8K – Panel pains.

Reply to this post

Nightmare on pixel street.

• With 4K panels now being in the mainstream, the technology discussion in the panel industry has now turned to 8K which on the surface looks like a technology with very little future.
• Sony, Samsung and LG all demonstrated at CES 2018 new large panels (80”+ size) featuring 8K resolution.
• 8K refers to a resolution of 7860 x 4320 at a 16:9 aspect ratio which is made up from 33.96m pixels.
• This is 4x the current standard of 4K (3840 x 2160 at 16:9) which has a total of 8.29m pixels and already takes the user way beyond what one would consider a discernible difference in resolution.
• There is only a certain amount of detail that the human eye can see which can be used to calculate the distance from the screen that user needs to be positioned to see the benefit of higher resolution videos (see here and here).
• For instance, to see the difference between 1080p (regular HD) and 720p on a 50” screen, the user needs to sit no further than 9.8 feet (3.0m) from the screen and will see the full benefit of 1080p at 6.5 feet (2.0m).
• With average screen size now closing in on 50” and a living room viewing distance of 8-9 feet, it is obvious why 1080p is now a complete necessity when it comes to selling TVs.
• However, the same case cannot be made for 4K.
• To see the difference between 4K and 1080p on a 50” TV the user needs to sit no less than 6.5 feet (2.0m) from the screen with the full effect being noticeable at 3.0 feet (0.9m).
• I have long believed that anyone with a room large enough to accommodate a 50” panel is going sit much further than 6.5 feet from the screen rendering the improvement in resolution unnoticeable over 1080p.
• However, 4K TVs have sold reasonably well and I think that this is because of the picture quality innovations other than resolution that have been offered on newer TVs.
• These include high dynamic range, better contrast, faster refresh rate, improved colour gamut and so on.
• These have allowed 4K panels to produce brighter, more vibrant images than 1080p panels which has greatly driven their appeal.
• The problem for 8K is even more pronounced as the user needs to sit no further than 3.0 feet (0.9m) from a 50” panel with the full effects being noticeable at 2 feet (0.6m).
• Unfortunately, all the picture quality tricks seem to have been used to sell 4K leaving 8K with very little with which to sell itself.
• This is why Sony was touting its panel more on the basis of brightness rather than picture quality.
• Furthermore, another big problem for 8K is content which has to light up 19.3x more pixels than 1080p at its native resolution.
• This means that for a barely discernible difference in resolution, nearly 20x more transmission or streaming capacity will be needed to deliver the picture assuming no improvement in compression.
• This is completely unfeasible as there is no way the user will pay 20x the price to stream or receive 8K compared to 1080p leaving 8K in a quandary.
• There is only one use-case that I can think of which is to use the extra pixels to generate a 3D-without-glasses effect.
• This is an idea that was first created by Phillips and it works by moving the focus point of pixels from a simple 2D plane into a 3D block.
• This can then be used to create what is known as a light field which has been demonstrated to produce compelling 3D images without having to use glasses.
• The higher resolution of the panel, the more pixels can be used to create this effect and the more pronounced it becomes.
• Even a doubling of pixels to 16m (6K resolution) creates a huge improvement (over 4K) in both the image and the 3D effect and I suspect that this will only improve as the pixels available for the light field continues to increase.
• This creates a use case for 8K as using pixels for 3D instead of resolution will mean much lower transmission or streaming requirements as well as create a discernible difference for the users.
• Whether users will pay-up to have 3D on their TVs has yet to be proven, but this technique does solve almost all of the horrible limitations that hobbled 3D TV when it was first tried 5 years ago.
• However, I do see a strong use case in digital signage as the 3D effect still works when users are moving and test panels have been shown to be far more effective at grabbing users’ attention.
• As it stands today, there I see no other application that is likely to drive adoption of 8K which explains the steadily increasing level of interest that is being shown by the panel makers who badly need something new to keep prices high for the next panel generation.