颠覆观视体验的超高清电视

Even the unflappable Francis Underwood perspires in ultra high definition.

在超高清分辨率下，即便是淡定的弗兰西斯・安德伍德(Francis Underwood)也会出汗。

Yes, I spotted sweat on the upper lip of Kevin Spacey's fictitious vice president while streaming Netflix's 'House of Cards' on a new 65-inch Ultra HD television from Samsung. It's the kind of discovery you can make with a technology that's pushing for the mainstream this year: televisions that have four times as many pixels as the industry-standard high definition. That's more pixels than some cinema projectors, packed in so tight they just melt away.

这是真的。当我用三星(Samsung)新款65英寸超高清电视在线收看Netflix的《纸牌屋》(House of Cards)时，我可以看到剧中饰演副总统的凯文・史派西(Kevin Spacey)上唇出汗了。给你带来这种发现的技术在今年正奋力成为主流：超高清电视，其像素是行业标准高清电视的四倍。其像素比一些电影放映机还多，像素密度之高，人眼已无法分辨单个像素。

Ultra HD (sometimes called '4K') televisions have been around for more than a year, but until now held limited appeal. Prices were stratospheric, making it hard to justify a bump in clarity. Now Ultra HD prices are flying closer to Earth: Brand-name sets start below $2,500, and $5,000 will get you Samsung's top 65-inch curved-screen HU9000, which I tested this week.

超高清电视（有时又称为4K电视）问世已经有一年多时间了，但目前吸引力还是有限。此前其价格高得离谱，这让分辨率的提高很难说是物有所值。现在超高清电视的价格变得接地气了：品牌厂商的超高清电视机价格开始跌破2500美元，5000美元能买到三星旗舰65英寸曲面屏超高清电视HU9000，就是我这周在测试的这款。

If you're the kind of connoisseur who wants to be first to see Mr. Spacey sweat, it finally makes sense to make the leap to an Ultra HD television. The arrival of the new Ultra HD sets is part of a home-theater renaissance that's making the tube cool again and making me consider an upgrade.

如果你是那种希望最早看到史派西出汗的尝鲜友，那么飞跃到超高清电视的时候终于到了。这款新超高清电视的到来是家庭影院体验重现的一部分，这让电视再次变得炫酷，也让我开始考虑升级。

But to enjoy the full benefits of UHD, you'll need a fast broadband connection, and possibly a couch that's much closer to your TV.

但要全面享受到超高清的优点，你还需要飞速的宽带网络，可能还需要一个和电视距离更近的沙发。

The biggest reason to finally give Ultra HD a look has to do with content. Previously, there was very little made-for-UHD video, and -- even worse -- no good way to deliver its giant files to homes.

最终让人考虑超高清的最大原因与内容有关。此前为超高清制作的视频还非常少，更糟的是，还没有好办法将巨大的文件传送到家庭。

Though there's still no TV programming broadcast in UHD -- and none on the way, for the time being -- the equation changes this spring when Samsung, Sony, LG and Vizio couple their Ultra HD TVs with streamed content from the Internet: UHD programs like 'House of Cards' from Netflix, with more shows and films on the way from Amazon.com, M-Go and Comcast.

尽管现在依然没有以超高清格式播出的电视节目，而且暂时也没有相关计划。但在这个春天，情况开始发生了变化。三星、索尼(Sony)、LG和Vizio将他们的超高清电视与互联网的流媒体内容关联了起来：例如来自Netflix的《纸牌屋》等超高清电视节目，随后还有来自亚马逊(Amazon)、M-Go和康卡斯特(Comcast)的更多电视剧和电影。

So here's the $5,000 question: What can you really see with Ultra HD? On the Samsung HU9000, I experienced a qualitatively better image both with UHD content and regular Blu-ray HD content that the TV 'upscaled' to Ultra HD. That said, it isn't the kind of transformative experience you had the first time you saw a sporting event in regular HD.

所以现在就是5000美元到底值不值的问题：你究竟能从超高清电视上看到什么？在三星HU9000上，我体验到了显著提升的画质，不仅是超高清内容，还有提升到超高清画质的普通蓝光高清内容。而且，（这种提升体验）可不是你第一次在传统高清电视上看体育赛事时感受到的那种变革。

What you do get with Ultra HD is a sense of detail that sneaks up on you, especially on wide shots. For example, an overhead scene at the beginning of the film 'World War Z' looks like ant-sized people are scrambling around on my HDTV. But in Ultra HD, you can see, in horrifying detail, those poor souls being tackled by zombies.

超高清电视带给你的是一种扑面而来的细节感，尤其是在视角开阔的镜头中。举个例子，《僵尸世界大战》(World War Z)电影开头那种俯拍镜头，在我的高清电视上看，人物就像是蚂蚁在爬行一样。但在超高清电视上，你就可以看到令人惊骇的细节：那些可怜的人正在被僵尸所吞噬。

With that kind of resolution, sitting closer to the screen makes you feel much more like you're in on the action. In fact, some argue you must sit closer -- or buy a larger TV -- for the eye to benefit from the extra resolution. You'll likely want to rearrange the furniture. For the 65-inch set I tested, I scooted my couch up until it was just 6 feet away. Get too close, though, and you'll start to get the same dizzying feeling you get in the front row of a movie theater.

得益于这样的分辨率，如果坐得和屏幕近一些，你就会感觉似乎自己就置身于画面之中。实际上，有人说你必须坐得近一些，要么就买个更大的电视，这样可以让眼睛享受到多出来的像素。你可能需要重新放置家具。在测试这台65英寸电视时，我把沙发往前推到距离电视只有六英尺(约合1.83米)的地方。不过，靠太近的话，你会像坐在电影院前排一样开始感觉晕眩。

The curved screen, a feature I was skeptical about, was actually pretty nice for creating an immersive experience, especially with a close-up couch. Probably its key benefit, however, was minimizing glare during daylight hours. It adds about $1,000 onto the price of a basic Ultra HD set.

