LG says 4K televisions are old news, shows off 98-inch 8K set at IFA

[Shawn Knight]

That 4K television you just paid thousands of dollars for may already be outdated. That’s because LG is showcasing a 8K set at IFA 2014. Yeah, good luck spotting individual pixels on this one.

Getting into specifics, the LG set on display (behind closed doors, mind you) boasts a resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 – that’s 16 times the resolution of full HD according to LG. It doesn’t use OLED technology, instead relying on an LCD panel to make the magic happen.

Interestingly enough, LG said the set requires four of the image processors found in their 4K sets to produce the 8K resolution image. Of course, that’ll be cut down to just a single processor by the time it’s ready to ship.

If you haven’t already guessed, the LG set on display is more or less a one-off concept – proof that LG can build such a set. An LG representative said they could mass-produce the set within a year but there’s really no point in doing so right now. With 4K sets just now starting to penetrate the market and widespread compatible content for them still off in the distance, it’ll be quite some time before 8K sets go mainstream.

Here’s something to ponder in the meantime. Which television is more impressive: Samsung’s 105-inch bendable 4K set or LG’s LED-equipped 98-inch 8K resolution offering? Let us know in the comments section below!

Images courtesy Digital Trends.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/57969-lg-says-4k-televisions-are-old-news-shows-off-98-inch-8k-set-at-ifa.html

 

[SalaSSin]

I'm still waiting for content delivery by TV distributors to reach 1080p in Belgium, instead of 720p, so...

 

[stewi0001]

*spit take* oh come on give us consumers a break, or start sell the 8k and for a cheap price (meaning about the price of a regular tv).

 

[davislane1]

8K? Still not too impressed, considering there's not really any content or hardware currently on the market that would make good use of it.

Call me when they deliver something over 9k. Nappa had an excellent commentary on 9K+ resolutions.

 

[tomkaten]

And which company is gonna broadcast at that resolution any time soon ? The bandwidth requirements are insane for 4k as it is, we're not really prepared for the next step. Instead, how about they drop the prices on 4k technology and push it to more devices, like PC monitors ?

 

[Holotus]

The telecom internet companies can barely upgrade their infrastructure without complaining.... how do people seriously expect them to allow us to view 4K without raping our bandwidth? ... let alone 8K. I don't think 4K won't hit mainstream until around 2020, and 8K won't become a reality until around 2025 for the average person.

 

[Kibaruk]

I'm sorry but I'll jump in the hate-wagon too.

There is no practical use for this, not even for 4k as far as I can tell. With bandwidth being as scarce as it is right now it's hard enough to stream 1080p already and you want four times that? No you want 16 times that now!

This is exactly like the $1.200.- i7 or the $6.000.- video card setups. It's meant for a niche.

I don't like it.

PS: Are there cameras advanced enough that will be able to generate content for 8k resolutions? Are there portable storage solutions that will be able to handle them??

 

[VitalyT]

If you think it will take long to go beyond 4K, how about this year? DELL is releasing a new 27" 5K monitor in Q4.

 

[davislane1]

If you think it will take long to go beyond 4K, how about this year? DELL is releasing a new 27" 5K monitor in Q4.

Pushing the display tech is a party trick. For desktop applications it's useful if you need the extra screen space and don't want a multimonitor setup. But TVs? Storage, infrastructure, content, and hardware are too far behind to "go beyond" on any meaningful scale.

I'm all for selling to a niche market, but the rate of advancement in display tech is meaningless when it's restricted by inferior usability.

 

[tipstir]

1080p for desktop monitors will be so cheap now but still to go higher you would need to beef up and get graphic card, larger PSU along with some extra fans for your case. Or just buy a system with 4K/8K support. If you really need too.

8K is coming sooner 4K is history, yet local OTA (my neck of the woods is 76 free Digital channels) some still are 480i, 720p and the rest 1080i Dolby Digital 5.1 for Surround Stereo Sound. Look how long it had taken them to get to full 1080i HD. I've ask them at the local CBS are you using 4K or 8K. They said nope to both. They didn't know if they where using 1080i Video Cameras. Stations here broadcast in 1080i.

