By MKPE ABANG
Although the SHARP 8K TV-Monitor is set to make impressive outing at the IFA Berlin 2018 beginning August 31 and running through September 5, this revolutionary work of cutting edge technological innovation was formally launched at the IFA Global Press Conference in Rome, Italy on April 20.
And SHARP says with the introduction of the 8K TV-Monitor LV-70X500E, the company is embarking on a “voyage into the 8K future with life-like image quality.”
This is being complemented with various industry changing applications – both in the consumer and the business world.
According to SHARP, the 8K is the next evolutionary step in display resolution with a stunning 33 million pixels (7.680 x 4.320), four times more than 4K Ultra HD and 16 times as many pixels as Full HD. This ultrafine resolution results into a pixel density of 125 ppi in the 70-inch display of the LV-70X500E. Even at very close range, the human eye can hardly make out individual pixels. The enormous increase in sharpness makes images look extremely realistic.
SHARP’s LV-70X500E has a lot to offer beyond sheer resolution. For the most natural image, two other aspects are imperative: colour reproduction and contrast. Wide colour technology ensures rich colour expression covering 79% of colour-gamut standard ITU-R BT.2020 (vs. CIE1931xy cover ratio). Some high quality media already make use of this increased colour space, for instance UHD Blu-ray as well as some content on major streaming services. The greatly increased colour spectrum makes images more life-like and vivid. The same is true for contrast, which defines the ratio between the darkest and the brightest part of an image. The LV-70X500E supports High Dynamic Range through HLG and HDR10 for superior contrasts.
8K inputs and up-conversion
The LV-70X500E comes with eight HDMI inputs. Four are standard 2K/4K ports, the other four are reserved for bundled 8K input through 4 parallel HDMI connections. Still images in 8K can be viewed from USB storage media. In order to benefit from the enormous picture quality of 8K, the TV-Monitor1 will up-convert various content to 8K using an advanced picture processing suite. The image is not merely “blown up” to the higher resolution, but visibly enhanced.
Why do we need more resolution?
“Since the onset of television technology, the goal was to create the perfect illusion on a screen. At the dawn of the HD era, resolution was mainly about sharpness. But sharpness must not be an end in itself. Current TV pictures don’t lack sharpness, they lack naturalness. Together with enhancing resolution, we also have to enhance color reproduction and contrast to get as close as technologically possible to a real life image,” explains Sascha Lange, Vice President Marketing and Sales Europe. Also, resolution is relative to screen size and viewing distance. By quadrupling the resolution, the screen size can also quadruple and still offer the same sharpness at constant viewing distance. In the future, 8K will be the enabling technology to establish ever bigger TV screens in homes without sacrificing picture quality. With Full HD and 4K, a clear trend towards bigger screen sizes can already be observed in all major TV markets. 8K will allow this trend to continue to wall filling screen sizes that previously have been the subject of science fiction novels. “With 8K, displays with 70 inch diagonals like our LV-70X500E will become a standard size for the living room and much bigger screens will soon follow!” says Sascha Lange.
Beyond entertainment
Any entertainment content greatly profits of the possibilities of 8K. Sport broadcasts and documentations will make you, the viewer, feel like you’re actually experiencing the content with your own eyes. Movies and games will draw you even closer into the plot and give you a feeling of being right in the action instead of merely observing it. But there are many useful applications beyond entertainment. Film and photo artists can edit their content in the greatest possible detail. Another exciting application is art. Masterpieces can be viewed in virtual galleries using the superior sharpness and natural picture quality of 8K. Medical imagery soars to new levels of details, allowing more accurate diagnostics. SHARP has started to provide 8K TCD-Monitors1 with Kairos Co Ltd., the manufacturer of an 8K rigid endoscope system, to bring a new level of detail to operation rooms. With the combination of the 8K rigid endoscope and SHARP’s 8K TV-Monitor1, surgeons can perform more accurate surgeries with a vision equivalent to 4.27 while 2Kis equivalent to 1.07.
SHARP to establish 8K ecosystem
SHARP proudly looks back on a long history of TV, display and camcorder innovation. The inventor of the LC display still heavily invests in research and development, enabling the company to use many unique technologies and patents to deliver cutting edge consumer electronics devices as well as crucial components. SHARP will be engaged in various aspects of the 8K ecosystem and has already produced the world’s first 8K camcorder, the 8C-B60A that shoots native 8K video at up to 60 frames per second. All other aspects are also being explored, be it storage or content distribution.