Podcast #962: Do You need 8K? Spoiler Alert… the answer is No!

This week we ask whether Allen should open his factory sealed Empire Strikes Back VHS tape so he can digitize it. We also breakout sales of the top 10 selling discs by format, Finally we make a case for not buying an 8K TV just yet. We also read your emails and take a look at the news on an action packed episode!!

Question of the Day

Question of the day comes from Allen -   I have an original VHS copy of Empire Strikes Back, it is still shrink-wrapped.  Is it worth opening to digitize and add to my @plex server?  

Ara’s answer - Yes! Preserve it before its unwatchable. What say all of you? I found an unopened 1990’s original on eBay for $22 shipped.

Lee Overstreet - As someone who does a lot of analog digitization, I'd say only bother if you have the right equipment and know what you're doing to get the most out of it.  i.e.: High end preferably S-VHS VCR, TBC, lossless capture codec, chroma/luma adjust, etc.  No cheap composite doohickeys.

Bill S - Since it's a VHS it would be the original before all the enhancements. I'd go with digitizing it before the tape degrades.

Graham Cole - eBay it

Scott Foseen - No,  shrink wrapped it is worth more as a collector's item.  If you want it on plex buy a new disk instead

DJ from the Brightside HT Podcast - I would keep that on display until the day I die.  As far as I’m concerned it’s priceless and isn’t worth anything because I’d never sell it. It has to be pretty rare and some thing that unique is a pretty cool item to have.  Congratulations!

Top 10 Sellers for Week Ended 8-1-20 Broken out by Format

Source - NPD VideoScan First Alert (based on unit sales from reporting retailers)

Note - In the original numbers, NPD VideoScan considered UHD a Blu-ray version and added it  to the Bluray Share for each title. We subtracted the UHD share from the NPD VideoScan Bluray numbers in the table below

Title UHD BR DVD

10) The Secret Life of Pets 0.1% 1.9% 97.9%

9) NCIS (S7) 0 0 100

8) Jurassic World 0 7 93

7) Top Gun 8 25 67

6) Jaws 13 5 82

5) Capone 0 44 56

4) The Mule 0.4 7.6 92

3) Sonic the Hedgehog 9 41 50

2) Trolls World Tour 6 45 49

1) Scoob! 5 38 57

Full list of 20 here…

Do You need 8K? Spoiler Alert… the answer is No!

Pixel Counts for HDTV Formats

720p 1,280x720 921,600

1080p 1,920x1,080 2,073,600

4K 3,840x2,160 8,294,400

8K 7,680x4,320 33,177,600

Viewing Distances where Resolution is Noticeable

So does resolution matter for your viewing distance? For this discussion we will look at a screen size of 75 inches and how resolution impacts the viewing experience. This is information from Carlton Bale and based on the resolving ability of the human eye. He states:  A person with 20/20 vision can resolve 60 pixels per degree, which corresponds to recognizing the letter “E” on the 20/20 line of a Snellen eye chart from 20 feet away. He created a chart showing, for any given screen size, how close you need to sit to be able to detect some or all of the benefits of a higher resolution screen.  We link to his entire analysis here (Screen Size vs. Viewing Distance vs. Resolution).  His analysis does not cover 8K but you will be able to draw your conclusions from looking at his work anyway. 

At 22 feet (6.7M) 480p=720p=1080p=4K

At 15 feet (4.5M) you can tell that 480p is lower quality but 720p=1080p=4K

At 10 feet (3.0M) you can tell that both 480p and 720p are lower quality but 1080p=4K

At 5 feet  (1.5M) you can tell that 480p, 720p, and 1080p are lower quality

Who sits this close to a 75 inch TV? Most people sit anywhere from 10 to 15 feet from their TVs. Many sit farther. Ara’s media room is 13.5 feet (4M) from his 90 inch screen. According to Bale Ara can’t see the difference in resolution between 1080p and 4K. As it turns out Ara would need a screen size greater than 140 inches to see any benefit from resolution.

Of course newer TVs with higher resolutions usually come with other enhancements like HDR, better color, and contrast. Although a 720p TV is good enough resolution for many, these TVs do not have the better and more important feature enhancements of wide color and HDR making the image look far worse. 

Someday all you will be able to buy are 8K TVs. Will that alone have any perceived improvement on your viewing experience? Most likely not. However, there will probably be other improvements that will make buying an 8K TV worth it. But that’s not the case today. Save your money and buy a high quality 4K TV and understand that 4K is not the most important feature of your TV. 

Of course there is the issue with finding 8K content. Is there any? Will the studios start filming in 8K? There is definitely some 8K content out there but as we said earlier. It doesn’t matter to the human eye.

Possible uses for 8K TVS

• Large Video Wall that can display multiple 1080P or 4K screens simultaneously
• A huge computer screen
• I got nothing else!