Holy Grail of LCD TV Brightness: Sony 8K 10,000 nit Prototype

[amirm]

Yes, another prototype that won't come to market but nevertheless, it is groundbreaking to see a real product outputting 10,000 nits. To put things in context, your computer monitor is probably in 200 nits range and typical TV around 300 to 350. High Dynamic Range (HDR) sets go up to 1,000 or so. Getting up to 10,000 takes things to a completely different level. As mentioned by Vincent in this video, it provides the full dynamic range needed. Without it, some kind of curve (tone mapping) needs to be applied to compress the dynamic range of the content.

Power consumption, heat, etc. are major challenges to overcome before production. But it does point the way to where we will be going with ultra bright, ultra colorful, ultra dynamic range displays.

 

[amirm]

Oh, the starting sequence is Intel's "drone swarm" that the Bellagio hotel fountains. Some 300 drones with lights played 100% synchronized aerial dances. Will find and post a better video on that later.

 

[Candlesticks]

So 10,000 nit peak.

Most LCD TVs at the moment are capable of a much higher peak brightness than OLED but can't sustain it for long.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/c7-oled

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/samsung/ks9500

 

[amirm]

Yes, I find the dynamic limiting annoying in my LG OLED also. You don't get a consistent picture over time.

 

[RayDunzl]

Being ignint about nits, I had to look, found this easy reading reference:

https://www.lifewire.com/understanding-nits-lumens-brightness-4125499

Still needing something with which to compare "10,000" nits:

"bright sunlight provides an illuminance of approximately 98 000 lux"

Convert nits to lux:

"Multiply the nits value by π ("pi"): 3.14159"

10,000 nits = 31,415 lux

"Human factors studies have shown that the eye perceives light in a logarithmic manner, mathematically speaking, in an approximately squared power relationship. Figure 1 illustrates this relationship."

So...

That TV registers on your eyeball as about 55% as bright as sunlight.

Maybe.

 

[amirm]

You will definitely feel the heat at 10,000 nits. Sunburn is also a possibility.

 

[RayDunzl]

Does the TV outperform film and/or video cameras?

If so, what is there to watch?

 

[Palladium]

I'll just wait for the early adopters to pay their HDR taxes while I wait for the tech and content to go mainstream. I find it pretty hard to move up from a dirt cheap 1080p set.

 

[amirm]

HDR requirement has certainly juiced up TV development. Indeed this is the fastest, most impressive advancement I have seen in LCD technology after years of stagnation when 1080p was achieved. Recession drove cost cutting instead of innovation. And what innovation there was then was priced at $7,000+.

 

[cjfrbw]

I can understand the goals of digital photography pushing forward to HDR standards that allow extremely bright highlights and perfect tone mapping. However, the "romance" of a projected image in home media still relies a bit on impressionism, which to me is still very OK with nits at less than a thousand.

Even my OLED tv can sting my eyes a bit at times in a darkened room with brightness. I don't want to wear sunglasses to watch media at night, I enjoy the mesmerizing suggestiveness of my larger projector on a 120 inch screen.

 

[amirm]

Yes, I too find use of HDR annoying at times. It seems like when 3-D was introduced and there were so much exaggerated usage of it. It immediately takes you out of a movie. I don't need to see super shiny chrome in a car for example unless there is a reason for it.

 

[garbulky]

Wow!!!
So a few questions: in brief what is tone mapping? Is there a benefit to not needing it? This means it's in a way exactly as the dynamic range of real life right?
Is there a format that doesn't need to use tone mapping or a format where you can actually capture this dynamic range right now or something upcoming?
Are there cameras capable digital or otherwise of reproducing this dynamic range for the tv to display?
Does better dynamic range mean better more realistic color reproduction? (The brightness of each color or something?)
Can the current HDMI standards output this level of brightness?
Finally what kind of power supply or consumption is needed to be able to produce this? Can you make it work out of a regular outlet?
Either way the answers are exciting.

 

[amirm]

So a few questions: in brief what is tone mapping?

You need tone mapping when you have too incompatible color/brightness domains. Imagine if one format allows a bit more yellow than another. But has less red. How do you translate from one to the other?

The reason we have this problem is that production of video often uses different standards than consumer or cinema. So conversion is necessary. Same is true of photography by the way.

 

[garbulky]

You need tone mapping when you have too incompatible color/brightness domains. Imagine if one format allows a bit more yellow than another. But has less red. How do you translate from one to the other?

The reason we have this problem is that production of video often uses different standards than consumer or cinema. So conversion is necessary. Same is true of photography by the way.

So if 10,000 nits became a standard we could eliminate the compatibility issue right?

 

[amirm]

Yes.

 

[garbulky]

This kind of thing gets me excited!

 

[Wombat]

This kind of thing gets me excited!

Stop it or you will go blind.

 

[restorer-john]

Amazing brightness! Well, that brightness has to come from somewhere.

You power bill will skyrocket and our earth will get hotter with greenhouse gases, all because we want something as bright as the sun inside? You can go outside and enjoy it for free.

I'll get excited when you can paint any wall with special, multilayered paint and turn it into a giant TV.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Gives me an idea. Why not use a light pipe of some sort to use the sun as the light source in a projector unit. Of course those LCD type projectors will probably yellow in a hurry that way.

 

[Rod]

Still using my Pioneer Elite Pro-FPJ1 Kuro projector from 2009. There is plenty of brightness(600 lumens) even in these projectors if you fix up the room correctly. For example- no window light, black ceilings, brown walls, dark carpets(like theaters do). I am not looking forward to the day that I have to replace.