8K TV Is Coming (A Surprising Visual Upgrade?)

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I feel like TV technology is advancing at a rate that’s incredible honestly.

I mean think about it; just within the last 5 years even, we’ve seen the likes of 4K, High Dynamic Range, IMAX Enhanced and extended color go from publicly unknown, to essentially mainstream in the blink of an eye.

What’s more surprising is that these aren’t minor upgrades either; each one is a big advancement in their own right.

However when combined, together they provide for a visual experience that’s hard to describe.

Some of the best TVs in my opinion utilize these.

So with that, you might think industry leaders have pretty much done it all when it comes to display technology right?

Well…..not exactly.. because here’s the thing; 8K TV is coming.

 

 

8K Resolution Development Actually Started In 1995

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The thought of expanding to 8k resolution actually started as early as 1995 by the company NHK.

It used to be called Super-Hi Vision while in development until the name was changed to NHK BS8K when they launched their 8K television channel in 2018.

For those of you unaware, NHK is a Japanese company that values innovation and advances in tech.

Due to this, they’ve been at the forefront of technology for quite some time now.

Be it 3D audio, high resolution cameras, etc, they were always one of the firsts to conceptualize it.

Even though work started in 1995, it wasn’t until 2005 where it was first demoed (which is still really early)

2007 was the year where things really started to materialize as it was finally standardized as an official video format by SMPTE (Society Of Motion Picture & Television Engineers) with the interface later being standardized in 2010.

Here’s a full timeline on 8K pertaining to TVs and other devices if curious. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8K_resolution#History

 

 

What Is An 8K TV?

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So with all this talk of 8K, what exactly is it?

Well to put it simply, 8K is a resolution that consists of 7680 pixels horizontally, and 4320 pixels vertically.

With an 8K TV, it has 4 times the total pixels of current 4K TVs, and a whopping 16 times the resolution of HDTVs.

To give you an idea of how high of a resolution that is, you could hypothetically take an in 8K image, do a 2x zoom, and still have a 4K image.

It also commonly uses a 16:9 aspect ratio in content that’s shown on the display.

 

Why Is 8K Necessary?

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If you haven’t witnessed 8K for yourself, it’s possible you might think of this high a resolution as a bit much.

While I certainly understand that perspective, there’s actually a surprising number of real world benefits where 8K would be a welcome addition.

 

Reason #1: Pixels Become Invisible Even Close Up

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One really big advantage to having a screen resolution this high is the individual pixels become indecipherable to the human eye — even when viewed close up.

Something to know about larger displays is that the larger you go, the blurrier an image gets at the same distance & resolution.

That’s because the same ratio of pixels get spread over a much wider area as you go up in size.

What 8K would allow for is bigger screens having a much higher pixel density.

This improves picture clarity and detail since there’s more pixels to better represent the nuanced details in the image.

 

 

Reason #2: Better Quality 1080P/4K

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Another thing that you may not be aware of is that 8K could give a measurable clarity boost to current 1080p and 4K resolutions.

How?

Through 2 ways, either down upscaling or down sampling.

To put it simply, upscaling is where the display takes the original lower resolution image, and processes it to fit the 8K screen.

This can result in that image looking better than before.

Down sampling is a method where something is recorded at a higher resolution and then formatted to be played at a lower one.

By doing this, a lot of the original information of that higher resolution is kept.

As a result, the final image, along with other small details, are made much clearer than they would be otherwise at that same resolution.

By recording content at 8K, 4K (and even 1080p) movies would look better than they already do.

The best part about it is you wouldn’t even need an 8K screen to benefit since film directors/engineers would be the ones to record it and format for current displays.

https://www.techradar.com/news/8k-tv-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-futuristic-resolution

 

 

Reason #3: True 4K Virtual Reality

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A prior restraint on VR technology used to be there wasn’t a high enough resolution to give a 1 for 1 likeness with real life.

That’s because the pixel density would be divided between both eyes with the headset on.

This is how it creates that sense of full immersion.

The problem with that was the potential image quality appearing grainy due to the lack in resolution; which could lead to what’s known as the screen door effect.

Like the name suggests, it’s an occurrence that sometimes affects VR headsets where it feels like you’re looking at things through a screen door.

Even with a bump to 4K VR, (which surprisingly exists) it still has to be divided between both eyes.

With a massive jump to 8K, true 4k virtual reality would be made, (for lack of a better term) a reality since you would be getting the full 3840×2160 per eye.

This would not only help mitigate the screen door effect, but also make the experience feel that much more immersive as a whole because of that increase in clarity.

