8K Generates Excitement at CEDIA 2025
The 8K Association recently attended the CEDIA trade show. There is lots of detailed coverage on our 8K Association website (we have a new ‘Events’ summary page) and on our YouTube channel, but we thought it would be useful to summarize what we got up to as it was a great event for the Association.
The 8K Pavillion
The Association had its own ‘8K Pavillion‘ with support from a number of members and partners. The last event before CEDIA where we had our own booth was at NAB in April 2025. At the CEDIA event, we added several new logos including Warner Bros, MGM, Epson and Kaleidescape. The first two are, of course, known for their high quality content and along with IMAX, the Pavillion allowed us to show 8K content from scanned archive titles that were originally captured on film.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- West Side Story (1961)
- Three IMAX films – “Destiny in Space”, “Fires of Kuwait” and “Journey to the South Pacific”
All the titles looked spectacular with amazing levels of detail. In a panel session, executives from Warner Bros and IMAX went into detail about their archiving strategy and processes. We wrote about this panel session in detail on the 8K Association website.
Although 8K sceptics are fond of saying that ‘you can’t see the difference in 8K’, it costs more in time and money to archive and store in 8K than in lower resolutions, so these companies don’t do it unless you really can see the difference. In the case of Warner Bros, they have archived around 37 titles in 8K. Each of these was viewed and tested in 4K and 8K to ensure there was a benefit (sometimes the choice of lenses and film stock means a less than pristine image to start with). Warner Bros wants to preserve its priceless content in the best possible quality. IMAX is keen on saying that it has been ‘preparing for 8K for 50 years’ because of the large film format that it uses.
New Content Also Shown
The Pavillion also included demonstrations of new 8K content from Savage Studios, The Explorers and others. 4BY4 was showing its AI-based technology for upscaling to 8K and boosting video quality. Content distribution specialists, BZBGear, AVPro and AudioQuest showed their devices for connecting your home theater system. They all took part in a panel that highlighted that there is really not a great cost adder to boosting signal distribution in the home to 8K over the cost of 4K. However, doing so ensures that you are ‘future ready’.
Spin Digital, which was part of the project with Intel to stream the Paris Olympics in 8K in 2024, showed its VVC codec which can compress 8K content very effectively while maintaining very high image quality. We talked about 8K gaming, which was first shown in 120Hz at NAB 2025 in collaboration with Samsung and AMD. Astrodesign of Japan showed its 8K 120Hz camera that can capture the high frame rates that some are looking for.
Displays and Processors Move to 8K
There was a display hardware panel that included Epson, JVC, Kaleidescape and Samsung. JVC showed its 8K projector and the booth featured many of Samsung’s 8K TVs. On its own booth, JVC had a very impressive demonstration of its 8K D-ILA-based projector. Although neither Epson nor Kaleidescape have made any 8K product announcements, both are involved with the standards setting activities of the Association. That’s an important part of the work of the group, to ensure that products are ‘up to scratch’ and to allow buyers to be confident in the interoperability of 8K devices.
Elsewhere at the show, Quantum Pro Cinema, which works closely with Kaleidescape, highlighted that its LED processing systems are uniquely able to show 8K content and also DCI 4K content. Lumagen was talking about its developments of the Artisan 8K video processor and MadVR Labs talked about its latest Envy Core processor. Both companies acknowledged the technology and scale available to TV makers such as Samsung in developing video processing, but emphasized that TV makers are severely constrained in the hardware that they can use by the economics of the TV business. This allows dedicated high power processors to continue to offer videophile performance up to 8K.
Dealers and Integrators Were Not Forgotten
The right dealer or integrator can make the difference between a great home theater and one that disappoints, so we held a special session for them to set out the advantages of ensuring buyers are future ready for 8K.
All in all, the 8K Pavillion really drew the attention of consumers, dealers and brands that are active in the high end home cinema space.
