8k commercial lcd displays free sample

LG takes pride as the leading provider of innovative, flexible and feature-packed Commercial Display Products in the market. Boasting the cutting-edge features and modern design, LG Commercial Displays redefines a whole new way of delivering an ultimate viewing experience to enhance engagement with the audience. From Ultra UD OLED monitors for a digital signage network to hospitality TVs for in-room entertainment solutions, LG Commercial Displays offer a variety of display products to meet the demands of every business environment including:

Commercial TVs: Designed with industry-specific features to deliver customized content to entertain your clients. From advanced commercial LED TVs to affordable LG SuperSign TVs, explore our wide variety of options that will fit your display needs.

Digital Signage: Raise your sales with LG Digital Signage and discover our collection of LED Backlit Displays, DS Media Players, Stretch and Touch Screen Displays. Our digital signage displays are available in different sizes and specifications to match the requirements of your business.

Outdoor Displays: Engage with your audience with Open Frame, Window-Facing or LG MRI Displays featuring the latest technology in digital outdoor displays. Experience a revolutionary way to interact with your consumers in any outdoor environment.

Choosing the perfect size for your display is an important consideration and something that needs special attention. Where you plan on putting your display (or displays) will determine what size you can buy.

Not only do the best large format displays you"ll find on this page help you display adverts and branding for your company, they can be used to display information for your customers, and this can be especially important if that information changes regularly, which makes large format displays a wiser investment than traditional printed posters.

So what are large format displays? They aren"t just super-sized monitors, but high definition displays that range from 32-inches to over 100-inches, and they often have super-thin bezels that surround the screens. This allows single LFDs to show off images, footage and more without wasting any space, and it also allows you to link together multiple LFDs to create one super-large display as well.

Most of the best large format displays aren"t cheap, but they offer a premium experience that brings out the best of content thanks to dazzling panels, a wide range of connectivity options and useful integrated online services.

We picked out the best large format displays for companies that won’t want to compromise, and for those that do, we’ve also thrown in a few budget or two.

We"ve compared these large format displays on various points, from their resolution and size to their design and connectivity. We also examined their design, brightness, and color quality, and checked whether they featured touchscreen capabilities, among other things.

Spanning 85 inches, this mammoth large format display is pretty while also costing a pretty penny. It justifies its premium price tag as it uses the latest 8K screen tech, which flaunts four times the number of pixels as 4K and 16 times that of a regular 1080p TV.

This stunning display is optimized for professional display applications and uses Sony"s X1 Altimus image processor combined with 8K X-Reality PRO to display high-contrast HDR images packed with detail, rich color, and exceptional contrast.

Boasting a giant 98-inch display, this model opts for a more sensible 4K resolution rather than 8K, which lends it a greater degree of compatibility with content that’s out in the wild. Designed for use in control rooms or large training rooms where ultra-high definition is required, it is also compatible with a range of NEC solutions.

They include the company’s NEC MultiPresenter Stick, its wireless presentation solution for NEC Displays, and it also supports multiple simultaneous connections on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

LG has been making top-tier displays for years, many of which have appeared on smartphones and, more recently, virtual reality headsets. This 84-inch 4K large format carries over that quality to deliver high-contrast, true-to-life images.

There aren"t many large format displays that have multitouch, which makes the NEC MultiSync E905 SST an interesting option. It"s hardly a small screen at 90-inches across the diagonal, but it can be interacted with up to 10 simultaneous touch points thanks to NEC’s ShadowSense technology. The setup is swift and simple with no need to install additional drivers.

We queried Claire Mc Lin, Senior Product Manager for Enterprise Collaboration Solutions & Google Jamboard at BenQ America Corp, about the ubiquitous Interactive Flat Panel and how it differs from other large format display on the market.An interactive flat panel (IFP) is to the meeting place what the smart device is to everyday life: convenient, easy to use, and a veritable Swiss Army knife of capabilities. These displays are engineered to bring more interactivity and collaboration to meetings. Meetings joined from an IFP allow participants — whether they’re remote or in person— promote the smooth, unlimited exchange of ideas.

The appeal of these displays is that they parallel the ease at which people use smart devices such as a cell phone or a tablet, while providing a large enough picture to be visible to everyone. Leading models range from 55 inches up to 86 inches and feature up to 20 points of touch allowing more than one person to work at the screen simultaneously.

