8K Association announces consumer TV specs

[EvilCycle]

4K may still be a niche among TV users, but that's because they rushed out the screens before the content, however these days for a lot of people who are gaming, watching blogs/music videos on YouTube and yes... ...using Netflix/Amazon... 4K is now a pretty much every day thing.

We may not need 8K yet, but the fact is if people want huge cinema screens in their homes one day or VR headsets that are as clear as real life, then the tech WILL be useful eventually and I would rather them do the work in getting it all standardised BEFORE I go out and spend hundreds or thousands on a new TV, you know like many early adopters did with 4K who are now probably a bit disappointed.

I can see why people think the industry should focus on getting 1080p and 4K everywhere before working on something higher, but honestly I think at this point it looks like we may see the industry skip over a lot of these resolutions until we actually settle for something long term, which I think 8K is more capable of withstanding.

[philehidiot]

Deleted due to duplicate post / rant.

[philehidiot]

I do not see what the issue is. This is the release of the minimum specification for 8K certification. 4K is established and companies that stand still die, so they will be pressuring for the standards to be released so they can do R&D accordingly. There will be early adopters who demand the latest and greatest and will want 8K for whatever reason. This is the kind of low volume stuff you produce for people who are accepting they're buying into new tech or niche markets where they have a tech guy on hand and it gets the teething problems sorted. Then, if you have to recall, it's a low volume rather than waiting until there's massive demand, not having a mature product and suddenly your reputation is destroyed and the recall is huge.

The vast majority of stuff I watch is HD as it's streamed. I don't watch normal telly. I bought a 4K HDR TV pretty cheap (under £300) and it's a massive upgrade on the old TV. So now you can get something that will please the masses in 4K for a low outlay, the next premium product has to come along and that's 8K. Yes, there's still a dearth of 4K content but there's always people wanting the next big thing and to wave their willies saying "I've got". And when everyone, even me, has a 4K screen, they HAVE to have something better. It's like having a 1000cc motorcycle. Can you practically use that power on the road? No, it's a willy waving contest and they'll spend more time polishing it and showing it off at the local bike café than riding it.

I suspect the "big inroads" thing is optimistic but, you have to remember, customers are often idiots when it comes to tech and swayed by marketing speak and a high res, highly saturated, unrealistic demo in a shop. We are in the minority, we who understand what 4K and 8K actually means and can even decipher that specification in the article. All the sales guy has to do is say "oh yeh, everything is 4K now but if you don't want to have to buy a new TV in a couple of years, you want 8K". And the uneducated will look around, see everything on the shop floor is 4K and buy into it - I've stood there and watched this kind of thing happen. The sales staff will lie in teams to deceive the unwary. Most people do not spend their lunchtimes at work reading this kind of article. Hell, people buy "audiophile", cryotreated cables because of marketing junk. I just left my cables by the fridge. Works wonders.

So yes, this IS pointless right now (unless you want a panel that can show multiple inputs on one screen at a decent resolution - I can think of several applications for that). But 4K hardware is established and technology marches on. Standards being established is far from a finished product and is just the first step before low volume, high cost, early adopter / niche market production. Look back in 10 years time and 8K will likely be where 4K is now - cheap enough to get it into most new screen purchases which will then make it worthwhile to invest in large scale content.

If I'm producing content and it costs 30% more for 4K production Vs 1080P but it's not going to get me that kind of money back because the majority of people don't have the hardware and therefore won't pay the extra, why would I do it? You'd not develop a game for a console only a few people have if your intention is mass market.

I suspect "big inroads" has two intentions. One, it's relative compared to 8K demand in previous years. Two, it's to say to customers and producers "the next big thing is coming, better get on board".

/rambly rant

[s_kinton]

All the TVs in my house are 4K - the only one I'd consider upgrading to 8K would be the 82" Samsung TV in the cinema room. The other TVs are all 40-55" models and I don't think they'll be any compelling reason to change them - in reality, for most people 8K is just not going to mean anything.

[Output]

Both times I've initially noticed this thread in listings, I misread it as "BK" and wondered what Burger King had to do with things.

While in theory I wanted to jump to 8K instead of 4K from 1080p, due to already knowing that it was coming at some point given mentions of NHK's broadcasts and work on it for a number of years, in practicality I'd assume it to be highly unlikely that I'd notice a difference between 4K and 8K.

I'm sure it will come in handy for video editors of course, allowing them to zoom even more into a picture without losing any quality if desired, but it's probably going to be more of a focus for specialist usage like that for longer, particularly given that 4K still has much further to go before it gets into the proper swing of things (namely more content regularly produced for the format).

[Smudger]

I remember when Plasmas came out, they were about £12k for a 40" model - if memory serves me correctly. They didn't adhere to any HD Ready/FHD/UHD standard

So seeing that Samsung have launched a 55" 8k TV for about £2k recently, doesn't seem a huge stretch compared to when Plasma first came out. Yes, there's no content currently, but there will be, plus if they're that 'cheap', it may mean high-end 4k TVs come down in price.

[Xlucine]

I wonder what the intermediate step resolution for PCs will be? Like how 1440p ends up sitting between 1080p and 4k in reviews. Going straight from 4k to 8k would be challenging, we'd end up with GPUs capable of hitting 200 fps at 4k (in practical terms, CPU bottlenecked) but still not managing 8k60

I remember when Plasmas came out, they were about £12k for a 40" model - if memory serves me correctly. They didn't adhere to any HD Ready/FHD/UHD standard

So seeing that Samsung have launched a 55" 8k TV for about £2k recently, doesn't seem a huge stretch compared to when Plasma first came out. Yes, there's no content currently, but there will be, plus if they're that 'cheap', it may mean high-end 4k TVs come down in price.

+ inflation in the intervening time. The top of the line 82" model is just £9k, which is a lot nicer than the way GPU prices have gone over the same period

[AGTDenton]

I'll skip for 16K

[SwiftyOne]

I can't think of anything further to add, Kato-2 sums it all up really ^^^