UHD, 4K and 8K – What is the connection?
Let’s talk about terminology first: UHD stands for Ultra High Definition. The “K” in 4K and 8K for the number thousand. Below in the text we explain you what this is all about.
The term UHD includes two different resolutions. One of them is UHD-1, the other UHD-2. The former one has a resolutions of 3840 × 2160 pixels and stands for what is in the common language known as 4K. In cinemas 4K has another resolution, in fact 4096 × 2160 pixels. These 4096 horizontal pixels stand for the term 4K – which means 4-thousand.
UHD-2 or 8K – Not only dreams of the future
8K has twice the amount of both horizontal and vertical pixels than 4K. That leads to the fourfold amount of pixels – overall 33 million – and corresponds to a resolution of 7680 × 4320 pixels.
But not only does the resolution increase: The color range (WCG, Wider Color Gamut) and the contrast range (HDR, Higher Dynamic Range) extend, as well as the image repeat rate that goes up to a maximum of 120fps.
HDMI 2.1 – From 4K over 8K up to a resolution of 10K
Due to the data rate of 24 Gbit/s 8K needs a special cable that suits this requirement. In January 2017 the HDMI forum released the final specifications for a fitting cable. It is the successor of HDMI 2.0, which is simply called HDMI 2.1. With the support of a 48 Gbit/s data rate this cable makes 8K@60Hz possible and even exceeds the DisplayPort-standard that allows a data rate of 32 Gbit/s in its version 1.3 (see also “VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI – what’s the difference between these multimedia interfaces?”). By compressing the HDMI 2.1 cable even a resolution of 10.328 × 7.760, that’s 10K, is possible.
8K with Mini-PCs from spo-comm
At the moment we have two Mini-PCs in our product range that are able to play 8K content. One of them is our well-known Digital Signage player: The spo-book KUMO IV. This active cooled Mini-PC can play content in an 8K resolution due to its dedicated nVidia GTX 1060 graphics card with a VRAM of 6GB DDR5. The second Mini-PC is even the latest in our product range – the spo-book RUGGED GTX 1050 Ti. The system is equipped with a dedicated graphics card, too, and has furthermore a passive cooling system. As the PCs name suggests, the graphics card is an nVidia GTX 1050 Ti with a memory of 4GB and a VRAM up to 32GB high. At the same time four out of seven HDMI connectors make an 8K videowall possible.
That sounds interesting?
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##Configure your spo-book RUGGED GTX1050 Ti and test it for free!
