1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:12,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff production from I Heart Radio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,319 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio and a 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: lot of all things tech. And first of all, if 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: I sound a little different, it's because I'm actually in 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: the office in a studio, though I am recording on 7 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: my normal at home equipment, so there might be some 8 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: slight differences in the quality of sound. But just hang 9 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: with me, guys. And recently, someone on Twitter called me 10 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 1: out for an article that I wrote many years ago 11 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: for how stuff Works dot com and it was about 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: home theater systems. The article and the person called me 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,879 Speaker 1: out because I used the term man cave right at 14 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: the very beginning of the article, and the criticism was 15 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: that that I had fired off a gendered down right 16 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: at the beginning of a piece. And I want to 17 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: be clear, that was a crappy thing for me to 18 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: have done. It was crappy back then. It's definitely crappy now. 19 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: I would never right it that way today. I'd like 20 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: to think that over the following year is from writing 21 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 1: that article, I've grown a little bit as a person, 22 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: and I certainly tried to do that. But all of 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: this is my interest to say we're gonna do an 24 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: updated episode about home theater systems, actually a couple of episodes, 25 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: because there's a lot to talk about. Now. Maybe you 26 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,399 Speaker 1: want to put together a home theater, or maybe you're 27 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: just thinking about upgrading your setup, or maybe you just 28 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: want to know what's the deal with all the latest 29 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,959 Speaker 1: options out there and to figure out which one might 30 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: be best for you, and you know your situation. So 31 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: we're gonna try and build the perfect person cave together. 32 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: And this episode is really gonna focus on, uh, the 33 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: TV or the screen, depending on what you want to do. 34 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: And here's a tricky thing. So there are a lot 35 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: of terms and numbers and metrics when it comes to 36 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 1: home theater systems, and these are not always the easiest 37 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: to understand or parse. Also, there's this tendency to think 38 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: that bigger numbers are better. They're not necessarily better, and 39 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,680 Speaker 1: that might shock some of my fellow Americans because we 40 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:24,959 Speaker 1: typically go with more please when it comes to metrics. 41 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: So I'm gonna try and do my best to demystify 42 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: some of these different features and explain what it actually means. 43 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: So at a minimum, a good home theater system needs 44 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: a screen, whether a projection screen or a TV screen, 45 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: and a sound system. So we're gonna really focus on 46 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: the screen part for this episode, and let's start with 47 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:51,639 Speaker 1: talking about you know, UM resolutions, because when I first 48 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: started writing about home theaters, the top of the line 49 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: TV screens at that time, when I was first writing 50 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: about them, they max doubt in the h D t 51 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: V range that stands for high definition television, which is 52 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,239 Speaker 1: almost obsolete at this point as far as new televisions 53 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: are concerned. So it's a good idea to kind of 54 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: go down the path of those you know, definitions and 55 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: resolutions to talk about what that means and what the 56 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: state of the art is today now. Mostly it does 57 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: come down to resolution, or how many distinct components called 58 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: pixels ake a little points of light makeup and image 59 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: on the screen. So when we look at a television, 60 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: the images we see are made up of thousands of 61 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: points of light of various colors. We'll get to color 62 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: representation in a little bit in this episode. So there's 63 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: this analogy that I typically use when I talk about resolution. 64 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: Let's say that you've got yourself a wooden frame and 65 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: it's on the ground. It's you know, it's edges are 66 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: a couple of inches high, and the frame itself is 67 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: about thirty five inches wide and twenty inches tall. Uh. 68 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: That is roughly the dimensions of a forty inch television, 69 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: because we actually measure TVs on the diagonal across the screen, 70 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: so from an upper corner to a lower corner, uh, 71 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: diagonally across rather than just vertically or horizontally. So if 72 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: you've ever wondered, hey, the said it was a you know, 73 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: forty two inch television, but it's not for you two 74 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: inches wide. That's why it's on the diagonal. And let's 75 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: say that I give you a bucket that's filled with 76 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,919 Speaker 1: little wooden blocks, and each of these blocks are you know, 77 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: a various a specific color, so each block is a 78 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 1: solid color, and they're all just one inch cubes, so 79 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: you get one inch per side on these cubes. And 80 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: I ask you to make a picture using those blocks 81 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: inside this frame. And I want the picture to be 82 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: a cat because I work on the Internet, and that 83 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 1: means there's like a chance that any photo I'm talking 84 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: about is gonna least have a cat in it. Well, 85 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 1: because each block is a solid color. You would have 86 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 1: to do your best to make a cat image within 87 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 1: the confines of this frame I've given you. And those 88 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: blocks are one inch you know, cubes, so you would 89 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: end up with some pretty jagged edges for any curves 90 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: that you wanted to represent in this cat picture. So 91 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: this would be a pretty low resolution image. Now let's 92 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: say we dumped out all those blocks after you made 93 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,480 Speaker 1: your picture of a cat, and I gave you another 94 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: bucket filled with blocks. But these cubes are half an 95 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: inch per side, so you can fit twice as many 96 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: across the horizontal and vertical lines. So with the one 97 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,719 Speaker 1: inch cube, if you were to actually fill the entire 98 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: frame from corner to corner, you would be able to 99 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: fit seven hundred cubes total in that frame. Because we 100 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: multiply twenty times thirty five bytes, we get seven hundred 101 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: and that, you know, because the cubes are one inch, 102 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 1: that tells you seven cubes could fit within that frame. Well, 103 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: now we're using half inch cubes. With half inch cubes, 104 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:12,839 Speaker 1: you could fit two thousand, eight hundred cubes in the frame. 105 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: So you've half the size and you've quadrupled the number 106 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: of blocks you can use. So your cat picture that 107 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: you use with these half inch blocks is going to 108 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: be better than the first one because the blocks are 109 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: using allow you to approach fine detail a little more effectively. 110 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: So as we decrease the size of the blocks, but 111 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 1: we're keeping the same shape of the frame, we increase 112 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: the number of blocks that can fit in that frame, 113 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: and our picture starts to look more sharp and clear 114 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: as we do this. That is resolution to a point anyway. 