Tucked away in the corner of Sharps IFA stand this year was a little glimpse at the future and it’s 8k all the way. The 85″ Super Hi-Vision TV slung unceremoniously on a far corner of the Sharp stand was this surprise. Developed in co-operation between Sharp and Japans NHK, broadcast and technology company this TV is at least two generations ahead of it’s time. NHK are the creators and experts when it comes to the Super HI Vision standards – 8k Super Hi-Vision 7568 x 4096 – and were able to provide the recording and playback hardware. With unprecedented levels of picture detail the Super Hi-Vision picture has a natural 3D depth and feel, ultra realistic textures, zero noise or distortion and colours that jump out at the audience. Welcome to the world of tomorrow.

While a current generation full HD TV will have a seemingly spacious resolution of 1920 x 1280 – 2 megapixel – Sharps 85inch giga pixel monsters resolution of 7568 x 4096 equates to 32 mega-pixels. Even todays high end digital SLR camera’s can’t compete with this, most using the 4k standard – up to 4096 x 3302 – as their maximum resolution. Even Imax sulks away in shame when it sees Sharps monster TV. Imax film is equivalent to a digital pixel resolution of 6,120 × 4,500, Imax digital uses two overlayed 2k projectors, a pseudo 4k resolution, which is actually just a brighter 2k picture. The Sharp and its 8k resolution wins hands down.

The 85 inch panel is a monster amongst LCD panels. Ultra small pixel sizes have allowed sharp to cram more pixels than ever into a TV of this size. At an amazing 103dpi – dots per inch – this brings a whole new level of detail to our living rooms. Even with your faced pressed against the glass you won’t be able to discern individual pixels. Sharp didn’t just concentrate on the screen resolution either for the panel, providing a full 10 bits per colour channel – RGB or Red, Green, Blue channels – allowing the panel to display over a billion colours – 1,073,741,824 colours -. Much of the research work was done during the development of Sharps Quadtron 4 cell pixels. Sharp’s Quadtron technology uses four sub-pixels to generate the colour for each pixel, providing improved colour graduations and more realistic and natural colours, it also required them to test different arrangements of sub-pixels. This led them to new ways to organise the sub-pixels making more efficient use of space.

While Sharp and NHK have put together a mighty impressive demonstration of the 8k format it will have to join the back of the queue, wait it’s turn. The 4k standard is next in line and is starting to take hold now. There are a number of infamous camera’s like Red’s Scarlet already producing stunning visuals in pure 4k. Sony is making a big push into 4k compatible equipment, has it’s sights set on the 4k generation. The Sony 4k digital cinematography camera, the F65 is aimed squarely at the Hollywood movie studios although it will be available to the public in January the $65,000 USD price tag may limit it’s consumer appeal. Sony has already produced 60 films using the new 4k format, many were animations but many new films such as Men In Black: and Premium Rush are being shot using the new 4k equipment as well as classics such as Taxi Driver being re-mastered. All theatres that have switched to digital are using digital projectors capable of up to 4k resolutions, again Sony has it’s foot firmly in this door to with its Digital Cinema 4k projectors installed in many Cinema’s.

So the march of technology continues and as much as we would love this monster TV on a wall at Highpants 8k wont be standard till after 2020, till then this TV will be pure industry, with only corporate and TV industry being able to justify the price tag. This is technology waiting for the market and standards to catch up. If you are ever in Tokyo NHK has one of the 85″ Monsters on display for all to view, be prepared to be surprised, you will think there is another world behind the glass.

Super Hi-Vision-Compatible LCD
Screen size 85 inches (approx. 1.9 x 1.05 m)
Pixel count 7,680 (H) x 4,320 (V) pixels
Brightness 300 cd/m2
Gradation 10 bits for each RGB colour

Further information at Sharp, Trusted Reviews

Buddha’s Brother out…