The thing with technology is that it never slows down for anybody. You can get the latest and the greatest of any electronic equipment and something better, more efficient, and more powerful will be in the pipeline. Televisions, luckily, are no exception to this rule. Besides flagship models growing in size every year, they also improve on elements like resolution, panel & picture quality, color depth, and connectivity, among others. Right now, 4K OLED/QLED televisions are pretty much the best you can find in the market but we’re already seeing some manufacturers pushing 8K televisions. Naturally, if you’re looking for a long-term purchase, it does not hurt to ask whether you should upgrade to the next big thing? Why don’t we investigate this a little more in detail.
WHAT IS THE HYPE AROUND 8K ANYWAY?
Technology is always improving and while sometimes the results are more evolutionary instead of revolutionary, they make a tiny difference, nonetheless. 8K, or 7680 × 4320 pixels, offers four times the pixels in the same area compared to the current mainstream 4K standard. It’s all about pixel density on the screen and 8K hits the ball out of the park. You shouldn’t start comparing pixel density on your television to what you’ve seen on your smartphone displays though. Unlike a phone, television is viewed from a distance of at least a few feet, making things like Retina density (300 ppi) absurd. It is still good to have more pixels crammed in your display of course, even though you might not be able to call out the difference without considerable effort.
Further, independent studies also show HDR introduces the potential for images to contain small, intense light peaks which higher-resolution 8K displays do a much better job at.
However, it is all good in theory, but does it really make a difference in real life? Warner Bros did a study (the depths of which can be read here) to compare how 8K improved viewing experience over 4K. The final results of the study were somewhere on the lines of 8K being only marginally better than 4K in terms of perceived detail—and only with good visual acuity at a relatively close distance from the screen.
8K TV? WHERE IS ALL THE 8K CONTENT THOUGH?
Unfortunately, there’s no mainstream streaming service that pushes its content in 8K in the market currently, and by the looks of it, it doesn’t appear anything of that kind is even being planned for the near future. Even Hollywood, at best, is working with 6K cameras at the moment. Given the investment it would take on part of content creators as well as the bandwidth requirement to make this content reach your living room, it seems like we might have to do with upscaled 4K content.
That said, it is not like nobody has hopped on the 8K bandwagon. Last we heard, some Japanese broadcasters were experimenting with 8K content broadcasting. The experiments probably went well, because NHK, which is a Japanese broadcaster, is now offering an 8K native channel NHK BS8K. In fact, they were planning to broadcast some content from the Olympics 2020 live in 8K before the world discovered we have a deadly virus amongst us and the whole sporting event was postponed for a year.
However, even if you’re not in the region, it’s safe to assume that in the next two-three years, we should start seeing more 8K content out in the market along with enhanced audio (Dolby 7.1 isn’t the pinnacle of sound technology. Last we heard, it goes all the way up to Dolby 22.2) . It might not become as widespread as the current 4K standard, but we expect two major factors to make 8K content go mainstream and increase public acceptance.
NETFLIX AND 8K?
Netflix has played a big role in pushing content creators to shoot native 4K and that has helped in getting the industry up to speed in big ways. But then there’s Amazon Prime, HBO, Apple TV, and whatnot. We expect some of these companies to fight it out amongst each other by offering true 8K as a differentiator. From a business standpoint, this will allow them to target high-end customers and push for new premium-tier plans.
Realistically, it might not happen anytime soon, but as soon as even one of them starts offering 8K content, we’re sure others would follow suit rather quickly.
WHAT ABOUT 8K GAMING ON THE NEXT-GEN CONSOLES?
The upcoming next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony are both packed with power to the brim. Both the Xbox Series X and the Sony PlayStation 5 are capable of streaming in 8K. And that’s not just media content, we are talking games here too. That should push up the adoption among a substantial number of people.
Although, gamers hoping to play 8K AAA titles on the next-generation consoles can forget that in the near term, if not for the entire lifecycle of the next-gen consoles. We’re pretty sure, that, while the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 will eventually have games supporting 8K, you can pretty much kiss 60FPS goodbye at those resolutions. Yes, they’re powerful, but 8K 60FPS is another beast altogether. We’re not saying it definitely won’t happen, but it might not happen in the initial few years. Usually, developers take a couple of years before they can extract the maximum potential from consoles.
OKAY, IS THERE MORE DEPRESSING NEWS? YES
We’ve already spoken about content but that’s not the only limitation holding back 8K adoption. The biggest challenge to 8K adoption is not technology-related but something that sits within us all. The human eye can only distinguish so many pixels from each other on certain screen size. 4K was already being called an overkill when it was introduced (well, that usually happens though) but we overcame that challenge by pushing bigger televisions out in the market. However, TVs can only get so much bigger before they can’t fit in your drawing rooms or bedrooms anymore, which makes the whole point of going 8K a little irrelevant. Unless you’re an eagle or you are planning to get an 80 inch or larger TV, you might not see a meaningful difference from the current 4K content. Add the price difference to the equation and it just doesn’t look that appealing anymore.
AND MORE SAD NEWS WITH A RAY OF HOPE
Streaming more pixels also requires more internet juice. With the current technology, you might require at least 100Mbps bitrate to stream 8K content, which is nowhere near the current speeds in a large part of the world. You could argue 5G might help, but the volume of content would be so huge that you would run out of your designated bandwidth on your cellular plan in no time. Imagine the load on the internet infrastructure without significant investments to overhaul the entire system, which again won’t happen overnight.
But all isn’t lost on this front. Only very recently, a new video compression standard was announced which is twice as efficient as the current H.265 codec. That means you can stream the same content while needing half the bandwidth.
As per the official announcement:
“This new standard offers improved compression, which reduces data requirements by around 50% of the bit rate relative to the previous standard H.265/High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) without compromising visual quality. In other words, H.266/VVC offers faster video transmission for equal perceptual quality. Overall, H.266/VVC provides efficient transmission and storage of all video resolutions from SD to HD up to 4K and 8K, while supporting high dynamic range video and omnidirectional 360° video.”
The catch is that the new standard might require more powerful hardware to perform that data crunching. This means the current-gen televisions are incapable of supporting the new media format (unless you use a streaming device like the Firestick or next-gen consoles). Also, such hardware might not be available until the next 12-18 months.
SO SHOULD YOU TAKE THE PLUNGE?
In all honesty, it doesn’t seem like investing in an 8K TV right now will do you much good in the near term. Sure, if you have spare money lying around, we’d say go for it. But it would be much more prudent to invest in a high-end OLED 4K TV that can offer exceptional picture quality. Or, just wait for another year if your current television is up to the job. You might get an 8K set that would probably also support the new H.266 standard by then.
That said, we expect 8K will pick up steam over time and we might see some great content in the coming years. But with the current state of affairs globally (did someone say Coronavirus?), it might have been pushed further into the future than what we were earlier expecting.
It ultimately comes down to your budget and the size of the screen you are looking for. If you need a 55-65 inch display, we’d strongly suggest getting a high-end 4K instead. For anything above 70 inches, it wouldn’t hurt to futureproof your purchase a little. You will find some early options from the likes of Samsung and Sony that should set you up for years.
