4K Getting Cheaper: Seiki 50-inch TV Dips Below $1,000

With it being clear as day that we’re heading towards a 4K future, it’s worth investigating what’s available now, and see how things progress. Up to this point, adopting 4K has been expensive – seriously expensive – but things are getting better, and much faster than I expected. Over at Kotaku, we’re tipped-off about a model currently selling for $966 – to my knowledge, the first sub-$1,000 model.

It’s worth noting that the display’s price has been all over the place, but current trends seem to suggest that this model won’t burst past $1,000 again. According to the pricing engine Camel, this model debuted at $1,500 when it hit Amazon on April 20.

It’s priced-well, especially for a 50-inch model, so is it worth pursuing? It might be if you are in dire need for a new television, but given we’re still in the 4K infancy, prices are going to continue going down, and at the same time, the products are likely to get even better. CNET reviewed this display a couple of months ago and were left less-than-impressed.

The fact that we’re seeing 4K for under $1,000 is significant, though, and given the support it’s been seeing already, the marketplace is likely to look very good in a couple of years. What we really need are more panels that can handle 60Hz at 4K, because most gaming is not going to be ideal at 30Hz.