An Editor’s Choice (not The Editor’s Choice)
I recently joined the team that creates the 8K Monitor, just as it was coming up to its 50th issue. To get a handle on what the newsletter has reported, I had a look back through the issues over the last year, and I picked out some highlights in the Editor’s Choice.
I am unashamedly a display specialist, so I tended to be drawn to hardware stories about displays and cameras. Still, I’ve also been around long enough to know that the success of new technology development is never just about the display. It’s about content, distribution, and then display, and it’s also about the use cases of the technology. As I’m fond of saying, “a display without a person has no function”. Fundamentally most of the critical uses for developing the 8K ecosystem are to allow one person to communicate visually with others. So with that preamble, here are my 20 picks, with a word or two of explanation.
Issues 1 to 50 – My Top Twenty-One Articles
Issue 5 | May 10, 2021
Content
Atomos Ninja V+, First Recorder Capable of 8Kp30 – Australia’s Atomos announces Ninja V+
https://8kassociation.com/atomos-ninja-v-first-recorder-capable-of-8kp30
Why I picked it
Moving tools down to an affordable level by enthusiasts and YouTubers is a big part of building an ecosystem.
Issue 7 | May 24, 2021
Delivery
Can ATSC 3.0 Distribute 8K Content? The Answer is Yes
Why I picked it
Although streaming is the big story of the last decade in video, broadcast is still essential. ATSC 3.0 Nextgen TV is the future of terrestrial broadcasting in the US, so supporting 8K is important.
Issue 8 | May 27, 2021
Display
DisplayWeek 8K Symposium Short Takes
https://8kassociation.com/industry-info/8k-news/displayweek-8k-symposium-short-takes/
Why I picked it
This is one of my display geek articles. Chris spotted a paper that I missed from Display Week in 2021 that explained that Sharp had developed a double panel LCD with a dimming backlight that achieved more than 2,000,000:1 contrast.
Issue 13 | July 12, 2021
Display
Consumer aircraft cabins: the next display frontier
Why I picked it
OLEDs and other advanced display technologies are very, very thin, light, and high performing. That makes them ideal for use in aircraft in lots of applications. Aircraft designers dislike heavy windows that reduce the strength of the airframe. If you replace them with virtual windows, you can deliver an excellent experience for travelers while reducing weight, which means less fuel. And they can offer 8K resolution!
Issue 15 | July 06, 2021
Display
Seventy Plus 8K TVs Now Certified by the 8K Association
Why I picked it
Technology developments often hit the ‘chicken and egg’ problem. If there are no 8K displays, nobody wants to make content to match it. If there’s no content, nobody wants to buy sets. One of the factors getting around this is the fantastic scaling technology, often using AI and machine learning, that allows 8K sets to get into the market, even though native 8K broadcast content is limited. With over 80 sets now certified, there is real momentum in building an installed base of sets to make it worth developing native 8K content.
Issue 18 | August 16, 2021
Delivery
Intel Supports Live 8K Stream for 2020 Olympics
https://8kassociation.com/industry-info/8k-news/intel-supports-live-8k-stream-for-2020-olympics/
Why I picked it
This was a first in delivering 8K 60P video over the public internet for 19 days and is the only known distribution of 8K outside of Japan. This kind of technology demonstration is ideal for learning the practicalities and acts as a showcase for others who may consider this kind of content.
Issue 21 | August 30, 2021
Delivery
Interview: Paul Gray “8K Could Reinvent the Experience of Live Events”
https://8kassociation.com/industry-info/8k-news/interview-of-paul-gray-omdia-research-director/
Why I picked it
As well as improving the traditional video experience, 8K can enable entirely new use cases such as truly compelling live events transmitted with amazing 8K quality.
Issue 22 | September 13, 2021
Content
Samsung Develops 200 Mpixel Sensor for Mobile Devices
Why I picked it
Samsung is pushing on the technology of 8K capture and plans to keep increasing the resolution to more than 500 megapixels. (8K is ‘just’ 33 megapixels). Of course, Samsung introduced 8K capture on its Galaxy S20 smartphone.
Issue 23 | September 20, 2021
Display
Google’s New AI Photo Upscaling Tech is Jaw-Dropping
https://petapixel.com/2021/08/30/googles-new-ai-photo-upscaling-tech-is-jaw-dropping
Why I picked it
Upscaling is a crucial technology for getting around the chicken and egg problem. Although the Google technology is just for stills at the moment, it shows the potential for the concept of exploiting 8K displays even if there is not a lot of content.
