From July, the third season of the successful series “Das Boot”, which was produced by Bavaria Fiction and Sky, will start with a surprise. As a special extra for the third season, the production has come up with something new. You can stream the third season of “Das Boot” in 8K resolution this July. However, not every fan of the series benefits from the improved quality.
The boat in 8K resolution: A cooperation between Samsung and Sky
“Das Boot” is the first German series production to be produced natively in 8K. So that as many viewers as possible can benefit from the high resolution, Sky and Samsung entered into a cooperation at the start of the season. The new “Das Boot” episodes are therefore exclusively available on Sky in the original 8K resolution via Samsung TV Plus, the company’s free TV service. However, this also means that you can only benefit from the high level of detail in the original recordings if you already have an 8K-capable Samsung TV. All fans of the series who do not have a suitable TV set will initially get nothing at this point.
Samsung has been involved in the development of the new TV technology since the first QLED 8K television from 2018. The resolution of 8K TVs is four times higher than that of 4K TVs. This allows even more details to be shown on the displays, which primarily enable better depth representation. “Das Boot” is now the first series recorded natively in 8K that is broadcast in this quality on TV. However, it could by no means be the last. Gus Grimaldi, Head of Product for Samsung Europe, highlighted that Samsung is committed to constantly evolving its streaming services through a combination of exciting content and display technologies. This could be an indication that the company already has more 8K content planned for its users. Or at least consider expanding 8K content in Samsung TV Plus.
8K streaming requires higher bandwidth
The ten new episodes of “Das Boot” in 8K resolution will be available in the new resolution via Samsung TV Plus from July. According to Samsung, however, an internet connection of at least 40 Mbit per second is required in order for the series to be able to be streamed in reasonable quality. Unfortunately, this is where the crux of 8K streaming lies buried. Since much larger files have to be transferred here, a higher bandwidth is required. At peak times such as weekends and around 8 p.m. in the evening, this does not reach the desired level in some households, even with 4K streaming. In order for 8K content to be streamed to many households in the long term, better internet connections would be required.
Reception is possible with these Samsung TVs
There is good news, however, because older Samsung Smart TVs from previous years can also benefit from the campaign. Samsung TV Plus is pre-installed on all Samsung Smart TVs from model year 2016. So any 8K-enabled model from previous years gives you access to the free streaming service that provides the 8K version. Samsung has expanded Samsung TV Plus so that every TV with the app gives you access to sports, series, films and other content. You do not need to register, nor do you have to take out a subscription. So far, Samsung’s additional offer for TVs has not been in competition with other streaming providers, but rather a nice enrichment for Samsung customers. However, that could change in the future with more exclusive content like this one.
