With TV prices falling this time of year, you may be tempted to purchase a leftover 2013 set if you can get it at a significant discount. This can make a lot of sense—unless you're considering an Ultra HD (UHD) TV, which may not contain several new key features that will be included on 2014 sets.
Almost all of the 2014 UHD TVs we saw from the major brands at CES have built-in decoders that can handle the new HEVC/H.265 video compression technology, a more efficient format that will be used to distribute 4K UHD content. All will also have HDMI 2.0-capable inputs, which support 60 frames-per-second video. If you're considering a leftover 2013 UHD TV, we suggest asking the retailer or manufacturer whether the TV will be able to be updated to support these new features; some sets introduced at the end of last year can be upgraded to these new specs, but many cannot.
Almost all of the 2014 UHD TVs we saw from the major brands at CES have built-in decoders that can handle the new HEVC/H.265 video compression technology, a more efficient format that will be used to distribute 4K UHD content. All will also have HDMI 2.0-capable inputs, which support 60 frames-per-second video. If you're considering a leftover 2013 UHD TV, we suggest asking the retailer or manufacturer whether the TV will be able to be updated to support these new features; some sets introduced at the end of last year can be upgraded to these new specs, but many cannot.