Issue 26 | October 12, 2021
Delivery
Synamedia’s New Solutions Can Encode Live 8K
https://8kassociation.com/industry-info/8k-news/synamedias-new-solutions-can-encode-live-8k/
Why I picked it
One of the central use cases where 8K truly shines is in sport, and it’s a critical part of the Pay TV economy. But sport has to be live, so encoding 8K, despite the complexity of the latest codecs needed to distribute the content economically, is a crucial market enabler.
Issue 29 | November 02, 2021
Content Nikon officially unveils the 45.7-megapixel Z9 with 8K video and 20 fps burst speeds
Why I picked it
Mirrorless cameras such as this Nikon are key enablers for enthusiasts to produce high-quality content.
Issue 30 | November 09, 2021
Content
IntoPIX Highlights TICO-RAW and JPEG-XS Advancements (Part 1)
Why I picked it
Although advanced codecs such as VVC and AV1 are essential for distributing content to viewers, content creators do not want the slight but perceptible loss of quality that the technology involves. On the other hand, handling 8K content with HDR at high frame rates creates vast amounts of data. Codecs such as TICO-RAW and JPEG-XS can compress a relatively small amount compared to distribution codecs, but enough to make a significant difference to transmission and storage without impacting the quality.
Issue #32 | November 23, 2021
Display
MediaTek enters the flagship smart TV market with Pentonic 2000, supporting up to 8K 120Hz
https://www.pocket-lint.com/tv/news/mediatek/159144-mediatek-pentonic-2000-8k-120hz
Why I picked it
There’s no point in having 8K display panels if you can’t drive them, so another 8K system-on-chip (SOC) to run a TV from a major chip supplier is integral to developing the ecosystem.
Issue #33 | November 30, 2021
Delivery
New DVB Spec Supports 8K
https://8kassociation.com/industry-info/8k-news/new-dvb-spec-supports-8k/
Why I picked it
Globally, DVB is a crucial developer of broadcast standards, so the adoption of 8K adds to the ecosystem and helps those that want to adopt the technology to roll it out more quickly and avoid proprietary dead ends.
Issue #36 | December 21, 2021
Delivery
American Society of Cinematographers to Release StEM2
https://secure.campaigner.com/csb/Public/show/6oc4-2hanzk–xext6-idedpa1
Why I picked it
Creating test content is a vital part of helping companies to develop reliable and consistent content with high quality, which allows the ecosystem to grow.
Issue #37 | January 04, 2022
Content
Kitting up for 8K Shooting and Production for Under $15K
Why I picked it
Getting the cost down for content creation and processing with high quality is a key part of expanding the amount of native 8K content.
Issue #43 | February 15, 2022
Delivery
8K VR at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Overview
https://8kassociation.com/industry-info/8k-news/8k-vr-at-the-2022-winter-olympics-overview-2/
Why I picked it
This article could have had the content tag, but I chose to give it delivery as this project showed how 8K VR content could be delivered.
Issue #44 | February 22, 2022
Display
Will the Automotive Industry Ever Truly Embrace 8K?
https://8kassociation.com/industry-info/8k-news/will-the-automotive-industry-ever-truly-embrace-8k/
Why I picked it
Vehicle makers are developing very large and high-resolution dashboards, exploiting the latest flexible and curved display technologies.
Issue #44 | February 22, 2022
Display
BOE Develops 8K 120 Hz Panel
https://8kassociation.com/industry-info/8k-news/boe-develops-8k-120-hz-panel/
Why I picked it
In some cases and with some content, watching 8K on a huge display can make judder in video content more visible. Getting displays that can support high refresh allows content creators to push the envelope for video quality. The panels can also be exploited for gameplay where the benefits of high frame rates are well understood.
Issue #47 | May 15, 2022
Delivery
What Does DVB’s Adoption of VVC Mean for the 8K Community?
Why I picked it
The latest codecs are critical to reducing the cost of distributing 8K content, so the adoption of VVC helps the ecosystem.
Issue #49 | March 29, 2022
Content
The Value of 8K Video
https://sid.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/msid.1285
Why I picked it
This article gives a good sense of why content creators want to make the most of 8K technology.
