The evolution of the television has come a long way in the last two decades. From the inception of HD (or high definition) programming in the late 1990’s to the introduction of internet capable televisions – or so-called smart tvs – in the 2000’s, the evolution of television has been truly amazing. And it’s about to get even more amazing.
Sharp will released a limited run of 8k tvs, called Super Hi-Vision, on October 30th. The new tvs will have an amazing resolution of 7680 by 4320 pixels which will be the highest display resolution ever offered in a television set. By comparison, the highest pixel display now, 1080, pales in comparison . Sharp is touting the displays of the new 8k tvs to be over 16 times better than 1080p. In fact, Sharp says that the display of the 8K television will be so good, the images on the screen will almost seem three-dimensional, as if you’re looking at something from real life.
So, how can you get one? Well, first of all, the first releases of the televisions will only be made available to Japanese TV and video production companies. The cost of one of the new Sharp 8K tvs would probably make them a little out of your price range: $130,000.
When will you get your hands on one? The earliest is in 2018, though experts say that theTVs probably won’t be widely available to regular consumers until 2020. The first uses of the 8K televisions will most likely be in billboards and display walls for advertising and the like. The new 8K technology will allow advertisers to place much more text and moving images in the picture, and it will be far more readable from farther away than current technology allows.
Breaking down some of the specs on the Sharp 8K television, again, 8K is 7680 by 4320 pixels, which equals 104 pixels per inch on an 85 inch television. The actual 8K output will require using four HDMI 2.0 inputs, and its contrast ratio is 100,000:1. The Sharp 8K tv will have a viewing angle of 176 degrees.
Of course, even if you had the 130 grand to buy the tv, there still isn’t anything to watch on it. Most broadcasters in the United States are just starting to think about discussing broadcasts in 4K. Amazon and Netflix offer only a limited amount of content available in 4K. So, once more, we have the issue of hardware far exceeding an infrastructure capable of supporting it.
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