First look: LG 8K OLED TV

There’s nothing like a world’s first to get the juices flowing at IFA 2018 and perhaps the most stunning so far is LG’s mysterious 8K OLED TV. 

We say it’s mysterious as when we got our eyes on it at a special show event, it was hard to gauge just what the panel will look like in the home. 

Unlike the Samsung Q900R 8K QLED TV, which was happily showcased in all its glory, the LG 8K OLED TV was mounted, and sunk, into a wall. This didn’t detract, however, from just how beautiful the screen looked. 

LG 8K OLED TV screen specs

This screen is packed with pixels. In all it has a 7,680 x 4,320-pixel resolution - that’s 33 million pixels and some change. The pixel density meant that no matter from which angle we viewed the screen, the picture clarity was jaw dropping.

On the demo we saw, it showed off what 2K, 4K and 8K footage looked on the screen, clearly demonstrating that 8K footage is only for the really (really) big screen. 

In short, it doesn't make much sense to have an 8K set that's below the 80-inch mark.

Achievement unlocked

When it was announced, LG called the 8K OLED TV the “pinnacle of technological achievement and the next evolutionary step in display technology” and under the bright glare of the IFA show floor this is hard to argue. 

But argue people will, not about the quality but the format, as many are just getting accustomed to 4K and the audiovisual goodness this brings. 

4K is certainly growing in adoption but there’s still a tussle between the standards that make 4K ping. Panasonic revealed at IFA 2018 that HDR10+ was ready to hit the mainstream, while Dolby Vision is still pushing hard to make its standard the, er, standard. 

The likes of Netflix, Amazon and even Blu-ray are bristling with 4K at the moment, but this format is by no means near its end point - in fact, it still feels close to the beginning of its shelf life. But now we have 8K. 

LG may have no word on price or date for its panel but 8K is here wowing the IFA crowd. That means yet another way to watch Jurassic Park is looming, which will no doubt make your eyeballs happy, but your wallet less so.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.
• Do we really need 8K TVs yet?

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