You don’t need an 8K TV — ask me again in a decade

You don't demand an 8K TV — ask me again in a decade

(Prototype credit: Future)

I've been looking at 8K TVs since they were kickoff announced by Samsung in 2018. I've seen demos of 8K sets from Samsung, LG and Sony. I've tested and reviewed one 8K Tv and have had hands-on time with several others.

And let me tell you, 8K is amazing. Combine that incredible resolution with some of the largest TV sizes ever sold, and you get a genuinely life-like experience: it's like looking through a window. Actors walking through a scene on screen are human sized and objects are at normal scale. It looks and then incredibly real that information technology's not just an incremental upgrade over 4K, it's an evolutionary stride forwards in brandish technology.

It's also not worth buying. Not now, and perchance not for several years.

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The biggest hurdle facing 8K Telly adoption is price. With even the most affordable 8K sets costing more than $iii,000, the bulk of Television receiver shoppers just aren't interested, and who can blame them? Some of the models on our list of the all-time 8K TVs cost twenty or 30 one thousand dollars.

At smaller screen sizes — the sort that are really affordable — 8K resolution is much less impressive. An 8K film is best enjoyed on screens that mensurate between 75 and 100+ inches, much larger than most 4K TVs in the home, since an 8K brandish is essentially 4 4K displays stitched together into i seamless picture show. Larger screen sizes may be getting more popular, simply 85-inch TVs are but likewise big for well-nigh homes, and that's the range where 8K actually looks its best.

Throw in the need for a new HDMI standard (HDMI 2.1 is the first to support 8K resolution over a single cable), and the huge bandwidth requirements for streaming 8K video (YouTube is still your only real option), and there are just a lot of hoops to bound through for an already expensive TV.

But all of this is a waste material of fourth dimension without whatever 8K stuff to spotter on that giant 33-million-pixel TV screen. And that's a problem that won't exist solved someday presently.

Adopting new formats takes fourth dimension. The first Hard disk TVs started selling in 1998, but it wasn't until 2008 that Blu-ray was adopted every bit the new standard for Hard disk drive movies releases by all of the major Hollywood studios — a full decade subsequently.

The switch to 4K was a piffling different. The hardware of 4K TVs became widely available and affordable faster than most any consumer tech I tin can retrieve of – dropping from the $24,999 toll of the Sony XBR-84X900 in 2012 to where nosotros are today, when any set from our best TVs under $500 offers 4K resolution, non to mention smart capabilities.

But even there, with millions of 4K TVs in homes, the availability of 4K media is notwithstanding less abundant than yous'd look. Streaming in 4K is a premium add-on, every bit the majority of streaming is washed in 1080p. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are nevertheless selling alongside standard Blu-ray and DVD, and gaming has only actually defenseless upward with the 4K trend with the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series 10. None of our picks for the best gaming TVs for PS5 and Xbox Series Ten have a higher resolution than 4K.

For those who follow the Idiot box industry, none of this should be a surprise. It's definitely non a stupor to Telly manufacturers.

The first fourth dimension I got to test an 8K TV, at that place was a team of engineers on mitt, all apologetic that in that location were no test standards or equipment that was made for 8K.

Samsung'due south first 8K TVs were and then far ahead of the curve that they required running multiple HDMI cables to slice together a mosaic of 4K feeds, since the HDMI 2.1 spec hadn't even been finalized all the same.

That'south all to say that information technology is extremely early on days in 8K-country. There are still major questions that don't accept answers nevertheless, like how volition nosotros brand 8K media when the file sizes severely outstrip the highest capacity Blu-ray formats? Raw 8K footage clocks in at 121.5 GB per minute, and the best triple-layer Blu-ray 3.0 tops out at 100GB. Even switching to some other storage medium would require some impressive leaps in storage capacity, at a cost and scale we've never seen before.

And with the dwindling number of manufacturers making Blu-ray players – even bigger names similar Oppo and Samsung have stopped making players – who's going to develop the side by side gen players needed for 8K?

How tin anyone expect 8K streaming to take off when bandwidth in the U.s.a. averages is low enough to make 4K streaming difficult? Will it be a major leap in household bandwidth, advancements in compression and media codecs, or both?

There's a very existent gamble that 8K has pushed video also far for electric current storage and data transmission technology to catch up to anytime shortly. Or, maybe we'll come across some really impressive changes in the tech landscape as TV makers and Hollywood studios throw their weight into R&D to make 8K work.

Either way, at that place'due south a lot that yet needs to be figured out before anyone should buy an 8K TV. As I said, 8K is an evolutionary step forward, simply nosotros've nonetheless got a lot of evolving to practice. At that place volition (probably) exist a indicate where nosotros outset recommending people purchase 8K TVs, just that's not happening someday presently.

Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom'due south Guide, covering everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.