IFPs are also designed with IT and technology management advantages. Centralized remote control and monitoring capabilities lower the cost of ownership and energy consumption. Updates that can be done over-the-air (OTA) are an efficient way to roll out new firmware and keep them running smoothly. What are IFPs? They’re the future of meetings and collaboration.How to choose the best large format displays for you?When selecting the best large format displays for you, you"ll want to keep the following factors in mind.

To test the best large format displays, we evaluated them across numerous aspects, from their display size and resolution to the brightness and connectivity ports.

We first checked how large the displays were and whether they offered Full HD, 4K, or 8K resolution. We assessed the contrast and color reproduction on the displays, along with the refresh rate.

We considered the display brightness to judge which ones would be best suited for bright, outdoor use. We also looked at the number and types of connectivity ports the displays had, their design, weight, panel type, and other features.

Planar® CarbonLight™ VX Series is comprised of carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility, available in 1.9 and 2.6mm pixel pitch (wall) and 2.6mm (floor).

From cinema content to motion-based digital art, Planar® Luxe MicroLED Displays offer a way to enrich distinctive spaces. HDR support and superior dynamic range create vibrant, high-resolution canvases for creative expression and entertainment. Leading-edge MicroLED technology, design adaptability and the slimmest profiles ensure they seamlessly integrate with architectural elements and complement interior décor.

From cinema content to motion-based digital art, Planar® Luxe Displays offer a way to enrich distinctive spaces. These professional-grade displays provide vibrant, high-resolution canvases for creative expression and entertainment. Leading-edge technology, design adaptability and the slimmest profiles ensure they seamlessly integrate with architectural elements and complement interior decor.

From cinema content to motion-based digital art, Planar® Luxe MicroLED Displays offer a way to enrich distinctive spaces. HDR support and superior dynamic range create vibrant, high-resolution canvases for creative expression and entertainment. Leading-edge MicroLED technology, design adaptability and the slimmest profiles ensure they seamlessly integrate with architectural elements and complement interior décor.

Planar® CarbonLight™ VX Series is comprised of carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility, available in 1.9 and 2.6mm pixel pitch (wall) and 2.6mm (floor).

Carbon fiber-framed indoor LED video wall and floor displays with exceptional on-camera visual properties and deployment versatility for various installations including virtual production and extended reality.

a line of extreme and ultra-narrow bezel LCD displays that provides a video wall solution for demanding requirements of 24x7 mission-critical applications and high ambient light environments

Since 1983, Planar display solutions have benefitted countless organizations in every application. Planar displays are usually front and center, dutifully delivering the visual experiences and critical information customers need, with proven technology that is built to withstand the rigors of constant use.

Showcase products and highlight every little detail like never before.The 120” 8M-B120C is the largest Sharp 8K UV²A LCD electronic display for professional use. At the very leading edge of the pro-display market, it allows commercial, manufacturing, financial, media, medical and government organisations to deliver the ultimate in image precision and clarity.

It produces beautiful, largescale images with a stunning 8K resolution, setting a new benchmark for image quality, while also ensuring that fine text is precise and legible. Images are displayed large enough to accommodate big objects, up to 265cm wide, making it possible to showcase things like a life-size, striking new motorcycle model in lifelike 8K resolution with HDR (HLG/PG) expanded contrast and colour.

Large Format Displays are an indispensable part of Digital Signage, as well as for presentations and interactive meeting room applications. Sharp/NEC stands for a safe investment secured by high quality components and design, plus high operational safety. With a broad choice of LFD ranges and numerous customisation options, Sharp/NEC delivers tailor-made display solutions.

Enter the world of Digital Signage with Sharp/NEC’s entry-level displays. Designed to bring Sharp/NEC’s heritage of performance and quality to cost-conscious yet demanding customers, the E Series perfectly suits basic signage applications. Operating standalone via an integrated media player, signage starts automatically with the embedded auto-start function.

Showcase products and highlight every little detail like never before with the Sharp/NEC 8K displays for professional use. Beautiful images with a stunning 8K resolution set a new benchmark for image quality, while also ensuring that fine text is precise and legible.

According to research firm, IHS Markit, as the demand for super-large TV displays grow, the need for higher resolution is set to increase, with 8K displays expected to make up about nine percent of the 60-inch and larger display market by 2020.

