With Star India set to telecast some ICC World-Cup matches in Ultra-High Definition, television makers and Direct-to-Home (DTH) firms feel the technology may finally get a push in India. 4K resolution, also known as Ultra HD, offers picture resolution that is four times better than full HD.

Sanjay Chitkara, Business Head, Home Entertainment, LG India, said, “With no transmission yet of 4K resolution content, users have not been able to fully leverage this technology. So, this will be the first ever transmission in 4K and that too of a sport widely loved across India.”

Consumer base As per industry estimates, the Ultra HD panel market size in 2014 is less than 1 per cent, which is about 40,000-50,000 TV sets. Chitkara said the company expects the consumer base to rise to over three lakh sets in 2015. Manish Sharma, MD, Panasonic India and South Asia, said: “Our major communication this year has focused on 4K TVs. We have received an overwhelming response, and plan to continue this momentum this cricket season.”

Several companies introduced 4k UHD LEDs in the Diwali season and DTH players, Tata Sky and Videocon d2h also launched 4K UHD set-top boxes. While the price of 4K UHD TVs ranges between ₹80,000 and ₹91,000, set-top boxes cost around ₹6,500. Videocon d2h has also announced its own 4K Ultra HD channel that will air multi-genre content.

Sanjay Warke, Country Head, Toshiba India-DS Division said, “UHD TVs are becoming popular as a prominent fixture in the living area. While this trend is more visible in tier 1 markets, tier 2 markets, too, are showing signs of adopting this trend.”

Slower growth However, some players also point out that lack of content and UHD TVs largely being available in bigger sizes could mean slower growth. But, companies say they are trying to work around these issues.

Devita Saraf, CEO at Vu Technologies, a company that makes luxury LED TVs and commercial display panels, said: “We have aggressive plans to launch UHD LED TVs in new sizes in the run-up to the World Cup”, adding that her company expects to see nearly 40 per cent growth in sales.

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