Are they worth it?
Heres everything you oughta know.
Update: More 8K TVs are being unveiled at CES 2020.
For now, however, we still think you should befocusing on 4K instead of 8K.
Want a high-end TV?
Buy a high-end 4K TV.
What Is 8K?
How Does It Compare to 4K and HD?
It’s a lot of pixels.
It’s this doubling in both directions that lead to such a vast jump in overall pixel count.
8K TVs are just packed full of pixels.
Should I Buy an 8K TV?
Short answer: No.
4K TVs are finally starting to take hold and come down toaffordable pricing.
HDR may still be in awar of standards, but more and more TVs are offering both options.
Let’s break them down.
And currently, no standard has been agreed upon for delivering 8K content to TVs.
All of this is a large investment for the average person.
Japan is pioneering this technology with plans to broadcast the 2020 Olympics in 8K.
Many 4K TVs already do this, making 1080p content look better than it deserves.
The best way to describe it is to think of it terms of smartphone screens.
Apps that were lackluster on a smaller phone suddenly looked gorgeous.
Even websites felt like they were given a makeover when the website itself hadn’t changed.
And that’s what 8K TVs will offer if they come with a decent upscaling algorithm.
Samsung, in particular, has been working on 8K upscaling and early reviews are extremely promising.
Streaming 8K Will Be Problematic
Streaming 4K is already tough.
Given that 8K is four times the pixels, the requirement will be even higher.
If you start to consider multiple simultaneous streams, even a gigabit connection would have its limits tested.
Japan’s current solution doesn’t even work over a terrestrial setup but instead requires a complicated satellite infrastructure.
When 4K TVs first hit the market they were usually in the $20,000 range.
The mildly good news is 8K TVs are debuting at a smaller cost this time around.
The bad news is, they’re still in the $15,000 range.
The giant expense is a necessity.
So, Is There Any Benefit at All to an 8K TV?
That would be people living in apartments or older homes with a more narrow living room.
You will need to be sitting pretty far away to not notice the pixels.
That close proximity will lend itself to a more immersive, cinema-like experience.
But chances are even in that scenario, you should just buy a smaller 4K HDR TV instead.
It will cost far less, and you’ll see benefits much sooner.
Consider OLED for the best dark colors.
8K TVs are also going to offer the very best in screen technology.
Sony is currently showing off an 8K TV that can hit a whopping 10,000 nits.
This wide range will spill over into colors and provide a much more vivid and lifelike experience.
Samsung is offering similar benefits in its 8K TVs, while also implementing the new upscaling techniques mentioned earlier.
This is similar to a feature found in theGoogle Home Hubbut scaled up to 85 inches.
Image Credit:S. Gvozd/Shutterstock,Grzegorz Czapski/Shutterstock,Cagkan Sayin/Shutterstock
