letters

4K, 8K, and Planned Obsolescence

Your February/March 2019 issue had a small clip mentioning 8K broadcasting in Japan. Here in the U.S., 4K has just been settling in, with streaming and discs stepping up to fill a broadcast TV void. And now, all of a sudden, 8K is on the horizon. When will this madness stop? You buy some gear and before you turn around it has become outdated. This applies equally to the entire electronics field: You start salivating for one product, buy it, and then they start you salivating again. But if you wait, you will never buy anything. Planned obsolescence?

John Fair

Via email

While it’s true there will be many new 8K TVs arriving in the U.S. in 2019 from a range of manufacturers (see Wide Angle on page 16 for details), you’re right that 4K is really just now settling in. And while the benefits of the extra pixels that 4K provides matters most at large screen sizes—projection systems, in particular—it’s the other elements of the Ultra HD format such as high dynamic range and an Sound & Vision