Q. I paid more than $1,000 for a new 4K TV and it angers me that I have to pay more to watch shows in 4K like Netflix which charges extra for the 4K package. Is there anything in 4K for free that I can watch? Especially something worth watching!? — Elvin, Capitol Heights, Maryland.
Elvin, you would think that after paying several hundred dollars (or more in your case) for a new 4K TV, you could watch an abundance of programming in 4K without shelling out even more money.
However, I have to warn you that there are very few free 4K options. Netflix, as you note, offers 4K programming with its $19.99 a month plan (the most expensive plan it has). Amazon Prime has 4K, but you need a Prime membership. A few other streaming services such as Disney Plus feature 4K programming, but again, you have to pay up. HBO Max, which starts at $9.99 a month, has roughly 20 titles in 4K, but they are only available in its $14.99 plan.
There are also Blu-ray movies and TV shows in 4K (usually costs more than $20 a disc) and Pay-Per-View options from services such as Vudu (usually costs $5.99 a movie.).
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DIRECTV, Comcast, Altice, fuboTV, YouTube TV, Verizon and Dish also offer some shows and sporting events in 4K, but you know about the escalating cost of pay TV service. (And in You Tube TV’s case, you have to pay $20 a month extra for a 4K add-on package.)
Unfortunately, the broadcast networks (CBS, ABC, Fox, NBC) have yet to launch 4K editions of their live channels so you wouldn’t be able to access free 4K using your antenna.
So, is anything in 4K free? Really free?
Well, yes.
YouTube (the free service, not YouTube TV) actually has some 4K videos for free. I would recommend checking out YouTube’s HDR channel, which can be found here. The vids are available in both 4K and HDR (High Dynamic Range), which can add realism and vividness to the 4K picture.
The current lineup at the 4K HDR channel, which now has 238,000 subscribers, includes videos from the space shuttle, New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations, close-ups of mouth-watering foods being cooked, travelogues from Los Angeles, Seattle and other cities and a few video game previews. As YouTube itself often is, it’s a smorgasbord of this and that, but there’s no programming from basic cable channels or other live television services.
You can watch YouTube on the 4K TV HDR channel via an app on your Roku. (Note: To watch 4K on Roku, you will need a 4K-enabled Roku device, such as the Premiere or Ultra.)
Finally, Vimeo also has some 4K videos on its free video-sharing service. Mostly just travel stuff, though.
Elvin, I hope that helps. Happy Viewing and stay safe!
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I bought a 4k Samsung TV in 2018. I’ve only now started using 4k. I have Directv and there are five 4k channels, two are for pay-per-view. The orhers are mostly documentaries which are free to watch. They also have pay-per-view sports. I watched some of the Olympics last month in 4k which was free of charge.
The next big thing is 8k. Having learned from experience with 4k, I won’t be spending money for a pricey TV in 8k when there is so little to watch in 8k.
Haha. Hear ya. The cable and satellite guys aren’t going to be doing 4k standard for a while. Hell, last I heard you couldn’t even get real HD (1080p) on most channels with those guys. You can get 1080 for most channels streaming, but there’s definitely not a lot of 4k. After a couple of years of the 4k plan with Netflix, I cut it back this latest price increase. Over the last few years, I’ve upgraded all my TVs to 4k (more because they needed updating and 4k was just future proofing). But I’ve probably watched 4k content less than 20 times. It’s usually not very noticeable, or just not worth the effort of trying to stream it. I will say, though, HBO has a few good things – Titans, for one. It’s good enough that I didn’t even realize I was watching 4k until the second scene in when I was like, “wow, this looks really great.”
Anyone buying a new tv will be buying a 4K television whether they are interested in 4K or not. Whether one notices the significantly improved image quality of 4K(and it is significantly better) will depend on the size of the television and the distance one sits while watching. Generally the closer you are to the screen the greater the improvement. If for instance you have a new 55 inch screen mounted on the wall that sits 20 ft across the room from where you sit, you are not going to notice much difference over 1080p. There is a ton of free 4K content on Youtube. If you want to see what your tv is capable of I would recommend viewing some of the 4K demonstration videos posted by the television manufacturers. I have a 65 inch HDR Samsung and I sit only 5 ft away from the screen and it never fails to impress when I view such content. The greatest beneficiary of 4K HDR televisions so far have been those who video game(I do quite a lot) and with a 120 hz Samsung, its really the most amazing television experience I have ever had.