This is too bad, I'm actually looking forward to 8K television, and I do hope the format will eventually arrive, but we are now down to only two major players (Samsung, LG). Perhaps that will change at some future point.
Best Buy stores have Samsung 8K TVs in their home theater rooms, and I had the chance to see them up close last year. By that, of course, I mean that I literally stuck my nose against the screen to test the resolution and clarity compared to 4K. There was a very notable difference, which was a very pleasant surprise. I also found the color saturation and contrast/lighting to be improved over the previous generation, as 4K had improved from the previous 1080 HD.
Obviously, all that was shown was a series of demonstration videos, nothing concrete like clips from your favorite summer movies. And so there's always a bit of salesmanship going on here, a bit of the wink-and-nod showing optimal conditions that might not readily appear in practice. That said, what I had seen was highly impressive and better than I had expected.
There is a concern that hardware manufacturers are too quick to push the newer technology, as a rigorous price war has left the 4K market saturated. I bought a 48" Sony Bravia 4K television 5 years ago, looks terrific at any angle, cost me $1,000. Today, you can buy a 4K set of similar quality for under $300. It's amazing and a blessing for consumers, but probably less so for the dwindling number of companies that create the sets. But I can't see consumers who have already upgraded their TVs several times--CRT to 720/1080 to 4K--being eager to throw everything away to buy yet another TV, especially when there is no 8K content available...yet.
Sony has stated a willingness to return to 8K at a future date, and that's probably the smart move for now. Let's give 4K a little more time before throwing everything away...sigh, yet again...and rebuilding our home theaters and movie libraries...sigh, yet again. I can't help but notice a pattern here.
PS: I should also note the very real question of whether there will ever be an 8K home video format. Will everything be streaming-only by that point? Will 4K UHD be the final physical format for home video? I certainly hope not, but once you hit the point of diminishing returns, it becomes harder and harder to justify reinventing the wheel for the upteenth time. If we were happy to watch movies on VHS long ago, then we should be more than happy with what's available today.
) 
