Samsung to sell 8K QLED TVs next month

James Delahunty
30 Aug 2018 18:54

Samsung has unveiled its new 8K resolution QLED televisions at IFA in Berlin and will begin selling them in select markets from September.
The new Q900R QLED 8K sets are quite large, with 65-, 75-, 82- and 85-inch models soon to be available. 8K resolution displays four times more pixels than a 4K UHD TV and 16 times more pixels than a full HD TV at 1080p. The Q900R displays are capable of 4,000 nit peak brightness.

In addition, the Q900R features Direct Full Array Elite for enhanced contrast and precise backlighting control, and also 100% Color Volume, enabling users to witness billions of shades of color for the purest color accuracy to-date.
Support for the HDR10+ format is also included from day one, while other Samsung 4K TVs are currently receiving HDR10+ support through firmware updates.

HDR10+ advances the High Dynamic Range (HDR) and HDR10 TV formats. It adds dynamic metadata to each video frame which enables advanced chipsets to create true-to-life picture across a wider range of displays. It is essentially a competitor to Dolby Vision which also seeks to improve HDR.

Of course there is no 8K video content available on the market yet, but Samsung has an answer for that. Packed inside the new Q900R QLED 8K sets is a Quantum Processor 8K to enable 8K AI Upscaling. It uses artificial intelligence to upscale the content to appear in 8K quality.

"At Samsung, we've worked tirelessly over the years to move the industry forward when it comes to premium picture quality, and the introduction of our QLED 8K with 8K AI Upscaling is an integral component as we look to the future of displays," said Jongsuk Chu, Senior Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics.

"We're thrilled to introduce the Q900R to consumers and are confident that they will experience nothing short of brilliance in color, clarity and sound on our new 8K-capable models."

The new Samsung QLED 8K will be available in stores from end of September in select markets.

Also shown off at IFA is LG Electronics's world's first 88-inch 8K OLED television.