So what’s the hype about 8K Ultra HD technology? If you stand close to a Full HD monitor, you can distinguish individual pixels. By comparison, the pixels on an 8K Ultra HD screen are not visible to the naked eye. 8K technology results in images that are so realistic and with such a sense of depth that it feels as if objects aren’t just on the screen but are actually real!

8K technology vividly reproduces every last detail beyond the perception of the human eye. In academic fields, it allows for the enlargement of fine art images, artifacts or architectural structures. In other words, viewers are able to see details that would normally be invisible.

Images come to life in vivid color.The color-processing technologies support a wide range of color expression along with faithful color mapping on the display. The rich color palette of an 8K monitor adds depth to the content and brings the entire screen to life.

Superb image quality via 8K upscaling.Using on-board processing technology allows both 4K Ultra HD and Full HD content to be upscaled to 8K resolution. This means slideshows, videos, images and text can now be rendered with a new level of detail and realism.

Government: Homeland security and other surveillance videos can be viewed in much greater detail due to the amount of color and pixels in an 8K image.

Broadcast:Because 8K has such a high resolution, a football game or other sporting event can be shot with a wide-angle view in 8K, then the broadcaster can zoom into quadrants with each one in 4K.

The newest 8K display to hit the market is the Sharp 8K Ultra HD 70-inch LCD monitor, the 8M-B70AU, which is NOW AVAILABLE through Almo Professional A/V! Ask your Almo rep about a $200 reseller spiff on this display and visit https://www.almoproav.com/sharp for more information on Sharp solutions.

When anyone from fashion designers to engineers and architects talks about quality, they invariably refer to the attention to detail necessary to achieve peak performance and visual beauty. With 8K displays, it’s all about that detail.

And now the display industry is evolving to 8K — packing so many pixels into every inch of a display that the visuals on a screen look as crisp and vibrant as gallery-quality photography.

Explained simply, 8K displays have dimensions of 7,680 pixels wide by 4,320 pixels tall. That results in a resolution with four times the pixel density of 4K displays.

Samsung’s new 82-in. QLED 8K commercial display has 33 million pixels. It’s so many pixels packed into a screen that materials produced to that resolution — still images, motion graphics and video — are considered “hyperreal” — more realistic than in real life.

Along with pixel density, QLED technology makes 8K screens remarkably vibrant, delivering 100 percent of the available range of colors. That happens because of a layer added to the stack (or sandwich) of layers that make up a commercial display. An enhancement film uses quantum dots nanoparticles (the “Q” in “QLED”) to tune and amplify color output.

The results on a large-format LCD display are sumptuous, bright and stunning. But as 8K display technology has progressed from prototypes to commercial production, one question tends to come up: Is 8K necessary?

Premium products are marketed and sold primarily based on quality materials and attention to detail. Where fashion clothing and accessories are sold on price and promotions, luxury goods like handbags, shoes, timepieces and jewelry are all about the details. An 8K screen delivers every sparkle of a gem.

Medical imaging is, by necessity, about details. Radiologists and other specialists have long used medical-specified desktop displays that deliver very high resolutions. The emerging breed of 8K displays means that high-detail imaging for material such as MRI scans can be viewed on much larger screens, and seen and discussed by teams.

Energy and mining companies rely heavily on tools like satellite and seismic imaging for decision making. For natural gas, as an example, seismic imaging provides a high-resolution view below the sea and ground to show where there may be hydrocarbon reservoirs. High detail images are best seen and reviewed on large screens that deliver full, highly accurate colors. For industrial operators, 8K display canvases are ideally suited to applications such as control rooms that have one or many screens visualizing the data from running systems, and from ongoing feeds such as live cameras.

Size matters when it comes to 8K. On a small monitor, which demands up-close viewing, our eyes would typically not be able to see all those packed pixels. But on larger displays, all those pixels make visuals pop in the imagery.

Future-proofing by investing in 8K now makes sense in certain use cases, and Samsung has developed AI-driven technology that can take existing 4K material and upscale the visuals to lifelike 8K. A processor built into the new 8K displays uses machine learning to compare data from millions of images to reduce noise and refine details, like sharpening the edges on text. The result is crisp detail. This means more content production at lower costs, displayed in 8K quality.

