Since the widespread adoption of high-definition television throughout the 2000s and the official, federally mandated elimination of analog formats in 2009, TV resolution standards have remained pretty stable in American homes.

As of a year ago, there was an HDTV in 81 percent of U.S. households and more than one in 52 percent of homes. Yet, as TV undergoes a transformative change from full cable subscriptions to streaming services and a la carte options, the newest innovations in picture quality haven't taken hold with the average consumer (3-D TVs, anyone?).

However, a new option beginning to emerge may finally break through the TV tech apathy.

Currently, the most well-known resolution upgrade TV buyers can now widely purchase is a 4K TV, also referred to at times as Ultra HD. It has twice the resolution of the best regular HD resolution, 1080p.

But 4K hasn't a great factor in home entertainment, despite a wide range of price points that have plummeted since being in the high-four or low-five figures just three to four years. One of the biggest reasons is the lack of content on offer for the format. Only a select few shows on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video are 4K-compatible. On the cable side, only a couple providers currently offer 4K set-top boxes.

Another reason for the less-than-enthusiastic attitude about 4K TV is many simply don't believe the picture quality is truly much better than 1080p HDTV. In fact, in a typical living room or home theater setup, the difference between the two is probably negligible.

According to Nick Pino of Tech Radar, if you can't see the pixels on your 1080p set in your current setup "and don't plan on moving your couch closer, upgrading to 4K may not make a big difference to your experience."

Now, a new standard — High Dynamic Range (HDR) — may usurp 4K before it ever really takes off. It may also lead to the first true format war in home entertainment technology since Blu-ray DVDs rendered Toshiba's HD DVD technology meaningless in the mid-2000s.

So what makes HDR more noticeable than 4K?

"The contrast between the whitest whites and darkest blacks is accentuated, colors are more realistic and the entire image becomes more vibrant," according to David Katzmaier of CNET. "HDR can look spectacular, creating a noticeable difference to the naked eye of everyday viewers — not just eagle-eyed videophiles."

For right now, HDR is in a somewhat analogous position to 4K a couple years ago — not available on every new TV, but soon to be at a point where all new mid-level and above TVs will have the technology. All TVs with HDR will also have 4K capability, but not all 4K TVs will allow HDR.

But where 4K adoption by the content providers themselves is slow even now, four years after the first consumer TV sets were released to most of the country, HDR content looks to have much more momentum at an early stage.

In recent days, Netflix rolled out its first batch of content in HDR, while Amazon previously made some shows on Instant Video available in HDR. The new season of Netflix's popular exclusive show "Daredevil" was mastered in HDR, but isn't available in the format yet to subscribers who might have HDR-compatible TVs.

One interesting quirk of HDR is that even within the broader spectrum of possibly competing against 4K TV, there are two competing formats of HDR. However, it appears as if the Samsung- and Sony-backed HDR10 standard will have broader adoption among streaming services and movie and TV studios, and will be the dominant format over the competing Dolby Vision.

Thus far, the much-ballyhooed transition to 4K TV has been a slow one that doesn't see a lot of signs of picking up sudden steam. Even though HDR is in its relative infancy, it appears poised to be the successor to 1080p HDTV due to its more obvious increases in picture quality than 4K.