In The 5G era, What is The 8K Opportunity in Engineering Display Industry

8K has become the "center" of innovation in the engineering display industry. In particular, the accelerated advancement of 5G infrastructure, the future mode of 3 Gigabit network transmission represented by 5G, optical fiber, and Wifi6, is driving the accelerated popularization of "Ultra HD". So, in this mode, where are the problems and opportunities of 8K?

LED Display, Never Fear 8K

"At present, the 8K concept is the most mature in the display product link!" Industry insiders said that the engineering display industry has been the first to meet various conditions for 8K applications. For example, from the perspective of single-screen products, whether it is a medium-sized LCD, a large-sized LCD, or a liquid crystal splicing unit, 8K-level products can be easily prepared-this is related to the lithography process characteristics of LCD products: Very good at Manufacturing with high PPI resolution.

However, for more large-size display projects, a single display device does not have the technical conditions and requirements of standard 8K. For example, projection fusion projects or DLP splicing products are still dominated by 2K units, and the proportion of 4K products is relatively limited. However, the unit resolution does not prevent the "full screen" from having a resolution of 8K or even higher. Especially with the development of mini-led displays, the number of products with a pitch of less than 1 mm is increasing. It is no longer an "engineering problem" to achieve a single 8K display on a display screen above 150 inches.

In this regard, industry insiders further pointed out that large-screen display systems generally "see farther away." This determines that such systems do not pursue "extremely high PPI resolution." For large engineering screens, 8K refers more to the "full screen resolution under the super-large display screen." Even if this is not the case, the industry more often needs 8K products of about 200 inches, rather than smaller 8K products.

In other words, relying on different technologies, such as edge fusion and splicing display, the engineering display industry can provide a full size line of "8K" presentation solutions ranging from a single LCD 8K display of 20 to 30 inches to a large 8K display of hundreds of inches.

Transmission, new power is forming

In the face of ultra-high-definition applications such as 8K, signal transmission will be an important technical link. However, from the perspective of a general internal network, the transmission of 8K signals through optical fibers, super Category 6 twisted pairs, and high-quality coaxial cables does not have the difficulty of "bandwidth". ——The difficulty of 8K transmission lies in the external network.

For example, the amount of 8K signal data is very large, and the traffic and bandwidth required for external network transmission are extremely high-which means "cost" changes.  At the same time, before 5G and WIFI6, the flexibility of long-distance transmission of the external network that relied on optical fiber was very poor, and the free application space was very low. ——Without 5G and WiFi6, 8K signals must be used in preset venues and conditions.

It can be seen that it is the birth and continuous popularization of 5G and WiFi6 that can change the "application popularization bottleneck" of 8K audiovisual products. Because new transmission methods such as 5G can be wirelessly applied flexibly, with high bandwidth, and high real-time performance, and the unit traffic cost decreases exponentially. Especially "5G private network for industry" is a very good choice for "fast ultra-high-definition video visualization of regional scenes"-5G factories, 5G mining areas, 5G logistics centers, etc. will all become typical applications.

For transmission, the 8K era is also facing a new change: 8K video signals are often not transmitted as a video or picture, but as "raw data"-the application process of 8K content is not necessarily people watching, more It may be a sophisticated machine AI analysis. This requires "absolute transmission fidelity", that is, 8K content transmission in many occasions does not allow "lossy compression". For example, various applications of machine vision rely on the most primitive 8K data. The latter obviously puts forward a higher demand for "lossless transmission", which is a new opportunity for transmission equipment in 8K projects.

Signal processing must be more precise

Relative to transmission and display, industry professionals believe that "signal processing" is the bottleneck and complexity of engineering display applications in the 8K era. Because, 8K not only means higher bandwidth and processing efficiency requirements, deeper depth of field and contrast requirements, but also means more "differentiated application scenarios" requirements.

For example, the 8K signal on the screen in some applications is a "conclusion after calculation". This kind of signal processing and application basically requires a "clear and accurate" display, and does not have more effect differences compared to the 2K or 4K era.

But, another example, 8K medical display is completely different-the signal on the screen is "raw data". The "original restoration capability" of signal processing and display is the core of the device's performance: perhaps, medical display does not require frame rate, but the accuracy of contrast and detail difference has exceptionally high standards.

At the same time, the engineering display in the 8K era and AI visual information analysis are in a "symbiotic" relationship. This involves the entire signal processing and transmission system, which must serve both "big screen viewing" and "AI intelligence". Taking into account the data reliability of optical fiber, 5G and other digital transmissions, this makes the demand for "lossless transmission". In the era of high-bandwidth popularization, the main test lies in the "relay and other signal processing links." Therefore, beyond the high-definition era, the technical requirements of signal processing equipment are mainly restricted by "the link with the highest quality requirements in the entire application system".

On the whole, signal processing equipment in the 8K era will face the test of more differentiated requirements such as large bandwidth, high fidelity and losslessness, high real-time performance, and complex application scenarios. For the entire engineering audio-visual system, to deal with the 8K era, the signal processing equipment needs more fine polishing than the large display screen and transmission bandwidth!  

Seize the "full scene" opportunity of 8K applications

Regarding the 8K opportunity in the engineering display industry, industry experts pointed out that its main feature is "structural." That is, it is not flooding, but a more refined process of the market. This requires industry companies to provide more differentiated solutions.

For example, for the conventional "personal and individual surveillance market", the meaning of 8K is not clear -economy and reliability, as well as remote cloud security, and AI scenario analysis are the main technical development directions. However, for "big scene security", the combination of high-quality optical lenses, sensors, and 8K can bring "fine dynamic control", which will become an important "8K wisdom" when the total number of probes remains unchanged. "Application scenarios.

For another example, in small scenes, fine processing and manufacturing "machine vision" will have a high demand for ultra-high definition: but these ultra-high-definition video signals are mainly used for "AI analysis" rather than on-screen display-the main task of screen visualization It shows "the conclusion after AI analysis". This will be a special "microscopic 8K" video application scenario.

In particular, for some brand-new applications developed in recent years, such as short video, live shopping, VR and other fields, how to apply 8K is still a question of "to be explored". With the deepening of the construction and application of radio and television 5G networks, the 8K demand for integrated media of radio and television systems and TV stations will also emerge. For the broadcast and television engineering display, this also means a newer, more refined and refined "market opportunity".

In summary, 8K technology relies on the development of new infrastructure such as 5G and the application of new technologies such as AI. It will also present its own technological innovation space and application characteristics in the professional field. In particular, AI+8K applications that emphasize the value of original data analysis, and 5G+8K applications in the consumer market and industrial interconnection market will inevitably create new “application opportunities”. Under the 2020 epidemic, with the accelerated construction of emerging infrastructure and the accelerated transformation of social and economic intelligence informatization, it is necessary for the large-screen audio-visual industry to accelerate the deployment of ultra-high definition and strive to achieve the upgrade of 8K supply.

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