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Sharp Announces 8K Consumer TVs Now That We All Have 4K (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the ahead-of-the-curve dept.

Thuy Ong reports via The Verge: Now that you've upgraded to a shiny new 4K TV, Sharp has revealed its latest screen to stoke your fear of missing out: a 70-inch Aquos 8K TV. That 8K (7,680 x 4,320) resolution is 16 times that of your old Full HD (1920 x 1080) TV. Sharp calls it "ultimate reality, with ultra-fine details even the naked eye cannot capture," which doesn't seem like a very good selling point. Keep in mind that having a screen with more pixels doesn't buy you much after a certain point, because those pixels are invisible from a distance -- while an 8K panel would be beneficial as a monitor, where you're sitting close, it won't buy you much when leaning back on the couch watching TV. HDR, however, is something else entirely, and fortunately, Sharp's new 8K set is compatible with Dolby Vision HDR and BDA-HDR (for Blu-ray players). The lack of available 8K HDR content is also a problem. But there is some content floating around. The TV will be rolling out to China and Japan later this year, and then Taiwan in February 2018. Sharp is repurposing its 70-inch 8K TV as an 8K monitor (model LV-70X500E) for Europe, which will be on sale in March. There is no news about a U.S. release.

8 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. Like high-end stereo gear... by taiwanjohn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You have to wonder what percentage of the population can even detect the difference between 4k and 8k TVs. Seriously... unless they're displaying a test pattern to highlight the sharpness, it's all the same to me.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
    1. Re: Like high-end stereo gear... by aglider · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The real problem on content quality to me. Not image quality!

      --
      Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
    2. Re:Like high-end stereo gear... by taiwanjohn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      On the bright side, though, it might make those "obsolete" 4k TVs cheaper in the not-too-distant future...

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
    3. Re:Like high-end stereo gear... by PeeAitchPee · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When they start broadcasting in Japan for the 2020 Olympics, it will be 60Hz native format, and with a colour gamut beyond what current TVs can display.

      And then it will be compressed into a crappy, ghosting, 30fps, sRGB colorspace mess -- worse for online streaming and transmission by the cable providers and NBC (assuming you actually get to see any non-US medal round content)..

  2. Zero F.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Firstly "we all have 4k" - is bullshit.

    Now, why buy 8k when:

    4k broadcast content (satellite/cable/DVB-T): Minimal, if at all
    4k streaming content: None on most providers, a little on Netflix/youtube/maybe some others
    4k optical: A tiny amount. Hard to find at retail, the rest is order-able online.
    8k content: Virtually none.

    Zero fucks, yo. Let the early adopters pay through the nose, someones got to to make it eventually affordable. The switch from 1080p to 4k is still in progress, 4k is not even close to widely adopted. I'll come back again and laugh in a few years when the situation has hardly changed.

    1. Re:Zero F.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Now, why buy 8k when:

      4k broadcast content (satellite/cable/DVB-T): Minimal, if at all
      4k streaming content: None on most providers, a little on Netflix/youtube/maybe some others
      4k optical: A tiny amount. Hard to find at retail, the rest is order-able online.
      8k content: Virtually none.

      Same reason people spend thousands on apple gear: dick size wars.

  3. High res TVs don't interest me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... but dumb TVs do.

    Seriously. Look around. If you're looking at large TVs, or TVs with ultra high definition, what do you see? "Smart" TVs. Meaning: TVs with embedded computers. Meaning: security risks. Meaning: do the manufacturers keep these things patched and up to date when security problems are found?

    The economics of it all means that my bet is... they don't.

    So forget this "smart" TV thing. I want a bog standard, every day, dumb TV, with no smarts built in. If I need those smarts, I'll get an Apple TV, or a Roku, or a Chromecast, or something. At least that way, if I have to ditch the device because it isn't being updated and has a known security problem, I'm only out a couple of hundred bucks - instead of several thousand for some of those high end disasters waiting to happen.

    Else I guess I'll just end up getting a large computer monitor and a set of speakers, do it the "hard" way...

  4. Cart, meet Horse. by geekmux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The lack of available 8K HDR content is also a problem. But there is some content floating around."

    Uh, just for the record, we're still saying this shit about 4K.

    As we put the cart before the horse again, keep in mind that it'll probably be years before you can actually start using your obscenely expensive 8K set on a regular basis.

    The good news is you can enjoy those $75 Invisible-To-The-Naked-Eye HD movies on a $2000 disc player in the meantime. Yeah, I know, movie theaters are such a ripoff these days...