Sharp to sell first 8K TV this October

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Japan's Sharp Corporation will be selling limited 8K ("Super Hi-Vision") televisions next month.

According to Fortune, 8K refers to the television's screen resolution. It has been dubbed as "Super Hi-Vision" because it has a display of 7,680 pixels by 4,320 pixels, the highest of display resolution of any TV existing in the market.

If you're planning to purchase the limited TV models (LV-85001) with the 8K technology, it can be yours for only 16 million yen or roughly $130,000. The sales of the televisions will begin on Oct. 30 and the first to get the limited sets are Japanese TV and video production companies. Sharp's 8K televisions for consumers are estimated to be sold in 2018.

Before 8k, there used to only be 4K and 1080 pixels. Sharp's "super hi-vision" technology is allegedly 16 times more powerful than 1080p. According to BBC, the resolution is so powerful that it enables images to look three-dimensional.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Sharp is the second after China's BOE Technology Group to create and sell 8K tech monitors. The company is expecting to rake in 2 billion to 3 billion yen from the tech after their first year from broadcast. In addition to broadcast, the 8K monitors can be used to help surgeons in the operating room. The high resolution display will allow them to see more clearly especially in surgeries that require microsutures. It can also be used in museums as well.

An expert told BBC that the technology would not garner much interest among the common folk until 2020.

"We're not expecting 8K TVs targeted at consumers to be released until at least 2016, and we don't expect they will cross one million units until after 2019," Abhi Mallick of IHS Technology told BBC. He added that Japan's NHK Company has put it in their orders.

Mallick also explains that Japanese people have space-efficient homes which mean they have smaller televisions that might not be ideal for 8K televisions. However, 4K sets could work but manufacturers need to make them more appealing so that families would buy it.

"Japan's a region in which the average size of TVs sold tends to be smaller, and we think the minimum size 8K TVs would be sold at would be 65in," he said.

According to another analyst, the 8K technology could be useful for marketers.

"The attraction will be for commercial applications–video walls and things like that," Tech consultant Chris Green from Davies Murphy Group told the outlet. "8K screens could offer a very interesting video alternative to today's shop window and billboard displays - which show static advertising - because their extreme clarity means they can show lots of text and would be as readable as a poster."