What can you see with 8K resolution?

8K TVs finally appeared, but what about those high definition content? If you've just bought a TV or are just curious, these are things you can watch in 8K resolution.

8K TVs have four times the pixel range of 4K screens. This is great in theory, but it is currently hard to find content with 8K display quality. Is it worth buying a new TV when you have no way to take full advantage of its superior features?

Samsung QLED 8K TV

If you've been or are planning to invest in an 8K TV, you won't want to see low quality display products. Here is what you can watch with the current 8K quality.

Reverse switch display quality

Here's the truth: in the next few years, most 8K videos will be pulled up from 4k quality or lower resolution. 1080p and 4K videos will be converted by your device through an image processing system. Basically, the content that is converted backwards cannot be as good as the standard quality. The image processing system can do a lot of surprises, but it can't synthesize all the details in an image. 

Differences between the quality

Fortunately, from a normal viewing perspective, from 4K to 8K is not so different as from 1080p to 4K. There is more room to prevent the converted videos from looking like a mess (however, in case you switch from 480p to 8K, you are enlarging every detail in the original video 110 times, the system Best image processing doesn't help either.)

According to Joel Silver, founder and CEO of Imaging Scien Foundation, this is one of the great capabilities of 8K: 'The potential of this processing system is huge. I say potential because to get a good deal, it takes a lot of memory. '

The three largest 8K TV manufacturers are creating their own image processing systems. LG has Alpha 9 Gen 2 Intelligent Processor 8K, Samsung uses Quantum Processor 8K and Sony holds the X1 Ultimate and 8K X-Reality Pro. They differ in how they handle high-quality image details, but they all use some of the same AI image processing algorithms and systems that allow access to image data to increase the details needed in videos. have low resolution.

LG Alpha 9 chip

We all saw a demo of all three processing systems above, but so far, the only system that is fully tested is LG's on two SM9970 and Z9P TVs. When converting 4K content, these two devices complete the task of delivering sharp images at 8K quality. It's not perfect, but the video is relatively good quality, with only a few smudges from low resolution.

Technically, Youtube supports 8K videos. Users can upload videos at a resolution of 7680x4320, then Youtube will process, store and play on any video player that supports that resolution. In this case, the HD setting on the Youtube window will appear '4,320p 8K' on the first line. If you use it on a PC, no player supports 8K videos at all.

Most 8K videos on Youtube use landscape frames, such as Japanese and Norwegian footage shot at 8K60 (8K video quality shoots at a frame rate of 60 fps). Not much content was shot in 8K resolution, and the number of uploads was even less.

Video quality 8K on Youtube

That being said, don't expect much to watch any YouTube video at 8K quality, or even a frame rate of 60 fps, let alone 8K60. Even when the display quality has been reduced, the player must process a huge video file before it can appear on your screen.

PC games and handheld games

You can run almost everything on a PC, and really can change the resolution if you know how. So in theory, playing PC games at 8K resolution is possible, but easier said than done.

The Witcher: Wild Hunt game has 8K support

Even if your PC can play games at 8K resolution (old games like Half-Life 2 or Counter-Strike: Source allow you to play well at 8K resolution on a modern gaming PC), you there will be a problem connecting the PC to any 8K device. There are currently no graphics cards that support HDMI 2.1 - the port for 8K quality, so no single cable connects your computer to the 8K TV. Instead, you need to use DisplayPort, and DisplayPort 1.4 with the graphics card is currently limited to 8K quality. Like HDMI 2.1 devices, DisplayPort 2.0 cards that support 8K can be sold next year.

We can expect the content from handheld games to appear 8K quality by the end of this year, when the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are ready to ship. The next generation of gaming consoles is equipped with Sony and Microsoft 8K graphics, but it is believed to be believed.

Image is said to be designed by PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X

Keep on waiting

As mentioned above, it takes at least a few more years for your favorite movies or shows to be in 8K format (filmed at this quality or converted). And it will be a while before all titles have 8K resolution without the need for a $ 6000 PC. So if you buy an 8K TV in 2020, be prepared to watch a series of quality videos converted.