Good news for anyone looking to overwhelm their fovea centralis with pixels: Dell has announced the first "mass-market" 8K (7680×4320) display, which will be sold for around $5,000 beginning in March:
Dell introduced the industry's first mass-market 8K display aimed at professional designers, engineers, photographers and software developers. The UP3218K will be available this March, but its rough $5,000 price tag will be rather high even for professionals dealing with content creation. That being said, $5K or so was the price that the original 4K MST monitors launched at in 2013, which perhaps makes this display price more palatable. On the other hand, right now an 8K professional display is such a niche product that the vast majority of users will have to wait a few years to see the price come down.
Up to now, 8K reference displays were available only from Canon, in very low quantities and at very high prices. The displays were primarily aimed at video professionals from TV broadcasting companies like NHK, who are working on 8K (they call it Super Hi-Vision) content to be available over-the-air in select regions of Japan next year. A number of TV makers have also announced their ultra large 8K UHDTVs, but these are hardly found in retail. Overall, Dell is the first company to offer an 8K display that can be bought online by any individual with the money and be focused on the monitor market rather than TVs.
At present, Dell is not publishing the full specifications of its UltraSharp 32 Ultra HD 8K monitor (UP3218K), but reveals key specs like resolution (7680×4320), contrast ratio (1300:1), brightness (400 nits), pixel density (280 ppi) as well as supported color spaces: 100% Adobe RGB and 100% sRGB.
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The top google hits say that there is little or no benefit to resolution above 4k. I recently bought a 40" 4k tv which I use as a monitor (2' viewing distance). While this is right at the threshold where I'm told no benefit can be gained from additional resolution, I can still easily discern individual pixels. I'm still able to see individual pixels until I get to about a 4' viewing distance (but I am nearsighted).
I did some research and according to Wikipedia the Fovea Centralis (center of the eye) has a resolution of 31.5 arc seconds. At this resolution, a 4k monitor would need to be only 16" at a 2' viewing distance, or my 40" would need a 5' viewing distance.
Now the Fovea Centralis comprises only the size of 2 thumbnails width at arms length (2° viewing angle) and the eye's resolution drops off quickly farther from the center. But this tiny portion of the eye is processed by 50% of the visual cortex of the brain.
So I ask, are there any soylentils with perfect vision and/or a super high resolution set up, and does this match where you can no longer discern individual pixels? Do you think retina resolution needs to match the Fovea Centralis or is a lesser value acceptable?
My 40" 4k at 2' fills my entire field of view. I really like it because I have so much screen real estate for multiple windows or large spreadsheets, or I can scoot back a little bit for gaming (so I don't have to turn my head to see everything) and enjoy the higher resolution. I find 4k on high graphics looks much nicer than 1080p on Ultra. I find the upgrade is well worth the $600 I spent for the tv and a graphics card that can run it. Have you upgraded to 4k and do you think it was worth it? I would one day like to have dual 32" 8k monitors (not 3D). What is your dream setup if technology and price weren't an issue?
Written from my work 1366 x 768 monitor.
Related discussions: First "8K" Video Appears on YouTube
LG to Demo an 8K Resolution TV at the Consumer Electronics Show
What is your Video / Monitor Setup?
Microsoft and Sony's Emerging 4K Pissing Contest
There's competition in an overfoveated but underserved segment of the display market:
TPV Technology is demonstrating a preliminary version of its upcoming 8K ultra-high-definition display at IFA trade show in Germany. The Philips 328P8K monitor will be a part of the company's professional lineup and will hit the market sometimes next year.
Philips is the second mass-market brand to announce an 8K monitor after Dell, which has been selling its UltraSharp UP3218K for about half of a year now. The primary target audiences for the 328P8K and the UP3218K are designers, engineers, photographers and other professionals looking for maximum resolution and accurate colors. Essentially, Dell's 8K LCD is going to get a rival supporting the same resolution.
At present, TPV reveals only basic specifications of its Philips 328P8K display — 31.5" IPS panel with a 7680x4320 resolution, a 400 nits brightness (which it calls HDR 400) and presumably a 60 Hz refresh rate. When it comes to color spaces, TPV confirms that the 328P8K supports 100% of the AdobeRGB, which emphasizes that the company positions the product primarily for graphics professionals. When it comes to connectivity, everything seems to be similar to Dell's 8K monitor: the Philips 8K display will use two DP 1.3 cables in order to avoid using DP 1.4 with Display Stream Compression 1.2 and ensure a flawless and accurate image quality.
It is noteworthy that the final version of the 328P8K will be equipped with a webcam (something the current model lacks), two 3W speakers as well as USB-A and at least one USB-C port "allowing USB-C docking and simultaneous notebook charging". In order to support USB-C docking with this 8K monitor, the laptop has to support DP 1.4 alternate mode over USB-C and at present, this tech is not supported by shipping PCs. In the meantime, since in the future USB-C may be used a display output more widely, the USB-C input in the Philips 328P8K seems like a valuable future-proof feature (assuming, of course, it fully supports DP 1.4 alt mode over USB-C).
