8K CTA TV Certification

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8K CTA TV Certification

8K CTA TV Certification

Image credit: CTA

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has confirmed the official industry definition and logo for 8K TV’s. The new logo and certification process will come into effect with 2020 TV’s that  meet its definition of 8K Ultra High-Definition, the “next-generation” of high-resolution video. This new standard was developed in conjunction with input from both retailers and major companies.

The 8K Ultra HD program is designed to help consumers recognize equipment that meets the industry’s requirements in a similar manner to their 4K certification program.

Basic 8K TV Certification Requirements:

  • The display must have an 8K resolution with “at least 33 million active pixels, with at least 7680 horizontally and 4320 vertically within a 16:9 viewable window”.
  • Be capable of receiving “10-bit 8K images and rendering an image that shows responsiveness to changes to any of the 10 bits”.
  • At least one HDMI input must support “7680×4320 pixels; bit depth of 10-bits; frame rates of 24, 30 and 60 frames per second”.
  • The TV’s “HDR transfer functions and colorimetry as specified by ITU-R BT.2100”
  • Content protection must support “HDCP v2.2 or equivalent.”
  • Certified TVs must have the ability to upscale SD, HD and 4K content to display on their 8K displays.

My 2 cents:

In 2019 it is predicted that only 30% of American homes will have a 4K display, and of those approximately 50 million displays only 175,000 will be 8K!

I ask myself (and you should do the same) do we really need 8K displays when there is no media or even 4K broadcasts on or even over the horizon. Working in the industry I know all about ATSC3, but most broadcasters are still running HD and many just up-converted SD! To compound things approximately 50% of new movies are still produced in 2K and just up-converted to 4K/HDR for release. Their is no native 8K production of consequence and there is no commercially viable way or standards for distributing 8K compressed digital data. (NHK Super Hi-Vision in Japan supports 8K compressed distribution via satellite, terrestrial and cable, supporting 22.2 audio channels.)

I am sure that the ‘Jones’s’ next door want an 8K display just to give you something to keep up with, and of course the manufacturers need to get even deeper into your wallets. Just how large is your screen going to have to be or how close are you going to sit to actually appreciate this level of resolution? There are some technical arguments that suggest that these higher resolutions can provide scaled images that look ‘better’ than the none scaled 4K or HD versions. So how much time do you sit there and analyze the image at these levels, assuming you even know what you are looking for? If you’re spending much of your time looking for these minor image resolution improvements, do you ever really ‘get into’ your program or movie?

Content is still King. If it was all about quality, as opposed to convenience, VHS would not have won out over Betamax and streaming would likely never replace that shiny plastic disc.

I ask you. How much of todays or even tomorrows programming or movie content actually warrants the resolution capabilities of an 8K display?

I think that way more effort should go into finishing what was started with 4K and actually achieving the brightness levels and color volumes that make that image ‘pop’.

See the CTA press release here.

For my other posts on 8K see here and here.

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