What Is 8K? Should You Buy a New TV or Wait?
Currently, 4K is the industry standard for television resolution, although 8K TVs are starting to appear. Does waiting for 8K make a difference in how much better it is?
You may have owned a 4K TV since they first became available. Perhaps you just recently upgraded. Perhaps you're still watching TV in 1080p. Whatever the state of your screen right now, you've certainly heard about 8K, which will replace 4K. It represents the following significant improvement in TV resolution. New technologies are needed for the shift, just like for 4K. Here is all the information you require about 8K, including what it is, when it will arrive, and what it requires to function. The short version is that 8K TVs are available, but you shouldn't buy one right away.
The Basics of 8K
Simply put, 8K has a higher resolution than 4K. 1,920 by 1,080 pixels is the resolution of 1080p screens. The dimensions of 4K screens double to 3,840 by 2,160, with four times as many pixels. The numbers are again doubled in 8K, with a resolution of 7,680 by 4,320. That is 16 times as many pixels as a 1080p TV because it has four times as many as 4K.
Look at your TV very closely to get the context. Not the individual red, green, and blue lights—those are subpixels, which means you're too close—but a single pixel. Imagine four pixels filling the space occupied by a single pixel on a 4K screen. Imagine a grid of sixteen pixels, each measuring four by four, within a single pixel on a 1080p screen. It is 8K. It is significantly sharper than 4K and significantly sharper than 1080p.
What About HDR?
High dynamic range, or HDR, is a term you've probably heard if you've been paying attention to TVs and 4K. You might also be unclear about what HDR is and how it differs from 4K. Although HDR can be a difficult concept to grasp, it's crucial to comprehend it as 8K technology develops and is useful to know when looking for a 4K TV.
The number of pixels on a screen is indicated by the resolution—1080p, 4K, and 8K. Each of those pixels displays a different image depending on the HDR and SDR settings. A pixel's color and light, or more precisely, its hue and luminance, are determined by the values assigned to each of its red, green, and blue (and occasionally white) subpixels.
Because of the technical limitations of CRT TVs, which established those standards decades ago, SDR and the standard color gamut are purposefully constrained. On a scale of 1 to 255, light is given a value between 16 and 238 and color is given a value within the Rec. 709 color space, which represents only a small portion of the entire visible light spectrum. Because CRT displays couldn't accurately get darker, brighter, or more colorful, broadcast standards were established within those ranges. This implied that the majority of physical and streaming media, as well as any signal sent via air, cable, or satellite, were also constrained.
Wide color gamuts and HDR make use of the entire spectrum of light and color values, maximizing the potential of LCD and OLED screens. For light, that ranges from 0 to 255, frequently with much more light levels in between due to higher bit depths. In comparison to SDR TVs, HDR TVs employ a much wider range of light and color values and more steps in between.
Different HDR formats have various capabilities. A separate story could be written to explore the differences between each of them. To understand HDR in this context, all you need to know is that 4K determines how many pixels are present, and SDR/HDR determines what each pixel does. Most HDR content is 4K, but not all of it 4K content is HDR.
This reasoning applies to 8K as well. Like 4K content, 8K content has the option of being HDR. Another option is SDR, which has fewer possible values for each pixel. Since there isn't any consumer 8K content yet, we have no way of knowing if the majority of 8K content will be available in HDR.
What Else Do You Need for 8K?
8K video requires high speed leading into the screen in addition to an 8K display. 8K video consumes a lot of bandwidth due to its four times more pixels, each of which may contain additional information. That's a problem whether you're streaming 8K content over a 5G internet connection or viewing it on an as-of-yet undiscovered 8K optical disc. The quick response is that HDMI 2.1 or higher is necessary for 8K. Cables and home theater equipment use HDMI. By doing this, you can make sure your cables and the sources you employ have enough bandwidth to support 8K content.
These figures demonstrate why. A relatively new standard called HDMI 2.1 is designed for high-definition 4K and 8K content. It has a 48Gbps maximum bandwidth, which is three times as much as the 18Gbps of the HDMI 2.0 standard, which supports up to 4K60 video. The resolution and video frame rate that can be sent over a connection with a low bandwidth are reduced, and the video has to be compressed more, which degrades the fine details. High-definition, uncompressed 8K video at up to 60 frames per second and uncompressed 4K120 video can both be transmitted over HDMI 2.1.
Is Now the Time to Buy an 8K TV?
For the vast majority of buyers, now is not the ideal time to purchase an 8K. An 8K TV can be found for about what a 4K TV cost when they first came out. which translates to a few thousand dollars. They are frequently top-tier or flagship TVs with impressive picture quality, ranking at the top of manufacturers' lists. One LED-backlit LCD with some of the best contrast we've seen is the TCL 8K 6-Series. Additionally, it is nearly twice as expensive as the 4K 6-Series from TCL, which has excellent picture quality.
Anyone with the money to spend would be justified in jumping on the early adopter bandwagon and splashing out on an 8K TV, but there isn't much 8K content available to consumers. You might be able to force some games to run passably at 8K if you have a very powerful gaming PC, but that's about all you can hope for right now. Your 8K TV will upconvert anything you want to watch from 4K or lower resolution, so it won't be as sharp as you might hope.