虽然我曾经持怀疑态度，但这台电视的曲面屏幕带来的实际体验相当出色，创造了一种浸入式的体验，尤其是坐在很近的沙发上观看时。但或许其最大的好处是在白天收看时把耀光降到了最低。这项功能要在常规的超高清电视价格基础上再加1000美元左右。

Samsung makes fantastic screens, but the rest of the package is mixed. The sound built into the HU9000 model I tested was anemic, but presumably anybody buying such a big TV would have a sound system. Samsung's 'SmartTV' interface has been improved for switching between live TV and streaming, but still isn't as simple as set-top boxes like the TiVo Roamio.

三星打造出了梦幻级的屏幕，但这台电视的其他方面就参差不齐了。在我的测试中，HU9000内置的音响绵软无力，不过或许购买这么大电视的用户可能还会再配个音响系统。三星已经改进了“SmartTV”界面，便于在电视直播和流媒体之间进行切换；但还是不如TiVo Roamio等机顶盒那么操作简便。

It's true, televisions historically haven't been a great technology for early adopters. Battles over standards and formats have left many in the lurch. Samsung put the TV's brains in an external box that can be easily upgraded. This promises to considerably extend the life of a TV you buy today, if you're willing to shell out $400 or so for next year's 'evolution kit.'

没错，从以往来看，电视对尝鲜者来说一直不是一项伟大的技术。关于标准和格式的争斗把很多人搞得很是为难。三星把这台电视的大脑放置在一个外置盒子内，可以轻松进行升级。这有望显著延长你今日购买电视的寿命，如果你明年愿意花大约400美元购买新的“革命性组件”的话。

Netflix, the first premium service to deliver UHD video over the Internet, has accomplished an impressive feat in making it work over broadband (at no additional cost to subscribers). Some early testers report image quality problems in darker patches, but 'House of Cards' looked fine to me. And Netflix's chief product officer Neil Hunt told me the quality shouldn't suffer as more people get Ultra HD TVs and all try to stream at the same time.

Netflix是最早通过互联网提供超高清视频的顶级服务提供商，通过宽带实现这一功能就是一项赫赫伟绩（而且还不对用户额外收费）。一些早期测试者报告说，颜色较深的地方会有画质问题，但我看《纸牌屋》时没有问题。Netflix的首席产品长内尔・亨特(Neil Hunt)对我说，在更多用户使用超高清电视时，即便所有人同时连接流媒体视频也不会对画质造成影响。

It won't work for everyone because Netflix requires broadband speed of at least 16 megabits to sustain the Ultra HD connection. That may be easy for cable connections like my Comcast hookup in San Francisco, but it's good to find out your own carrier's top speed.

不过这并不适合所有用户，因为Netfliex要求至少16MB的宽带才能维持超高清连接。这个网速对光纤用户来说或许比较轻松，例如我这样使用康卡斯特服务的旧金山用户，但你最好还是查看下自己运营商的最高网速。

As for Netflix's competition, it's not yet clear how much Amazon and M-Go will charge for Ultra HD streaming, or how well they'll work. (Those services weren't ready during my test, and Samsung's TV software can't yet play the Ultra HD content now available on YouTube.)

就Netflix面临的竞争而言，目前还不清楚亚马逊和M-Go会对超高清视频流怎样收费，也不知道他们具体效果怎样。(我测试的时候，他们的服务还没有到位；三星的电视软件暂时也不能播放YouTube上的超高清视频内容。)

Netflix will push UHD because it wants its streaming technology to leapfrog physical media and traditional broadcasters. But expect Hollywood's own UHD content to arrive in a trickle, rather than a tsunami. Most movies and shows today still aren't shot with cameras that record in UHD. While that's changing -- and film tends to be greater resolution than typical high-def -- some directors still prefer the look of shots taken with older cameras.

Netflix会推进超高清技术，因为他们希望其流媒体技术可以领先传统媒体和广播商。但预计好莱坞自己的超高清内容只会逐步提供，而不会全面到位。目前大多数电影和电视剧还都不是用超高清摄像机拍摄的。虽然情况正在不断变化，而且电影通常分辨率要高于普通高清，但一些导演仍然倾向于较传统摄像机拍摄的画面质感。

Today, there aren't even any UHD videogames or major sports coverage. To supplement the streams from Netflix and others, Samsung is selling a $299 add-on device loaded with five Ultra HD movies. Sony has one for $700 with 50 movies. Either way, these feel like extras they should throw in free, like floor mats in a new car.

现在甚至也没有超高清视频游戏或大型赛事播报。为了补充Netflix和其他内容商的视频流内容，三星正在销售一款带有五部超高清电影的额外设备，售价299美元。索尼也有一款售价700美元、内有50部电影的设备。不管怎样，这些额外内容似乎应该是他们免费提供的，就像新车里面的脚垫一样。

Some TV technologies like 3-D have turned out to be gimmicks. But Ultra HD is different because it shifts our perception fundamentally, from the pixels to the pictures. That's why, despite today's challenges, Ultra HD is inevitable on the largest screens in our homes. It's better for movie nights and for displaying text and other information. You just have to decide when you want to make the leap.

3D等一些TV电视技术最后变成了噱头。但超高清是不同的，因为其从根本上转变了我们的感官感受，从像素转向图像。这就是为什么，即便目前存在着挑战，超高清技术也不可避免地出现在了我们家中最大的屏幕上。这能为电影播放以及文本及其他信息显示提供更好的体验。你需要做的只是决定何时进行这一升级。