Best home entertainment tech of 2013: Sony and Pansonic 4K TVs, the Xbox One and PS4
Our round up of the best technology of 2013 continues with TVs and boxes to put under them...
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
It’s been a good year for Sony: along with the cameras above it produced its best TV yet, a 4K beast confusingly dubbed the KD-55X9005A (see above).
As you know, 4K or Ultra HD has a display with four times the resolution of HD. Regular broadcasts are upscaled to look their best on this screen which, though pricey at £3,299, is way cheaper than most 4K TVs.
Meanwhile, the Panasonic TX-P42GT60GB showed just how spectacular plasma screen TVs can look, in a TV that has plenty of extra features to boot. Samsung, meanwhile, continues to make gorgeous, impressive TVs like the UE40F8000 at low prices with super-slim frames.
But 2013 has been dominated by the release, in the last few weeks, of the games systems which double as home entertainment hubs.
The Xbox One is the more proficient, allowing you to control TV, Sky box and more through the games machine, including by gesture and voice. The Sony PlayStation 4 is the better games console but has some way to go to catch up Microsoft’s machine for versatility.
Both are in short supply, mind, but if you're trying to decide which might be best for your living room you can read our arguments for both machines: 5 reasons to buy the Xbox One instead of the PS4 or 5 reasons to buy the PS4 instead of the Xbox One