Question, The Future of UHDTV ...Beyond 4K

[Spike]

Over the last number of years we've gone from 480i, 720p, 1080p, and now we're at a 4K resolution as the best the industry has to offer. My question is, how far into the future are we looking at before 8K becomes the standard?  I once heard a discussion where people were saying that the Japanese were putting all of their eggs in the 8K resolution basket, since they were going to have the Olympics in 2020.  That's only 4 years away.  Are we, can we head there that quickly? I'm interested to hear what your thoughts are.  Thanks

Spike

[AVSCraig]

Over the last number of years we've gone from 480i, 720p, 1080p, and now we're at a 4K resolution as the best the industry has to offer. My question is, how far into the future are we looking at before 8K becomes the standard?  I once heard a discussion where people were saying that the Japanese were putting all of their eggs in the 8K resolution basket, since they were going to have the Olympics in 2020.  That's only 4 years away.  Are we, can we head there that quickly? I'm interested to hear what your thoughts are.  Thanks

Spike

I don't know. Seems like 4K source material will take years to develop. But, just like I can watch 1080p now on a true 4K display, I imagine there will be 8K displays eventually. As I m a projector man, there are only a few true 4K projectors currently available - and none are cheap. So it seems a bit early to talk 8K.

[bmoney]

as our eyes can only see so much resoltuion...the tech will have to go in more colors and deeper blacks etc

[selden]

As many are doubtless aware, the next revision of the HDMI standard calls for support of 8K video. Will there actually be any consumer-grade equipment ready by the time it's ratified?

[AVSCraig]

As many are doubtless aware, the next revision of the HDMI standard calls for support of 8K video. Will there actually be any consumer-grade equipment ready by the time it's ratified?

8K is years away. The industry hasn't even gotten it's act together yet regarding 4K !

[stanger89]

Honestly, I don't really care.  I've not really noticed any difference in resolution between 1080p and 4K as is (maybe that would be different if I had an RS4500  ).

But the bigger reason I don't care, is UHD (4K) already gave us "everything".  We've got 10-12bit video, HDR up to 10,000 nits, Rec.2020 covers basically the entire possible tristimulous gamut.  There's really nothing left for 8K to bring other than more resolution, and 4K (2160p) is already at or past the knee on the diminishing returns graph.

12 bits on the PQ curve is enough to eliminate banding, we don't even need 10,000 nits, and unless they're going to add more primary colors to increase the gamut beyond Rec.2020, what's left?

On the flip side, I think there's a decent room for improvement on the capture side, capturing at 8k or higher (or scanning at 8k or higher) has a good potential to improve things, even if downscaled to 1080p or 4K. 

I'm sure there will be 8k chips and panels, and probably sooner than later (though who knows at what cost) though...

[TWISM]

I think for me, until we can get a consistently good 4K from our TV/Sat providers then 8k doesn't matter. I use Dish and so far the best thing they have shown was Planet Earth II in 4K, I want to see all sports, tv shows in 4K.

There is still a lot of 1080p content that looks like garbage IMO.

[AVSCraig]

I think for me, until we can get a consistently good 4K from our TV/Sat providers then 8k doesn't matter. I use Dish and so far the best thing they have shown was Planet Earth II in 4K, I want to see all sports, tv shows in 4K.

There is still a lot of 1080p content that looks like garbage IMO.

+1 on bad looking 1080p. If they could just get 1080p to look good ( less compression - good luck with that ) I'd be happy . Some people said there would never be another physical media made after Blu Ray, so, I'll take anything I can get on 4K UHD Blu-ray !! The latest titles have looked mighty good in my opinion !