115 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:55,360 Speaker 1: So by the time resolutions were standardized during the history 116 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: of television, you really had two broad standards. You had 117 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: the europe and pal and SCAM systems, which used a 118 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: resolution that we referred to as five hundred seventy six. 119 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: That meant there were five hundred seventy six rows of pixels. 120 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: Uh So, if you isolated one vertical line of pixels 121 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: from top to bottom on the screen and you counted 122 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: them all, you would count up to five d seventy 123 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: six across the screen from side to side, you had 124 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: seven hundred four columns of pixels. So seven hundred four 125 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: pixels from left to right, five hundred seventy six from 126 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: top to bottom. Multiply those together, that gives us a 127 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: total of more than four hundred thousand pixels to play 128 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,400 Speaker 1: with to make our pictures. In the US, it was 129 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: a slightly different story. Standard definition was four hundred eighty 130 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: pixels vertically so from top to bottom, and seven hundred 131 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: four horizontally left to right. That gave us a slightly 132 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 1: lower resolution of than Europe had of around three hundred 133 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: thirty eight thousand pixels on the screen, a little less 134 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: than that actually, And I should also add that most 135 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: screens had an aspect ratio of four to three. This 136 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: refers to the ratio of the television's width compared to 137 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: its height. Now, in the example I gave earlier, the 138 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: frame that I mentioned that would actually be more the 139 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: modern standard of aspect ratios for televisions, which is sixteen 140 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: by nine. That's what we used to call the wide 141 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: screen format back when those TVs were first hitting the market, 142 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: and not everyone was sold on them back in those days, 143 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: because we are also used to the four by three ratio. 144 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: But in the old days, most TVs looked a little 145 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: more boxy than the ones we have today, and this 146 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: is why when you watch older television shows, you frequently 147 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: see that the image doesn't really extend all the way 148 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:47,120 Speaker 1: to the edges. Of your television screen unless someone has 149 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: you know, like digitally punched in, which is awful because 150 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: that means you lose the details that are otherwise at 151 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: the edges. The Simpsons did this and it was terrible 152 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: because a lot of visual gags got cut off because 153 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 1: the image was punched in, and um, I want to 154 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: say Fox and then Disney kind of relented and gave 155 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:09,559 Speaker 1: people the option of being able to view those episodes 156 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: in their original four by three aspect ratio. And that's 157 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 1: kind of how things were for decades, with you know, 158 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:18,839 Speaker 1: some exceptions, but that's all in the past, so we're 159 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: gonna leave them for now because we don't really need 160 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: to go into detail. But then we get up to 161 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,360 Speaker 1: the era of h D t V and things started 162 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:30,439 Speaker 1: getting really confusing because there were different flavors of h 163 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: D t V more so than you found was standard definition. 164 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: So the three big ones were seven ten A d 165 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:41,679 Speaker 1: I and ten A DP in most parts of the world. 166 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: So let's go with the numbers first, then I'll explain 167 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: what that I M P mean. So seven twenty referred 168 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,560 Speaker 1: to a resolution of seven D twenty pixels tall by 169 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: one thousand, two hundred eighty pixels wide. That gives us 170 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,720 Speaker 1: a total of nine one thousand, six hundred pixels. This 171 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: one often was called HD ready as opposed to full H. 172 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 1: D t V ten eighty refers to one thousand eighty 173 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: pixels tall by one thousand nine d twenty pixels wide. 174 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: And you might say, all right, but when I multiply 175 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:22,119 Speaker 1: those two together, I get two point zero seven million pixels. 176 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 1: And that's true. But here's where we got to talk 177 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:28,720 Speaker 1: about the P versus the eye. So the P stands 178 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 1: for progressive scan, and the eye stands for interlaced. So 179 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: with an interlaced display, the screen shows alternating horizontal lines 180 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: of pixels and paints the image across the screen and 181 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: then down the screen. So if we were to number 182 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:49,160 Speaker 1: the rows of pixels on the screen, going from row 183 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: one and then working our way down until we had 184 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: labeled all the way down to row one thousand eighty, 185 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: and if we were slow things way way way down, 186 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: like super super super low, we would see that the 187 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 1: screen would display the odd rows first, so rose one, three, five, seven, 188 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,440 Speaker 1: and so on all the way down to one thousand 189 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:16,760 Speaker 1: seventy nine would display first. Then you would get the 190 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: even rows two, four, six, eight, etcetera. Now this happens 191 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: at a speed that is so fast our eyes can't 192 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: detect it, so to us it just looks like a 193 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,960 Speaker 1: solid image. We don't see that it's really alternating these 194 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: lines at all. We're getting the experience as if it's 195 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 1: all happening at once. But it does mean that effectively, 196 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: it's only showing half the number of pixels UH in 197 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: a given moment. Now we say this means an interlaced 198 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:50,079 Speaker 1: screen uses two fields. One field has all the odd 199 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:53,079 Speaker 1: horizontal lines of pixels, and the second field has all 200 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 1: the even ones, and these are necessary to create a 201 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: single frame of videos. So each frame is made up 202 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: a two fields with an interlaced screen. A progressive scan 203 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: screen draws every line of a frame in sequence, so 204 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: there's no reason to talk about video fields because field 205 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,079 Speaker 1: and frame are essentially the same thing. Here. Now, generally speaking, 206 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: the edge would go to progressive scan TVs among home 207 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: theater aficionados. They these screens were just better at showing 208 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: fast moving sequences in particular, so people who were serious 209 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,160 Speaker 1: about home theater in the h D t V era 210 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:39,440 Speaker 1: often would gravitate toward progressive scan screens. These days, you'll 211 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: find higher in televisions in the U h D or 212 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,959 Speaker 1: Ultra high Definition ranges. In fact, four K is pretty 213 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:49,679 Speaker 1: much the standard now um, but you can also find 214 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 1: eight K. So now we've moved away from the convention 215 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: that we used to use to describe resolution in the 216 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 1: in the s D and h D eras, and it 217 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: doesn't help that there's some screpancies here as well. Like 218 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:03,920 Speaker 1: one of the issues that you often run into with 219 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:08,839 Speaker 1: home theater is that there's a lack of universal standards 220 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: for a lot of stuff, and that can cause issues 221 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: down the line. In televisions, we generally say it's a 222 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: four K TV when it refers