There's plenty of talk about the future of technology where content is concerned. The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S both launched relying heavily on pre-existing libraries from the last-gen, and even then not everything has been made available to play. And the updating of the older games to come closer in line with their PC counterparts, or to take early advantage of the extra grunt of the new machines, is currently a slow trickle at best.

The same can be said of PCs and new cards and tech (like ray-tracing), VR, mobile, wireless, audio and, of course, screens. The latter is what brings us here today, but it's maybe a bit further ahead in not only being accessible now, but in also showcasing in a more modern environment just what the future holds for the next-generation of content across the board.

And it's no secret thanks to this feature's header, that we're talking about 8K panels and the content viewable on them. We won't (and don't) shy from the lack of native content for the 8K at the moment -- that shortage is very real, but it is coming. Instead what we discuss and dissect here is how the technology driving most high-end 8K screens still makes modern UHD content pop in ways the higher install base doesn't, which is precisely why 8K panels should be on your radar. Here's a snippet:

A 4K image, for example, displays over 8 million pixels whereas an 8K image is more than 33 million, the maths then fills in the gaps between the 8-odd million to that 33-plus million.

This is done using Samsung’s Machine Learning Super Resolution (MLSR), which is part of its AI processor, allowing for the panels that utilise all of this to correctly fill the required Pixels Per Inch (PPI) on a given display. Moreover, this is all done in real-time and also reaches into a databank of information designed to help the AI Upscaling tool to effectively ‘fill in the blanks’ on images that would otherwise show degradation on any other run-of-the-mill upscaling tool in panels not utilising Samsung’s setup. What all of this means, essentially, is that the Q950TS and other 8K displays from Samsung showcase not just the potential of running 8K imagery, but also how sub-8K content can be sat alongside the eventual native stuff in a near lossless way.

Click here for our 8K deep-dive and to see what games we think take advantage of the panels best, currently.