High dynamic range (HDR) technology also boosts visuals, on 4K and the newest 8K screens. HDR is also all about detail — revealing the finer components in the brightest and darkest elements of an image or video that are lost when shown on non-HDR screens. You know that moody, atmospheric drama you watched, when you squinted to see what was going on? With HDR, you’d see it all.

When 4K first emerged, naysayers suggested the screens offered more resolution than most users needed — whether they were consumers or businesses. Now 4K dominates shipments of larger-sized LCD displays, both commercial and consumer.

That happened because content started to advance, and manufacturing volumes reduced prices. The technology went from a premium option to a conventional one. The same will likely happen over time with 8K.

DALLAS, June 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global commercial display market size is estimated to grow a CAGR above 7% over the forecast timeframe and reach a market value of US$ 84.7 billion by 2030.

Advertising is essential for a business since it serves as both an advertisement and promotional strategy. It is significant for an economy as a business activity. Advertising instructs clients about the brands accessible on the market as well as the diversity of products that can be valuable to them. Advertising is the same for everyone, including children of all ages. It is performed by utilizing a variety of media types, and the most effective tactics and procedures. Businesses utilize advertising to achieve several objectives, and those advertisements are distributed through a variety of media. However, commercial displays are one of the advertising tactics that use massive digital screens to advertise and promote brands" products and services to large groups of people.

The commercial display is a sub-segment of electronic displays that can be managed centrally or individually to display text, animation, or video messages to a global audience. These displays are extensively used in the retail and wholesale industries since they have a lengthy warranty and can run from 20 to 24 hours per day. Commercial displays with a versatile, clean, elegant design, cost-effectiveness, and user-friendliness are energy-efficient and catch customers" imaginations. Due to the proliferation of customer engagement devices and applications, it is critical in today"s business environment to deploy efficient advertising solutions. Digital signage is one of the commercial displays with a low-cost medium for promoting and branding any product or service.

Growing demand for digital screens in various end-use industries such as corporate, finance, retail, and tourism for service and product advertising and promotion is driving the global commercial display market. Furthermore, Fast urbanization and rapid population growth, rising government expenditure on infrastructure construction, and changing consumer lifestyles are fueling the expansion of the commercial display industry. Display technology advancements and increased demand for energy-efficient panels are moving the worldwide commercial display market forward. Additionally, the growing integration of technologies such as Artificial intelligence and deep learning in commercial displays is supporting market expansion globally. The advent of 4K and 8K screens is increasing the production of ultra-HD advertising, which is contributing significantly to market growth.

Currently, the COVID-19 epidemic has had a negative impact on the display industry since governments around the world have enforced temporary prohibitions and limits on all operations. China, as the premier manufacturing center for electronic items and materials, has also taken a significant financial hit because of its influence on the production environment. Furthermore, the high cost of the advanced display and the ease of availability of product alternatives are expected to pose a challenge to the commercial display industry in the coming years.

North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa are the regional classification of the global commercial display market. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at a significant CAGR during the forecast period, due to the significant growth of its retail business and the shift from a product-centric to a customer-centric approach due to increased competition and changing customer behavior in high-potential regions such as Japan, China, South Korea, and India. Furthermore, rapid urbanization and industrialization also contribute to the region"s growth, which leads to the expansion of numerous businesses and the increasing use of commercial displays in the region"s hotel, healthcare, transportation, and retail industries.

Additionally, the shifting trend toward the use of these display solutions across a wide range of industries is expected to drive North America market expansion in the coming years. Furthermore, the increasing penetration of retail and hospitality units such as restaurants, shopping malls, cafes, and bars has created a strong demand for commercial displays, which has supported the growth of the North American commercial display market.

The global commercial display market has been segmented by Acumen Research and Consulting based on product, technology, components, type, size, and application. Based on the product, the market is divided into display TVs, display monitor, and digital signage. Based on technology, the market split into LCD, LED, and others. Based on components, the market is classified into hardware, software, and services. Based on type, the market is categorized into flat panel, curved panel, and others. Based on size, the market is segmented into below 32 inches, 32 to 52 inches, 52 to 75 inches, and above 75 inches. Based on application, the market is fragmented into below retail, entertainment, hospitality, corporate, healthcare, stadiums & playgrounds, banking, education, and transportation.