You may have owned a 4K TV since they first became available. Perhaps you just recently upgraded. Perhaps you're still watching TV in 1080p. Whatever the state of your screen right now, you've certainly heard about 8K, which will replace 4K. It represents the following significant improvement in TV resolution. New technologies are needed for the shift, just like for 4K. Here is all the information you require about 8K, including what it is, when it will arrive, and what it requires to function. The short version is that 8K TVs are available, but you shouldn't buy one right away.
The Basics of 8K
Simply put, 8K has a higher resolution than 4K. 1,920 by 1,080 pixels is the resolution of 1080p screens. The dimensions of 4K screens double to 3,840 by 2,160, with four times as many pixels. The numbers are again doubled in 8K, with a resolution of 7,680 by 4,320. That is 16 times as many pixels as a 1080p TV because it has four times as many as 4K.
Look at your TV very closely to get the context. Not the individual red, green, and blue lights—those are subpixels, which means you're too close—but a single pixel. Imagine four pixels filling the space occupied by a single pixel on a 4K screen. Imagine a grid of sixteen pixels, each measuring four by four, within a single pixel on a 1080p screen. It is 8K. It is significantly sharper than 4K and significantly sharper than 1080p.
What About HDR?
High dynamic range, or HDR, is a term you've probably heard if you've been paying attention to TVs and 4K. You might also be unclear about what HDR is and how it differs from 4K. Although HDR can be a difficult concept to grasp, it's crucial to comprehend it as 8K technology develops and is useful to know when looking for a 4K TV.
The number of pixels on a screen is indicated by the resolution—1080p, 4K, and 8K. Each of those pixels displays a different image depending on the HDR and SDR settings. A pixel's color and light, or more precisely, its hue and luminance, are determined by the values assigned to each of its red, green, and blue (and occasionally white) subpixels.
Because of the technical limitations of CRT TVs, which established those standards decades ago, SDR and the standard color gamut are purposefully constrained. On a scale of 1 to 255, light is given a value between 16 and 238 and color is given a value within the Rec. 709 color space, which represents only a small portion of the entire visible light spectrum. Because CRT displays couldn't accurately get darker, brighter, or more colorful, broadcast standards were established within those ranges. This implied that the majority of physical and streaming media, as well as any signal sent via air, cable, or satellite, were also constrained.
Wide color gamuts and HDR make use of the entire spectrum of light and color values, maximizing the potential of LCD and OLED screens. For light, that ranges from 0 to 255, frequently with much more light levels in between due to higher bit depths. In comparison to SDR TVs, HDR TVs employ a much wider range of light and color values and more steps in between.
Different HDR formats have various capabilities. A separate story could be written to explore the differences between each of them. To understand HDR in this context, all you need to know is that 4K determines how many pixels are present, and SDR/HDR determines what each pixel does. Most HDR content is 4K, but not all of it 4K content is HDR.
This reasoning applies to 8K as well. Like 4K content, 8K content has the option of being HDR. Another option is SDR, which has fewer possible values for each pixel. Since there isn't any consumer 8K content yet, we have no way of knowing if the majority of 8K content will be available in HDR.
What Else Do You Need for 8K?
8K video requires high speed leading into the screen in addition to an 8K display. 8K video consumes a lot of bandwidth due to its four times more pixels, each of which may contain additional information. That's a problem whether you're streaming 8K content over a 5G internet connection or viewing it on an as-of-yet undiscovered 8K optical disc. The quick response is that HDMI 2.1 or higher is necessary for 8K. Cables and home theater equipment use HDMI. By doing this, you can make sure your cables and the sources you employ have enough bandwidth to support 8K content.
These figures demonstrate why. A relatively new standard called HDMI 2.1 is designed for high-definition 4K and 8K content. It has a 48Gbps maximum bandwidth, which is three times as much as the 18Gbps of the HDMI 2.0 standard, which supports up to 4K60 video. The resolution and video frame rate that can be sent over a connection with a low bandwidth are reduced, and the video has to be compressed more, which degrades the fine details. High-definition, uncompressed 8K video at up to 60 frames per second and uncompressed 4K120 video can both be transmitted over HDMI 2.1.
Is Now the Time to Buy an 8K TV?
For the vast majority of buyers, now is not the ideal time to purchase an 8K. An 8K TV can be found for about what a 4K TV cost when they first came out. which translates to a few thousand dollars. They are frequently top-tier or flagship TVs with impressive picture quality, ranking at the top of manufacturers' lists. One LED-backlit LCD with some of the best contrast we've seen is the TCL 8K 6-Series. Additionally, it is nearly twice as expensive as the 4K 6-Series from TCL, which has excellent picture quality.
Anyone with the money to spend would be justified in jumping on the early adopter bandwagon and splashing out on an 8K TV, but there isn't much 8K content available to consumers. You might be able to force some games to run passably at 8K if you have a very powerful gaming PC, but that's about all you can hope for right now. Your 8K TV will upconvert anything you want to watch from 4K or lower resolution, so it won't be as sharp as you might hope.
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