If you’re one of the few people who has actually bought an 8K TV set in the last few years, you’re probably aware that there’s not a whole lot of content available to watch on it.
Or at least, not 8K content anyway, because no streaming provider supports it, Blu-ray discs don’t exist, and there are very few other ways to get it. What little that does exist is limited to a few YouTube channels, but even that stuff is really just designed to show the kind of quality we ‘might’ one day enjoy in our living rooms.
Fortunately, one of Hollywood’s biggest studios is looking to do something about this situation. While no promises are being made, Warner Bros. has said it has scanned more than 20 of its best-known films in 8K resolution.
A report in FlatPanels HD says Warner Bros. talked about what it has been doing at this week’s NAB 2025 event in Las Vegas, saying that some of the movies it scanned in 8K were originally shot on 70mm film. In doing this, it now has “the option” to release them in 8K resolution later.
The caveat here is that Warner Bros. hasn’t said it will definitely release the titles in 8K, and it also hasn’t revealed which titles were scanned. So at this stage it’s just a possibility.
One question Warner Bros. will need to answer is how to deliver that 8K content to people’s living rooms, so they can enjoy it in all of its high-resolution glory, but it’s not clear how it will do this.
Physical media discs are unlikely. Blu-ray discs currently only support 4K resolution content and, given the dwindling sales of these products, there are no plans to expand the technology to support 8K.
The main way people access content these days is through streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, but these services don’t stream 8K content and have never announced an intention to do so. That’s likely because any 8K media they stream probably won’t be all that great. They have this habit of using compressed video formats to stream content quickly in real-time to users with minimal buffering, but these compression techniques come at a cost, impacting things like colour accuracy.
If Netflix et al are going to stream 8K media, they’ll do it at enormous bitrates, which will likely make the picture quality suffer even more. So whatever advantage you get from higher pixel density will likely be wiped out.
That may explain why a company called Kaleidescape is making moves towards 8K resolution. The company sells high-end movie streaming players and servers that connect to its online content store, downloading content in reference quality – surpassing even Blu-ray discs. The basic premise is that you download the movies first, save them on your server, and then watch them without any problems caused by buffering and latent connections etc.
Just last week, Kaleidescape revealed that it has become the latest member of the 8K Association, and aims to play a “pivotal role” in the future of premium home cinema.
Kaleidescape’s promise of reference quality 8K content is compelling, but the downside is that its products are extremely expensive. Although, the kind of person who can afford to buy an 8K television is likely to have some spare change lying around.
In any case, it seems that Kaleidescape has noticed that there’s an enormous gap that needs to be filled if 8K is going to become standard for home entertainment. And it offers one of the most promising solutions, outside of the arrival of 8K Blu-rays, which is something that seems highly unlikely at this stage.
A solution is needed because the complete lack of any 8K content worth watching has blunted the enthusiasm of most TV makers. Last month, Sony Corp. admitted that it doesn’t plan to launch any new 8K televisions for the foreseeable future, while LG Electronics hasn’t announced any new 8K models for more than three years.
Samsung continues to announce new 8K models each year, but it’s now almost alone in its persistence, aside from a handful of Chinese brands.
It’s quite possible that Samsung is encouraging Warner Bros. behind the scenes, having previously worked with the studio to create 8K trailers for films including Aquaman, Barbie, Blue Beetle, Dune: Part Two, Lost Kingdom and Wonka.
