The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has confirmed the official industry definition and logo for 8K TVs, which will come into effect beginning with 2020 models.
As with the certification for 4K Ultra HD TVs, the 8K Ultra HD program is designed to help consumers recognise gear that meets the industry’s requirements.
Derived with the input from “major companies” in the industry, the certification concerns everything you’d expect – digital inputs, HDR, up-conversion, bit depth and, of course, resolution. We can expect to see the logo on certified models in early 2020.
The display must have an 8K resolution with “at least 33 million active pixels, with at least 7680 horizontally and 4320 vertically within a 16:9 viewable window”, and be capable of receiving “10-bit 8K images and rendering an image that shows responsiveness to changes to any of the 10 bits”.
Importantly for 8K TVs in an age where 8K content is scarce (and in most territories, non-existent), certified TVs must have the ability to upscale SD, HD and 4K content to display on their 8K displays.
And lastly, one or more of the TV’s HDMI inputs must support a “resolution of 7680x4320 pixels; bit depth of 10-bits; frame rates of 24, 30 and 60 frames per second; HDR transfer functions and colorimetry as specified by ITU-R BT.2100; and HDCP v2.2 or equivalent content protection.”
It's a voluntary program, so it isn't compulsory for manufacturers of 8K TVs – Samsung, for example – to buy into it. Naturally, then, its usefulness to consumers will depend on how widely it's adopted by the industry – which we should be able to gauge in the coming months.
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