Some key players covered global in the commercial display industry are Cisco Systems, Inc., Dell, Koninklijke Philips N.V., LG Display Co., Ltd., CDW, Japan Display Inc., NEC Display Solutions, Panasonic Corporation, Benq Corp., Samsung Display Co. Ltd., Sharp Electronics Corporation, and Sony Corporation.

The global commercial display market size was valued at USD 51.17 billion in 2021. It is projected to reach USD 88.90 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period (2022–2030). The commercial display is a subset of electronic displays that can manage centrally and individually to display text, animation, or video messages to an international audience. Commercial displays use technologies such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED), liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diode (LED), quantum light-emitting diode (QLED), and projection for showing media and digital material, web pages, weather data, and text in a professional setting. Commercial displays are utilized extensively in the retail and hotel industries due to their extended warranties and ability to operate between 16 and 24 hours daily. In addition, this technology optimizes brightness in high-ambient-light circumstances and is integrated with a specific technology that contributes to superior onboard cooling, picture preservation, and resolution concerns.

In the commercial display industry, technological breakthroughs such as holographic displays, tactile touchscreens, and outdoor 3D screens raise product quality requirements and outweigh financial benefits. The commercial display market share is anticipated to increase steadily due to technological advancements and the widespread adoption of new technologies such as OLED and QLED.

The increasing need for digital signage in the healthcare and transportation industries is anticipated to propel the worldwide commercial display market"s expansion. Rapid industrialization, rising government spending on infrastructure development, and changing consumer lifestyles all contribute to the global expansion of the commercial display industry. Moreover, the increasing adoption of digital technologies by market participants for advertising products and services to make a strong impression on customers" minds is a major factor boosting the demand for commercial displays. In addition, the increasing integration of technologies such as AI and machine learning into commercial displays is driving the global market growth. The introduction of 4K and 8K displays accelerates the manufacturing of ultra-HD advertising content, contributing significantly to market expansion.

Increased urbanization and population growth, rising government spending on infrastructure building, and shifting consumer lifestyles are driving the rise of the commercial display market. Display technology developments and rising demand for energy-efficient panels are driving the expansion of the global commercial display industry. In addition, the increasing incorporation of technologies such as artificial intelligence and deep learning into commercial displays contributes to the market"s global growth.

The significant financial and energy costs associated with maintaining displays could impede the market growth. In addition, COVID-19 and its negative impact are a significant barrier to market expansion. As a result of these factors, display manufacturing has been halted all over the world. It is anticipated that an increase in commercial displays in industries such as hospitality, entertainment, banking, healthcare, education, and transportation will fuel the expansion of the market. Due to technological advancements and significant investments in research and development made by important companies to produce distinctive displays with sophisticated features, there is a sizable potential for market expansion.

In addition, the most recent low-cost display solutions are projected to penetrate a variety of commercial units such as restaurants, bars, and cafes at a faster rate. This is anticipated to give lucrative opportunities for the market. The growing popularity of contemporary technologies such as QLED, OLED, mini-LED, and micro-LED will give the sector multiple opportunities for growth in the years to come.

The digital signage segment dominates the market during the forecast period. The market category is divided into video walls, displays, transit LED screens, digital posters, and kiosks. In addition, the increasing preference for digital display solutions in business settings is also fueling the segment"s growth. The segment of display televisions is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 4.23% during the forecast period. Manufacturers like SAMSUNG and LG Display Co., Ltd. are incorporating cutting-edge technology such as mini-LED and micro-LED into their most recent commercial-grade televisions. In addition, competitors are introducing many forms of TV panels, including rollable and flexible panels. These products are utilized extensively in hospitals, clinics, and multi-specialty healthcare institutions.

LCD is the most dominant segment during the forecast period. Several industry sectors, including corporate offices and banks, currently utilize LCD-based devices. One of the principal factors driving the widespread use of LCD technology is the decline in LCD production costs. However, the LED technology category is anticipated to account for a sizable market revenue share by 2030. LED technology improvements have led to the development of numerous LED displays, including OLED and QLED. Manufacturers widely employ these energy-efficient solutions in their commercial displays.

