Samsung’s The Premiere is the world’s first 8K-certified projector – but what does that mean?

Five years after setting the performance specification for consumer 8K TVs, the 8K Association (8KA) has now rustled one up for 8K projectors. And just as Samsung’s 8K QLEDs of 2020 were among the first TVs to receive that TV certification, today the 8K-avid brand's flagship projector, The Premiere 8K, is the first certified with this new projector one.

The projector criteria has been set by the association’s technical and certification committees, whose members include representatives from AUO, Google, Hisense, Intel, MediaTek, Novatek, Panasonic, Samsung, TCL, TPVision and Xperi, and evaluates performance in six key areas.

The first naturally concerns the resolution, which is to be 8K (7680 x 4320 pixels), presumably either natively or via pixel-shifting (or similar) means. 8K upscaling is also key so that lower-than-8K content can be aptly displayed through it. Brightness, contrast and wide colour gamut must meet the standards (although no figures have been shared yet), too, with HDR (high dynamic range) naturally also a consideration. The final point concerns sound as opposed to picture delivery, specifically immersive audio formats (such as Dolby Atmos).

A performance certification and logo program will follow, the former allowing manufacturers to submit their projectors for testing against the program criteria to receive a logo, and the latter allowing consumers to easily seek out the 8KA's seal of approval when shopping for their future 8K projector.

The Premiere 8K, which was announced as the world’s first wireless projector at CES 2024 at the beginning of the year, does tick a lot of those boxes – as you might hope considering the yet-to-be-launched projector is rumoured to cost somewhere in the five-figure region.

The ultra-short-throw technology can send an 8K picture wirelessly to the accompanying One Connect box from up to 33 feet away, and has built-in (presumably AI-driven) upscaling technology. The brightness figure is an impressive 4500 lumens, too. A 100-watt, 8.2.2-channel Atmos speaker system is also offered, with Sound-on-Screen technology working to make it seem as though the sound is coming not from the projector’s top module but the screen itself.

Hopefully more information, including pricing and a release date, will follow soon – perhaps even at CES 2025 in January.

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