8K? Sounds great, but... where's all the content?

A few years ago, 8K was meant to be the next big step in the evolution of home cinema. TVs with four times the resolution of 4K hit the stores, but... the content has remained elusive. You can only find a few showcase videos of Icelandic landscapes on YouTube at most. Enthusiasm has waned, and many producers have started to pull back from further investments in this segment.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is making a move that could change everything...

The studio has scanned over 20 hits in 8K

During this year's NAB 2025 trade show in Las Vegas, Warner Bros. (the studio known for hits like Barbie (2023), Dune (2021–2024), and the Harry Potter series (2001–2011)) announced that it has scanned over 20 classic films in 8K resolution. Many of them were shot on 70 mm film, so the potential quality is enormous. Theoretically – because the studio has not yet revealed which titles are involved and is not promising any releases at this point. For now, we are dealing more with an option than a concrete plan. But it is still significantly more than what the competition offers.

How to deliver 8K to our living rooms?

And this is where the challenges begin. Currently, Blu-ray ends at 4K, and streaming – although convenient – relies on heavy compression that undermines the advantages of higher resolution. Services like Netflix and Prime Video do not even have plans to implement 8K. At least not for now. Moreover, even if they decide to take such a step in the future, it will mean enormous bandwidth requirements that not all networks can support. Not to mention the need for an appropriate display or projector, which only a few home cinema enthusiasts can afford.

Kaleidescape and high-end dreams

A possible hope may be the company Kaleidescape – not well-known, but specialised in streaming films in reference quality, which is better than Blu-ray discs. Their solution involves downloading the film onto a local server and playing it back offline, without compression and buffering. It sounds great, but costs like a used or sometimes even a new car – it is a product for the most demanding cinephiles. The company recently announced that it plans to implement 8K resolution in its new devices.

Is it enough to save 8K?

Interest in 8K has clearly waned. Sony announced that it has no plans for new 8K models, while LG has been silent on the matter for three years. Essentially, only Samsung is sticking firmly and presents new televisions in this resolution every year. It is no secret that it is Samsung that may have inspired Warner Bros., with which it previously collaborated on creating 8K trailers for films such as Barbie or Dune: Part Two.

Source: flatpanelshd.com