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Fox Sports, NHK Demonstrating 8K Content

463 views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  WS65711 
#1 ·
#3 ·
I've seen quite a few demos of 4320/60p (aka 8k UHD) stuff at broadcast exhibitions, and went to a BBC-hosted BBC/NHK live telecast of the 2012 Olympic Swimming in 4320/60p at BBC Broadcasting House. Members of the audience were reognising family members in big wide shots and ringing them!

I also saw edited coverage of the London 2012 Opening Ceremony in 4320/60p in the same venue on a different day. It was stunning. The sound was amazing too.
 
#5 ·
Was stunning when viewed on a projector. The large plasma I was able to see 'direct view' on was also very good - but we were standing right next to it. I think for domestic viewing we are talking about screens that take up the best part of a living room wall to really exploit the difference between 8K and 4K. Acquiring in 8K has some advantages though - as downsampling to 4K should look better than 4K native acquisition. (Same reason that 4K acquisition looks better than HD native even when viewed in HD)
 
#6 ·
I've seen native 4K and it's a noticeable improvement over 1080i(p) on "smaller" screens (under 60"). I don't know that 8K would represent a visible improvement over 4K at those sizes. But on a 120" or bigger projector screen? Probably.

I still haven't seen what 4K can do in a commercial cinema, or even if it's been implemented. Every movie I've seen lately looks just as fuzzy as ever (and yes, my vision is corrected to 20/20).

Interesting how that demo reel was shot in a cold, dry area where the air would be as crystal clear and humidity free as possible. If they really wanted a good 8K test, they should shoot down here in the south were the relative humidity is 90%+. :p
 
#7 ·
The only comparison I've ever been able to do between 4k and 1080p was from Netflix (House of Cards and Marco Polo) on a new Samsung 65" 4k. I couldn't tell any difference whatsoever from roughly 8 feet away. Now, whether that's because Netflix just isn't giving enough bitrate and the really good stuff will look spectacular I dunno (ie 40Mbps h.265 if we ever get such a signal). The demo material sure looks spectacular but I have no way to compare it to a 1080p downscale. What is clear is that whether OTA or from DirecTV the 1080i/720p signal we get in this country sucks. Even that low of resolution is capable of a much better picture.

I also could just *barely* tell a difference when switching the BD player to output in 1080p versus 720p FWIW.
 
#8 ·
Wow. Well, that makes the decision to hold off on a 4K set for a few more years easier to make. When I saw a native 4K demo last year on a 50" Samsung it was incredible. Felt like the actual "window effect" HDTV promised-but-never-delivered due to compression, rate-shaping, etc.

But you could be right. Maybe the the pipes from Netflix to the average cable customer just aren't big enough yet. Wonder how DTV's 4K content looks? Theoretically, they shouldn't have that kind of limitation if they allocate enough transponder space.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Yeah I helped my dad shop for, hang and calibrate a new TV last december. I tried to talk him into waiting a year or two, but his response was "I"m 65, I aint gonna live forever". We were just looking at 1080p TV's in the store until we saw 4k's on demo mode, and the fairly small price difference was the clincher. But I'm happy holding off a couple or three years myself until theres a bit more standardization with HDR, color space , and reasonable priced OLED.

I'm also afraid "Felt like the actual "window effect" HDTV promised-but-never-delivered due to compression, rate-shaping, etc." will apply to 4k after a few years when most HDTV chans have migrated to it for marketing purposes, and it won't even deliver as a good a picture as 1080p is capable of.
 
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