What Is 8K? Should You Buy a New TV or Wait?
4K is the resolution standard for televisions now, but we’re starting to see 8K TVs trickle out. How much better is 8K, and is it worth waiting for?
It’s taken some time, but ultra-high-definition ( UHD, or 4K) is now effectively the standard resolution for TVs larger than 40 inches. The next step is 8K—and if you’ve just upgraded to 4K, the idea of 8K on the horizon is reasonably irritating. Let us assuage your fears and anger by explaining just what 8K is and how long we’ll be waiting for it.
8K is a higher resolution standard than 4K, quadrupling the total number of pixels just like 4K did with 1080p. 8K is 7,680 by 4,320 resolution or approximately 8,000 horizontal pixels. 4K, by contrast, is around 4,000 horizontal pixels at 3,840 by 2,160, and 1080p is around 2,000 horizontal pixels at 1,920 by 1,080. Just as there are twice as many horizontal pixels for each resolution, there are also twice as many vertical pixels. This means each step quadruples the number of pixels, and that 8K has 16 times the number of pixels as 1080p.
Why are they called 8K and 4K instead of, say, 2,160p and 4,320p? Basically, it’s easier to say and write. The higher the numbers, especially when they aren’t nice, round numbers, the more confusing it gets (though we have seen 4K referred to as 2,160p in some technical specifications). 4K and 8K are simple terms that get the point across by rounding up the number of horizontal pixels. 4K is also referred to as ultra-high-definition, or UHD, so 8K might eventually get its own descriptor at some point. Considering how many people say “4K” and not “UHD,” however, it’s unlikely any acronym rebranding will catch on, and calling it 8K is here to stay.
So There Are 8K TVs Now? I Just Got 4K!
Yes, there are 8K TVs now. They’re rare and expensive, though. One of the very first available in North America, Samsung’s Q900, costs $5,000 for 65 inches (and $70,000 if you want a 98-inch model). It uses the same quantum dot technology as Samsung’s 4K Q9FN line, so it probably has excellent color performance, but the sticker shock still exceeds that of most OLED TVs you can buy. The 65-inch Q9FN is just over half the price at $3,000, and LG’s 65-inch OLEDC9P is $3,500. And, of course, you can find excellent LCD 4K TVs for much less than any of that, with other models and brands.
Spending an extra $1,500 for an 8K TV doesn’t mean you’ll be able to watch 8K media. That’s because there really isn’t any, for consumers. It took years of development for 4K video to become standardized in streaming and physical media. Even with the Q900 and any other 8K TVs available to buy in the US, you won’t actually have anything to watch on it.
Unless you have the most absurdly powerful gaming computer on the planet or access to experimental broadcaster streams, you won’t be getting any 8K video. Instead, you’ll be processing 4K or lower resolution video and upconverting it to 8K. Samsung emphasizes its sophisticated 8K upconversion system to help offset the lack of native 8K content. It might be very impressive and help perk up 4K media to look good on an 8K TV, but you can’t synthesize fine details from nothing, and upconversion is always inferior to native video.
Is 8K Better Than 4K?
From what we’ve seen so far at trade shows and workshops that show off the new TVs, it could be. Just like the change to HDTVs and then to 4K, screen size and distance to the screen is a big factor. If you’re watching from a couch, you won’t notice much of a difference between 1080p and 4K on a TV smaller than 40 inches. The distinction between 4K and 8K will likely be similar, though we haven’t seen enough to test yet.
We’ll have a better idea of how much of an improvement, if any, 8K presents once we get a few 8K TVs into our lab for testing. So far, we haven’t had enough time with 8K TVs outside of carefully controlled and curated demonstrations to make the call. Of course, they all look really sharp at press events, but whether that’s a difference that will matter when you’re on the couch and the TV is ten feet away remains to be seen.
As for high dynamic range ( HDR), 8K will almost certainly support it in some form. That form also doesn’t exist yet, just like physical 8K media or streaming 8K standards. HDR is constantly evolving year to year, and formats like broadcast-friendly hybrid log gamma (HLG) and dynamic metadata-equipped HDR10+ are still being developed and adopted. The format of HDR that 8K will use is likely a long way away. On the bright side, that means 8K HDR, when it happens, could be even darker, brighter, and more colorful than the current iteration.
If I Get 8K, What Will I Be Able to Watch on It?
Mostly lower-resolution content upconverted to 8K. There’s no consumer 8K video content available or on the horizon, and no studios or services have said anything about 8K distribution. At least, in this country.
Japan’s NHK TV network has started experimenting with 8K broadcasts with its “Super Hi-Vision channel” that shows events in both 4K and 8K, but so far they’re only being shown in a handful of theaters around Japan. Remember, there’s almost no broadcast or otherwise live streaming 4K content even now, though streaming video services and Ultra HD Blu-ray (along with game systems and PCs) have made plenty of 4K video available.
8K doesn’t have standard formats for streaming or physical media, and it won’t get them any time soon. Commercial content trickles out even slower than the TVs that can display it. It took years for 4K video to become common on streaming services and for Ultra HD Blu-ray to shake out as a 4K physical media. 8K video will see the same path, and it hasn’t even started on it. And no, Amazon and Netflix haven’t said anything about offering 8K media yet (or what the bandwidth requirements will be, because 8K media needs to push four times as many pixels as 4K).
Will I Also Need New 8K Devices?
Yep, and new cables, too. The new HDMI 2.1 standard supports 8K resolution at up to 60 frames per second, and it requires almost triple the bandwidth of 4K-capable HDMI 2.0. That means your current Blu-ray players, media streamers, and game systems will top out at 4K. You’ll need new HDMI 2.1-equipped devices that can process 8K video and output it to an 8K TV. They’re trickling out, as are the HDMI cables that have the required 48Gbps bandwidth to transmit 8K60 content.
On the bright side, if you’re fine with 8K24 and 8K30, HDMI 2.0-supported 18Gbps cables should be able to handle it, and we’ve found in our 4K60 HDMI cable tests that a surprising number of inexpensive cables meet those standards.
Basically, don’t worry. Your current 4K TV isn’t extinct, and if you’re looking to upgrade an older screen, a 4K model is the best you can get for some time.
Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com on May 15, 2019.
