In terms of what definitions mean, they’re the same. HD is HD, and 4K is 4K, whether we’re talking about native or image resolutions. The main thing you need to know from a buyer’s perspective is that your TV’s native resolution is fixed. In contrast, the image resolution may change depending on the transmission source. Recording content, such as on a set-top box, or downloading it may also affect the image resolution.

It is common for most transmissions to be available in multiple resolutions. For example, if you have a cable subscription, you’ll often find two of the same channel available, one in HD and the other not. Some channels are even available in 4K. Likewise, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime will offer content in HD and 4K. However, you can still watch them in standard definition because of the screen and display limitations or a slow internet connection, for example.

The term “standard definition” is itself a relatively new one.

After all, through most of the 20th century, we knew “standard definition” as the only type of display that could be transmitted and that we could display on our TV screens. The term was coined following the widespread adoption of high definition (HD) in consumer TV during the first decade of this century.

HD itself is sometimes known as 1080p. This means an HD transmission has 1920 horizontal and 1080 vertical pixels. This gives an HD transmission a total of 2,073,600 pixels, a massive increase on SD. No wonder it’s impossible to watch HD on an SD TV!

OLED TVs are typically the most expensive types of TV available. If you’re setting up your home theater, you’ll find a 77-inch OLED TV costs around $4,000.

One of the most vital things to know about OLED TVs is that they don’t emit black light. Instead, when a black image needs to be transmitted on the screen, the LEDs in your OLED TV simply switch off. This means you can typically enjoy greater image depth on an OLED TV screen, as you’re getting genuine “no light” rather than an artificial black.

While 8K televisions are widely available today, such is the current level of uptake that they aren’t expected to represent even 1% of the global consumer TV market until at least 2022. As such, the short to mid-term future of TV resolutions is likely to be a lowering of prices of 8K technology through the years, aligned with a more significant volume of content filmed and transmitted in 8K. The TV industry is pushing for 8K to become the mainstream resolution as soon as 2023, but this seems unlikely to happen, especially given how Covid-19 has affected incomes and the global economy in 2020.

On top of all this, we also need to consider the development of internet technology. The successful delivery of the highest quality 4K and 8K transmissions will rely heavily on hyper-speed internet and technologies like 5G, especially in streaming and gaming. While such technologies exist today, they’re available to and used by a small minority of people. As such, the potential for 8K to become mainstream may depend on how people want to take advantage of quicker data connections. From a consumer perspective, a key influence is likely to be how much of a difference they can tell between both 4K to 8K but also in terms of streaming and connection speeds.