Future Proof or Fad?

Looking at the endless speculation about the next Beovision and whether one should or should not buy a current model and whether the next will have HDR etc etc etc has made me conclude that you should just buy what suits you from current models. (Or get an end of run product at a discount.)

Far from future proofing many innovations turn out to be fads and are not supported in the long term by either manufacturers or content makers. For example, 3D tv seems to be going nowhere, Apple watch sales are down 50% year on year........

Thoughts?

Graham

In tech today, future always comes sooner rather than later. This can make timing of purchases (especially expensive purchases) a bit tricky.

Unless you are fairly certain that something newer & better is just around the corner – and that the upcoming improvement *really matters* to you – I'd say go for the current. It has been on the market for some time, and maybe even a Mk II or higher in evolution, so you know exactly what you get.

I've become hesitant purchasing anything Mk I from B&O right as it comes out (mainly because of reading BeoWorld Forums ). On the other hand, I've been lucky (?) with most of my purchases, BV11 being a good example.

With OLED, I think 4K is reaching its peak, prime for a "future proof" purchase. With BV14, I think LCD is getting close to its 4K peak, too, depending on the type of panel B&O chooses (fingers crossed for the local dimming type). If these things matter, I'd say wait, as they are coming soon enough.

And after launch, I'd wait a couple more months to learn if there are any annoyning issues with the new models.

With new technology, patience is a virtue (I know there is an oxymoron there). With tried & tested current tech, go for what you fancy!

3D was clearly a marketing mans fad, from the day it was foistered upon us by an array of point of sale material wherever you went.

HDR only promises a better quality picture.

I've seen 4K on a 55 inch tv and although I could tell a difference, it wasn't such a difference that I'd want to trade my 7-55 for(which has local dimming not edge contrast whatever). But I think the combination of UHD and HDR, will finally promise a maturing technology of genuine picture quality improvement.

Pound for pound, nothing still bests my 13 year old 5-42 though.

About the "Future Proof or Fad?", having given it some more thought, I think what is happening now is comparable to what happened when TV technology moved from SD to HD and at the same time from CRT to LCD:

The jump from HD to UHD is, in my opinion, a comparable jump in picture quality, and there's more:

Moving from LCD to OLED is a bigger deal than moving from CRT to LCD was: in many ways, LCD was an inferior technology (blacks, contrast, color, motion). OLED, on the other hand, beats CRT, LCD and even Plasma – so it is a clear jump forward.

So for "Future proof", I think 4K OLED is the way, and it is not "Fad". It's the next step in screen evolution combining both next gen resolution and superior screen technology in terms of contrast & color.

Content will follow, as it did when we jumped from SD to HD, over the next few years.

Just concluding my thoughts.

Here's my bet. OLED will get overtaken very quickly for TVs. It'll play big in mobile and devices, but for TVs it'll have a short run with a few vendors before its superseded. I'm guessing as soon as 18/19. OLED is just a stepping stone technology. Even Samsung pulled the plug.

mawheele:

Here's my bet. OLED will get overtaken very quickly for TVs. It'll play big in mobile and devices, but for TVs it'll have a short run with a few vendors before its superseded. I'm guessing as soon as 18/19. OLED is just a stepping stone technology. Even Samsung pulled the plug.

If so, what's next ?

Chris Townsend:

Pound for pound, nothing still bests my 13 year old 5-42 though.

I am guessing you are referring to the weight of the behemoth...

The BV 7-55 is actually weighing in at the exact same number - 75 kg!

...And that's without the stand and speaker!

The wall mount baseplate alone is a whopping 4kg machined piece of aluminum!

 As to the latest hailed TV technology, - sometimes it pays not to be part of the first vanguard, and simply sit back and let others iron out the all the quirks and twists.