Consumer organization unveils logo and specs for 8k televisions
The Consumer Technology Association has introduced a logo that manufacturers are allowed to use for 8k televisions that meet the prescribed requirements. In addition, there is the 8K Association, founded this year, which will eventually also come up with its own logo.
The CTA says the logo license and certification agreement will be available in the coming weeks and manufacturers will then be allowed to use the logo from January 1, 2020. This means that the logo may only be used for products that will be launched on the market from 2020. According to the CTA, this logo helps retailers and consumers “recognize products that meet the industry’s 8k ultra hd requirements.”
For example, the requirements set by the CTA to use the logo are a minimum of 33 million active pixels with a resolution of at least 7680×4320 at a 16:9 ratio. In addition, at least a 10-bit color display must be supported and the said resolution in the form of an HDMI input must be able to be paired with 24, 30 and 60 frames per second. This means that at least an HDMI 2.1 connection must be present, because otherwise no signal with an 8k resolution with 60 images is possible via an HDMI connected device. The TV must also be able to upscale SD, HD and 4k videos to the 8k resolution.
Another specification requirement is that displays must support a minimum of fifty percent contrast modulation when using a 1×1 grid pattern, as defined by the International Committee for Display Metrology. The FlatpanelsHD website notes that this could mean excluding Samsung’s current 8k TVs, because those TVs use sub-pixel rendering techniques to improve viewing angles, at the expense of effective resolution.
The CTA already came up with its own 4k logo in 2014 and is now building on that with the 8k logo. According to the organization, it has now also succeeded in bringing together major companies from the video sector to draft and approve the official designation for 8k screens. The CTA is a US trade organization that is said to represent the US consumer technology sector worth $398 billion. According to the CTA, it has 2,200 member companies, eighty percent of which are small businesses and start-ups.
The CTA will probably have to compete with a similar logo of the 8K Association founded this year with its logo. This organization is yet to come with its own logo and previously published its own minimum specifications for 8k TVs. The specifications of the two organizations do not differ greatly, although the 8K Association does, for example, mention a codec to be used for video compression, namely hvec; the CTA says nothing about that. The 8K Association was formed by Samsung, Panasonic, AU Optronics, Hisense and TCL and recently joined Innolux, Intel, Novatek, Samsung Display, Tencent, V-Silicon and Xperi. LG and Sony are currently missing from the list.