高清電視邁向超高清4K時代大綱
Television manufacturers are desperate to find something to jolt their moribund market. Global TV shipments declined 6% in 2012, 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.
爲了提振日益蕭條的電視市場，生產廠家們正絞盡腦汁開發新功能。根據調研機構NPD DisplaySearch的數據，全球電視銷量在2012年下滑了6%。而放眼今年，整個市場也不會有多大好轉。索尼（Sony）、三星（Samsung）、東芝（Toshiba）和LG等公司正競相推出4K超高清電視。它們的圖像效果非常出色，分辨率比眼下的高端電視高出好幾倍。不過，它們的價格可不便宜，每臺高達1萬美元以上。這下我們可有好戲看了。
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.
目前的高清電視的圖像是由200餘萬個像素點構成的。新的4K電視將像素數大大提升至800萬以上。4K意味着電視屏幕的水平像素數爲4,000個。相比傳統高清電視只能清晰地顯示演員的面容，4K電視能纖毫畢現地展示人物周圍的一草一木。換句話說，圖像不但更清晰，而且層次也更豐富。
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電視都使用了有機發光二極管屏幕（即OLED）以顯示更加明亮的圖像。黑色更黑、而彩色更豔——這是評判電視圖像的最重要標準。目前的液晶電視都需要內置額外的背光源，而4K電視可以藉助OLED直接顯示，所以它能更纖薄，更柔韌。三星（Samsung）有一款電視甚至是微微彎曲的。
Content
內容
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.
當下的4K電視節目寥寥無幾。就算能找出幾部，它們的文件大小也堪稱天文數字。例如，4K紀錄片《時間風景》（TimeScapes，片長48分鐘，描繪了美國西南部的風土人情）的容量竟高達330GB（而一部類似的藍光電影還不到它的十分之一）。Netflix和三星目前正研究如何壓縮視頻文件。
