# Buyer Beware! Many new 4K TV's only have ONE 4K HDMI connection! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124 "2016-09-28T16:44:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/21 "2016-09-29T02:05:57Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > This is the first I’ve heard of it. It doesn’t sound that impressive—my old Commodore 64 had 64K. > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > 4k TV refers to the fact that it has 4k lines of resolution. The resolution is 4096 x 2160 or a about 8 1/2 million pixels. So the screen alone holds 135 times more pixels than your Commodore 64 had in total memory bytes. > > The color depth of TVs varies, but they all have a lot more than 8 bits per pixel these days. > > If you mapped the entire memory of your commodore 64 to your 4k TV screen, it would only take up a tiny fraction of the image. > > By the way, my personal luck with 4k TVs has been horrible. I tried one and it died a week after I bought it. I returned it and bought a different brand but that one displayed poorly and kept crashing so I ended up bringing it back as well. One great feature of the C64 was the SID chip. It was capable of producing a great whooshing sound. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/22 "2016-09-29T15:48:30Z")
A salesman told me Samsung makes at least some TV’s with all HDMI ports 4K compatible… But the back on one Samsung TV I looked at (2016 model) did not have any labels on the HDMI ports. Nothing on the info card posted in front of the TV. And I can’t find anything in their specifications for the model other than it has 3 HDMI ports! Frustrating that you need a special 4K HDMI port to utilize 4K, then they don’t tell you what specification of HDMI ports the TV has! ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/23 "2016-09-29T15:57:33Z")
I’m gonna wait until they perfect all this technology stuff before I jump on the bandwagon. And the bandwagon better have ABS and hi-fidelity steering. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/24 "2016-09-29T16:27:48Z")
> [@Me\_Billy](#): > > A salesman told me Samsung makes at least some TV’s with all HDMI ports 4K compatible… > > But the back on one Samsung TV I looked at (2016 model) did not have any labels on the HDMI ports. Nothing on the info card posted in front of the TV. And I can’t find anything in their specifications for the model other than it has 3 HDMI ports! > > Frustrating that you need a special 4K HDMI port to utilize 4K, then they don’t tell you what specification of HDMI ports the TV has! My 1080p TV has multiple HDMI inputs - and I use exactly one of them, even though I have a DirecTV box, BluRay player, Roku 3, and HTPC as sources. If it was a 4K TV, I’d still only need one HDMI input on the TV - the AVR does all the souce switching to a single HDMI out (and has a remote). ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/25 "2016-09-29T17:43:31Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Like 3D, it’s very much a wait-for-it tech. I think it will be universal in four or five years, but there’s not much compelling reason to upgrade now unless you’re right at the replacement point for an older setup. Put another way, if you’re looking for a new system now, it’s worth buying into good 4K stuff, but if you’ve got a decent HD setup, just live with it a few more years. Yep. We had a revolution in our house when my father decided to (finally) get HD cable boxes with DVRs instead of his old tube TV and stack of VCRs to tape multiple shows. He took my flat screen and I got the 4K. Then he decided the flat screen would go upstairs and he would get himself a higher res (but not 4K) smart TV. The first thing I watched was Jumbo Wild; it was unbelievable how it looked! [http://www.outsidetelevision.com/video/jumbo-wild-trailer](http://www.outsidetelevision.com/video/jumbo-wild-trailer) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/26 "2016-09-29T17:48:17Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > My 1080p TV has multiple HDMI inputs - and I use exactly one of them, even though I have a DirecTV box, BluRay player, Roku 3, and HTPC as sources. > > If it was a 4K TV, I’d still only need one HDMI input on the TV - the AVR does all the souce switching to a single HDMI out (and has a remote). Yeah, running multiple items to the TV is not the best solution, nor is running a system without a good 5.1 amp system. Best is an AV amp/receiver with lotsa switching. Even at that, I have to use a secondary switch for the video games. But it all works seamlessly. Roku, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD (still have about 20 discs…), Wii, XBox360… I’m missing one more. Oh, web streaming from my Android phone into the side port. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/27 "2016-09-29T18:02:24Z")
Just when you have bought everything in 4K, stuff will start coming out in 8K. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/28 "2016-09-29T19:13:46Z")
My TV tells me when I have something that is not 4K plugged into the 4K port. But, as mentioned above, I only need to use one HDMI port on the TV anyway as every thing goes through the A/V receiver. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/29 "2016-09-29T19:47:00Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > I only need to use one HDMI port on the TV anyway as every thing goes through the A/V receiver. Yeah, that is the same for me as well. Maybe those TVs with one HDMI port are trying to get you to get an A/V receiver as their TV speakers probably are terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/30 "2016-09-29T20:04:49Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Just when you have bought everything in 4K, stuff will start coming out in 8K. You may be chuckling at your wit, [but 8K exists and is assuredly going to arrive in our homes someday.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8K_resolution) Probably right after manufacturers have saturated the market with 4K equipment. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/31 "2016-09-29T20:15:16Z")
But there’s not much 4K content out there right now if you don’t have fairly high speed internet. 4K BluRays and players aren’t extremely widespread just yet, it’s almost like 4K is a technology solution waiting on a problem. I have a 4K computer monitor, and there are 4K games aplenty, I’ve downloaded some 4K demo content, but my internet isn’t fast enough to stream 4K Netflix. I’ll just have to suffer by with a 65" 1080p plasma for a few more years 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/32 "2016-09-29T20:26:04Z")
We’ve reached a point of rapidly diminishing returns. 4K offers little to no visual improvement on screens smaller than about 60", not to mention broadcast and streaming content is compressed, which essentially negates whatever small gains you’ve made. If you’re buying a huge 4K display on which you will only watch Blu-Ray discs, go for it, otherwise, you’re probably wasting your money. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/33 "2016-10-01T14:44:36Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > You may be chuckling at your wit, [but 8K exists and is assuredly going to arrive in our homes someday.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8K_resolution) Probably right after manufacturers have saturated the market with 4K equipment. I was not joking. I also know that there will be 16K at some point down the road. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124/34 "2016-10-01T15:51:05Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I was not joking. I also know that there will be 16K at some point down the road. Well I lived with my Sony CRT TV for the last 20 years. It was still working good except it had RCA connections and no HDMI - Which my 4K MINIX U1 Android TV box requires. So I guess it was about time to upgrade! And not much more $$ for a 4K TV. It is actually less than I paid for my Sony CRT 20 years ago! Hopefully I will not have to upgrade again for a LONG time, as I have spent weeks learning about all this latest stuff. (Now getting my stereo amplifier settings adjusted for various surround this and that. That is a college class in itself!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buyer-beware-many-new-4k-tvs-only-have-one-4k-hdmi-connection/767124.md?page=1)