New EU energy regulation puts 8K TVs in Europe at risk in 2023

The implementation of the updated energy efficiency index (Energy Efficiency Index, or EEI) in March next year will create problems for manufacturers of such TVs.

The European Union last updated its energy labeling in the spring of 2021, which brought many TV models into the lowest energy consumption class (G). Now, two years later, even stricter requirements will be applied to all new TVs – in particular, a lower maximum level of energy consumption. As reported by FlatpanelsHD, at the IFA exhibition in 2022, Marek Maciejewski, director of product development at TCL Europe, commented on this decision as follows: “in this case, no 8K”.

Representatives of Samsung Electronics believe that it is possible to make 8K TVs meet the new standards, but it will not be easy. In any case, this is not very good news for 8K TV, because manufacturers will surely have to make compromises. The 8K Association also believes that if nothing changes, March 2023 will spell trouble for the growing 8K industry.

As of now, OLED TVs are allowed to consume slightly more power than LCD TVs (which also include LED, QLED, miniLED, etc.), while microLED and all kinds of 8K may not comply with Europe’s maximum power limit at all. But starting March 1, 2023, there will no longer be any exceptions to the rules for any TV technology or 8K panels.

FlatpanelsHD calculated the maximum permissible power consumption according to the new restrictions and got the following results: for TVs with a diagonal of, for example, 55″, the maximum will be 84 W, for 65″ – 112 W, and for 75″ – 141 W (requirements apply to “standard” video mode — TVs may have higher consumption in other modes that are set manually).

The resource notes that “standard” 4K LCD and OLED TVs will meet the new requirements without any changes, but some “high-end” 4K models with advanced zone dimming may have problems – as will all 8K models. The EU has scheduled a review of the 2023 energy efficiency index for the end of 2022, so there is still a chance that the situation will change for the better for 8K TV manufacturers.