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8K Association lays out 'key performance attributes' for 8K TVs

What to expect when you're expecting an upgrade.

More manufacturers are selling 8K TVs or have models going on sale soon, and ahead of the IFA 2019 tradeshow an industry group has released its "performance specification" for consumer TVs. The 8K Association includes members like Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Panasonic, Intel, Hisense and TCL.

8K Association

They're pushing this spec as a set of display performance for HDR, color performance and more that establishes what customers can expect when they see a TV with its logo, and are working on a compliance test.

  • Resolution: 7680 x 4320 pixels

  • Input Frame Rate: 24p, 30p and 60p frames per second

  • Display Luminance: More than 600 nits peak Luminance

  • Codec: HEVC

  • Interface: HDMI 2.1

Those are the publicly listed requirements, while details available to members include "8K Input Parameters (bit depth, frame rate, chroma sub-sampling), Display Performance (resolution, peak brightness, black level, color gamut, white point), and the Interface & Media formats (High Dynamic Range, codec)." We'll need to see more of these TVs in action, but if you need a reason to upgrade that goes further than mere pixel and resolution count, then these specs may be key in pushing the new displays, just like HDR was for 4K sets when they began to appear.