As an interesting sidenote that shows this isn’t too far away, the company Intel even streamed the 2020 Olympics (delayed until 2021) in 8K VR over 5G.

Whether 8K resolution VR becomes more commonplace remains to be seen, but it just goes to show that 8K isn’t as far off as one might think.

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/61007/intel-5g-promises-8k-360-degree-video-tokyo-2020-olympics/index.html

 

 

Reason #4: The Resolution Improvement For Photography & Video Editing Allow More Detail In Movies

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Something interesting to note is that 8K cameras have been available for a few years now.

While they aren’t as mainstream as 4K cameras as of right now, they’re more common than one might think, as even recent smart phones have them.

A major benefit for photographers is that 8K offers more true to life images with more visible detail that might be lost at a lower resolution.

This is especially helpful for those not only interested in editing photos, but in video editing as well since the increase in resolution helps with accuracy & bringing out additional details in the frame.

Here’s an interesting article on that if you were interested in that aspect of it. https://nofilmschool.com/2018/02/beauty-8k-large-format

But this translates well for 8K tvs since movies shot with these cameras can showcase more detail due to there being more visual information in the source material.

 

 

Reason #5: More Realistic Content

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Here’s something you may not have realized, humans can decipher image resolutions higher than 4K.

In fact, human vision has been said to be the equivalent of…(drum roll) 8K!

8K seems to be the upper echelon of what we can accurately distinguish; anything higher reaches a point of diminishing returns.

So with a resolution this high, content will finally be able to closely match our own visual acuity.

This would allow for content to feel even more immersive as it would closely mirror how we’d see things if we were actually there.

More on that here if curious.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/msid.1072

 

 

Reason #6: Better Color Accuracy When Watching Content

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The dramatic increase in resolution that 8K provides also has increased benefits for color accuracy as well.

Due to there being more pixels to represent a given image on screen, scenes in content can be more more lifelike due to there being more pixels to better display subtle changes in color and hue.

Think about it; instead of having 1 pixel to display the color blue for example, you now have 4 pixels for that same color as opposed to one.

This allows for much more subtly in color gradiation and helps to minimize banding even when compared with a 4K resolution; thus giving a more vibrant and believable image.

 

http://www.insightmedia.info/8k-tvs-top-tv-line-ups-for-a-reason/

 

 

 

When Will 8K Be Available?

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Here’s the real question, when will it be available?! The answer to that is a little complicated since it technically is and isn’t available at the same time.

The reason I say that is because on one hand, there’s already companies like Dell and Nikon that sell 8K monitors & cameras available to the public right now.

Sony demoed their own 8K TV back in 2018, with Samsung also having their own commercial line of 8K televisions that year sporting their QLED technology.

https://www.pocket-lint.com/tv/reviews/samsung/145989-samsung-8k-tv-review-q900-led-85in

Since then, LG & TCL have created their own televisions sporting that resolution.

Plus there’s even 8K projectors that’s exist.

The issue with all of that being said though, is that the mass switch from 1080p to 4k broadcasting hasn’t even happened yet (though that actually is in the works finally)

Until the switch to ATSC 3.0 is finalized (which is the name of the switch to 4K resolution cable) and they can then turn their attention to 8K, we won’t see it for quite a while.

The infrastructure has to be built for it, which will definitely take time to say the least.

Until that happens, it’s a far off concept but with a lot of promise.

Now the thing to keep in mind though, is that the availability of devices, and the availability of content are two completely different things.

If we’re talking about when you’ll be able to buy the first 8K TV or monitor, then you technically can right now since they’re available for purchase from quite a few makers now.

Even the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 gaming consoles have 8K support which is pretty incredible; especially from a gamer perspective.

But if you’re wondering when 8K will go mainstream with a good amount of content, then my honest estimation is at the very least a decade.

Some think it could happen sooner than that, but with the amount of things that would need to be done for that to happen, I don’t see that as a high probability.

I’d love to be wrong though, because it’s an amazing idea.

But the fact remains that the networks in most places still haven’t fully switched to even 4K.

There is content 8K content available, but it’s not as abundant yet.

So as much as I want it to be a major format sooner due to what it has to offer, it’s more likely than not that it won’t happen for a good 10 or so years in my opinion.

 

 

Final Thoughts

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In any case, while it may not be as soon as we’d like, I feel like it will eventually become the de-facto standard at some point in the distant future.

When this does happen, the world of media will be drastically different from how it is today.

But the real question is, will this be for the better or worse?

Like most things in life, only time will tell.

Just remember, even though it’s not popular now, without a doubt, 8K TV is coming.