to a resolution of 223 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: three thousand, eight hundred forty pixels wide by two thousand, 224 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:27,679 Speaker 1: one hundred sixty pixels tall and um. First of all, 225 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:30,319 Speaker 1: you notice that neither of those numbers is four thousand, right, 226 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 1: three thousand, eight hundred forty is close, like you could 227 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,719 Speaker 1: round up to four thousand, but neither of those are 228 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,200 Speaker 1: four thousands. So that makes the four K thing a 229 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: little confusing. Also, uh, we see that in previous resolution descriptions, 230 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: the number that we used to refer to how many 231 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 1: pixels tall and image was was the dominant one right, 232 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: ten eighty means that you have one thousand eighty pixels 233 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: from the top of the screen to the bottom of 234 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: the screen. But with four K without three thousand, eight 235 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: hundred forty pixels, we're actually looking at the width of 236 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: the screen from left to right, not the height of 237 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:09,840 Speaker 1: the screen from top to bottom. So those three thousand, 238 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,319 Speaker 1: eight hundred forty pixels go across the screen. And if 239 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: you're saying, you know, three thousand hundred forty isn't the 240 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: same as four K, like I said, you're right. And 241 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: if you're wondering, well, why don't we call it twenty 242 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: one sixty because that would still be in the same 243 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: line as ten eight, Right, we called it ten eight 244 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: Why don't we call four K six? Well, that's because 245 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: I don't know. For some reason, we decided to switch 246 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 1: things up and talk about width rather than height as 247 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: far as pixel density goes. Now, if we're talking about 248 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: movie projection instead of television screens, four K usually has 249 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: a different resolution of four thousand, nineties six pixels across 250 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: and two thousand, one hundred sixty pixels up and down. 251 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:57,080 Speaker 1: So at least there we get to our four K bit, right, 252 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: But for TVs, it's really more four K ish, and 253 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,880 Speaker 1: in fact, there are several different resolutions that are in 254 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:08,359 Speaker 1: that neighborhood that are lumped together in the four K designation. 255 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: There even some TVs that you could argue are five K, 256 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 1: but they get lumped down with four K, and it 257 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: gets even more confusing when you start talking about cameras 258 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: and stuff. But we're gonna leave all that here. It's 259 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: mostly to say that it's a higher resolution than the 260 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: h D t V market. I imagine the switch to 261 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 1: four K nomenclature is mostly for the convenience of marketing, 262 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: plus to cover the fact that there were so many 263 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: slight variations on resolution that it kind of helped cut 264 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: down on confusion because the differences didn't really translate to 265 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:45,280 Speaker 1: a massive difference in viewing experience. So, in other words, 266 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 1: if one TVs four K resolution was technically slightly less 267 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: than another four K TVs resolution, typically you couldn't really 268 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: tell because it was at a level of resolution that's 269 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: so high that our human i is aren't able to 270 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: pick up on the differences. So, in other words, you 271 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: could have two of these televisions right next to each other, 272 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: they have slightly different resolutions and not be able to 273 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: see a difference. Then we've got eight K resolution. And 274 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: this is where the numbers get even bigger, and like 275 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: four K, this is more about eight K ish than 276 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 1: actually having eight thousand pixels across the width of a screen. 277 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: That number is really seven thousand, six hundred eighty. And 278 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 1: as for up and down the screen, well that's four thousand, 279 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 1: three twenty. That is the maximum resolution allowed by the 280 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: u h D or Ultra High Definition standards set down 281 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:42,400 Speaker 1: by the i TU DASH our recommendation bt DOT twenty twenty. 282 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 1: I t U in this case stands for International Telecommunication Union, 283 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: and we're gonna touch on tech standards a lot throughout 284 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: this episode, because boy, but at least this one is 285 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: one that is well and truly set and standardized. It's saying, 286 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: this is the up end. This is where eight K 287 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,159 Speaker 1: ends right here at this resolution. So yeah, eight K 288 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: TVs that maximum resolution. Have a screen filled with more 289 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:13,639 Speaker 1: than thirty three million pixels. If you were to have 290 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: every pixel light up and you were to number each 291 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: one of them, you would come up with more than 292 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: thirty three million of those suckers. So you've got thirty 293 00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 1: three million and change teeny little blocks of light which 294 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,320 Speaker 1: you can use to make your images. And right now, 295 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 1: that's the top of the resolution charts that you can 296 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 1: find for home theater television screens. So does that mean 297 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: that more resolution means a better picture. Not quite. It's 298 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: actually way more complicated than that. Resolution is important, but 299 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: it's just one component of making a good picture. Also, 300 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 1: there's a limit to the amount of detail that our 301 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:58,640 Speaker 1: human eyes can see, and that limit depends upon each 302 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:00,919 Speaker 1: person's vision. So it's not like I could give you 303 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,879 Speaker 1: a specific resolution and say this and no further. If 304 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 1: you go any higher than this, it's a fool's errand 305 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:09,200 Speaker 1: because you'll never tell the difference. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. 306 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: But there are some other factors that that tie in 307 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,679 Speaker 1: with resolution when it comes to your viewing experience and 308 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:20,479 Speaker 1: how clear or sharp an image is. One of those 309 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 1: is the size of the television screen. So let's say 310 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: we have three television's, all of them are at hd 311 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,080 Speaker 1: TV resolution just to make this easy, And one of 312 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: those televisions is forty two inches, another one is fifty 313 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:36,439 Speaker 1: five inches, and the third is sixty inches, but they 314 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: all are ten a DP resolution. Well, that means that 315 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 1: if you were to count up all the pixels on 316 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:46,639 Speaker 1: each of those screens. Each screen would have the same 317 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:50,359 Speaker 1: number of pixels, but that means that the pixels for 318 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,200 Speaker 1: the six screen have to be a little bit larger 319 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:55,440 Speaker 1: than the ones that you would find on the forty 320 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,240 Speaker 1: two inch screen, and then the fifty in screen would 321 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: be right in the middle, right, because the same number 322 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,199 Speaker 1: of pixels are on all three screens, but the screens 323 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,399 Speaker 1: are different sizes, So it's possible that you would spot 324 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,119 Speaker 1: a difference in resolution if you were to view the 325 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: same video source on that forty two inch screen as 326 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:15,400 Speaker 1: the sixty inch screen at the same time. You put 327 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: those next to each other, and you might say, oh, 328 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 1: the picture looks more sharp on thet in screen than 329 