8K is the Perfect Platform for Next UI Innovations
MediaTek sees the TV evolving to become an even more important part of connecting people to new media and evolving online services and experiences. The User Interface (UI) of the future will feature multiple applications running simultaneously, and for that to be an intuitive experience, bigger screens with 8K resolution offer the perfect platform.
According to Alfred Chan, Vice President of MediaTek’s TV division in the Smart Home Business Group, TV makers continue to expand the audio and visual performance of their products, but they now see services and applications becoming more important going forward. For example, live content can be delivered over a broadcast network or increasingly, by a streaming service provider. “Such live content offers a really important application that can support new services,” explained Chan. “One application is a sporting event watch party with your friends where texting, stats and even merchandizing can be supported all on the big 8K screen. This becomes a more integrated and immersive experience for those watching if the TV is the portal to these services.”
“Instead of a static UI, you can also imagine an interactive, intelligent character that helps you navigate, follows you into the metaverse and guides you through what’s on offer,” continued Chan. “All of these new capabilities require more raw CPU, GPU and AI power, which is why MediaTek is involved – we make the highly capable SoC’s that will power these new interactions.”
On the performance side, Chan sees increasing demand for 4K/120Hz for gaming applications, support for more finely tuned HDR experiences via new mini-LED backlights, deeper and wider color gamut’s, and of course, high quality upscaling that is indistinguishable from native resolution. “MediaTek is developing all of these next-generation technologies to support our TV customers,” concluded Chan.
Such insights and ambitions are supported by consumer surveys. In the fourth annual “Evolution of the TV Set” report from Hub Entertainment Research, it found that 51% of homes U.S. homes now have a TV remote with voice command capability, and a third of users have linked their TV to a smart speaker like Amazon Echo or Google Nest. It is quite possible we will see increased use of natural voice control through an integrated network of smart home devices going forward.
The report also noted that the TV is being used increasingly for non-video viewing. In smart TV homes, 7-in-10 (73%) say they use their big screen for something else, up 10% from a year earlier. The most popular non-TV activities on smart TVs are streaming music, mirroring or casting another device to the screen, checking news or weather apps, or using a smart TV’s internet browser.
Clearly, consumers will be interacting with their media in new and innovative ways going forward. And the TV continues to be a central part of that vision. As these new paradigms evolve over the coming years, 8K TVs will start to become more mainstream, so it makes sense to develop these capabilities for an 8K platform.
