How far is 8K from us?

[Home Theater Network HDAV.com.cn] 4k gradually popularized, many fans can not help, have already started the 4K equipment to enjoy. At the same time, some fans have been in the wait-and-see stage, they firmly believe that 4K is only a transition, 8K is the king. So how far is 8K away from us? Today we selected an article on AVS, hoping to bring different thinking to everyone.

Previously, Display Daily published an interesting article titled "8K is closer than you think", author Bob Raikes mentioned, we will soon see a large screen LCD with 8K resolution (7680 × 4320) TV.

He pointed out that although the content will not directly promote the development of 8K, LCD TV manufacturers (especially Samsung and Sharp) will. This is the same as when transitioning to 4K / UHD. TV manufacturers have decided to produce 4K / UHD displays because they need a way to stimulate sales, and higher specification parameters tend to benefit this result. In addition, it is not difficult to adjust the manufacturing process to increase the resolution of the LCD panel. The listing of 4K / UHD machines has made content providers unprepared and have to compete to create 4K / UHD content.

Another factor is that Samsung and Sharp are the only mainstream TV manufacturers that have not launched or released OLED TVs. Previously, at the IFA show in Berlin, LG, Sony, Panasonic, TCL, B&O, Loewe, Metz, Vestel, and other companies using LG Display to provide panels, OLEDs were big. Although it is not as bright as LCD, OLED has become the standard for high-end flat-panel TVs.

In addition, Bob said in the comments that compared with the first quarter, Samsung QLED TV sales in the second quarter of 2017 significantly decreased, while OLED TV sales are rising. As he said, "According to market researchers, Samsung's parameters about color gamut and brightness have not won more consumers at the same price point. The excellent black level and contrast of OLEDs have become a consumer. Big selling point."

On the other hand, Bob believes that consumers really care about spatial resolution, and they think the higher the resolution, the better. Of course, in normal viewing distance, few people can see the difference in detail between HD and Ultra HD, and no one can see the difference between 4K and 8K. “However,” he said, “when consumers buy in the store, they like to observe the image quality at close range. In this case, if the content is not compressed, then FullHD, Ultra HD and 8K are significantly different.

Therefore, he expects that CES will see Samsung's 8K display in 2018, and I will not be surprised if he says it is really implemented. In fact, Sharp has demonstrated 8K technology for many years at CES, but it has always been a technical demonstration, not an actual product. Samsung and LG also conducted similar technical demonstrations at CES. If CES in 2018, Sharp has a TV set, I believe there will be some 8K products.

If Samsung and Sharp have LCD TVs with 8K resolution, this will be a differentiated product that is significantly different from OLED TVs. It must be a long time to expand to 8K resolution. According to Bob, the problem is not necessarily the pixels themselves, but the TFTs (thin film transistors) that drive them. According to him, OLEDs require 4-5 times more TFTs than LCDs, and they need to exhibit better electron mobility. At the same time, the yield of OLED is not as high as that of LCD. If it reaches 8K resolution, the problem may be more serious.

In terms of content, NHK, the Japanese public address system, has been working on 8K research and development for many years. In fact, they conducted an 8K test at the 2016 Rio Olympics and planned to expand the scope of the test in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) will also participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The 2016 test can only be done in Japan, and only on Sharp 8K TV, because only Sharp has 8K TV, and the price is much higher than 100,000 US dollars. According to Nikkei (Nikkei News), Sony and Panasonic are working with NHK and other companies to step up the development of 8K technology before the Tokyo Olympics. Sony plans to launch 8K TV in 2020, and Panasonic has not yet announced a specific date. However, according to related reports, Matsushita plans to sell TV in the 2020 Olympic Games.

I interviewed Rich Chernock, the CSO (Chief Security Officer) of Triveni Digital, and a major player in the development of ATSC 3.0, about 8K over the air. He told me that ATSC 3.0, the next-generation OTA system, does not currently support 8K, but does not rule out this possibility. It is very difficult to transmit 8K on a 6 MHz channel, which may not make much sense in the case of conventional viewing distance and screen size. He also told me that the NHK 8K broadcast was transmitted by satellite, not on the ground. I am sure this must be a high bandwidth satellite transmission!

As for other content, I personally think it takes more time. The infrastructure of 4K/ UHD is only beginning to become popular, and the demand for bandwidth in 8K will quadruple. This includes various moving content of the shooting process and post-production equipment, as well as being delivered to consumers via streaming media. Unless streaming content is more serious than 4K / UHD compression.

Can 8K be broadcasted on CD-ROM? UHD Blu-ray Disc is definitely not working! But is this important? Is UHD Blu-ray Disc the last recording format? I hope not! The disc still represents the best quality - unless downloaded to local storage equipment. But think about it, how long does it take to download high-quality 8K movies at the current online speed? It may be a few days!

I personally think that in a short period of time, it is not very meaningful for ordinary consumers to pursue 8K TV. The only thing that benefits them is the manufacturers who can sell higher specifications and sell more TV to the public. But for a long time, there was almost no 8K content besides the Olympics. On the other hand, the prices of these TVs can be very expensive, and for a period of time, only one percent of them may be able to afford them. What kind of business model is this?

Of course, I did see two better 8K applications. One is to scan movies for archiving, and although there is currently no 8K content release, it is great to have a master file with a higher resolution than the final release.

Then there is VR. In this case 8K makes sense because the display device is less than an inch from the eye. Every time I wear a VR headset, the first thing I noticed was that I could easily see the pixels. If the screen is 8K, it may look smoother and smoother without sand window effects. But to make a VR monitor - this display is much smaller than the phone - using 8K resolution is almost impossible. Its pixels must be much smaller than a TV or even a smartphone.

As for 8K VR content, it requires twice the bandwidth of 8K TV! Of course, the VR system may upgrade the lower resolution, which may be applied to the 8K TV first.

So, is 8K really coming soon? It may be like this for 8K TVs, but 8K content is still far away. For those who skip 4K and wait for 8K, I have reservations. In fact, the 4K / UHD effect has been very significant, especially in the high dynamic range. At least for now, I don't see any reason to postpone the purchase of 4K / UHD HDR TVs, looking forward to 8K.

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