Television is certainly one of the most influential forces of our time. Through the device called a television set or TV, you are able to receive news, sports, entertainment, information, and commercials. The average American spends between two and five hours a day glued to "the tube"!

Television (TV), is the electronic delivery of moving images and sound from a source to a receiver. By extending the senses of vision and hearing beyond the limits of physical distance, television has had a considerable influence on society. Conceived in the early 20th century as a possible medium for education and interpersonal communication, it became by mid-century a vibrant broadcast medium, using the model of broadcast radio to bring news and entertainment to people all over the world. Television is now delivered in a variety of ways: “over the air” by terrestrial radio waves (traditional broadcast TV); along with coaxial cables (cable TV); reflected off of satellites held in geostationary Earth orbit (direct broadcast satellite, or DBS, TV); streamed through the Internet, and recorded optically on digital video discs (DVDs) and Blu-ray discs.

The technical standards for modern television, both monochrome (black-and-white) and color were first established in the middle of the 20th century. Improvements have been made continuously since that time, and television technology changed considerably in the early 21st century. Much attention was focused on increasing the picture resolution (high-definition television [HDTV]) and on changing the dimensions of the television receiver to show wide-screen pictures. In addition, the transmission of digitally encoded television signals was instituted to provide interactive service and to broadcast multiple programs in the channel space previously occupied by one program.

What is 4K? The basics of Ultra HD explained

The TV tech term 4K describes an ultra-high-definition screen resolution. You might also see this labeled as UHD, 4K, or 4K UHD depending on which brand makes the TV. But they're all talking about the same thing.

Right now, 4K has overtaken both HD and full HD to become the most popular TV resolution of choice for all major TV brands. You'll find the 4K screen resolution in most of today's TVs – except some small TVs, which tend to cap out at Full HD resolution – as well as most PC monitors.

The important thing to know here is that just because you've got a 4K UHD TV doesn't mean you need to have lots of 4K TV shows and movies. That's because many of the best 4K TVs are able to display lower-resolution images. This means your favorite TV shows and movies that have been filmed in HD will play like they're meant to on a 4K display regardless – some might even be upscaled by your TV, which means they're improved to ensure they look normal on a 4K screen. ;

The brilliant resolution offered by a 4K UHD TV could tempt anyone into upgrading their non-4K UHD TV. But there are other new kinds of technology inside many of the best 4K UHD TVs that are also worth finding out more about. They could make an upgrade a must-have rather than a nice-to-have. These features include Quantum Dot and OLED panels, as well as High Dynamic Range (HDR), but they vary from model to model.

What is 4K resolution?

4K resolution, at least the way most TV companies define it, is 3840 x 2160 pixels, or 2160p. To put that in perspective, a Full HD 1080p image is only 1920 x 1080. 4K screens have about 8 million pixels, which is around four times what your current 1080p set can display.

Think of your TV like a grid, with rows and columns. A full HD 1080p image is 1080 rows high and 1920 columns wide. A 4K image approximately doubles the numbers in both directions, yielding approximately four times as many pixels total. To put it another way, you could fit every pixel from your 1080p set onto one-quarter of a 4K screen.