Finding 8K Content
8K TVs Deserve 8K Video Content
For the ultimate in home-entertainment immersion, nothing can beat native 8K content displayed on an 8K Association Certified 8K TV. Like premium-quality fuel for a high-performance sports car, true native 8K video content will power your home theater to deliver astounding entertainment experiences with super-resolution and real immersion.
We admit, it’s not yet as simple as flipping to any TV channel to find beautiful 8K resolution content. But with just a little planning, there are lots of ways to deliver the sharpest 8K resolution video sources to your big-screen 8K TV.
Main Sources of 8K Content
From streaming services, video games and even videos that you can capture with your own 8K camera, there are many ways to go full 8K at home. Read on to learn more.
8K Streaming
The Wonders of the Natural World in 8K:
If you love footage of scenes from nature and beautiful crisp landscapes from all over the world, then 8K content found on YouTube will be right up your alley. You’ll feel like you took a virtual trip around the globe after a watching the wonders of the natural world captured natively in the sharpest 8K resolution! Many of the 8K content creators that post on YouTube use the most up-to-date technology and strive to deliver the most realistic and cinematic experience possible today, especially when viewed in HDR!
8K Streaming
Without doubt, streaming delivers the widest variety of 8K content available today. With global streaming services such as YouTube, Vimeo and more unleashing 8K video streams, big-screen 8K TVs around the world can instantly enjoy the sharpest 8K videos streamed over high-speed network connections.
To ensure an 8K video stream is truly delivered in 8K resolution all the way from the content creator to the 8K screen, check with your TV make to ensure that the streaming service integrated in your TV is capable of decoding 8K resolution streams. If the integrated streaming service in your 8K TV isn’t up to receiving 8K streams, there are other options. A useful alternative for decoding 8K streaming services is with the help of a beefed-up desktop computer or powerful gaming laptop. (See FAQs for help with connection details). YouTube, in particular, has a significant amount of beautiful native 8K content that’s available to stream to your 8K television today:
8K Association Entertainment Playlist
MEGOGO 8K Streaming for Eastern Europe (more info)
The Explorers 8K Streaming content for TCL and Samsung 8K TVs (more info)
8K Video Gaming
Why a Certified Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable?
To view native game content in 8K resolution on an 8K Association Certified TV, you’ll need an Ultra High Speed HDMI cable. The certification ensures the cable has the ability to pass these signals without any loss.
8K Video Gaming:
Capturing the beauty of the natural world or delivering drama from a movie director’s film set are great ways to put the more than 33 million pixels of 8K resolution to work. But with 4 times the resolution of 4K video, video game fans are just as excited to see their favorite game titles displayed on big-screen 8K TVs. Powerful gaming PCs are plenty capable of playing the growing number of PC game titles with support for 8K resolution that are available today. Getting 8K gameplay out of a PC and onto an 8K display at the highest resolutions can still sometimes be challenging. As more PCs begin to adopt the newer HDMI standards that are required in 8K Association Certified TVs, the delivery of 8K games to big-screen 8K TVs will become easier as new PC hardware is released. (See FAQs for help with connection details).
The current generation of the most powerful gaming consoles have the capacity to support 8K, although it has only been implemented so far in the PlayStation 5 Pro. Gamers will be hoping that the next generation will bring that level of performance to players.
8K Personal Videos
Recording 8K Video on Your 8K Phone For YouTube?
Make sure that you are recording your video at the highest quality possible in your camera settings. For uploading to YouTube, it’s recommended that you shoot at 24 or 30fps. 60fps or more is good for if you are going to shoot something and slow it down in your editing app. Make sure you render your video at the highest quality possible. Finally, open the YouTube app, go to settings, and choose ‘Full Quality’ in your upload quality.
8K Personal Videos
Quick, check your pocket. If you have one of the latest flagship mobile phones from several leading brands, you might already be an 8K content creator. Many of the top-performing mobile phones released in 2020 can already capture video up to 8K resolution. By the summer of 2024, there were over 200 smartphone models that had been launched with 8K video capture.
