In recent years you may have heard about the announcement over 8K TVs from top TV brands like Sony, Samsung LG, TCL, etc… Actually, It has been started in 2012. The world’s first 8K TV was unveiled in 2012 by Sharp (reference Wikipedia). It has been taken almost 8 years to reach some popularity on 8K TV. Let come to the topic, what is 8K TV? How it differs from 4K TV? Is buying 8K TVs worth? Comparison between 4K vs 8K TV! Who wins the battle between 4K and 8K TV?
What is 4K and 8K TVs?
What the 4K and 8K talk about is the resolution or number of pixels. The 4K TV and 8K TV differ in the number of pixels that are used to build TV displays. So, the number of pixels increases directly proportional to a more detailed picture. The 4K TV display has been made using 82,94,400 pixels, that is 3840 pixels width and 2160 pixels height (3840*2160). The 8K TV as the name suggests uses double the number of pixels. The display has been made using 3,31,77,600 pixels, that is 7680 pixels width and 4320 pixels height (7680*4320).
What is HD TV?
HD TV (High-Definition TV) is traditional lower resolution TV that is also called 1080p. The HD TV has a display with a pixel count of 20,73,600 (1920 width * 1080 height). By the way, the HD TV models are available in the market in 32-inch sizes and come with budget prices. In contrast to this, 4K and 8K TV are higher range TVs.
4K vs 8K TV Comparison Table
Let see the comparison table between 4K and 8K TV.
| Comparison Metrics | 4K TV | 8K TV |
| Alternate Name | Ultra HD (UHD) | 8K UHD |
| Pixels (Width * Height) | 3840 * 2160 | 7680 * 4320 |
| Total Number of Pixels | 82,94,400 4 times higher than HD (Number of Pixels in HD TV is 20,73,600). 4 times lesser than 8K TV. | 3,31,77,600 4 times higher than 4K. 16 times higher than an HD TV. |
| TV Size | 40 inches and above. 4K TV needs a big screen, so more details in pixels are visible to the human eye. Therefore, you couldn’t find 4K 32-inch TVs on the market. 32-inch TVs are available only in the HD (1080p) range. | 55 inches and above. Like 4K TVs, 8K also needs a big screen to see the detailed picture. Therefore, 8K TVs are available from the higher screen size that is starting from 55-inches. |
| TV Availability | Large. You can find a large range of 4K TVs, produced by all the TV manufacturers. | Limited. Very limited 8K TV models are made from very few well-known brands like Samsung, Sony. |
| Price | Available in the budget to expensive range. | Very Expensive. |
| Viewing Distance | Need to sit closer to the TV, then only the human eye can see the advantages of 4K content. The viewing distance can be from 3.3 feet and higher. For example, the ideal viewing distance for 55-inch 4K TV should be 4.6 to 6.9 feet. The larger the screen size viewing distance could be higher. Refer to the link to check the required viewing distance of different screen sizes. | Need to sit extremely closer to the TV, then only humans can see the difference between 4K and 8K content. The approximate distance is between 3 to 3.5 feet for a 55-inch TV. Sitting too close to the TV will not be comfortable for people. To avoid sitting too close to the TV, you can opt for bigger screens, but can’t think about the prices of 8K bigger TVs, it will be more costly. |
| Contents | 4K contents are widely available now. | 8K contents are very limited. You could find 8K content only on YouTube. |
| OTT Contents | 4K contents are available on all popular OTT platforms. Below offer 4K contents, Netflix Amazon Prime Video Disney Hot star YouTube Vudu | Currently, YouTube alone has 8K contents, which are limited to demo footage of travels and landscapes. Other OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video don’t have 8K contents. |
| Movies | Still, the film industry shoots the movies under 2K resolutions, because of the movie theatre’s capability to project it. Therefore, no movies are filmed in 4K. So, for movie lovers HD will be sufficient, but 4K will be the best option with upscaling. | We have to wait long years to get 8K movie content. |
| Gaming | A large number of 4K games are available in the market. | You need to wait some years to get 8K games. But we might expect this a little quicker than 8K films. 8K games should depend on the latest, powerful hardware. |
| HDMI | HDMI 2.0 HDMI 2.0 supports 4K contents at 60fps. For 4K 120fps content transfer needs HDMI 2.1. Note: Latest 4K TVs come with HDMI 2.1 port. | HDMI 2.1 HDMI 2.1 supports 8K contents at 60fps. 8K 120fps content transfer is not feasible yet. |
| Upscaling | 4K picture in 4K TV would give a better view than the upscaled picture. | 8K TV does the upscaling to display the lower resolution picture. Upscaling process just increases the pixel counts but has the same details. So 8K upscaled picture will not be better than 4K picture on 4K TV. |
Conclusion
I believe you have ended with the same conclusion that I’m going to say. Yes, in the battle between 4K and 8K TV, the winner is 4K TV at least for the next few years. There is no doubt, you can’t spend money on expensive 8K TVs unless you have many 8K contents to watch. Therefore, the lack of 8K contents is the main reason I suggest not going with 8K TVs now. Also, it is newer technology there are no proven metrics about the lifetime of 8K TVs.
Considering the facts like expensive, lack of content, unsupported on OTT platforms, closer viewing distance to get the 8K advantage, and screen size availability, 8K TVs are not a good option or not worth buying now and at least for the next 3 years. Go with 4K TVs this will never disappoint you, 4K itself offers better content.
So guys, here you can check my other article this helps to guide you before purchasing a TV.
