Higher Definition

Stay home, stay entertained with the latest in 8K and 4K technology

It is easy to blame the 2019 Coronavirus for the state of the world today, but the ‘once-in-a-century’ global pandemic has whacked 2020 out of kilter in almost every fact of life, from travelling, work to sports and entertainment. One of the big ‘victims’ of the virus is the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which we hope will take place next year, but as tech giants have used global sports events like the Olympics and the World Cup to launch consumer technology, the lack of an Olympics in 2020 has caused a disconnect the big marketing push for 8K TVs, as in - the 8K TV panels are here, where’s the content?

Does this sound like deja vu? Yes, because it’s almost a repeat (without a nasty worldwide viral pandemic) for when the 4K format first came out.

Thankfully, your television set, once affectionately known as the ‘idiot box’ is now supremely smart. AI is everywhere, and all 8K (and the majority of 4K TVs) have AI intelligent upscaling to upconvert your Full-HD stream to 8K, though if you do intend to get an 8K TV, we seriously recommend getting a 4K premium streaming account (what’s a few dollars more per month when your television cost more than S$20 grand?) as the higher data source makes upscaling more detailed.

Should you get an 8K TV now? Well, we reckon it will take a couple of years for streaming services to catch up - you can get 8K videos on YouTube but they’re usually landscape and scenic clips, and you need a minimum 100Mbps broadband for 8K streaming (200Mpbs is the lowest broadband plan in Singapore). The nextgeneration gaming consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will support native 8K gaming, and they should start to arrive by the end of the year.