Is there any point in buying an 8K TV?

Five short years ago, 4K television sets belonged if not to science fiction then at the very least to the “bleeding edge” shelf at John Lewis. Offering twice the resolution of regular high definition, they represented the outer edge of what appeared possible in the name of home entertainment.
This LG 8K TV offers double the resolution of anything seen previouslyThis LG 8K TV offers double the resolution of anything seen previously
This LG 8K TV offers double the resolution of anything seen previously

Fast forward to today, and you can get them for less than £250 at Argos, with 43in screens and smart apps thrown in. Even a basic 55in set can be had for less than £300.

That means production costs have been slashed and manufacturers’ profit margins along with them. For that reason, the big firms have moved on to what they hope will become the next big thing – literally – in your living room.

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But the history of the TV receiver is littered with false dawns, and the 8K screen may well be the next one.

The Consumer Electronics Show, which took place in Las Vegas earlier this month, was awash with 8K sets. It is the world’s biggest showcase for new technology, and Samsung, Sony and LG were among the giants who appeared to have bet the farm on the new standard. An 8K TV doubles the resolution yet again, and the prospect of watching this summer’s Tokyo Olympics in the new format will have some buyers in the far east salivating.

However, those of us on this side of the planet will be advised to take a reality TV check, because no matter how much you pay for the best picture, there will be nothing to watch in 8K this summer – and perhaps not ever.

No western broadcaster is proposing to transmit programmes in the new format and the likelihood of streaming video in such high definition is also deeply unlikely in the foreseeable future. There are two reasons for this: our broadband connections are not fast enough and too little content is being produced. Even in Hollywood, production is geared towards shooting in 4K resolution or 6K at best.

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That means the new 8K sets will be reduced to electronically “upscaling” existing films to the new format – and as we saw with the first Blu-ray players of a few years ago, the results of that process are variable at best.

This is by no means the first time the TV industry has rolled our products unsupported by broadcasters. The now-discontinued 3D ranges of a few years ago were the most recent examples, but the practice can be traced back to the first stereo sets of the 1980s. And the fad for curved screens – some of which are still available – was not underpinned by technology at all but by mere cosmetics.

It’s also likely that the current specification for 8K receivers will be superseded in the coming years – in the same way that early 4K sets lacked the High Dynamic Range picture processing capability that became almost standard later on.

So, with no 8K programmes, an absence of future-proofing and prices which start at no less than £2,500 for a 55in set and rise to £10,000 for a 75in LG model, the new standard does not present a compelling proposition.

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It does, however, serve to further increase the value of 4K sets. Programmes in even that format are still not broadcast in Britain, but plenty are available on Netflix and similar services, and a screen of 50in will give you a noticeable increase in quality over standard high definition. The 55in Samsung RU7020 is remarkably good value at around £380 on the high street – and you can pick it up confident in the knowledge that it won’t be out of date by the time you get it home.