We have been hearing about 4K or
Ultra HD for a couple of years now. But even as 4K televisions become cheaper
and smaller, there is still a serious dearth of content shot and broadcast in
resolutions better than Full HD. All of India’s top DTH players have launched
4K set-top-boxes that are capable of streaming 4K quality content, whenever
that becomes available in the real sense. Here is our review of the Videocon
d2h 4K set-top-box
Videocon d2h 4K set-top-box
Videocon launched its 4K service
just before the ICC Cricket World cup and beamed one channel with some of the
matches in 4K. However, the World Cup does not seem to have given the expected
push for 4K content and televisions. I expect this to really take off around
the Olympics next year, by when 4K could well become the standard that FullHD
is now.
Price: Rs 6,590 for STB +
installation.
Set-top-box
The 4K STB seems a bit larger
than regular set-top-boxes and has a gold branding that is hard to miss. Maybe
Videocon wants to suggest that this is the gold standard for television content
at the moment. The remote too has the gold branding. It is easy to grip and
navigate, which is important given that we use the STB remote more than the
actual TV remote these days. There is an HDMI port at the back that connects to
the TV. What I like about the Videocon service is the fact that the box
switches to life almost instantly and there is no latency like in other STBs.
4K content
Yes, you have an expensive 4K television.
Yes, you have a costly 4K set top box. But no, there is no 4K content that you
will love watching. Videocon service has one channel that constantly breaks 4K
content. But there is a limit to how much snowboarding you can watch a day. The
entire channel is a rerun sung plays the same videos on loop.
However, it is a great showcase
of the what 4K offers. I have always considered 4K content a bit better than
what the human eye sees and there is something eerily ethereal about watching
pictures that are so clear. And the Videocon d2h 4K gives you a good sneak peak
into what the future of television holds for us. It is stunning, it is how
television should be. For the record, I tested the service on a 55-inch Philips
8500 series — a separate review of the TV will follow soon.
Right now the single channel is
easy to access on a single click. But maybe when more channels come, the UI
will need to show that more for users with the 4K set top box. They will not
want to watch even full HD content on 4K televisions and that experience is far
from good.
Should you buy?
Maybe not now. At the moment it
does not make much sense for you to get a 4K STB unless you have already
invested in a 4K television.
Source: http://indianexpress.com
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