Previously: Dell Announces First "Mass-Market" 8K Display
More 8K (4320p) TVs will be coming soon. AU Optronics has announced plans to ship 8K panels to TV manufacturers starting in the first half of 2018:
The lineup of panels featuring a 7680×4320 resolution will be aimed at ultra-high-end TVs and sizes will range from 65 to 85 inches, said Liao Wei-Lun, president of AUO's video products business group, at a press conference. The high-ranking executive did not disclose other specifications of the panels, such as luminance and contrast ratio, but given their positioning, it is logical to expect their characteristics to be comparable to 8K UHDTVs to be offered by LG and Samsung.
Multiple TV makers demonstrated various 8K UHDTVs at various trade shows in the recent years, but so far no one has started to sell them. Given the lack of content, it is hard to expect high demand for 8K televisions in the next couple of years, aside from the halo factor - nonetheless, AUO expects 8K panels to account for 10% of its '65-inch and above' panel shipments in 2020. The presumably high-cost of the panels would indicate that in terms of unit shipments this might still be a low-ish number. However, as with 4K displays, someone has to release 8K TVs to stimulate content providers to offer appropriate material. At this year's CES, Samsung demonstrated its Q9S, its first commercial 8K TV-set, but it did not announce its pricing or availability timeframe. LG and Sony also demonstrated their 8K TVs at CES 2018, but nothing is clear about their plans regarding these products.
[...] As for 8K displays for PCs, Dell is currently the only company to offer an 8K monitor (this one is based on a panel from LG, so the latter might introduce its own 8K display at some point). Philips last year promised to start shipments 328P8K monitor in 2018, so expect the product to hit the market in the coming months too.
Need something to watch on your 8K TV? How about the 2020 Olympics?
Also at DigiTimes.
Related: LG to Demo an 8K Resolution TV at the Consumer Electronics Show
Dell Announces First "Mass-Market" 8K Display
Philips Demos an 8K Monitor
Pimax Launches Kickstarter for "8K" Virtual Reality Headset
HDMI 2.1 Released
LG's 88-inch 8K OLED TV
Sharp Announces 2nd Gen 8K UHD TVs at IFA
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.
Samsung's first 8K TV goes on sale next month
Samsung is announcing its first commercial 8K TV, the Q900R, at IFA 2018 this week. The QLED panel will be available in 65-inch, 75-inch, 82-inch, and 85-inch sizes, and is capable of peak brightness of 4,000 nits. It also supports the newer HDR10+ format backed by Samsung and Amazon.
The incredibly poor detail of 4K makes my eyes bleed; it's impossible to look at. At least now we'll have some more 8K options to tide us over until we reach 64K (61440×34560).
See also: Tech Tent: Are you ready for an 8K telly?
Samsung's 8K QLED TV looks great, but who needs it?
Toshiba Intros Its First Ever 8K TV Concept – IFA 2018
Previously: AU Optronics to Ship 8K Panels to TV Manufacturers in H1 2018
Related: Dell Announces First "Mass-Market" 8K Display
Philips Demos an 8K Monitor
Sharp Demonstrates 31.5-Inch 8K 120Hz HDR Monitor
Sharp this week demonstrated its first 31.5-inch HDR display featuring a 7680×4320 resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate. The monitor uses the company's IGZO technology and the manufacturer evaluates plans to release this LCD commercially.
Being one of the key backers of an 8K resolution as well as the Super Hi-Vision format, Sharp was among the first to release 8K screens and 8K cameras for professionals as well as 8K UHD TVs for consumers. Several years ago, Sharp demonstrated its first 27-inch 8K IGZO monitor with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 1000 nits luminance, but the device has never been released commercially (at least, it has not been available in stores). This week the company showcased another 8Kp120 display.
Meanwhile, Sony has created a monstrous 783-inch display:
The screen is 19.2 meters (63 feet) long and 5.4 meters (17 feet) high, it features a diagonal of 783 inches and is generally larger than a bus. Sony does not disclose exact resolution of the display (other than saying that it has around 16,000 horizontal pixels), though judging by the looks of the screen we are dealing with something that has a non-standard resolution and a non-standard aspect ratio.
Sony's 16K 783-inch screen uses the company's Crystal LED technology that uses multiple Micro LED-based modules to build custom displays featuring virtually any size, any resolution, and any aspect ratio. Featuring individually-controlled Micro LEDs, the modules have no bezels and can be attached to each other seamlessly. Sony and Samsung use Micro LED/direct-lit LED-based modules to build custom screens for cinemas, airports, showrooms, and other venues that need large displays.