The hardware category retained the most significant market share during the forecast period. The segment"s expansion can be attributable to the greater demand for hardware than software. Displays, extenders and cables, accessories, and installation equipment are examples of hardware components. With the introduction of new and advanced software for digital signage, the software category had a significant market share. The software segment is expected to grow at an impressive CAGR of 6.26% during the forecast period. Due to the higher maintenance and repair requirements of commercial televisions and monitors, the services category experienced a substantially greater demand in 2021 than the software segment.

The flat panel display sector dominates the market during the forecast period. Numerous end-use sectors extensively employ flat-panel displays such as video walls, digital posters, monitors, and televisions. Entertainment, gaming, design, automotive, and manufacturing applications utilize curved panels extensively. These panels are widely utilized in TVs, monitors, smartphones, and wearable devices to satisfy various consumer demands.

The retail sector held the most significant market share during the forecast period. The central area requires digital advertisements for product and service marketing and promotion. Retailers are implementing a contemporary advertising strategy which is causing an increase in demand for commercial-grade televisions and digital signage. Due to the increasing number of hotels, motels, restaurants, QSRs, cafes, and bars, the hospitality industry is another significant contributor to the market expansion.

The sub-32-inch and 32-to-52-inch categories are expected to dominate the market during the forecast period. Customers prefer huge displays because of enhanced display clarity, energy-efficient technologies like OLED and micro-LED, and superior content quality. However, the sector of displays more significant than 75 inches is anticipated to have the highest CAGR due to the increasing demand for large-format displays. Retail, transportation, and healthcare industries use huge displays for signage purposes. In the past few years, leading players like SAMSUNG and LG Display Co., Ltd. have developed a plethora of commercial-grade televisions with displays more significant than 75 inches due to their growing popularity.

The global market for commercial displays has been classified by geography into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and the Middle East and Africa.

North America accounted for more than 32.45% of the market share and is anticipated to dominate during the forecast period. Companies such as SAMSUNG, TCL North America, and others have developed a substantial consumer base in the area. In addition, the widespread usage of advanced display solutions across various industries is anticipated to stimulate regional market growth further. Asia-Pacific will experience the highest CAGR of 7.23% during the forecast period. Rapid urbanization and the increasing use of commercial displays in the healthcare, hotel, transportation, and retail sectors have contributed to the region"s expansion. In addition, the region is distinguished by the presence of manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, and an extensive client base.

There was a lot of skepticism and debate in the digital signage community when 4K commercial displays started coming on the market, with industry observers openly wondering if visual messaging applications needed that high level of resolution.

And as 4K bedded in, the industry started seeing some of the bigger display manufacturers showing 8K displays at trade shows, and the debate about the demand and the challenges for super high resolution displays started all over again.

One of the ways an industry builds awareness, acceptance, support and standards for a new technology is to have working groups or organizations of stakeholders. There’s an 8K Association now, and the companies that got it going asked display industry veteran Chis Chinnock to step in and run it. An industry observer, writer, analyst and consultant, Chris has been around displays forever and seen the evolution. He understands what the engineers are going on about, but has the skills to explain it in terms mere mortals can understand.

He explained to me where 8K is at on the adoption curve (it’s still early) and we get into the implications of 8K on infrastructure. He also explain who will want and use 8K, and why.

The 8K Association was formed at CES in 2019, so about a little over two years ago, and it was formed with panel makers and TV makers primarily and that’s when 8K TVs were starting to come into the market and we had some initial goals which was to promote those 8K TVs, to develop a certification program for those 8K TVs, to begin gathering 8K content for our member use, and to begin education of the professional community, because we’re going to need a full 8K ecosystem from content creation, through distribution and display for this to become mainstream.

Yeah. It’s an interesting thing. You have lots of people saying, “8K: is that something we’re ever really going to need?” “There’s no content for our…” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. These are all the things that were said about 4K and lots of questions as to whether 4K whatever take route at all and it certainly has, is it the same argument or is this a little more nuanced because 8K is like super duper high resolution?

Chris Chinnock:It is the same argument. We had naysayers six, seven years ago for 4K. We’ve got naysayers for 8K now. Absolutely, it’s a different environment now, but there’s also a lot of things that are similar to what was happening in 4K six, seven, eight years for sure.