Selling 4K, 8K, (12K or higher) might work for some right now 1080p is the max for me until 2020 I'll see where the standard is but at this rate is might be 24K at the rate LG is going.

 

[SNGX1275]

Yeah I agree @davislane1 - nobody was throwing fits back in the 90s and early 2000s when monitor resolution for computers was getting better. We shouldn't be complaining about computer monitors getting 5k resolutions, or even 8k.

 

[Nobina]

I will stick to 1080p, don't care about 4k or 8k, 1080p TV and monitor both look good and I see no reason to even think about having this.

 

[LNCPapa]

I want this. I'm sure it has a great scaler in it so even if I feed it 1080p or 4k sources it'll still look good.

 

[DDG4005]

And so it begins: the arms race to produce the highest resolution television with no thought given to the quality of the programming being broadcast. Who didn't see this one coming?

 

[Snowden]

How many 'k' is real human vision?

There has already been the false claim in products of 'retina' vision.

 

[cliffordcooley]

How many 'k' is real human vision?

That's not a fair question. It is viewing distance and pixel density that is the only two factors.

Is This Retina?

What is a Retina display?

Retina is Apple's trademark for a display so sharp that the human eye is unable to distinguish between pixels at a typical viewing distance. As Steve Jobs said: "It turns out there’s a magic number right around 300 pixels per inch, that when you hold something around to 10 to 12 inches away from your eyes, is the limit of the human retina to differentiate the pixels." Given a large enough viewing distance, all displays eventually become "retina."

 

[captaincranky]

How many 'k' is real human vision?...[ ]...

I expect you could try and measure measured as you would any lens, in "line pairs per millimeters". Or rather a variable "LPpM" standard predicated on distance. Which is why they measure human visual acuity with an eye chart. A distance variable standard.

So, it isn't like you're going to see any, "line pairs per millimeter", if you're 10 feet away from something. So then at very close range you might try LPpM.

There are a lot of "psyco-optics" corrections being made with the human eye, and mostly all are autonomic. For example, the eye is a simple, single lens. As such, it inverts any image in its field of vision, and the brain puts it right side up, automatically.

.Your eyes scan side to side and top to bottom, so even an "angle of acceptance" figure assessed to the human eye, is likely a bit arbitrary.That motion of the eye negates any measurement of "pixels".

Although, they do test for loss of peripheral vision, (as in glaucoma), by putting your head in a type of stirrup Then seeing how wide your field of vision is, by catching you if you try to move your eyes, to anywhere in the target space.

Too much information about that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_field_test

 

[Nero7]

Because bigger = better we all drive to work with a monster truck.

 

[captaincranky]

Because bigger = better we all drive to work with a monster truck.

No, with a "monster truck", that drives itself to your work. That's the way toward the future.

 

[Snowden]

That's not a fair question. It is viewing distance and pixel density that is the only two factors.

Is This Retina?

Well, that blows Google Glass out of the water then....

I dream in 1200dpi, but do Androids dream of Electric Sheep?

 

[Guest]

No OLED? No buy.

 

[veLa]

I'm completely satisfied with 1080p displays at the moment, and if I remember correctly, pretty much all the HiDef TV channels are still 720p/1080i because they just don't have the bandwidth for 1080p. The only 4K TV I saw looked fantastic but the price was not. Oh, and it made up-scaled content look really grainy.

 

[Guest]

"How many 'k' is real human vision?"

It's a complicated question, because the anatomy of our eye is different from a digital camera. According to Neuroscience, the fact is our eye can only process low-resolution and two-dimensional images, but thanks to our brain with that limited amount of information our brain renders it as high-def and 3D images.

 

[DKRON]

I'm still waiting for content delivery by TV distributors to reach 1080p in Belgium, instead of 720p, so...

I'm still waiting for content delivery by TV distributors (except for 2) to reach 720p in Australia, instead of 480p, so...

 

[Emexrulsier]

Yeah I dont want 8k tvs with shitty interpolated hz I want a nice 200Hz 4K IPS monitor then I will be happy!