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:26,640 Speaker 1: the sixty because you have greater pixel density per area there, right, 330 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:30,359 Speaker 1: So screen size does matter, and if you want to 331 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: go really big, like obnoxiously big with your television screen, 332 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: then you're gonna want to hire resolution to make up 333 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,240 Speaker 1: for all that real estate that you're gonna be using 334 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: to view your stuff. Now, another factor is how close 335 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,679 Speaker 1: you are sitting to the screen, and this matters for 336 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:51,640 Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. The closer you are, the more 337 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:56,120 Speaker 1: likely you're gonna see issues with resolution up to a point. Um, So, 338 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: if you have a really big screen and you happen 339 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: to sit really close to it and it's all an 340 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: h D t V resolution, you could end up saying 341 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:05,919 Speaker 1: this doesn't look high definition to me. Now, there are 342 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: various sources that give out formulas for how far you 343 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: should sit away from your television depending upon your television size, 344 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,119 Speaker 1: and I'll cover more of that in just a moment, 345 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 1: but first let's take a quick break. Okay, so I 346 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:28,640 Speaker 1: mentioned before the break that we needed to talk about 347 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 1: viewing distances. See now, in the old days, you know, 348 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 1: the h D t V days, how close you sat 349 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,080 Speaker 1: was dependent on a few things, not just the television size, 350 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: but also the resolution of the TV and how good 351 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: your vision was, because limitations and resolution would become apparent 352 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: if the TV were particularly large or if you were 353 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,920 Speaker 1: sitting fairly close to it. So in other words, you 354 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 1: would say, like, it doesn't look that great. But in 355 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,639 Speaker 1: the u h D era of four K and beyond, 356 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: it's getting really super hard to spot those resolution issue 357 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: unless you're talking about, you know, a gargantuan television like 358 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 1: one of those that sharp would show off at c 359 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,680 Speaker 1: e s on some years something that's like a hundred 360 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:12,120 Speaker 1: inches or something. So now the main thing is how 361 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,639 Speaker 1: your vision. You know, how much of your vision should 362 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: the television actually fill, or rather, how much of your 363 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 1: field of view should be taken up by the TV. 364 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 1: So let's say that you've got typical vision for a 365 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 1: human being. And just for the record, I actually don't 366 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,200 Speaker 1: have typical vision. I have less than what is typical. 367 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:34,399 Speaker 1: So if you don't have typical vision, please don't feel 368 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: badly about it. I'm just using it as a way 369 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: of setting, uh, you know, a framework. So typically humans 370 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:44,959 Speaker 1: have a field of view of an arc of around 371 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: two degrees or between two ten and two twenty in 372 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: front of them, and that is, if you were to 373 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: draw straight lines out from the very edges of your 374 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: vision while you're looking straight ahead, then the angle between 375 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: those lines would be somewhere around degrees. Now, not all 376 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: of that vision is equal, right, The stuff closer to 377 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 1: the edges of your vision, well, that's in your peripheral 378 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: and you won't see as much sharp detail there. You're 379 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: aware of things that happen in the periphery, but you're 380 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,359 Speaker 1: not focusing on that. In fact, when you get beyond 381 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,040 Speaker 1: about thirty degrees arc. You're really talking about the mid 382 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: peripheral part of your vision. So generally speaking, you want 383 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,439 Speaker 1: your TV to take up no more than say, thirty 384 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,280 Speaker 1: to forty degrees of your field a few and this 385 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:36,880 Speaker 1: should guide your decision when it comes to figuring out 386 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,479 Speaker 1: where you need to put, say your chair or your 387 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: couch or bean bag or whatever it is. But I 388 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: don't know about you. I don't have like a handy 389 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: dandy protractor to help me figure out that kind of stuff, 390 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: like what degree arc am I looking at when I've 391 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: got something in front of me. So we go to 392 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,880 Speaker 1: a more basic formula to kind of rough it out. 393 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:01,920 Speaker 1: And that formula is to multiply the size of your 394 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,160 Speaker 1: television's screen and inches by the number one point six. 395 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:08,800 Speaker 1: That's our constant, and that will give us the number 396 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 1: of inches that we should sit away from that TV 397 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: to get that thirty degree view in our field of view. 398 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:17,880 Speaker 1: Or let's say that you are starting from the other 399 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,639 Speaker 1: side right like you already know how far away you 400 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,000 Speaker 1: plan to be sitting from where your TV is going 401 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,960 Speaker 1: to go, Well, you can take that distance and inches 402 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: and then divide that by one point six, and that 403 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,399 Speaker 1: would give you a rough idea of how large a 404 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: television you should go and shop. Four all right, so 405 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 1: let's use an example. Let's say that I have just 406 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,560 Speaker 1: gone out and I've purchased a fifty five inch television, 407 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 1: and I want to know how far from this television 408 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,400 Speaker 1: I should have my couch so that I can get 409 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:51,639 Speaker 1: that optimal viewing experience and have that thirty degree field 410 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:55,359 Speaker 1: of view view of the screen. So I take the 411 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: size of the screen fifty I multiply that by one 412 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,440 Speaker 1: point six. That gives me eighty eight inches. So when 413 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:05,440 Speaker 1: I convert that into feat that's seven point three feet 414 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: or so, so a little more than seven feet away, 415 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,960 Speaker 1: and that will give me that thirty degree view of 416 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: the television. And it doesn't have to be exact. It's 417 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: kind of the ballpark figure. It tells you, all right, 418 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: somewhere around seven ft you should have a pretty good 419 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:23,120 Speaker 1: viewing experience. But what if instead, I've got a room 420 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 1: and I've got set up so I know where the 421 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 1: couch is gonna go, I know where the TV is 422 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: going to go, but I haven't bought the television yet, 423 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:31,960 Speaker 1: but I know the couch has to be this distance 424 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: from the TV, and I happen to know that it's 425 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,639 Speaker 1: eight feet away from where the television is going to be, Well, 426 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,080 Speaker 1: then we convert our eight ft two inches, that's inches. 427 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:45,640 Speaker 1: We divide ninety six by one point six. That gives 428 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,679 Speaker 1: us sixty So that means we would want something close 429 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 1: to us sixty inch television to go in that space. 