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UHD: HDR/WCG to become mainstream

Supplies of Ultra-HD displays equipped with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Wider Colour Gamut (WCG) functionality will start shipping into retail stores this spring

A report in Display Daily from highly regarded industry analyst Chris Chinnock says that HDR and WCG displays will rapidly become mainstream. He states: “Nearly every UHD TV in 2016 will support the basic HDR-10 level of HDR. Most will have HDMI 2.0a connectors to be able to read static metadata, which is part of HDR-10.”

Chinnock adds: “Other 4K TVs will support more advanced levels of HDR such as the approaches proposed by Dolby, Technicolor & Philips and the BBC/NKH. Dolby takes the early lead here with a number of TVs announced that will support Dolby Vision. But Technicolor and Philips are merging their approaches and our discussion with the System-on-Chip providers suggests that the merged approach will also be added to silicon quite quickly in 2016. These silicon solutions will go in TVs, set top boxes, Blu-ray players and more – all planned for 2016.”

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46% new TV buyers plan 4K purchase

Consumer advisory service FatWallet’s annual TV Buyer Survey reports 26 per cent of Americans will buy a new TV this year (that number increases significantly to 40 per cent for those with children and 35 per cent for those under age 30). Of those, 25 per cent will buy new TVs during Super Bowl sales this month (#1 choice), while 18 per cent will wait for Black Friday deals (#2 choice).

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Almost half (46 per cent) are planning to purchase their first 4K TV this year, and 29 per cent say they now stream the bulk of their TV programming, which is up 21 per cent from a year ago. More than half surveyed (55 per cent) plan to spend $500 or more on a new TV this year, and 27 per cent will spend $700 or more.

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TV buyers are split on what size TV they want as 43 per cent lean towards mid-sized screens (40-54 inch) and 41 per cent want 55-inch or bigger TV screens (only 5 per cent will buy TVs 70-inch or bigger). Finally, 46 per cent claim that price impacts their TV purchase most, while 36 per cent said features and 18 per cent said brand.

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FatWallet also notes that many current TV deals are better than TV prices from November, especially 2015 4K TV models and higher quality name brand big screens featuring high refresh rates (120Hz minimum for optimum sports viewing). “This is, in part, due to what’s coming post-CES, when 4K (UHD) gets a massive upgrade to newer SUHD, HDR, modular TV and a rollable OLED,” it advises.