One place I can see needed expansion beyond 8k is displays in VR goggles. Think about trying to emulate a virtual monitor experience of 2k (1080p) using 8k displays at a distance. As in, think about sitting at a desk in VR and looking at a “monitor” in VR. The actual physical displays producing the image are 8k, but must take your entire field of view. So only a subset of that 8k can be used to reproduce the “virtual 2k monitor” in VR. Here’s an image for reference:
Now move your face close enough to your lemmy viewer that that picture is taking up your entire field of view. Now look how big that 2k block is. Now imagine you want that level of detail at normal “monitor distance” in VR. That’s going to take more than an 8k physical display in your VR goggles.
One place I can see needed expansion beyond 8k is displays in VR goggles. Think about trying to emulate a virtual monitor experience of 2k (1080p) using 8k displays at a distance. As in, think about sitting at a desk in VR and looking at a “monitor” in VR. The actual physical displays producing the image are 8k, but must take your entire field of view. So only a subset of that 8k can be used to reproduce the “virtual 2k monitor” in VR. Here’s an image for reference:
Now move your face close enough to your lemmy viewer that that picture is taking up your entire field of view. Now look how big that 2k block is. Now imagine you want that level of detail at normal “monitor distance” in VR. That’s going to take more than an 8k physical display in your VR goggles.
VR is definitely one example where 16K might be useful, but VR is a relatively niche.
I can argue that VR is niche only because high res lightweight displays aren’t available at scale yet.
That’s a big ask though, such displays are extremely expensive and there is not enough scale for VR.