430 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:56,120 Speaker 1: It's a good general rule to follow, assuming that you're 431 00:24:56,119 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 1: talking about uh D televisions, which again, those resolute sans 432 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:03,200 Speaker 1: are high enough where you're not likely to have any 433 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 1: issues when it comes to resolution quality. Also, you don't 434 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:08,159 Speaker 1: have to be right on the dot for any of 435 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 1: these measurements. Thirty degrees is your target, but really just 436 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:13,399 Speaker 1: you know, if you're a little bit closer, a little 437 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,920 Speaker 1: bit further away, it's not going to ruin the experience, 438 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: all right. So that's resolution. And I should also add 439 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: you should really get the benefits of resolution if the 440 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 1: source of the video you're watching matches the resolution of 441 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,720 Speaker 1: your display, or to put it in another way, what 442 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: you see on screen is limited by the weakest component 443 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,119 Speaker 1: in your system, and sometimes you might not even be 444 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,679 Speaker 1: able to view it, Like if your TV is an 445 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:42,920 Speaker 1: hd TV and you're trying to watch a four K 446 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 1: video on it. That just ain't gonna work. Period. But 447 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: let's say that your TV is the highest point in 448 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:53,200 Speaker 1: your system. Well, you're still limited about whatever the lowest 449 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:56,679 Speaker 1: point is. So if you're watching an old VHS tape 450 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: and you're using your eight K U h D t V, 451 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 1: it's not gonna look like eight K video. It's going 452 00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: to be limited to VHS levels of resolution, which is 453 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,159 Speaker 1: close to standard definition. So the quality of what you 454 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: see depends on what that video source is coming from. 455 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,360 Speaker 1: If you don't have a source that can create outputs 456 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,120 Speaker 1: of four K, let alone eight K video, then you're 457 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:25,200 Speaker 1: not really going to get the benefit of that higher resolution. Well, 458 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:29,639 Speaker 1: there is one thing these higher definition televisions can do 459 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:35,680 Speaker 1: to compensate for lower resolution video sources. This is called upscaling, 460 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:38,840 Speaker 1: which is really a necessity. It's not like it makes 461 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: it sound like it magically makes video better. That's not 462 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,199 Speaker 1: really what upscaling is doing. But let's say that you 463 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: wanted to watch a lower resolution video on your high 464 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: resolution screen and there was no way to adjust for 465 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: this difference. Okay, so there's no system in place to 466 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: have this video somehow expand to fill the number of 467 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 1: pixels that are on your uh D television screen. Well, 468 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,240 Speaker 1: that video just contains information for an image that takes 469 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 1: up a specific number of pixels horizontally and vertically. So 470 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: what you could do is have that video play on 471 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: your screen, but it only takes up those pixels, so 472 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: it would be like a little thumbnail video. It would 473 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,560 Speaker 1: be like maybe in the corner, maybe playing in just 474 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:25,600 Speaker 1: the very center of your screen, with lots of black 475 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: space around it, because it only takes up that subset 476 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 1: of pixels and your television is way more pixels than 477 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,359 Speaker 1: the video source does. This would be kind of like 478 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:40,360 Speaker 1: those thumbnail videos you occasionally see on websites, and it's 479 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: not a very satisfying experience. Or you could build in 480 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,640 Speaker 1: an upscale function, and this is a process in which 481 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,720 Speaker 1: the television essentially starts to fill in pixels to make 482 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,359 Speaker 1: up for the fact that the video source is a 483 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: lower resolution than the screen can display, and it's a 484 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: way of boosting the pixel count of the original video source. Now, 485 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 1: typically this means that the television is is using light 486 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:11,760 Speaker 1: that's of a similar quality in neighboring pixels to fill 487 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,879 Speaker 1: in for missing ones. So let's say that we've got 488 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,160 Speaker 1: a video and it happens to be showing a green 489 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,439 Speaker 1: meadow and a blue sky. Well, the television would essentially 490 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:24,840 Speaker 1: be inserting pixels that would be shades of green similar 491 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 1: to the green and the meadow over in the meadow 492 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: side of it, or shades a blue similar to the 493 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: blue of the sky and the sky part of it, 494 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: and try to match the brightness to neighboring pixels to 495 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: kind of fill out and even out this image. So 496 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: you're adding information to something that was being fed to 497 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:45,880 Speaker 1: the screen. This process does not add detail, however, so 498 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: it doesn't make those images more clear or more sharp. 499 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: So the bigger gap you have in resolution between your 500 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,680 Speaker 1: display and the video source, the less good it's gonna look. 501 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: So an eight K TV up scaling a VHS video 502 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 1: would not just magically like eight K television. It would 503 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 1: it looked pretty jankie. All that being said, resolution is 504 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: really just one factor to consider when you're looking at television's. 505 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: There are tons of uh D TVs on the market, 506 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: and they are not all equal. Some are just playing 507 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: better when it comes to picture quality, even if they 508 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: happen to have the same number of pixels as a 509 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: competing brand. Now, anyone who remembers the days when we 510 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 1: used to buy digital cameras, you know, before all of 511 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: our phones came with one, you'll remember how the megapixel 512 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 1: number was a really big selling point for cameras. You know, 513 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:48,200 Speaker 1: the general marketing point was that more megapixels means better pictures, 514 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:54,040 Speaker 1: except it didn't, at least not necessarily. Megapixels, which just 515 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 1: refers to the resolution output of a camera, is really 516 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,880 Speaker 1: just one part of what can make a picture good. 517 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: But it is way easier to sell a camera to 518 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:08,720 Speaker 1: the public by saying this one goes to eleven, then 519 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: it would be to try and describe all the different 520 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: factors that go into the quality of a photo. So 521 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,640 Speaker 1: the same thing is true with television's But another really 522 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 1: important thing besides resolution is a television's contrast ratio, and 523 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:26,560 Speaker 1: that refers to the ratio that describes the difference between 524 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,840 Speaker 1: the luminance or the brightness. If you prefer of the 525 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:35,400 Speaker 1: darkest shade that the display can produce and the brightest 526 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: shade that it can produce, and you want a really 527 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: high contrast ratio which indicates a wide spectrum of luminance, 528 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: and that can really impact image quality. I'll explain a 529 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:58,200 Speaker 1: bit more, but first let's take another quick break. Okay, 530 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,640 Speaker 1: we were talking about contrast a shio. Now, some televisions 531 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,320 Speaker 1: naturally just have better contrast ratios, especially when it comes 532 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: to showing off the darker colors. And this comes down 533 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 1: to the technologies that actually power the TVs. Televisions that 534 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 1: have a back light, uh, that is, the image is 535 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,600 Speaker 1: generated on screen, it's coming courtesy a little tiny lamps 536 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:23,760 Speaker 1: that are behind each pixel. UH, those can have trouble 537 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: with darker colors. And that's because that lamp is essentially 538 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: it's always on, even during the dark scenes, and the 539 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,200 Speaker 1: liquid crystals that are meant to block the light, sometimes 540 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: they allow a little bit of light to bleed through, 541 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,680 Speaker 1: and sometimes that means that dark stuff that should be 542 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,120 Speaker 1: say pitch black, might actually come out looking more like 543 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: their charcoal gray when they're on your screen. And if 544 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 1: you're trying to watch something in which a character in 545 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,040 Speaker 1: really dark clothing is moving around in a dark building, 546 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:55,200 Speaker 1: it might just look like you're looking at a big, dark, 547 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: gray screen with nothing going on. In fact, that's what 548 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:00,120 Speaker 1: a lot of Batman movies might look like on one 549 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,920 Speaker 1: of these screens. And this is particularly noticeable if your 550 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 1: room is really dark as well, in bright rooms it's 551 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: not quite as bad. Some television's have what's called dynamic contrast, 552 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: which puts the backlight into a low power mode to 553 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: reduce that kind of bleed through, and that helps a bit. 554 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 1: And of course not all televisions rely on the same technology. 