HSI, for which the profile will be higher than 75 Mbps, so they're getting where they need to be, even on copper.

Note that DirecTV's current 4K service is rather less than inspiring:

"always at least two 4K movies available to watch instantly."  and "At this time, only 2014 Samsung DIRECTV 4K Ready TVs are compatible."

Two whole movies.  One brand of TVs.  Sounds exciting.

The market has a lot more maturing to do.  I'd let it mature for a year or two before worrying too much about this sort of thing.

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@JefferMC wrote:

The market has a lot more maturing to do.  I'd let it mature for a year or two before worrying too much about this sort of thing.

 

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Exactly correct.

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@jhy1978 wrote:

3D was more of a gimmick due to having to phsycially wear something. 4K is a natural progression by increasing the size and pixels. Plasma's are not simiar. They were discontinued because they are big, bulky, and let off way to much heat. But back to the topic, I didnt see you give any insight or opinion about the bandwidth limitation and what they are going do when, eventually, 4k does become more standard.

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Seem the reviewers over at CNET are less than impressed w/the current 4K offerings that they say are not much better than current plasmas viewing.

Also they are saying bigger TVs are not better as there's too much for the eye to comprehend on 4K TVs and farther distance from the TV will occur for pleasurable viewing.

@JefferMC has made a guess, but no one here really knows what ATT will do until they say or do it. 😉

Chris
__________________________________________________________

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
Need Help? PM ATT Uverse Care (all service problems)
ATT Customer Care(all other problems)
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

None of this is relevant if AT&T keeps skimping on the interconnects.  My local connection is only part of the equation.

AT&T normally provides symetrical peering.  If that is not adequate, then somebody has to pay for that.

Well seeing that 4k ultra HD was NOT a flop. All TVs since 2016 have been made HD and 4K. NO longer will they make a 1080 p TV as of 2016. Companies as Big as ATT can definitely change their technology to update and handle new wants and needs from the consumer. No need to be negative. Just embrace the change to better then plasma and better then what they used to be. 

4K (or Ultra HD as it's also confusingly known) has enough pixels to fill four Full HD 1080p screens. With four times the amount of pixels it's able to display four times the level of detail. 

http://www.techradar.com/news/television/ultra-hd-everything-you-need-to-know-about-4k-tv-1258884 ,

http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/plasma-tv-vs-4k-tv-which-should-you-buy