HDTV? A relic from the past. 4K television sets? Yesterday’s news. The big news in the TV industry is the soon-to-be-released 8K or Super Hi-Vision sets Sharp is reportedly planning to release next month – but if you want one, you’d better have a six-digit checking account.
According to Fortune and CBS News, the new televisions will have a resolution of 7,680 pixels by 4,320 pixels – 16 times that of today’s high-definition sets and four times that of 4K models (and better than most movie theaters, reports indicate).
The TVs will be released on October 30, but will only be offered initially to broadcasters and to video production companies, since no content is currently being aired or streamed in 8K. Even if the Super Hi-Vision sets were released to the general public, however, very few people would be likely to purchase one, given their 16,000,000 yen ($125,000 to $133,000) price tag.
Advances coming ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Prototype 8K televisions were demonstrated by Sharp, as well as by LG and Samsung, during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas back in January. Sharp also plans to show off a model at the Ceatec Japan 2015 electronics expo in early October, but media outlets indicate that it will likely be until at least 2018 before consumer versions hit store shelves.
Engadget reports Sharp’s TV will feature an 85-inch LCD, and likely won’t be widely available for another four to five years. Before then, upgrades will need to be made to the broadcasting infrastructure so that 8K content can be aired. These upgrades include new cameras to film the content, computers capable of processing and storing it, and enhanced transmission systems.
The announcement is part of an initiative by Japanese companies to increase the quality of TV broadcasts in time for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, according to reports. Public station NHK, which already has placed an order for the Super Hi-Vision hardware, is in the process of testing long-distance 8K television broadcasts, NBC News reported on Wednesday.
“Most companies are only just discussing 4K. BT Sport, a UK bundle of television channels, broadcast a soccer match this year in 4K and has one ultra-HD channel that shows matches occasionally,” they added. “Netflix and Amazon both have a small amount of content in 4K… [and] earlier this month, Samsung unveiled its first ultra-HD Blu-ray player.”
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