What to Look for in a New 8K TV

It’s time to up the ante with 8K.

While it’s still in its infancy as a resolution, if you are looking for the best picture possible this year, there’s only one to consider: 8K. A step up from 4K resolution, 8K gives you even more pixel density, clarity, and definition than you are used to seeing in Ultra HD – and 16 times as many pixels as you would find in a traditional 1080p TV. 

If you’re reading this, you probably know a thing or two about resolution already. You’ve probably already had a 4K set for a few years and are now ready to upgrade past that to 8K resolution but aren’t sure what next steps to take. Don’t worry – that’s what the team here at AV Design Consultants is for! Whether this is your first time checking out our blog, or you are a long time customer, we’ve put together a list of what to keep in mind as you start to browse 8K TVs, as well as important tips to help you get the best home entertainment experience possible. 

Size (And Distance) Does Matter

More so than any other resolution before it, screen size is important when you start looking into 8K TVs.

For the human eye to be able to be able to tell the difference in 8K resolution, you need to be sitting close to the TV, the TV needs to be really big – we’re talking 80” and bigger – or a mixture of both. The bigger the screen, the further away you can sit and still be able to tell a difference in the resolution. 

This means that the potential benefits of 8K can cut both ways – if you are looking for a TV in a smaller size or sit really far away from your TV, 8K probably isn’t the way to go. But it also means that if you are renovating a home theater, looking for a new TV to be the centerpiece of your entertainment room, or you’re just looking at large screen TVs, then 8K is really the resolution you should be looking at. Of course,  assuming that your living room or theater seating is close enough for you to enjoy the added resolution bump. 

HDR-ing the Way 

8K resolution is one way that the industry is heading, but it’s not the only recent advancement in TV display technology – there’s also high dynamic range (HDR). HDR doesn’t expand pixel count or resolution, but it does expand the color spectrum of your content, giving you a brighter and more lifelike image. 

HDR is worth keeping in mind when you are looking at 8K TVs, because while most of the screens you look at will include some type of HDR, they might not be able to display the specific type of HDR content that you had hoped. There are a handful of competing HDR formats out there right now. The long short of it is, though, if you have a piece of content that is a must-watch in HDR – such as the most recent season of “The Mandalorian,” perhaps – you want to make sure that whatever TV you are looking at can handle HDR in that format. 

Or, if you want things to be even easier, you can leave all the hard work and details up to us. Give us a call today at 479-365-2201 and one of our expert salespeople will be glad to take any of your 8K questions and help you narrow down just which 8K set is the best for your home use case. 

The Content Conundrum 

One of the first things people ask about when it comes to 8K is a question we get often: What can we watch on it? For right now, answering that is a bit tricky. There’s almost no consumer-ready 8K content – you won’t find 8K Blu-ray discs or Netflix streams anytime soon. 

That doesn’t mean that investing in an 8K TV right now is useless, however. Far from it. 8K TVs come with built-in upscaling technology and will make whatever you are watching look better than the 4K or 1080p set you currently have at home. For the best picture possible in 2020 and soon-to-be-here 2021, 8K is the way to go. 

TV technology is always moving and staying up to date can be tough. But somebody has to do it, and we’re proud to employ salespeople who know their stuff inside and out. If you are interested in learning more about 8K TVs and how we can help you recreate your home entertainment center, give us a call at 479-365-2201 today!