高清电视迈向超高清4K时代

Television manufacturers are desperate to find something to jolt their moribund market. Global TV shipments declined 6% in 2017, according to NPD DisplaySearch. And this year isn't likely to be much better. Now Sony (SNE), Samsung, Toshiba, and LG are turning to so-called 4K ultra-high-definition sets. They feature incredibly crisp images with several times the resolution of today's top-end devices. Prices are well over $10,000, for the time being. In other words, here we go again.

为了提振日益萧条的电视市场，生产厂家们正绞尽脑汁开发新功能。根据调研机构NPD DisplaySearch的数据，全球电视销量在2017年下滑了6%。而放眼今年，整个市场也不会有多大好转。索尼（Sony）、三星（Samsung）、东芝（Toshiba）和LG等公司正竞相推出4K超高清电视。它们的图像效果非常出色，分辨率比眼下的高端电视高出好几倍。不过，它们的价格可不便宜，每台高达1万美元以上。这下我们可有好戏看了。

Display

屏幕

Current high-definition sets produce images made of 2 million individual points of light, called pixels. New 4K TVs -- named for the number of vertical lines on a screen -- bump up the number of pixels to more than 8 million. Old HDTVs clarified the details of an actor's face, but 4K TV also sharpens the details of his surroundings. In other words, the picture is not only sharper but has more depth.

目前的高清电视的图像是由200余万个像素点构成的。新的4K电视将像素数大大提升至800万以上。4K意味着电视屏幕的水平像素数为4,000个。相比传统高清电视只能清晰地显示演员的面容，4K电视能纤毫毕现地展示人物周围的一草一木。换句话说，图像不但更清晰，而且层次也更丰富。

Form

外形

Several 4K models employ organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, to produce brighter images. Blacks are blacker, and colors bolder -- the holy grail of television imaging. And because such sets don't require a separate built-in light source to illuminate the picture, as many of today's flat panels do, OLED displays are much thinner and more flexible. One Samsung model is actually slightly curved.

不少4K电视都使用了有机发光二极管屏幕（即OLED）以显示更加明亮的图像。黑色更黑、而彩色更艳——这是评判电视图像的最重要标准。目前的液晶电视都需要内置额外的背光源，而4K电视可以借助OLED直接显示，所以它能更纤薄，更柔韧。三星（Samsung）有一款电视甚至是微微弯曲的。

Content

内容

There are few sources of 4K video. The content that does exist takes up huge amounts of space. For instance, the 4K documentary TimeScapes -- a 48-minute ode to the people and scenery of the American Southwest -- consumes a whopping 330 gigabytes. (A typical Blu-ray film is more than 10 times smaller.) Netflix (NFLX) and Samsung are currently working to trim gargantuan files.

当下的4K电视节目寥寥无几。就算能找出几部，它们的文件大小也堪称天文数字。例如，4K纪录片《时间风景》（TimeScapes，片长48分钟，描绘了美国西南部的风土人情）的容量竟高达330GB（而一部类似的蓝光电影还不到它的十分之一）。Netflix和三星目前正研究如何压缩视频文件。