Even though we're a tech channel, we sometimes get as confused as you might be
over how the letter K is used in marketing for TVs and computer monitors.
Because there's actually no agreement on what a K actually is.
Unless you're talking about special K. A big part of the confusion amongst folks
out shopping for a new screen is that terms like 2K,
4K and 8K seem to imply very specific resolutions
and dimensions, also leading to the belief that a 4K display must necessarily
be twice as good as a 2K display.
However, neither of these things are true. A K simply means a screen is roughly 1,000 pixels across.
So a 2K display is around 2,000 pixels horizontally
with 4K being around 4,000. But here's the thing.
How many Ks a display has tells you absolutely nothing else
about that display just by itself. A great example is how loosely the term 2K is often used.
A run of the mill 1920 by 1080 display can be correctly referred to as 2K.
But hardly anyone actually says that. They usually call it full HD or 1080p.
Rather, 2K is often thrown around as being synonymous
with 2560 by 1440, even though the horizontal resolution
is slightly closer to 3,000 pixels. Further muddying the waters is how a body
called Digital Cinema Initiatives or DCI
does try to define a 2K standard. But even DCI 2K can mean a few different things
depending on exactly how a video is cropped.
DCI is actually a group of major movie studios.
So they have a version of 2K considered native and another version that's significantly cropped
to give that cinematic widescreen experience.
Meaning 2K can correctly refer to a resolution of 2048 by 858,
a very far cry from a standard 1440p monitor
advertised as 2K.
4K can refer to several different display resolutions,
but generally speaking, it's around four times
the actual resolution of a 2K display.
Contrary to what you might think from the numbers alone, as long as you are okay at math.
Most consumer displays marketed as 4K are technically ultra HD,
where the resolution is exactly four times the typical full HD screen.
But keep in mind that some wider displays such as what you see on some phones
might be labeled as 4K, but they can achieve that wide aspect ratio
simply by lopping off some of the pixels you'd get on a regular display.
And speaking of wider screens, pay close attention to these labels
when you're shopping for an ultra wide monitor. Some higher end ultra wides have the same 2160p
vertical resolution as other 4K monitors, but because they have more pixels horizontally,
they can be referred to as 5K ultra-wides,
which makes sense, but don't let that fool you into thinking
they also have more pixels in the vertical direction, as there are screens simply marketed as 5K or 5K UHD
that have a more standard aspect ratio. The 5K IMAX from Apple are a good example of this.
So while the K system is a quick way
to roughly figure out how crisp a display will be and a tool for marketing them in a way
that will sound very sexy, remember that you should check the actual horizontal
and vertical resolution of any display before you buy it.
Also remember that anything with a horizontal to vertical ratio greater than 1.78
will be wider than standard. You don't wanna order a 4K screen,
only to realize it won't even fit on your desk. I can see everything.
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