The 8K Association recently “called for action” on the upcoming TV energy regulation bill that will take effect next March and could mean that 8K devices cannot be sold in the region. The TV Energy Regulation Act, which was introduced for consideration recently, has UltraHD and FullHD energy consumption levels based on the devices when they were first introduced, while 8K energy consumption levels are the same as UltraHD.
Since the energy consumed by OLED and LCD screen technologies rises as the resolution increases, and more power is used to process 8K signals on the other side, limiting the 8K power level to UltraHD is a huge challenge for the industry.
The TV energy regulation bill will be reviewed by December of this year, but information available to the 8K Association so far indicates that the agency has not set a review date. On the surface, it appears that no new 8K devices may be launched after March next year unless the power requirements are met.
The topic was discussed by several TV brands and panel suppliers at the IFA show in Berlin recently. While there were rumors that one of the TV brands could pass the certification, it was not obtained in a direct way.
The TV manufacturers that claimed to be able to pass the bill met it primarily by reducing the brightness of their TV screens. This, combined with FALD backlighting, minimizes power consumption, but doesn’t really seem to “meet the spirit of the regulation. The regulations state that a set must be set to “not less than 220 cd/m², or not less than 150 cd/m² if the electronic display is primarily intended for close viewing by a single user”.
At the beginning of the EU energy regulations, the European Commission wanted to minimize the power consumption of home devices. At the time, TV equipment was usually equipped with a “vivid” or “demo” mode to provide the highest brightness and saturation. If this TV equipment is for demonstration, usually wants to attract users in the mall to buy.
But this mode usually uses more energy than the regular mode, so the European Commission mandates that “out-of-the-box” settings be set to regular mode. This is not conducive to the brand to “vivid” mode of delivery. According to information from foreign media Display Daily, brands have changed their shipping mode as a result.
This European Commission mandate reduces energy consumption because many less tech-savvy consumers don’t adjust their devices there, but leave them in “out of the box” conditions.
Another comment I’ve heard from the manufacturing side is that the EU is becoming more stringent in terms of power consumption. However, these requirements are often matched by changes in technology, from CRTs to LCDs and then from CCFL backlighting to LEDs. LED backlighting has also switched from global backlighting to some form of dynamic backlighting. However, there has not been such a significant change in the last few years that could lead to the higher efficiencies the Commission would like to see.
TVs account for a significant share of electricity consumption in the EU (3% was mentioned in the original 2009 regulation), so it makes sense to try to reduce that share, but it will be difficult to do so without a technological breakthrough.
