Up close with Sharp's 8K TV at CES. You can still see the pixels, but the image looks amazing.

If you followed our CES 2012 coverage, you'll know that while Sharp's press conference presentation underwhelmed us (a smart tv on a smart car? c'mon), the 8K TV they had on the convention floor is a strong contender for the single best technology we saw at the entire show. Unfortunately, it's also the kind of thing that's difficult to convey in words or even show in high-def video footage. But I did manage to take some macro and wide-angle photos that may give you a sense of what 8K looks like. The 85-inch LCD TV was showing video shot by one of very few 8K cameras in the world--owned by Japanese broadcast studio NHK. Sharp reps couldn't divulge exactly how this video was being fed to the TV, but heard from a little bird that the TV is displaying video from an array of 16 HDMI cables.

Here are two scenes that were shown in the 8K TV demo. I zoomed in on both shots to show you just how much detail 8K resolution allows.

In this first scene, 8K allowed us to look all the way down a street in Washington DC, with the street lights, sign, and pedestrians all identifiable in clear view. (Click the images for the full-resolution photo)

Here's the same scene, but with a photo taken up close to the screen. I've highlighted the area where it fits into the full 85" screen. You can make out the pixels at this range, but also see how much detail is in the image.

The second scene is even more impressive. The first shot of this Japanese log-riding festival already is cropped in to the screen, and you can make out the heads and clothing on every person. In the scenes where the camera is facing the crowd (as in the image at the top of this story), every face is clearly visible.

And here it is zoomed in to the highlighted area. Click the image for its full size.

It really is something that you have to see to believe. It's just a technology prototype, but this is the kind of demo that gets us excited for the future of home theater technology.