555 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 1: So l e ED television's have little l e ED 556 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 1: you know, light emitting diodes as lamps behind a liquid 557 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: crystal display or l c D panel, and this type 558 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,200 Speaker 1: is the kind that can have that light bleed through. 559 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: The l c D crystals act kind of like window shades. 560 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:41,720 Speaker 1: They control how much light can pass through to the screen, 561 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 1: but they aren't necessarily perfect at blacking everything out. There 562 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 1: are actually a couple of different LED panels that can 563 00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:52,760 Speaker 1: have different effects. So a vertical alignment panel, those tend 564 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: to be more efficient in blocking light, they have better 565 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: contrast as a result. Uh then you have in plane 566 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,320 Speaker 1: switching panel. These tend to let a little bit more 567 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 1: light through. So this is where you might get some 568 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,400 Speaker 1: of that bleed through. But you rarely see these bits 569 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: of information about what kind of l e ED display 570 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:14,360 Speaker 1: the television has on the TV box, right so it's 571 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 1: hard to kind of shop for that, But then you 572 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:21,080 Speaker 1: could also use an oh LAD screen. Oh lads are 573 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:25,040 Speaker 1: organic light emitting diodes. They don't need those little backlights. 574 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: They can sort of think of these as little bitty 575 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:30,080 Speaker 1: points that act as a light source and a pixel 576 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: all in one go, and they can actually turn on 577 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:37,000 Speaker 1: or off, you know, dynamically, and thus they tend to 578 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 1: be much better when it comes to contrast. They can 579 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,520 Speaker 1: show darker colors with more accuracy, and I would finally 580 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,400 Speaker 1: be able to tell what the heck Batman was actually doing. 581 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:49,880 Speaker 1: Several years ago. I would also be talking about plasma televisions, 582 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:53,880 Speaker 1: which could also provide pretty amazing contrast, although at the 583 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: expense of brightness. They couldn't get as bright as L 584 00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 1: E D t vs could typically, but plas the TVs 585 00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:03,520 Speaker 1: were really expensive, they never really caught on the same 586 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: way that L E ED t vs did. Plus, there 587 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:09,360 Speaker 1: was this potential issue of burning, meaning that if you 588 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: had a plasma screen and you were showing the same 589 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:14,640 Speaker 1: image for a long time, you might have a remnant 590 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: of that image that can stick around even after when 591 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,360 Speaker 1: you're watching other stuff, So it affects the quality of 592 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,480 Speaker 1: your experience, but the major TV company has pretty much 593 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 1: stopped making plasma televisions back in two thousand fourteen, so 594 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,920 Speaker 1: it's kind of a moot point. And before I move on, 595 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,560 Speaker 1: I should also talk about projectors too. So far I've 596 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:35,680 Speaker 1: been focusing on TV sets, but one way you can 597 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:37,920 Speaker 1: trick out a home theater is to get a really 598 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: nice projector, which can give you a big screen experience 599 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: at a much lower price point, depending on you know 600 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,320 Speaker 1: which model you're looking at, and I do mean depending, 601 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: because there's some projectors out there for high end markets. 602 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,440 Speaker 1: They're in the tens of thousands of dollars range. That 603 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:56,879 Speaker 1: is way outside of my budget. But you can find 604 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,760 Speaker 1: others that are, you know, around five d two thousand dollars. 605 00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:04,560 Speaker 1: There's still expensive, but they are less expensive per inch 606 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:09,000 Speaker 1: than your flat screen televisions typically are. Like you can 607 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:12,920 Speaker 1: get screens that are a hundred twenty inches or larger, 608 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:15,960 Speaker 1: and if you have a really big home theater set up, 609 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:19,239 Speaker 1: that means that you could have a effectively a one 610 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: or two hundred forty inch TV, but for a fraction 611 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:27,440 Speaker 1: of the cost of some of these other flat panel 612 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:31,080 Speaker 1: display styles. You can also find a range of resolutions 613 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 1: with projectors as well, including ultra high definition projectors, so 614 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:37,520 Speaker 1: you can find four K projectors no problem, uh, and 615 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,200 Speaker 1: you can really create that kind of theater experience. But 616 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: one thing that matters a lot with this particular setup 617 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:47,640 Speaker 1: is ambient light. You want as little light in your 618 00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,720 Speaker 1: environment as possible. You want that room to be dark 619 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,000 Speaker 1: if you're going to be using a projector, So that 620 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:56,319 Speaker 1: usually means that projectors are best in spaces that have 621 00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:00,560 Speaker 1: few or no windows, or you have treated those windows 622 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:04,239 Speaker 1: with like blackout curtains or blackout shades so that you 623 00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:09,960 Speaker 1: can have a really dark movie Dungeon. Um televisions can 624 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,279 Speaker 1: give you a good experience at other light levels, so 625 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,560 Speaker 1: they you know, they're not as dependent upon this. So 626 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:18,879 Speaker 1: really this comes down to your setup, like what room 627 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:21,439 Speaker 1: you're planning on using as a home theater. If your 628 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:24,480 Speaker 1: home theater is going to be out in a sun room, 629 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: well you're probably not going to have a good experience 630 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,040 Speaker 1: with a projector unless you're only watching things in the 631 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:32,839 Speaker 1: dead of night. Oh and what's more, you can also 632 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:35,640 Speaker 1: find projectors that have built in WiFi receivers and even 633 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,360 Speaker 1: ones that have apps included to let you access popular 634 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,280 Speaker 1: streaming services. So you don't have to hook the projector 635 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,799 Speaker 1: up to some other computer or set top box in 636 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,040 Speaker 1: order to get those functions. Those projectors do exist, and 637 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,399 Speaker 1: that's pretty darn cool too that they're kind of neat. 638 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:53,080 Speaker 1: Now it's time to chat about another confusing factor in 639 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:56,480 Speaker 1: image quality, and that is HDR. And this one's really 640 00:36:56,560 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 1: irritating because while there is a standard HDR, there are 641 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: other flavors of HDR, and that means there's lots of 642 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 1: competing technologies all trying to accomplish the same goal, but 643 00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:13,719 Speaker 1: they're not necessarily compatible with each other. That means you 644 00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:17,239 Speaker 1: could end up buying an HDR TV and HDR set up, 645 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:20,920 Speaker 1: and that the two don't necessarily work together. Like if 646 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: you're set up is working on one set and your 647 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 1: TV is meant for a different set, you've got some issues. 