Having a mobile phone that can capture video memories with friends and family with exceptional 8K resolution clarity brings a powerful way to preserve and share amazingly detailed videos or photos.
8K resolution capability isn’t limited to phone cameras. There are growing numbers of mainstream video and digital still cameras available that can capture and output 8K resolution. So as you are planning to find true 8K content to power your 8K home theater viewing, don’t forget that it’s increasingly easy to create an 8K video on your own, either with a flagship phone camera or one of the latest dedicated cameras targeted at the home user.
8K Live TV & Sports
Did You Know?
Did you know some of the most important sporting events have been partially captured in 8K for the last 4 years?
8K Live TV and Sports:
Streaming, video gaming and shooting your own 8K content are all great ways to enjoy the incredible performance of 8K resolution content. Of course, for TV owners, live television broadcasts are the most traditional and still among the most popular video sources. So what about live TV broadcasts in 8K – is it possible to enjoy live 8K broadcasts to any 8K TV?
Yes, there are live 8K television broadcasts available today, but the regions that have access to these broadcasts are limited for now. For example, the largest broadcaster in Japan, NHK, has a dedicated channel for 8K content that was first launched in 2018 and is now available to homes throughout Japan. With movies, TV shows and coverage of major sporting events, NHK’s BS8K channel is an excellent source of live 8K content for 8K TV owners in Japan. Major TV channel operators in other global regions have been experimenting with 8K content distribution. Intel recently demonstrated live streamed 8K from the Paris Olympics to multiple locations around the world. Stay tuned for new announcements of major live sporting events coming in 8K and on the availability of other live 8K TV content to be distributed in other regions.
Upscaled Content
Upscaling Expectations:
For the best 8K upscaling quality, start with the highest-resolution and highest-quality video content available. While an 8K Association Certified TV can upscale content from most standard video resolutions and the advanced 8K upscaling technologies can deliver impressive results from lower-resolution content, starting with a higher-quality and higher-resolution source will always produce a better-quality 8K upscaling. Native 8K videos will always look best, and even 4K or high-def videos that are upscaled to 8K can look impressive on an 8K Association Certified TV, yet don’t expect that an old VHS video tape or shaky cell-phone video displayed on an 8K TV will suddenly reveal previously unseen detail and clarity. An 8K Association Certified TV features a powerful upscaling engine that will produce great performance with just about any resolution video. Just don’t forget to feed your 8K TV’s engine some of the best quality content to see the best display possible.
Upscaled Content
Videos that are natively created, edited and distributed to TVs in pure 8K resolution will always provide the best quality 8K viewing experience. But there will continue to be lots of video content produced and distributed in lower resolution formats in the years ahead. Just as nearly all big-screen TVs available for sale today offer 4K screen resolution, but not all video content available to those TVs is natively produced in 4K resolution, 8K TV owners will be watching lots of lower-resolution video content for years to come that will be upscaled by their 8K TV.
So although video content that is upscaled to 8K resolution can’t match the detail and quality found in “native” 8K video content, upscaled 8K content will continue to be one of the most important video sources of 8K content in the years ahead.
In the Advanced Upscaling section of this website, there is an excellent introduction to how 8K upscaling technology can intelligently deliver a picture quality experience that can exceed the quality of the original lower-resolution content.
Created in 8K:
Today, more and more content is being captured in 8K and higher resolutions to harness as much detail and dynamic range as possible. Broad distribution of 8K content remains limited. It is a challenge similar to what HD and 4K UHD faced years ago where there were displays which supported the resolution but limited content. However, the 8K ecosystem is advancing steadily, with 8K technology becoming more integrated throughout the production process, paving the way for a future of high-quality 8K content. In the meantime, current 8K TVs with advanced AI upscaling features can deliver an impressive 8K experience from HD and 4K UHD content. Stay tuned as we start to see more 8K content becoming available.
