Four years after its first 8K televisions, Samsung is struggling to find native content in very high resolution. The South Korean may have found the mojo that will make 8K take off: the series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power from Amazon Prime.
Since the release of Samsung’s first 8K television – the QE65Q900R that we tested in November 2018 – native 8K content is still rare. There is the French platform The Explorers which offers many reports and documentaries on fauna and flora in 8K, but no real blockbusters ready to really move the lines.
Samsung may have found a partner of choice with Amazon Prime Video since the South Korean will offer some bonuses and exclusive scenes from the series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power Amazon Prime in native 8K Ultra HD definition. Samsung has thus declared that it will be the first “to offer the content of the series in 8K Ultra HD definition through a sneak-peek personalized with exclusive scenes. Viewers will be able to experience the epic in unimaginable depth and detail on Samsung Neo QLED 8K TVs and The Wall Micro LED 8K displays.”
Samsung hasn’t specified which generations of 8K TVs will be compatible, but the series’ third season Das Boot (The boat) was made available in 8K last June in Germany, only on 2020 models and above. Samsung rushed the launch of 8K TVs in 2018 before the necessary standards for video interfaces (HDMI 2.1) and video decoding were in place, and it’s likely the 2018 and 2019 models won’t be compatible except through the change of the One Connect box.
The company did not provide a list of bonus content that will be available in 8K. We just know that they will understand “exclusive scenes”. She also did not specify whether this content is HDR compatible. Samsung has promised that more details will be announced soon – possibly at IFA 2022 as early as next week. For Simon Sung, Executive Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing Team of Samsung Electronics VDB, “Collaborations like this mark an important step in bringing 8K — the most premium display technology — to viewers […] For the first time, fans can experience the stunning images of the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Samsung Neo QLED 8K TVs.”
Not sure that a few bonus scenes from a series are enough to sell more 8K televisions, but it is in any case a first step for the democratization of this type of television which, in our opinion, only remains interesting on the diagonals of 75 inches and over.