8K HDMI Specs

[R3P0]

8K HDMI specs were set today at CES

The HDMI Forum, the people in charge of HDMI, announced version 2.1 of the HDMI specification. The 2.1 version supports 8K resolution at 60Hz, as well as 4K at 120Hz.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/01/...-specification

[voltz]

I'd imagine the specs will be a reason the next tv sets will be gunning past $1,200 at the start, even if we already have 4k displays out there.

[HDTV1080P]

It is awesome that HDMI 2.1 will support native 8K video with 48Gbps cables, however it could be 2026 before an 8K optical disc format is released (With 10GB per second residential Internet, 8K downloads and 8K streaming might prevent a 8K optical disc from being released). The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format might end up being the last and best optical disc format before streaming and download takes over.

If we start seeing HDMI 2.1 displays and A/V receivers in the future that offer 8K video support then you will know that native 8K movies will be coming a few years later most likely (VUDU and Netflix 8K interfaces will try and kill the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format).

[slimdude]

There is not a significant nor a night and day difference between 1080p and 4K!

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by slimdude

There is not a significant nor a night and day difference between 1080p and 4K!

Not true.

But honestly, how many movies will really benefit from 8K?

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Not true.

But honestly, how many movies will really benefit from 8K?

People say things like this about every technology advance, but after we use them a while, we feel like we don't know how we lived without them and things we though were miraculous when first released now look (or sound) crappy.

Although sometimes we do take steps backwards, but that's happened more with audio (IMO) than with video.

[Hindustani]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Not true.

But honestly, how many movies will really benefit from 8K?

All movies shot in super35mm

All movies shot in 70mm

All movies hot on IMAX film.

there are tons of them.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by slimdude

There is not a significant nor a night and day difference between 1080p and 4K!

Not in terms of resolution, but there is when you include wide color gamut and in some cases, HDR, assuming you have a decent enough TV that is calibrated decently (and even though there's no calibration standard yet for UHD).

[Auditor55]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

Not in terms of resolution, but there is when you include wide color gamut and in some cases, HDR, assuming you have a decent enough TV that is calibrated decently (and even though there's no calibration standard yet for UHD).

HDR and WCG could have been included on next generation 1080p sets, but they chose to sell you on 4K, which is for the most part useless.

[Robert Zohn]

We're overlooking the more valuable specs in HDMI 2.1 and that's bandwidth. 48Gbps, makes room for a better chroma sampling, so instead of being stuck in the 4:2:0 world we can get the native 4:4:4 full color resolution.

HDMI 2.1 also gives us HFR, up to 120fps. VR and all formats of dynamic HDR as well as Atmos ARC. And to me, most importantly, it gives us the bandwidth over HDMI for TV manufacturers to give us true 12-bit and higher bit rate panels.

At CES I had the great pleasure to enjoy lunch with CE industry legend Joseph Kane and he is a proponent of HDMI to be a broadband carrier and this goes in that direction by giving content creators and display manufacturers the ability to deliver far improved image and audio performance.

[SPIDERone]

I think more than just the resolution itself is how the content will be. Native 8K content is where it would shine, but as we've seen with 4K.. Most of the content (including the 4K UHD discs) aren't native 4K. Most have the effects and digital intermediate finished in 2K and then upscaled to 4K. The native content looks great, but as we've already seen with 4K the difference isn't night and day with 1080p like it was with VHS -> DVD or DVD -> Blu-Ray.

The HDR addition is great, and that's probably where we'll see the benefits. The sets out now have you either going with a techology with a high brightness (but doesn't perform as well in the dark areas) or one with great black levels but lacking that high brightness. Once we get an OLED equivalent that can reach those highlights, I think that's where we'll see a really nice improvement in technology.

The other problem, as someone mentioned, is content. Is it likely that there will be another disc-based format after 4K? I'd love it if there were, but I was already surprised to see 4K discs get released. I don't think an 8K stream would live up to the potential to justify the purchase of a set.

The other thing that might help are the TVs themselves. 10-15 years ago you'd like 19" - 24" - 28" sets.. 5-10 years ago you'd see 32" - 38" - 42" and a 50" was considered a huge screen, nowadays it seems most start around 55" - 65" and the 75" and 85" are becoming more and more common. I don't know how much bigger they'll get than that, but that might play into the higher resolution if/when it comes.