News hardware Samsung proves that 8K TVs are viable in 2022
While 4K TVs are just getting more popular, Samsung is once again communicating about its very latest Neo QLED 8K. Having 8K at home is quite expensive, we are on the high side. As you will see, Samsung’s latest 8K TVs are a real concentrate of technologies. But is it useful? Today we will try to answer this question.
Neo QLED 8K: Samsung offers very high-end
Tech fans should already know that at CES 2022, the annual high mass of tech innovation, Samsung announced its next line of ultra-high-end TVs: the Neo QLED 8K.
Neo QLED TVs use 2 technologies. The Mini LED on one side and the well-known “quantum dots” from Samsung on the other. This beautiful mix makes it possible to produce extremely bright televisions, with extremely accurate color reproduction and above all a contrast that has never been achieved before in the entire television market (excluding OLED).
Mini LED technology is very recent. On paper, it’s not very complicated to understand. To display an image, your screen must be lit. The performance of the Mini LED is to slide under the screen of the diodes 40 times smaller than what is done on a conventional LED TV. These thousands of small diodes are then very finely controlled by the TV’s AI.
By illuminating only the diodes necessary for each image displayed on the screen, Samsung Mini LED TVs work wonders: much more contrast, more accurate colors, less bloom (this is the “halo effect” you can see around subtitles for example), much thinner and true edge-to-edge design (on the Neo QLED 8K we are talking about a TV of only 15 millimeters)… in short, everything is better.
The 2022 Neo QLED 8K has one of the best panels in the world. Beneath this amazing screen is also a powerful processor (we’ll get to this later), all the classic options of a connected TV, all the cutting-edge technologies for cinema such as the gaming (Dolby license, HDR, HDMI 2.1, 120 Hz panel, VRR, ALLM…) and a particularly innovative sound system.
If you connect the Neo QLED 8K to a Samsung soundbar, you are entitled to: Dolby Atmos sound… wireless† You may not realize it, but it’s a huge engineering feat. Even without a soundbar, these high-end TVs have a 6.2.4-channel 90W configuration, which should deliver a particularly immersive display.
The 2022 Samsung Neo QLED 8K series consists of 3 models, the QN900B, QN800B and QN700B, and will be available in 55″, 65″, 75″, and 85″. Pre-orders are already open.
Check out Samsung TVs in the official store
Why talk about 8K TV in 2022 if not everyone has a 4K TV yet?
Reading all this, you’re probably wondering what 8K is for in a world that hasn’t even completed the transition to 4K yet. The reflection is not surprising in itself, many people still do not have a 4K television.
Substantively, most TV channels don’t broadcast in 4K, only the PS5 and Xbox Series X are 4K video game consoles (and they’re very hard to find) and even on Netflix you have to pay extra to get it. to 4K… only in part of the catalog.
However, the technology is advancing. Today, almost all new TVs on the market are 4K TVs, and there really is something for every budget (from 300 to several thousand dollars). Gradually, this level of resolution becomes the norm. And manufacturers cannot simply produce for the standard. They should always be one step ahead. This is where 8K comes in.
Yes, there is almost no native 8K content (aside from the movies that the most high-end smartphones on the market can handle). For a builder, however, it is relevant to look to the future. Especially if these manufacturers also manage to simulate 8K.
It is important to note that the dimensions of our televisions are getting bigger and bigger. People want to feel like they are sitting in the cinema from their couch. The 4K resolution has enabled a new standard size: 55 inches (ie 139 cm diagonal). Thanks to 4K afterwards, a 55-inch or even 65-inch (165 cm diagonal) TV is extremely pleasant to watch at home. If you want more comfort forever, there are no 36,000 solutions: you need 8K.
Indeed, the great strength of the Neo QLED 8K is the Neural Quantu 8K processor. A real powerhouse. Even if you throw a source in Full HD (ie classic 1080p), the television’s AI will analyze the image and make sure that 8K is simulated on the screen. In the jargon we speak of upscalling.
Even if this simulated 8K is necessarily slightly less accurate than native 8K, the final rendering is still quite impressive and, let’s face it, superior to what a classic 4K TV can display.
8K thus has several real interests. Improving the picture regardless of basic quality, anticipating the future, producing bigger TVs and moving the market forward. If 8K TVs are quite expensive and very high-end for now, it’s thanks to Samsung’s experience with this technology that it will be mature and more accessible by the time the general public is ready.
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