New TV Tech Brings Challenges Amid Cornucopia of Content, Ways to View It, CE Week Hears

CE Week in New York heard Thursday. TV marketers promised consumers 4K was going to be “amazing,” said Joel Silver, president of the Imaging Science Foundation, but “if you looked at 4K from a normal viewing distance, it looked the same as 2K,” he said. Silver cited the various sources from Ultra HD Blu-ray to premium streaming channels, along with HDR and wide color gamut, and said: “We’ve got amazing things happening, and no one knows how good we are." After “crying wolf” for so many generations of TVs and telling consumers they’re going to love the next big thing, “this time we’re actually telling the truth,” he said. Tim Alessi, senior director-product marketing for LG home entertainment products, addressed the challenge of getting consumers interested in TVs when they’re increasingly watching TV content on mobile devices: “The TV is still a family communal activity. People aren’t gathering around their iPad to watch the Super Bowl." Value Electronics President Robert Zohn told us that for consumers, “it’s all about the content.” They can have music on the go, and they’ll get the premium experience when they’re home, he said.