I'm one of those "niche" cases that likes to see progress. Won't be jumping on board immediately, but when the time comes to replace my current setup, I'll opt for 8k, naturally. 🎶 🖥
I barely watch 4k content on my 4k TV, why would I want an 8k TV? Most streaming services only do 720p anyway unless you pay a ton extra and the stars align, and even then you're probably only getting 1080p. Video game consoles kinda struggle with framerates at 4k as well.
So why bother? Give me more video inputs, better displays, and less spyware, not more pixels.
I recommend a receiver. Then you only need one video input on the TV (and as long as it has ARC or eARC, if you DO have additional inputs on the TV their sound can still come through the receiver).
The audio improvements are more impressive than the video improvements but they’re niche
8k is a boring upgrade. We’ve officially reached the point where pixel density is like “well that looks better but only a little”. 1080p was dramatic, 4k was solid, 8k is eh
The audio improvements are really for people who have external sound processing and want ultra low latency. This is cool but again only impacts really niche use scenarios. They use the example of AVR and headphones. I will use the example of gaming with an avr and games that rely on on low latency sound like bemani/rhythm games.
I have an avr and playing rhythm games on it requires calibration every time, and often changing settings about muting player sounds so I don’t disorient myself with sounds that are triggered late by my own playing. The game I’m currently into shows an audio delay of just over .1ms with the calibration tool, mostly imperceptible for media watching and playing easy songs but a nightmare on hard difficulties.
Certainly not worth upgrading my tv, avr, and cabling though
The one place where I think 8K and up is really gonna matter is VR, when you’ve got pixels inches away from your eyes, but that tech is still niche and a long-term work in progress (Apple jumped the gun trying to make it mainstream too soon). 4K and HDR are great, but 1080p really does still look good even on a big TV.
Also, I’m the biggest freak in the world about input latency but even in the craziest rhythm games, there is no possible way just over 0.1ms of lag is screwing you up unless you are an actual machine. That’s 1/10,000th of a second! Guessing you either meant .1 second or you’re Skynet.
How is improving the specs of a standard a scam? It's not like a phone that entices people to buy them with new "features" of questionable utility. Cables are boring! Most people don't buy HDMI cables for fun; they probably only buy them when they get a new device or when an existing cable dies. And even then, who is going to shell out for an expensive version of a cable that they won't utilize its capabilities? Most people buy whatever is cheapest.
I will probably still be using 1080P in 10 years. I've had a 4K TV for a long time and still don't have any 4K content.
The only thing I would like 8K for is a computer monitor for CAD, but that certainly won't be using HDMI.