been thinking

[Jimbo]

Even if 50% of deployed TVs were 4k capable, the problem is where the content is being produced.

Youtube is rich with 4k content because flagship smartphones and action cameras like GoPro have been able to shoot in 4k for the last few years. So you have a strong starting base there on top of the semi-pro video producers uploading their content to Youtube.

Netflix and Amazon Prime have 4k content, but it's primarily for the content that is being exclusively developed for their content library. So you can watch Stranger Things (Netflix) or The Grand Tour (Amazon Prime) in 4k, but 99.99% of the non-exclusive content tops out at HD.

For the movie rental business, 4k is being offered for some films, but only as a means of extracting more money from your wallet. 4k Blu-ray discs command a ridiculous premium over standard Blu-ray. On Google Play and Vudu, you can rent or buy 4k movies to stream at a higher cost than the HD versions. Apple is offering 4k for the same price as HD on iTunes, but only if you go out and purchase an AppleTV 4k.

When it comes to live TV, look at what FOX Sports is doing now: College Football Preview: Fox Sports To Produce 13 Games in 4K
Their big news is that they had a single 4k capable production truck that they were sending around to cover 13 college football games, and that's an effort by FOX Sports Labs -- not really even part of their mainstream offering.

We have a long, long way to go before broadcast 4k is anything more than a gimmick.

Your post for the most part was quite accurate, except for the glaring statement that 4k is a Gimmick.

 

[Jimbo]

If you started when they had those handful of channels, you also needed to do a receiver swap once they really started cranking things up because they moved from MPEG2 to MPEG4. That was kind of my point about this being the wrong time to jump in on 4k broadcast hardware. The current 4k solution that DirecTV has really only makes sense if you're starting as a new subscriber - it doesn't do much for you, but it also doesn't cost you anything extra as a new sub.

DirecTV also had a dedicated 3D channel. How's that doing now?

I was there at the beginning of HD and swapped out different dishes and LNBs to do so, it was fun ....
I was also one of the first to start showing people HD in the area ...
I threw an old antenna outside and was able to get the Locals in HD ... back then it was only for a few hours a night.
I was on the phone with the Chief Engineer at Fox (local) when they first flipped the switch to show HD, it was the telecast of the MLB World Series I believe, probably around 2001... It was interesting watching the show and when they went to a commercial break, the Engineer said when we come back you should have HD, and they DID !

Also back in the day, same time frame, when you knew the show should be in HD, it would come on and it may be in SD, make a call to them on Commercial and remind them to Flip the switch to HD, and they did when they came back ....

Back then, it WAS a switch .... now all that is done with the computer now.

 

[raoul5788]

HD Net may have been the 1st, its been awhile, I know it was one of the earliest ones if not the first ... Thank You Mr. Cuban.

I think it was the first. That's how I remember it anyways.

 

[xterra]

he lack of a 4k dvr, the laughable hs17 and its issues, and the atrocity of the new guide actually have me looking at dish, something i said i would never do when i left them before


these are my only 2 options

does anyone know if directv has anything in the pipe worth waiting on?

he lack of a 4k dvr, the laughable hs17 and its issues, and the atrocity of the new guide actually have me looking at dish, something i said i would never do when i left them before


these are my only 2 options

does anyone know if directv has anything in the pipe worth waiting on?

DirecTV can't even get there genie 2 to work let alone 4k service

 

[Claude Greiner]

tivo for ota? that would be 3 channels here, maybe 4.
and there is no cable.

i have 2 choices. dish or directv

I have both. I record all my network shows on the TIVO OTA to free up tuners on my cable card TIVO