Ashok Karmegam

Writer by Passion and Software Engineer by Profession

Does 4K TV really need to be Smart

3 minute read

Television is a major entertainment in Household for more than half century years. Even now it is one of most utilized thing for entertainment in every households in this planet. Now 4K LED TV with larger screen sizes are becoming more affordable. At this time of writing lot of affordable 4K LED TV with 65 inch screen size are available in the price range of 50,000 to 65,000 INR, which is half the price of what was the selling price in couple of years ago. That too with Smart features using Android TV OS.

Does 4K TV better than FHD TV

Right now there are very less 4K content available on the VoD services. By considering this buyer might prefer to buy FHD TV rather than 4K TV. But that is not correct because

  • 4K TVs are also affordable with price slightly higher than FHD.
  • Buying 4K TV will be future proof, as in future lot more 4K content will be available.

More importantly FHD TV panels are not widely manufactured, so FHD TV available in market are old technology products or even manufactured few years back. So choosing 4K TV is the better option over FHD right now

LED vs QLED vs OLED options in 4K TV

4K LED TV panels are coming with 3 variants normal backlit LED, QLED and OLED. The difference between these 3 variants are quite discussed in multiple online forums. This post does not cover that, instead it helps to choose the right one. In terms of picture quality OLED is better than QLED and QLED is better than LED. Prices of these 3 variants are also categorized based on this picture quality. If the budget is limited, then even choosing LED 4K TV with HDR10 will give better picture quality. Mainly for those who upgrade their old HD or FHD LED TVs.

Does 4K TV really need to be Smart

Now all 4K TVs are coming with Smart Features with Android OS. But at this time this is not even needed, because there are lot of Android 4K TV Boxes (for example Mi Box) available in this market. And also now a days DTH providers in India (Airtel, Tata Sky) have launched Android TV Set Top Box which delivers both online content (with Android TV OS) and cable TV content from Dish. So now a days TV manufactured should not focus more on adding Android TV OS or chipset (Processor, Memory and Storage) to run Android TV OS.

I feel keeping Android TV OS build into 4K TV is unnecessary. Because keeping Android TV OS out of TV will benifit in lot of ways.

  • Prices of TV will come down.
  • Power consumption of TV will reduce.
  • TV will become more thinner.
  • Heat dissipation from TV will be lesser.

More importantly hardware (Processor, Memory) to run Android TV needs periodic update to run latest OS and Apps for every 2 years (like Mobile Phone). If Smart TV feature (Android TV OS) is in the form of external box, then it will be economical for user to upgrade the hardware every 1 or 2 year. But upgrading TV every 1 or 2 year is not economical. Because TV buyers in India tend to use a TV for minimum 5 to 10 years. Some try to use more than 10 years. So 4K TV should be manufactured without any Smart Features (Android TV OS or any other OS), that will benefit the buyer in lot of aspects.

Does any 4K TV available in market without Smart Feature ? The answer is No. I feel TV OEM manufactures are not looking in this point of view. In today’s market if anyone manufactures 4K TV without Smart OS then he will be the winner in this market.

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