Upscaling
Video signals are delivered to your TV in a variety of formats and pixel resolutions. Following are some of the common video pixel sizes:
In the image below you can see how the above video pixel resolutions would map to an 8K screen without Advanced Upscaling:
If the incoming signal to an 8K display is 8K resolution no upscaling is needed. However, if incoming video signal is lower resolution than the display resolution, upscaling is needed to bridge the pixel gap.
For example, if the incoming signal is 4K resolution and we have an 8K display, then every pixel must be upscaled to fill four pixels on the 8K display. If the incoming signal is FHD resolution, then each FHD pixel needs to be scaled to fill 16 pixels on the 8K displays. For a HD signal, each pixel must be upscaled to fill 36 pixels on the 8K display.
Core Upscaling Technologies
Upscaling technology varies from simple to very complex and the more pixels the algorithm must create, the more sophisticated the requirement. There are three basic types of upscaling technology.
Duplication
In this case each of the incoming pixels is copied to create the additional pixels needed in the display. Such approaches actually maintain the resolution of the incoming signal on the higher resolution display and add little value.
Nearest Neighbor
This approach looks at the colors and brightness of the pixels that are all around it to create the additional pixels needed for the higher resolution display. There are multiple ways to do this and it is a common approach in TVs today.
AI (Artificial Intelligence)-Assisted
Here, artificial intelligence techniques are used to generate the needed pixels. The most common approach is to use a machine learning technique that classifies certain types of objects (faces, cars, trees, etc.) compares high- and low-resolution images using computers to evaluate millions of samples to provide a higher level of upscaling and pixel generation. This is now been implemented on 8K TVs.
Advanced AI Upscaling
Sources
Upscaling is critical to generate the best picture quality on 8K TVs – especially when the source is lower resolution content. We encourage you to head to an 8K TV retailer and ask your salesperson to display lower resolution content on an 8K TV to see how incredible it looks.
