Or started it with "Good news everyone" :yes:

Eric H., et al.:

I don't think you read my post completely. I was wondering if 4K, if and/or when it becomes the standard for TV transmission (as if we need another standard after 16:9 HD replaced NTSC), will render all current flat screen HDTVs obsolete. (I have a 16:9 flat screen TV, but am not watching anything in HD since my cable service is still delivered over coax cable, which I understand cannot support HD digital signals.)

Since ATSC is a digital conveyance system that can support multiple data formats it may be possible to send 4K in an ATSC channel if properly compressed and possibly sub channels are turned off.
However that would mean that sets and boxes without provision to update firmware, and suitable product/consumer support would likely be unable to play 4K channels.
If 4K can't be sent in a single channel, then it may be possible to have portions of other channels carry the remaining data.

However this assumes a sane, unbuyable (by lobbyists) FCC which I don't think we have had in years...So what happens if 4K don't go the way of 3D is likely purely up to the lobyists, what their sponsors want to achieve, and how they think they need to manipulate the market to achieve their goals.

I have doubts 4k will ever be more than a premium service delivered via streaming video or possibly disc or flash drives, it's hard to get good 1080 via streaming as it is, the IP's aren't going to be happy about the extra bandwidth of 4k.

That said I doubt it'll make standard HD sets obsolete any time soon, or at least not until most of them have been replaced with whatever is the newer standard.

It's all Digital so it shouldn't be too hard to make it compatible either by upscaling or downscaling, same as you can watch videos from 240 to 4k now on your Computer.

I'm happy now with regular "old" 1080P HD but in ten years who knows. As my eyes get older the sets get better so it all kind of evens out. :D
Maybe I can just get an Implant by then and watch TV inside my head.

...

I doubt that 4K/UHD will be sent over the air for years, at least in the USA, if ever. But, if/when it is, no, it will not make any existing TV sets obsolete. Unlike the NTSC-to-digital changeover, any 4K broadcasting would unlikely ever completely replace the current digital formats.