Sharp Debuts AQUOS 8K TV To Make You Forget About Your Antique Low Res 4K Set

Those rapscallions over at Sharp have gone and made the shiny new 4K TV in your living room obsolete with the launch of its new 8K TV set. The AQUOS 8K TV is the first 8K resolution TV in the world, with some caveats, and you can't even buy it in the U.S. The TV is only to be offered in Japan, China, Taiwan, and Europe. Chinese hi-res TV fans can buy the set in October.

In Japan, the AQUOS 8K Series 8k compatible TVs will land in December and Taiwan gets them in February of 2018. European fans will need to wait until March 2018. Sharp says that the 8K TV has 16 times the resolution of Full HD images.

Sharp writes in the press release, "It [8K TV] reproduces images at ultimate reality, with ultra-fine details even the naked eye cannot capture. Apart from displaying TV broadcasts and other media contents, 8K will dramatically impact many aspects of our lives: medicine, business, security, signage etc."

The PR about the 70-inch Aquos 8K TV doesn't mention anything about contrast ratios and other hard specifications. It's also unclear if the 8K TV is able to upscale 4K or HD content into 8K resolution. The big question that many people are wondering is exactly how much will a 70-inch 8K TV cost. Sharp has made no official announcement on price, but Nikkei Asian Review has stated that the TV will start at a million yen, which is about $9,000.

That is a lot of cash for a TV, but much less than you might expect. There is no word on a U.S. release for the TV right now. 

Now, about those caveats I mentioned before, Sharp defines its "world's first" thusly, "As of August 31, 2017 (based on Sharp research). [8K-compatible LCD TVs] For consumer-use LCD TVs having an HDMI input port for 8K and an LCD panel with resolution required for 8K (7,680 x 4,320 pixels). The TV alone is not equipped to receive 4K/8K broadcasts via BS/110° CS digital broadcasting. [8K displays] For consumer-use video displays having an HDMI input port for 8K and an LCD panel with resolution required for 8K (7,680 x 4,320 pixels)."