4K televisions will follow a similar, but faster, growth pattern to HDTVs, according to new research from Parks Associates.
The research – 4K Today: Bringing Ultra HD to Market – predicts that 4K TVs will reach mass-market pricing in the next two to three years and top 80% of households within approximately 10-12 years.
Parks Associates analysts note that 4K will initially be delivered via over-the-top, with companies such as Netflix, Comcast and Amazon already working on 4K-based offerings.
As 4K traffic increases over the next two years, Parks Associates expects traffic demands on broadband networks to grow dramatically, resulting in operators having to look into bandwidth-saving technologies – including next-generation video compression tech.
“4K TV adoption is following the same pattern as HDTV, but prices are dropping more quickly,” said Stuart Sikes, president of Parks Associates.
“With increasing convergence in the connected home, innovations such as 4K have implications for a variety of players throughout the home entertainment ecosystem.”
Some people have expressed concerns about 4K technology, including media journalist Raymond Snoddy, who asks whether the improvements offered by 4K will be enough to persuade consumers to get rid of “perfectly good” modern receivers.
“The television set manufacturers would like to turn the TV set into a fashion item along the lines of the mobile phone and persuade viewers it is perfectly normal to change their TV sets every two or three years to enjoy the latest upgrades,” writes Snoddy.
“I wish them luck.
“There is also the small matter that the 4K sets are typically large – 55-inch or considerably more […]To appreciate the higher resolution pictures you have to sit between five and six feet away from the giant screen.”
Netflix has already begun testing 4K streams with the latest series of House of Cards, as the company looks to be “one of the biggest suppliers of 4K content.”
