CES 2017: TV Gimmicks are Dead; 2017 is the Year of Real Next-Gen Panels

Ever since HDTVs became a proper standard, we’ve seen several gimmicks to make them stand out while 4K took its time creeping forward. 3D had never really been embraced as a vital feature for TVs and curved screens are rightly dismissed as needless aesthetic tweaks.

Add the problem of every manufacturer trying to make its own connected TV ecosystem, including the short-lived farce of Samsung’s Evolution Kit and the promise of upgrading your TV by buying all-new electronics for it every year, and you have a confusing blend of features that claim to represent the future of TV, but fail to prove it.

I can’t promise those days are over, but if CES 2017 is any indication, the gimmicks have mostly been swept away in favor of actual, tangible TV advancements. Last year had been the first time we recommended 4K TVs for general consumers. This year we can make it official: next-gen TV is here and it really is the time to consider replacing your television for a new and completely better one.

4K Is the New Standard 4K, AKA Ultra HD, or UHD, or whatever you want to call the now-standard 3,840-by-2,160 video resolution, TVs are now the defacto choice.

You can now find some incredibly inexpensive 4K TVs, meaning there’s no reason to even consider a 1080p anymore. More importantly, the resolution and the way to transmit that video has become a hard standard with HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2.

We said this last year and it’s even more true now that 4K TVs outnumber 1080p TVs in major manufacturers’ line-ups: 4K has arrived and now is the time to get it. The technology has cleared the high-tech hurdle, and prices have fallen from the stratosphere.

HDR Is the New PremiumHigh dynamic range (HDR) is an important technology that goes with 4K TVs and is the reason to spend more money. HDR means each pixel has more information determining its light output and colour, creating a more detailed picture than what an SDR signal even at the same resolution could produce.

It’s a real benefit and it’s striking when it works, making colours appear more life-like without the cartoonish effect of over-saturation and letting shadows and highlights retain detail while getting darker and brighter than before.

HDR comes in a few different flavours, like Dolby Vision and HDR10.

Dolby Vision uses metadata to adjust the picture based on what the TV itself is technically capable of displaying, while HDR10 operates with hard values that don’t take panel limitations into account. They’re two different ways to pursue the same goal, and both can improve picture quality over SDR.

These are still developing systems, with standards being revised and reconsidered fairly often. However, the differences between versions aren’t as concrete as the bump in resolution 4K provides, and a good HDR-capable TV will offer a superior viewing experience regardless of what standard it uses.

Of course, a spec sheet might claim the TV accepts an HDR signal but not produce very good contrast or wider colours, but that’s what we’re here for; our lab tests will show you just how bright, how dark, and how colorful a given HDR TV we’re testing can get.

Connected TVs are Easy and Forgettable

Smart TV systems have wildly been fragmented for years while every major TV manufacturer attempted to make its own custom interface. There are still vestiges of this in LG and Samsung’s TVs, but the majority of manufacturers have embraced third party solutions. Google’s Android TV and Google Cast platforms, the Roku TV interface, and Amazon’s newly released Fire TV integration offer industry players feature-filled systems with loads of apps and services without the need to get fancy with custom engineering.

These standard interfaces mean TV makers can focus on the hardware development and leave the software to third parties, resulting in budget screens that are still loaded with the connected features users want. It also means the constant battle between big name Smart TV platforms and the inconsistent availability of apps is effectively over.

Of course, you can add connected features to any TV with a media hub like an Amazon Fire TV Stick or a Roku Premiere+. Less than US$40 will get you a voice remote and Amazon Alexa, while just US$100 buys the ability to stream all the 4K content you want.

Gimmicks are Mostly Dead

For the current generation of TVs, that’s mostly over. There are still a few curved TVs, but they’re no longer being pushed like the next big thing, and 3D has become a forgotten feature included on some high-end TVs that consistently elicits the response of “Oh, it can do that? Cool, I’ll try it out…oh, wait, I already forgot about it.”

TV feature lists are largely simpler and more stable and while new display technology, like the various implementations of HDR, can still make the specs sound confusing, but there’s less smoke, and mirrors, and fewer bells and whistles to worry about when looking for a new TV.

It’s not a foolproof or perfect market, but you can now be certain that 4K means 4K across the board and that your new TV won’t have some poorly designed interface that’s out of date with useless apps next year.

Even so, that doesn’t mean you should shop for TVs without researching them first. That’s why we extensively test every TV that comes into our lab, and why you should read our reviews before you finally do take the 4K HDR plunge.