8K content

[Mr D]

On another discussion topic on here there is a discussion of the reasons for an 8K TV. The obvious question for here is are there any places offering 8K content. If so who and how much.

 

[djh1697]

To be honest I watched the Wimbledon final on Channel 4 in standard HD, until i noticed it getting broadcast on prime 4k, my set is a Sony 55" 4k TV, watching the tennis is 4k wasn't that much better then standard HD, it is the content, remember 25 years ago or so everything was 625 lines PAL, we still enjoyed it! TV is very different to HiFi, a TV screen will reproduce the content sent to it, as will a HiFi system, the HiFi system then reproduces the music in many different ways, the difference between 96k and 192k resolution music is virtually inaudible to most, I suggest the same differences about 8k v 4k. Some dealers will make 8k look better by adjusting the controls on the 4k sets to be inferior picture quality.

Content availability is also another issue as you say.

 

[Deleted member 196306]

On another discussion topic on here there is a discussion of the reasons for an 8K TV. The obvious question for here is are there any places offering 8K content. If so who and how much.

YouTube is doing some and it’s free. Racquten was suppose to be doing 8K back in 2019 but with the Pandemic that fell by the wayside.

 

[bigboss]

You mean Rakuten?

 

[Deleted member 196306]

You mean Rakuten?

That’s the one. Thanks BB. 👍

 

[Friesiansam]

Content availability is also another issue as you say.

Neither my wife or I care about recent films or sport so, nothing we want to watch is even available in 4k. The likelihood of our next tv being 8k, is zero.

 

[doifeellucky]

To be honest I watched the Wimbledon final on Channel 4 in standard HD, until i noticed it getting broadcast on prime 4k, my set is a Sony 55" 4k TV, watching the tennis is 4k wasn't that much better then standard HD, it is the content, remember 25 years ago or so everything was 625 lines PAL, we still enjoyed it! TV is very different to HiFi, a TV screen will reproduce the content sent to it, as will a HiFi system, the HiFi system then reproduces the music in many different ways, the difference between 96k and 192k resolution music is virtually inaudible to most, I suggest the same differences about 8k v 4k. Some dealers will make 8k look better by adjusting the controls on the 4k sets to be inferior picture quality.

Content availability is also another issue as you say.

Completely agree. Size of screen and how far you sit away from it also being a key factor. Unless you’re at 80+ inches I can’t image 8k will be of much benefit, and even 1080p is good on a screen that size if you’re sat far enough away. Friends of ours have a Samsung TV at that sort of size and 1080p was fine when sat 15-20 ft away. I’ve also got a 1080p projector which I use at 100” and am in no hurry to upgrade.

 

[RichSM]

I think it's going to take quite a few years until people are ready to move to 8K. It uses a ton of bandwidth and you need around 200-250Mb/s to be able to stream it in decent quality. HDMI 2.1 should already be enough for watching it, but as far as I know nobody is even making 8K Bluray players yet so it will all be streaming if you make the jump early.

I expect 8K will be the standard in about 10 years, but a more interesting thing will be that the human eye is limited. Once we reach a certain resolution (8K or 16K who knows) there will be no point increasing it further and TV makers will have to find innovations elsewhere. I'm looking forward to what that might be.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

I remember reading that decent celluloid has the equivalent of 6,000 or so discernible lines in it, so we're getting there. My set is 77" and we sit about 5m from it - the difference between upscaled HD and 4k is apparent, though HD looks pretty stunning in itself.

Shawshank and The Thing arrived on 4k versions this week, so looking forward to watching them.

I reckon in 10 years 4k will have become mainstream (the Beeb's Euros coverage on iPlayer in 4k/HDR over the Summer was pretty good), and 8k will probably be somewhere close to where 4k is now.

 

[bigboss]

Once we reach a certain resolution (8K or 16K who knows) there will be no point increasing it further and TV makers will have to find innovations elsewhere. I'm looking forward to what that might be.

An entire wall will be replaced by a screen when resolution reaches those levels where you won't be able to discern between pixels even when standing inches from the screen.

 

[Friesiansam]

I expect 8K will be the standard in about 10 years,

The first 4k displays appeared in 2001 but, twenty years later 4k is a very long way from universal...

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Just in case anyone's interested, the transfer for Shawshank to 4k is fantastic. It still looks understated, but unlike a few older films I have no 4k there's nothing underwhelming about it.

 

[Edbostan]

To be honest I watched the Wimbledon final on Channel 4 in standard HD, until i noticed it getting broadcast on prime 4k, my set is a Sony 55" 4k TV, watching the tennis is 4k wasn't that much better then standard HD, it is the content, remember 25 years ago or so everything was 625 lines PAL, we still enjoyed it! TV is very different to HiFi, a TV screen will reproduce the content sent to it, as will a HiFi system, the HiFi system then reproduces the music in many different ways, the difference between 96k and 192k resolution music is virtually inaudible to most, I suggest the same differences about 8k v 4k. Some dealers will make 8k look better by adjusting the controls on the 4k sets to be inferior picture quality.

Content availability is also another issue as you say.

It's all to do with bandwidth and compression. In Curry's and John Lewis 8k and 4k televisions receive those stunning pictures fed from hard drives. Ask them to feed Freeview or Sky and those 65 inch tvs will give awful picture resolution.

 

[davidf]

Shawshank and The Thing arrived on 4k versions this week, so looking forward to watching them.

The Thing looks stunning in 4K.

I reckon in 10 years 4k will have become mainstream (the Beeb's Euros coverage on iPlayer in 4k/HDR over the Summer was pretty good), and 8k will probably be somewhere close to where 4k is now.

4K screens have been around for at least 10 years, and I doubt very much 4K content will be a standard in 10 years from now. The amount of people with 4K TVs watching SD broadcasting is ridiculous, with many of them not even knowing they’re watching SD instead of the equivalent HD channel.

I’m a member of a horror movie group on Facebook, and all most of them want to do is stream films for free - they don’t care about the quality at all. They watch most of it on Tubi, which comes up with ads randomly during the film, and I’m guessing their quality is as low as they can get away with. One guy even posted up about a horror film he was watching at the time, and he was watching it on his laptop. other than a few of us on tech forums, no one cares. I’ll correct that - not enough people care.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

I doubt very much 4K content will be a standard

I think you are right though what I said was mainstream, rather than standard.

 

[Edbostan]

On another discussion topic on here there is a discussion of the reasons for an 8K TV. The obvious question for here is are there any places offering 8K content. If so who and how much.

BT Sport are doing 8K live broadcast on some football matches. Interesting development