Chris Chinnock:From what I’m gathering, we’ve actually been poking around in the proAV space, trying to understand what the needs are for 8K, to tell you the truth and what we’re learning is the big need is really in distribution and transport. So the canvases are clearly getting bigger and larger in digital signage. An 8K digital signage is not uncommon, I don’t think nowadays. But it’s not necessarily in a standard 16:9 format. They come in all kinds of aspects, ratios and configurations.

But what we’re starting to see is, these big canvases, you want to start with a higher resolution source of master file, so that you can have a piece of that 8K master going out to various parts of this display. So if you letterbox it or clip a PC in there, you want to start with a high resolution piece and not have to do upscaling at the display itself, if you can avoid that, because there are some issues with that.

So the main argument is interesting, with the 8K Association and the website, you even have on the navigation bar, just straight out, “Why 8K” and I go through things and some of those objections, so to speak are: you can’t see the resolution, that the human eye can’t even raise, can’t even resolve 8K now.

So if you have an 8K image versus a 4K image, it has less artifacts, it has more texture and detail. So it creates a higher sense of realism. It’s subtle and the hyper acuity may say you can’t see that difference, but all these other factors reinforce that it’s more real, it’s more present.

Chris Chinnock:Yeah, certainly the closer you sit, you will see more detail and sharpness and texture, and that’s for sure, because that’s part of the simple acuity part. But also remember, we’re talking HDR signals for the most part with 8K content now. So it’s high dynamic range, it’s white color gamut. All these things make a big difference.

In terms of math, what’s the difference? And I hope I’m not putting you on the spot here, but just generally the difference between a full HD file and an 8K file, in terms of size and what are the implications in terms of the equipment, graphics cards and everything you need to play it out.

So I think full HD is somewhere around three gigabits as I recall. But now if you want to do 8K, I think the highest reasonable level that you want to do is 8K at 60 frames per second, 10 bit and now the difference comes with color subsampling. If it’s video, you’re going to do four to zero color subsampling, that’s about 30 gigabits per second. So ten times full HD, right? If you want to do broadcast quality, that’s four to two color sampling. That’s 40 gigabits. You want to do four-four,-four for high resolution graphics in proAV, 60 gigabits per second.

Chris Chinnock:Yeah, so here’s the problem: it’s a distribution challenge, right? So there are solutions out there. If you want to do proAV, you can use HDMI 2.1. You may have to use two connectors if you want to do four-four,-four. That’s a real challenge, just to sync those and it’s going to be short distance, right? So your player’s gotta be right by, probably a standalone 8K display of some sort.

The other side of the coin is IP distribution, right? That’s a huge trend in the whole proAV space. So there’s a lot of solutions that are out there to do that now. A lot of them are focused on one gigabit networks and that’s just not gonna cut it for 8K, right? So we’re starting to see, there’s at least two organizations that I know about that are trying to develop some standards in this. One is the Software Defined Video Over Ethernet (SDVOE) and that’s focused on using a 10 gigabit network to support it.

So if I’m somebody who runs a facility operations for a Fortune 500 company and at their main headquarters office campus, the CEO has bought an 8K TV for his home and says, “I love 8K. I want my whole digital signage network converted over to 8Kx8K displays. It can replace the 4K’s or the 2Ks that are hanging up on mounts and all that.”

Chris Chinnock:It is true. There is very limited content out there. The interesting part of that is that actually a lot of content is shot on 8K cameras and there are now 12K cameras out there. Black magic design is a 12K camera. So it’s being captured in 8K or higher, but it’s not being finished in 8K or distributed in 8K yet.

Chris Chinnock:Yeah, partly. You gotta have a certain critical mass of 8K TVs out there before you start streaming to it and I think streaming is going to be the first way that we see 8K content coming to consumers and you need good codecs out there to distribute it too.

NHK has been broadcasting 8K content for over two years now but they’re broadcasting at 80 to a 100 megabits per second with high compression ratios, and that’s just too high. Netflix is 15 to maybe 25 megabits per second, that’s where most of the streamers are coming in right now for 4K content. That’s where you need to get, maybe you could start at 40 or 50 for a premium 8K streaming service, but you quickly got to get down to that 25 area, I think in my opinion.

Chris Chinnock:Yeah, I think again, you need that critical mass of TVs out there. You need a cost-effective distribution system and when that arrives, especially with these new codecs that are coming like VDC, I think you’ll see major streamers jumping in with an 8K service.

