Sharp Announces 2nd Gen 8K UHD TVs at IFA
by Anton Shilov on August 31, 2018 11:00 AM EST
Sharp this week introduced its second-generation 8K ultra-high def TVs at IFA in Berlin. The new televisions use the company’s new panels as well as the latest processors that can upscale Full-HD and Ultra-HD 4K content to a 7680×4320 resolution.
The initial lineup of Sharp’s 2nd Gen Aquos 8K UHD TVs will include models featuring sizes of 60, 70, and 80 inches. The new televisions will be based on the company’s new image processor that doubles its compute throughput over the predecessor and can upscale 2K as well as 4K content to an 8K resolution with a 100/120 Hz refresh rate.
The largest Aquos 8T C80AX1 80-inch flagship TV will rely on the company’s new UV2A II LCD (presumably IPS/IGZO) panel featuring a 100/120 Hz refresh rate, an “ultra-high brightness”, a “new wide color gamut”, and “high speed response”. The company does not quantify its claims, but it is logical to expect the new TV to be better than the existing Sharp Aquos LC-70X500E UHD TV that features a 400 nits typical brightness, a 1000 nits peak brightness for HDR (HDR10, HLG are supported), and an 8 ms GtG response time. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether a wider color gamut means a better coverage for the BT.2020 color gamut by a new 10-bit panel, or usage of a 12-bit panel.
Sharp plans to commercially launch its Aquos AX1-series 8K UHD TVs in Asia in late 2018 with European release sometimes in Q1 2019. The manufacturer said nothing about availability of its 2nd Gen 8K UHD TVs in the U.S., but since it calls the new family a “global 8K lineup”, it is logical to assume that the televisions will eventually be available in North America as well.
Related Reading:
- Sharp’s 8K UHD TV Available in Japan, Listed in Europe for €11,899
- CEATEC 2016: Sharp Showcases 27-inch 8K 120Hz IGZO Monitor with HDR, also 1000 PPI for VR
- Foxconn Takes Control of Sharp
Sources: Sharp, Technite-Video.de
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Santoval - Monday, September 3, 2018 - link
I frankly wonder what sort of notebook your mom uses, could you let us know? Oh, and please specify the fps, memory and CPU utilization while playing 8K video (presumably Youtube short clips). My ~3 year old Intel iGPU-only notebook can also do it but at 2 or 3 fps and it has a nasty habit of crashing after a while, because the memory (4 GB) wants to exceed 100% utilization.By the way, you are grossly underestimating the entire 8K chain, from source to screen, with your "flipping a switch" and "the TV decoder can do the rest with no effort" remarks. 8K cameras have been in the (professional cinematography) market only in the last couple of years, to my knowledge only from Panavision (DXL & DXL2) and RED (Weapon Helium, Dragon and recently Monstro).
While films are usually shot at 8K with these cameras, 100% of the time they are mastered at a 4K or sometimes even a mere 2K digital intermediate. This downsampling is done to increase clarity and sharpness, to reduce file sizes, and due to the simple fact that no cinema or TV network on the planet (barring some tests by NHK in Japan) projects or streams at 8K at the moment.
8K Youtube short clips are at 8K simply because they do not have to be mastered (among other things go through an extensive post-production, editing, visual effects, color grading etc stage).
Netflix and others, in turn, when films and TV shows start being mastered at 8K (I don't believe there is even a single such content, globally), will need to heavily upgrade their upstream bandwidth, by renegotiating contract terms with the likes of Verizon and co, and increase their storage capacity to host the much heavier content.
So no, it is *really* not as simple as "flipping a switch".
blppt - Tuesday, September 4, 2018 - link
I am also curious about this Intel GPU that fully accelerates 8k video--as far as I know the only gpus on the market that can fully accelerate Youtube vids above 4k are the Nvidia 10-series.GreenReaper - Wednesday, September 5, 2018 - link
Indeed - Intel's Gen9 iGPU can only handle up to 4K decode for H.264/5 and VP9:https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/microarchitectu...
It does in theory handle 16K MJPEG, but I doubt that's a format YouTube supports.
NikosD - Saturday, September 8, 2018 - link
Kabylake Gen9.5 architecture available since August 2016 for laptops, can do 8K for HEVC and VP9 (both 8b/10b) easily.JoeyJoJo123 - Friday, August 31, 2018 - link
I get you, which is why I mentioned in my post that it was a "distant dream". It's not happening anytime in the near future.Diji1 - Monday, September 3, 2018 - link
Why are you talking like buying an 8K TV to get the best 640x480 playback is crazy? Oh wait ...EWP - Monday, September 3, 2018 - link
Make 640p Great Again!The Chill Blueberry - Monday, September 3, 2018 - link
That's where AI comes in. A good AI can interpolate/upscale faster than number crunching the entire 8K image.austinsguitar - Friday, August 31, 2018 - link
dont get me wrong im a huge ps2 emulator guy. it would be beautiful to see but its going to be about 14 years before the technologies are able to keep up with 8k. like for newer games. maybe even longer than that.milkywayer - Monday, September 3, 2018 - link
Give it 4 years, you'll be seeing 8K TVs at Best Buy :)