84 March/April 2022 PHOTOGRAPHY BY TREVOR RAAB
Big Important
(^12) Product
// BY HUNTER FENOLLOL //
A
S 4K TELEVISIONS SET THE NEW DEFI-
nition standard, manufacturers are
already shifting their efforts toward pro-
duction of 8K units. But in a race to build
a competitive 8K set, no brand has been
able to balance the unprecedented reso-
lution with a reasonable price. According
to Ross Young, CEO of the screen-centric market
research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants,
“8K TVs are expensive to make because panel
yields are lower, there’s more pixels, and driver
IC costs are higher since they scale with resolu-
tion.” In layman’s terms, the manufacturing cost
is high due to the panel and component require-
ments needed to hit the 7,680 by 4,320 resolution.
(That’s quadruple the number of pixels in 4K.)
You can best see this in texture definitions and
patterns, along with a wider dynamic color range.
Sharp introduced the first 8K TV in 2015 for the
staggering price of $133,000. And while you no
longer have to take out a second mortgage to buyTCL’s Latest
6-Series Television
Is the First
Affordable 8K TV