Chris Chinnock:Yeah, there’s a bunch of things there and those were exactly the same arguments for 4K adoption, six, seven years ago. It’s more memory, it’s more bandwidth. The camera costs are a little bit higher. The storage costs are a little bit higher. That’s all true but I think we’re also in a very different era now. So with this pandemic, we’ve seen a big acceleration of production workflows to the cloud. There’s no doubt about that, with all the remote production that had to go on. We’re also, I think, going to see an evolution of that. So more and more production will go to the cloud and I think that actually favors 8K production as well, because what we’re seeing and a company, FrameIO just demonstrating this, they have a camera to cloud service now. So you can be on set shooting with 8K cameras and as soon as you finish that take, it goes right up to the cloud. The original camera files are in the cloud and then from the cloud, you can do proxy editing proxy color grading. You can do everything and have dailies right back on the set the next morning.

What about the timelines on all this? You mentioned how six, seven years ago that the fuss that was out there was around 4K and nobody’s ever going to use it or anything else… What do you see are the timelines to a time when 8K is a shoulder shrug?

Chris Chinnock:Well, there’s a graphic that we one of the market research companies put together that showed that the resolution transitions and now we’re talking about displays here. So when a display of a new resolution was introduced to the time it was selling at 50% of retail sales.

So SD to Full HD, Full HD to 4K, and now 4K to 8K, that cycle is seven years and consistently seven years. So you could argue that we’re a year, maybe two years into the 8K cycle at this point. The pandemic probably added a year to that. So if in seven years 50% of sales are now 8K TVs, we saw how fast 4K TVs were adopted and how fast 4K streaming came onboard.

Chris Chinnock:I think the push today and certainly the focus of the 8K Association has been on consumer entertainment, production and the entertainment production value chain. But as we have already discussed, there are clear needs in the proAV space here as well, particularly for all these larger canvases for rental and staging, for corporate environments, for pop-up events. We talked about museums, there’s medical imaging that’s an important area as well, that’s coming on board.

How about 8K VR? That’s starting to happen as well. So there are a range of different applications here, including broadcast as well. It’s happening in broadcast too. So yeah, it’s happening in a lot of different areas, even security cameras. There’s 8K security cameras now.

Is some of that just a function of end users and integrators and everybody else wanting to have the latest and greatest and say, “We’re doing 8K, we’re doing AI, we’re doing machine learning.”? Or, they’re just jumping on the latest?

Chris Chinnock:Yeah, and I think, that’s what companies do, and they always have to make the next product a little bit better than the previous one. So 8K is a natural next step and I’m glad you brought up this idea of AI as well, because that’s also very different from where we were during the 4K transition.

Upscaling in the 8K TV, AI based or machine learning based and neural network based now is a completely different technology from when we had upscaling and 4K TVs. AI is being used in the encoding space as well to help reduce those bit rates and do seen optimized encoding now. So we’re just at the very beginning of this AI capability and the cloud capability. So the combination of these I think is going to be very powerful.

If you’re using display technology that has AI based upscaling and it’s that good, do you really even need to produce at native 8K or are you in a lot of situations and are going to be just fine with 4K upscaled?

But one of the scenarios that we’re trying to standardize in the 8K Association is, we don’t really have a good name for this yet, let’s call it Smart Streaming just for purposes. But the idea here is that you encourage those 8K camera original files to now be mastered in 8K, so you create a naked finished movie or piece of content.

You now smartly downscale that to 4K with some metadata about how you did that. You now use conventional encoding techniques, HEVC, or AV1 to distribute that content the way streamers are doing that now and if you have an 8K TV, you can now read this metadata smartly, upscale that back to 8K and theoretically, that gets pretty close to a native 8K distribution scheme in terms of image quality.

If we’re talking about four to five to six years before 8K is really settled in, companies that are thinking right now about a refresh of their display technology and the supporting infrastructure for the digital signage network they’re running across whatever environment it may be in, do they need to be future-proof now?

I’ve done all kinds of things. We published newsletters for quite a while. We did market research reports, consulting services. I’ve run a bunch of events on this. I do white papers for clients, et cetera, et cetera. So my focus has always been on the cutting edge of display related technology. So 8K is one of them.

I’m also very active in the light field and holographic displays, AR and VR are key areas for me and micro-LED and mini-LED is also an exciting technology for me as well.

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