‘Computer, Enhance’: Inside Samsung’s Smart New 8K TV

Sure, you might have brought home a 4K television just last week. But there’s no stopping the march of progress, and Samsung is at the vanguard with this set. It’s an 8K panel—roughly 8,000 pixels wide and packing four times as many points of light as a 4K TV. Anyone with cash to burn can plop this 125-pound beast onto a stout pedestal and be engulfed by the 85-inch display. And while 8K content is rarer than an albino wombat, over the next few years broadcasters should start screening sports and special events in the new format.

Samsung

Next-gen gaming consoles from the likes of Sony and Microsoft, due in 2020, should support near-lifelike 8K titles as well. While you wait for content to catch up, you can take advantage of this set’s AI engine to upscale what’s available now: Feed any 4K or HD video into the Q900R and it blows up the picture to occupy all 33.2 million pixels. Normally you’d lose some detail, but this AI fills in missing visual information with impressive results. Of course, the better the source, the better the output. Seinfeld reruns might look like an ugly baby in 8K, but Game of Thrones’ dragon sequences? Keep flammables a safe distance from the screen.

$15,000

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