4K HDTVs Will (Finally) Arrive in 2015

If it's rectangular, glows, and has a moving picture on it, it's going to be at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week. Las Vegas is again hosting the biggest trade show for home entertainment devices, which will offer us a glimpse into the future of HDTVs.

Specifically, be on the lookout for the finally-here future of ultra-high-definition televisions (UHD or 4K). HDTVs are well-established and commonplace, and most users are accustomed to 1,920-by-1,080 resolution. Well, 2015 could be the year a good number of us finally quadruple that resolution (hence the "4K" designation) to 3,840 by 2,160.

4K televisions have been around for a few years, but they haven't quite clicked with most consumers for two reasons. First, they have been much more expensive than 1080p televisions. Second, there simply hasn't been much content available in 4K. HDTV manufacturers have been steadily chipping away at the first problem, and streaming media services are working hard to fix the second.

You'll still have to pay a premium for 4K next year, but expect that price to stabilize around $2,000 to $3,000 for big screens from major manufacturers, and a few to even squeak into the $1,500 to $2,000 range. With more companies making more 4K panels in more sizes, the technology has steadily become more affordable across the board. It's no longer just a small handful of display manufacturers carefully rolling a few UHD panels off of freshly built and configured assembly lines. Every major HDTV brand either already has 4K televisions in their lineup or will announce them at CES, and in either case case they'll be showing off new and more affordable 4K screens at the show.

Streaming Is the Future
That leaves the problem of 4K content (or lack thereof). We need a reason to invest in 4K, even if that investment is becoming more affordable. Sony and Samsung have tried offering their own proprietary sources of 4K movies and shows (Sony's UHD 4K streaming player and Samsung's hard drive full of 4K movies), but we haven't seen a physical media format to actually let us buy and play higher-resolution content.
We probably still won't at CES 2015. That's where YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, Vudu, and other streaming-video services come in. YouTube has supported 4K content for over a year, Netflix began streaming some shows in 4K earlier this year, and Amazon Instant Video started offering 4K programming just last month. Expect that trend to continue not just with those three, but with other major streaming services, too.

Beyond 4K
4K is the forseeable future for HDTVs, but expect new numbers followed by K to be peppered through CES. Some manufacturers will show 8K or higher resolution HDTVs, but these aren't displays you need to worry about for the next few years. 4K hasn't really made its mark, and higher-resolution televisions are proofs of concept designed to show off what the future will be like. They can carefully build the panels to demonstrate at CES, but don't expect any of them to see retail release until at least 2017. And they won't be affordable until at least 2020.

Not Just 4K
Besides 4K, expect a continued push for curved displays as an alternative to flat panels. Curved screens are certainly eye-catching, but we're still not sold on them being worth the premium they currently demand. With 4K becoming more prominent among consumers, curved screens might see less emphasis this year than last year since the higher resolution is a more compelling feature for users. At the very least, though, Samsung will keep pitching curved HDTVs.
More importantly, we'll see new OLED displays come out. With plasma now officially dead, OLED is stepping in to become the future of high-end HDTVs. The new technology (which is not remotely like regular LED-lit LCD technology, despite the similar name) can offer perfect blacks and excellent colors in thinner panels than the LCDs now used in nearly all HDTVs on the market. Keep an eye out for new, bigger, and more affordable (at least, some combination of those three) OLED HDTVs for 2015.