648 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:32,120 Speaker 1: So let's get into that. So HDR, in case you're 649 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: not familiar, stands for high dynamic range. This became the 650 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,399 Speaker 1: buzzword of modern TVs and it tends to be one 651 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:41,480 Speaker 1: of those features that gets positioned as a main selling point. 652 00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:45,560 Speaker 1: So when resolution used to be the big differentiator, now 653 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: it's does it have high dynamic range? Well? And it 654 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:54,200 Speaker 1: centers around this representation of color and brightness, So dynamics 655 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,919 Speaker 1: references extremes, right, So like in a in sound, let's 656 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,480 Speaker 1: say you're talking about music, you would say a song 657 00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:03,480 Speaker 1: was really dynamic if there were was a lot of 658 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:06,920 Speaker 1: variation between the loud parts and the soft parts of 659 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:09,879 Speaker 1: the song, if there were a lot of levels there, 660 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:13,319 Speaker 1: volume levels. That's a lot of dynamics as opposed to 661 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:15,920 Speaker 1: a piece that maintains more or less the same level 662 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:20,600 Speaker 1: of volume throughout the whole piece. With televisions, these dynamics 663 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 1: are in the shades and brightness of the colors on 664 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:29,600 Speaker 1: the screen, which ideally manifests as really vibrant on screen displays, 665 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: so the colors really pop out at you, and there 666 00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:35,600 Speaker 1: could be much more subtle shifts with light and shadow 667 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:39,880 Speaker 1: when you're working with a system that has really good HDR. 668 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:45,120 Speaker 1: In fact, a superior television with high resolution and HDR 669 00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:47,399 Speaker 1: could even give you the feeling that you're looking through 670 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:51,000 Speaker 1: a window almost rather than a screen, because HDR, if 671 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,240 Speaker 1: it's implemented well, can even convey a sense of depth. 672 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:58,000 Speaker 1: And this is true even if the television isn't a 673 00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:00,160 Speaker 1: three D TV. And let me tell you, I'm so 674 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,640 Speaker 1: glad we are past the three D television fad because 675 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:05,680 Speaker 1: that man I didn't have to talk about three D 676 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:09,080 Speaker 1: in this episode. But there are some caveats when it 677 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:12,799 Speaker 1: comes to HDR, and one is that every component in 678 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:16,760 Speaker 1: your system that deals with video has to be HDR 679 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,520 Speaker 1: compatible in order for you to get the benefit. So 680 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:22,520 Speaker 1: let's say that you have a game console and it 681 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:27,000 Speaker 1: supports hd R, and you've got a television that supports HDR, 682 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,360 Speaker 1: but the cable you're using to connect your console to 683 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:34,440 Speaker 1: your TV isn't HDR compatible, Well, you would not be 684 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,840 Speaker 1: able to take advantage of HDR. Or let's say that 685 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:41,040 Speaker 1: your TV and your cable are both HDR ready, but 686 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:45,879 Speaker 1: your video source isn't the same problem, every single component 687 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,640 Speaker 1: has to be hd R ready in order to take 688 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:54,279 Speaker 1: advantage of HDR. Moreover, HDR is kind of it's more 689 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:57,680 Speaker 1: of what you call guidelines. As Barbosa would say, it's 690 00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:00,440 Speaker 1: like a defined goal. It's a system it has to 691 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:05,560 Speaker 1: achieve a certain benchmark in uh in in color representation 692 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:08,359 Speaker 1: in order to be considered HDR. But how it goes 693 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:12,400 Speaker 1: about achieving that benchmark, which is technically, you know, a 694 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:15,080 Speaker 1: resolution of at least four K and a certain contrast 695 00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:19,480 Speaker 1: ratio that isn't standardized. So in other words, you're saying, 696 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:22,000 Speaker 1: here's your destination, but how you get there is up 697 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:25,560 Speaker 1: to you. So that means there are different flavors of HDR. 698 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:29,840 Speaker 1: There's HDR ten that's your baseline version. Most other versions 699 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:33,160 Speaker 1: support HDR ten, so hopefully if you have a setup, 700 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:37,000 Speaker 1: you can use that. But then you have other more 701 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:42,719 Speaker 1: you know, uh, feature filled versions. There's Advanced HDR, which 702 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,800 Speaker 1: was a product from Technicolor. There's Dolby Vision, which is 703 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:48,799 Speaker 1: kind of like hd R plus, and there are more 704 00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:52,080 Speaker 1: besides that. So to take advantage of those versions, you 705 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:54,919 Speaker 1: would have to have your television and all your other 706 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:58,319 Speaker 1: components be compatible with that specific version of HDR for 707 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:01,120 Speaker 1: you to be able to experience riens it. So you 708 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,280 Speaker 1: could end up with an HDR system that can't really 709 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:08,920 Speaker 1: play certain HDR media, at least not with the HDR 710 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,920 Speaker 1: effects you were expecting, because the media was built for 711 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:16,200 Speaker 1: a different version of HDR, And yeah, that kind of stinks, 712 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,440 Speaker 1: but when it all does work together, it's pretty phenomenal. 713 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,279 Speaker 1: So your display should have a great contrast ratio, it 714 00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:27,240 Speaker 1: should have great resolution, it should have HDR. What else well, 715 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,279 Speaker 1: you might consider the refresh rate. I don't see this 716 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:33,680 Speaker 1: touted as much as it was a few years ago, 717 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:36,520 Speaker 1: right around the time when Peter Jackson was releasing the 718 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:40,000 Speaker 1: Hobbit films. That's really when refresh rate became a big thing. 719 00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,400 Speaker 1: It kind of got a bad name at the time too. Technically, 720 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:47,160 Speaker 1: refresh rate describes the number of times the television refreshes 721 00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:50,880 Speaker 1: the image on the screen each second, and we measure 722 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,240 Speaker 1: this and hurts or cycles per second, and it's somewhat 723 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:56,680 Speaker 1: similar to the frame rate of a film. You know, 724 00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:59,480 Speaker 1: we typically playback film at a speed of twenty four 725 00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:01,759 Speaker 1: frames per second. That means the film is really a 726 00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:04,359 Speaker 1: series of still photographs, but when we play it at 727 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:07,040 Speaker 1: a fast enough speed, it creates the illusion of movement. 728 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:10,160 Speaker 1: Video is a little bit different. We do still have 729 00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:13,360 Speaker 1: a way of changing the image super fast, and typically 730 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:16,800 Speaker 1: we're talking around like thirty to sixty times per second, 731 00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:19,600 Speaker 1: sixty times being way more common these days, so that's 732 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:23,840 Speaker 1: like sixty hurts. Higher in televisions can have higher refresh rates, 733 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:28,600 Speaker 1: or at least higher advertised refresh rates. Hurts is not uncommon. 734 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:32,160 Speaker 1: But what does this mean as far as your viewing experience? 