8K TVs are following on the heels of 4K. Japanese broadcaster NHK has already invested and is using 8K cameras!
Of the various names for 4K, the label that makes the most sense to my brain is 2160p. But what does it mean? Well, ultimately, it’s about once again upping the ante in terms of visual clarity and how much like the real world our video content appears. Some of you might be asking “didn’t we just do this with HD a few years back?”, and you’re right. We did. And in a sense, we’re not done, because 1080p is not the best we can do with displays, so we should really expect to see more of this display resolution evolution. So, in the most basic form, what do we get from 4K? Current FullHD is 1920x1080 pixels, for a total of 2,073,600 pixels (think of it like a 2 megapixel camera image). UltraHD provides double that in both directions for 3840 x 2160, for 8,294,400 (making an 8 megapixel image)! This means an image that’s 4x more detailed than 1080p. Another benefit is overall more accurate, lifelike color. How does that work? Well, the current format standard for HD Television is called Rec. 709. It gave us the widescreen 16:9 format, several HD resolutions (both interlaced and progressive) and framerates, and 8-bit color depth. Here’s a good demo to see the improvement in color depth. If you compare a DVD movie to the same title on Blu-ray, you’ll notice the DVD color looks flatter and more primary than the Blu-ray, which has more lifelike color. Rec. 2020 – the newest standard, gives us 2 new resolutions – 3840x2160 and 7680x4320 (getting rid of interlaced resolutions altogether), 9 framerates, plus 10-bit or 12-bit color. So, what does all this HD geekery mean for the viewer? Well, it means that both 4K TVs now and 8K TVs later can display much more accurate colors than your 1080p TVs can display with the best blu-ray content on the market!
Now, of course, human vision is capable of seeing more colors than either of these standards, but UHD is getting so much closer to that limit, that it’s really starting to show just where Rec. 709 – the current standard - is deficient.
If you're deciding whether or not to pop for one of the bright, shiny new UHDTVs. Be very careful: if the reason you want it is for the higher resolution and detail, studies are showing that you’re only going to see that on displays of larger than 75”! Now, Sony offers 4K sets at 55”and 65” sizes right now, but if you’re sitting 6-7 feet away from your 50” HDTV now to see its detail, you’ll need to pull up chair another foot or so! At this early point in 4K adoption, the best and most cost-effective way to work it into your home is a front-projection and screen system. Why? It gives you the best bang for the buck for screen size, and it removes any question about whether or not it’s visible. To put it in perspective, Samsung’s 85” UN85S9AFXZA model runs $40,000! This makes Sony’s and Toshiba’s 84” UHD sets look like deals at $25,000 and $17,000 respectively.
Now, if the reason you want 4K is for the better color representation, you would be better advised to wait. As of now, the HDMI 1.4 standard cannot pass through the improved color information to your TV. This means, no HD cable or satellite boxes, no current blu-ray players, no current set-top boxes or HTPCs can provide that better color information to the current crop of UHDTVs.
If you do sit close, or if you’re wanting it for streaming video (There are a few places online you can find UHD video content) go ahead and pick up one now. Seiki – a Chinese value TV brand – is offering a 4K 50” TV for $1400! The guys over at HDNation have reviewed one, and despite its limitations, it’s a decent enough set, with the qualification that you’ve got to be feeding a native 4K signal (its upscaling of full HD content could best be called poor or nonexistent). If you want 4K for the highest-resolution PC gaming and you're into Call of Duty-type games, wait. Right now, UHDTVs like the above-mentioned Seiki cannot play those games at refresh rates higher than 30Hz. Translation - you'll get owned in online games with your friends. HDMI 2.0 will offer support for 60Hz refreshes, when it comes.