Related: Dell Announces First "Mass-Market" 8K Display
Philips Demos an 8K Monitor
A New Wave of 8K TVs is Coming
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Sunday January 15 2017, @10:22PM
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 15 2017, @10:57PM
Good question. I've never fallen in love with the wide screen concept. My desktop display consists of two 1080 screens, side by side. I have one hell of a lot of territory, horizontally, but vertically, it sucks. I've thought about rotating the display 90 degrees, and adding one more monitor. Three 1080's standing on end should display most web pages, documents, or whatever else. I probably won't do it, but the idea is inviting.
The wife would cry a river if I bought a third display for myself, unless I bought something similar for her. She worked hard to make me feel guilty when I received the twin display, and set it up - she thought one was for me, and the other for her. I TOLD her to take the money to buy the same setup for her desk, but noooooo - she preferred to make me feel guilty. Women . . . .
A MAN Just Won a Gold Medal for Punching a Woman in the Face
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday January 16 2017, @06:10PM
I solved the height issue by taking one of our 4K displays after a trade show.
40-inch 4K TV makes for a nice monitor at a 2- to 3-foot viewing distance. If you're not picky about gamut and depth, they've gotten really cheap.
You can tell the wife you're not getting a third, you're getting only one and giving her two.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Sunday January 15 2017, @11:13PM
So get a bigger monitor with more height. Or forget the monitor and strap on VR or HoloLens and create virtual monitors.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @12:00AM
Seems like you'd be the last person to complain about wider monitors.
Monospace fonts are so wastefull of screen real estate that we need wider monitors just to read your posts.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @02:57AM
Don't forget that everything gets redesigned for a mobile form factor too nowadays, which means it all gets ever more vertically biased and all the more space goes to waste on the sides. Just look at the butchery that is the nu-net.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @03:22AM
Because they want to use the same panels that they used for TVs. Which is rather unfortunate, because having the squarer monitors like we used to have is frequently better.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday January 16 2017, @07:34AM
If the monitor can be used vertically, you'll get plenty of vertical space with 9:16.
Using two vertical monitors, you'll get an effective ratio of 9:8, which is almost square.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @09:03AM
that's what I do. 2 screens each 1440x2560.
the boss had money that needed to be spent at the end of the year (otherwise it's lost), so I now have a 9:8 ratio display with a negligible thingie in the middle.
since I program/write LaTeX/read, I would have half-screen windows anyway, and I just enjoy the many pixels.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Monday January 16 2017, @09:21PM
So they can fit more ads along the edges, duh!
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Sunday January 15 2017, @10:32PM
The 8k standard calls for a bit depth of 48 bits (16 bits per color channel) and up to 120 frames per second. Math: 7680*4320*6*120 = 23,887,872,000 bytes PER SECOND. That's a lot of bandwidth.
Oh, and they are introducing yet another connector for the standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15 2017, @11:00PM
The MacBook Pro doesn't have that connector. Lame.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday January 15 2017, @11:10PM
No, the "8K standard" [wikipedia.org] doesn't call for that. That's what superMHL 1.0 supports:
You'll notice that the monitor in the summary only supports 8K (4320p) at 60 Hz/FPS rather than 120, and 10 bits per color channel rather than 16. So your bandwidth estimation is too high. I believe these connectors can also use lossless or "visually lossless" compression to lower the bandwidth requirements.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @03:14AM
MHL is for mobile devices.
proper stuff will use displayport.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 15 2017, @11:03PM
Imagine how the Hillary Clinton Sex Tape would look on that monitor.
(Score: 4, Touché) by takyon on Sunday January 15 2017, @11:10PM
Upscaled.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Sunday January 15 2017, @11:15PM
The tape would look the same on any monitor, kind of like duct tape, I'd imagine.
Why would you tape up your monitor, is it falling apart?
What? Video, not tape? Meh, never-mind, not interested.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday January 15 2017, @11:19PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPWEKUQLb9Y [youtube.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday January 16 2017, @12:40AM
Twice that would be even a bigger joke than my new TV, since it can't display a higher resolution than the media it's fed, and right now 1080p is the limit.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Monday January 16 2017, @01:36AM
I heard Netflix has a some 4K video.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @06:12AM
Far more likely is that you bought a UHD TV or monitor on Wednesday.
The same people who have been overselling hard drive capacities for decades have managed to convince the public that 3840 = 4096. It's not. If you follow their lead and call it "4K", you've been sucked in by marketing. It looks like Dell is going to same route with their "8K" monitor. 7680 = 7.5K, not 8K.
It's a little thing, but that's how big things start.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @06:31AM
You're underselling it by 180 pixels! It's a little thing, but that's how big things start!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @02:25PM
These sizes were clearly chosen because they are integer multiples of both 1920x1080 and 1280x720. This means when you connect your 1080p or 720p source to such a display (which you almost certainly will, because there are not a lot of 4K or 8K source devices out there), it can be scaled to fill the screen without visible artifacts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @10:49AM
Maybe you could play some games in 4k too... Like chess ;).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 16 2017, @04:51PM
How does a 4K Wednesday differ from a normal Wednesday?
SCNR