735 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:36,520 Speaker 1: Goes well for fast moving stuff, like stuff that's moving 736 00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:39,600 Speaker 1: quickly across the screen as you're watching it, you would 737 00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:42,720 Speaker 1: typically see a blurring of that image, and the image 738 00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:45,239 Speaker 1: kind of looks a little bit softer as a result 739 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:49,520 Speaker 1: with televisions that have lower refresh rates. When you have 740 00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:54,239 Speaker 1: faster refresh rates, those same images appear to be more 741 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:57,680 Speaker 1: sharp and more clear, more solid. So this is really 742 00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:00,759 Speaker 1: great for certain things like sports, where the effect is 743 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:03,720 Speaker 1: almost like you're there in person because you're not getting 744 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:07,399 Speaker 1: motion blur and stuff like that. In addition to refresh rate, 745 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:11,960 Speaker 1: TVs typically have some other anti blurring technologies built into them. 746 00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:15,239 Speaker 1: This can boost the perceived effect. So a lot of 747 00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:17,719 Speaker 1: companies will actually describe this by just saying the TV 748 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:22,200 Speaker 1: has an even higher refresh rate than the television actually does, 749 00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,120 Speaker 1: Like it might really refresh the screen a hundred twenty 750 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:27,440 Speaker 1: times a second, but I might be advertised at to 751 00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:32,480 Speaker 1: forty or even higher. Because the technical detail of how 752 00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:35,359 Speaker 1: many times it refreshes the screen isn't as important as 753 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:41,440 Speaker 1: saying this is the effect you will perceive when you watch, right, Like, 754 00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:45,560 Speaker 1: those numbers don't really matter if they don't relate to 755 00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:48,760 Speaker 1: what it's like to watch something on that television screen. 756 00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:51,680 Speaker 1: They're just numbers. It means nothing, you know. It's the 757 00:43:51,719 --> 00:43:55,480 Speaker 1: experience that actually means something. So if the image seems 758 00:43:55,480 --> 00:43:58,480 Speaker 1: more sharp and clear, even when you're looking at stuff 759 00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:02,080 Speaker 1: that's moving fast, that's all that really matters, not which 760 00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:05,200 Speaker 1: collection of technologies made it possible or what numbers we 761 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:10,239 Speaker 1: associate with them. However, these technologies can also create some 762 00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:13,480 Speaker 1: weird effects that you might not like, so some folks 763 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:17,880 Speaker 1: complain that these faster refresh rates make stuff look artificial 764 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:21,560 Speaker 1: or fake. The phrase that you will frequently here to 765 00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:24,200 Speaker 1: describe this is it makes everything look like a Mexican 766 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:27,239 Speaker 1: soap opera. Which don't get me wrong, I am not 767 00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:30,719 Speaker 1: disparaging Mexican soap operas, but they do have a particular 768 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:34,080 Speaker 1: look to them, and you don't necessarily want everything to 769 00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:36,880 Speaker 1: look that way. A lot of theater buffs I know 770 00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:39,920 Speaker 1: would actually turn these refresh rates off. That usually there 771 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,319 Speaker 1: was a setting somewhere in the television where you could 772 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:45,880 Speaker 1: just turn it to like sixty hurts or one twenty 773 00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:48,319 Speaker 1: anything beyond that, a lot of people just kind of 774 00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:50,920 Speaker 1: shied away from and they would opt for that lower 775 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:53,400 Speaker 1: refresh rate and retain that motion blur for stuff like 776 00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:57,319 Speaker 1: TV shows and movies, maybe activating the higher refresh rate 777 00:44:57,320 --> 00:44:59,319 Speaker 1: for stuff like sporting events and that kind of thing. 778 00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:01,560 Speaker 1: And as with many of the things I mentioned in 779 00:45:01,560 --> 00:45:05,480 Speaker 1: this episode, a lot of this falls to marketing strategies, right, 780 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,440 Speaker 1: Like having a bigger number to point to is a 781 00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,719 Speaker 1: way of saying, this is how we differentiate our product 782 00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:16,200 Speaker 1: from our competitors. So knowing that being savvy as a 783 00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:19,240 Speaker 1: consumer is really important, right, Being able to see through 784 00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:22,960 Speaker 1: the marketing speak in order to understand what's actually being 785 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,560 Speaker 1: sold to you. That is critical, especially when you're talking 786 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:29,759 Speaker 1: about something like the centerpiece of a home theater, which 787 00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:33,759 Speaker 1: is going to presumably be a fairly expensive technology, whether 788 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,920 Speaker 1: it's a television or a projector so it behooves you 789 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:40,480 Speaker 1: to do this kind of research, understand what these components do. 790 00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:43,200 Speaker 1: Also think about the other things you want to have 791 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:45,680 Speaker 1: as part of your home theater and make sure they're 792 00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:48,920 Speaker 1: all compatible before you go all in, because there's nothing 793 00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:52,000 Speaker 1: worse than getting a whole bunch of pieces of technology together, 794 00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:55,200 Speaker 1: hooking them up and then realizing there's a compatibility issue. 795 00:45:55,600 --> 00:46:00,000 Speaker 1: I've had that happened to me in different aspects numerous times. 796 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,480 Speaker 1: It is incredibly frustrating and disheartening because you're so excited 797 00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:05,640 Speaker 1: going into it. So it's good to know this stuff 798 00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:10,680 Speaker 1: before you really start making purchases. Well, I'm gonna wrap 799 00:46:10,719 --> 00:46:13,400 Speaker 1: this up now for the televisions, but we will do 800 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:15,920 Speaker 1: a couple more episodes. I want to talk about sound. 801 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:18,719 Speaker 1: We need to talk about sound systems for home theaters 802 00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:22,600 Speaker 1: and what all those mean, because that's another confusing technological 803 00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:25,759 Speaker 1: mind field to walk through, right because there's so many 804 00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:30,359 Speaker 1: different variations on surround sound and which ones are right 805 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:32,600 Speaker 1: for you. I also want to talk about some of 806 00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:35,960 Speaker 1: the other components that you would find, like what are 807 00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:40,160 Speaker 1: the differences in the different resolution video streaming devices and 808 00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,080 Speaker 1: video playing devices you can find? Does it make sense 809 00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,759 Speaker 1: to buy an eight K television right now? How much 810 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:49,840 Speaker 1: eight K content is out there? What are the limiting factors? 811 00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:52,000 Speaker 1: So we're gonna talk about more of those things in 812 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:55,319 Speaker 1: our our next episode, but this episode we're going to 813 00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:57,759 Speaker 1: wrap up. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have 814 00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:00,160 Speaker 1: suggestions for topics I should cover in future EPISO, it's 815 00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:02,560 Speaker 1: a tech stuff, please reach out to me and let 816 00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:06,080 Speaker 1: me know. The best way is on Twitter. Um you 817 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:09,600 Speaker 1: can tell me about things I messed up in old articles. 818 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:11,520 Speaker 1: I can't change them. I don't work for Health Stuff 819 00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:14,960 Speaker 1: Works anymore. But um, you know, we can always write 820 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,880 Speaker 1: to the editor and say, hey, we should really change 821 00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:20,080 Speaker 1: this or you should really change this, because I can't. 822 00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:22,400 Speaker 1: I can't do it because um, I would like to 823 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:26,799 Speaker 1: see that happen. I you know, I I'll own up 824 00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:31,279 Speaker 1: to when I goof and using a gender now at 825 00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:34,759 Speaker 1: the very beginning of an article that should be universally 826 00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:38,759 Speaker 1: you know, applicable. That was a That was a bad 827 00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:41,759 Speaker 1: That was a bad call on my part. So yeah, 828 00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:45,279 Speaker 1: glad that I was called out for that. Uh. I 829 00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:47,840 Speaker 1: mean it stinks that had happened, but that's my fault, 830 00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:50,920 Speaker 1: not not not the person who told me. If you 831 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:52,880 Speaker 1: have any other suggestions, like I said, hit me up 832 00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:55,880 Speaker 1: on Twitter Tech Stuff hs W and I'll talk to 833 00:47:55,920 --> 00:48:04,719 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart 834 00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:08,560 Speaker 1: Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit 835 00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:11,640 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 836 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:13,080 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.