Last week I checked out a few of the new 4K HDR displays at Best Buy. We own a decent Vizio 1080p television so we’re in the market for an upgrade. I have to admit that the jump from a giant (36-inch was giant back at the turn of the century) Sony XBR to a 1080p widescreen was impressive. 4K HDR televisions have four times that resolution.
What is better than 4K? 8K. What is better than a Retina 4K display on a Mac? How about a 4K OLED display on a Samsung Windows notebook. The question I have about display advancement is obvious.
Where does the retina display trend end?
When does the higher resolution reach a point where we cannot tell the difference between an 8K OLED-whatever display from a 16K display?
Samsung makes some of the world’s best television displays, smartphone displays, and notebook displays, including a new 15-inch 4K OLED display for notebooks.
The family iMac features a beautiful Retina 5K LCD display. I have yet to find a third party Retina level display that is any better for the money, yet Samsung and other manufacturers are beginning to churn out 4K and 8K OLED television displays; the former at affordable prices, and the latter with a visually stunning quality that does not have video content to match.
Yet.
My time lounging through a few dozen high resolution televisions at Best Buy taught me a few things. First, the industry is advancing forward quickly; higher resolution and video quality for lower prices. That’s the nature of the industry. Second, video content to match the display quality will take many years to catch up.
Finally, higher resolution televisions– 4K and 8K– make actors look terrible; every flaw on every face becomes a distraction. I was in awe of how good video looked when going from 480 to 1080p. I’m impressed by 2K and trying to narrow down a 4K television selection, but I’m bothered by the visual flaws on every actor in a high resolution video.
Advancement is the nature of the industry, but at what point will humans be unable to tell the difference between video on 8K vs. video on 16K?