News hardware Samsung proves 8K TVs are viable by 2022
While 4K TVs are just beginning to become 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 very high end. As you will see, the latest 8K TVs from Samsung 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 Samsung announced at CES 2022, the annual high mass of technological innovation, its next range of very high-end TVs: the Neo QLED 8K.
Neo QLED TVs use 2 technologies. The Mini LED on the one hand and the famous “quantum dots” from Samsung on the other. This nice mix makes it possible to produce extremely bright televisions, with extremely precise color rendering and above all a level of contrast never before achieved on the entire television market (excluding OLED).
Mini LED technology is very recent. On paper, it is not very complicated to understand. To display an image, your screen needs to be backlit. The feat of the Mini LED is to succeed in sliding under the screen of the diodes 40 times smaller than what is done on a conventional LED TV. These thousands of tiny diodes are then very finely controlled by the TV’s AI.
By lighting only the diodes that are necessary for each image displayed on the screen, Samsung Mini LED TVs work miracles: much more contrast, more accurate colors, less blooming (this is the “halo effect” you can see around subtitles for example), much thinner and really 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 therefore have one of the best panels in the world. Under this crazy screen, there is also a powerful processor (we will come back to this), 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 pair the Neo QLED 8K with a Samsung soundbar, you will be entitled for the very first time to Dolby Atmos sound… wirelessly. You may not realize it, but it’s a huge technical feat. Even without a soundbar, these high-end TVs have a 6.2.4-channel 90W configuration, which should produce a particularly immersive rendering.
The 2022 Samsung Neo QLED 8K range consists of 3 models, the QN900B, QN800B and QN700B, and will be available in 55”, 65”, 75” and 85”. Pre-orders are already open.
See Samsung TVs on the official store
Why talk about 8K TV in 2022 when not everyone has a 4K TV yet?
Reading all of this, you’re probably wondering what 8K is for in a world that hasn’t even completed its transition to 4K yet. The reflection is not stupid in itself, many people still do not have a 4K television.
Content-wise, 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. access to 4K… on part of the catalog only.
However, technology is advancing. Today, almost all new televisions on the market are 4K TVs, and there really is something for every budget (from 300 to several thousand euros). Gradually, this level of resolution is becoming the norm. And manufacturers can’t just produce for the standard. They must always be one step ahead. This is where 8K comes in.
Yes, there is almost no native 8K content (apart from the movies that the most high-end smartphones on the market can take). However, it is relevant for a builder to look to the future. All the more so when these manufacturers manage to simulate 8K as well.
It is important to note that the sizes of our televisions are getting bigger and bigger. People want to feel like they’re in the cinema from their couch. 4K resolution has enabled a new standard format: 55 inches (i.e. 139 cm diagonal). Thanks to 4K with little hindsight, a 55-inch or even 65-inch TV (165 cm diagonal) is extremely pleasant to watch at home. If you want greater 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 beast of power. Even if you throw it a source in Full HD (i.e. classic 1080p), the television’s AI will analyze the image and make sure to simulate 8K on the screen. In the jargon, we speak of upscalling.
Even if this simulated 8K is necessarily a little less precise than native 8K, the final rendering is still quite impressive, and, let’s face it, superior to what a classic 4K TV is capable of displaying.
8K therefore has several real interests. Improving the image, whatever its basic quality, anticipating the future, producing larger TVs and advancing the market. If, for now, 8K TVs are quite expensive and very high-end, it is thanks to the experience that Samsung is acquiring on this technology that it will be mature and more accessible by the time the general public will be ready.
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