WEBVTT - Home Theatre 101: The Screen 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:12.480 Welcome to tech Stuff production from I Heart Radio. Hey there, 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.720 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.319 I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio and a 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:20.760 lot of all things tech. And first of all, if 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.360 I sound a little different, it's because I'm actually in 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.200 the office in a studio, though I am recording on 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:31.960 my normal at home equipment, so there might be some 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:36.519 slight differences in the quality of sound. But just hang 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:40.000 with me, guys. And recently, someone on Twitter called me 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.520 out for an article that I wrote many years ago 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.280 for how stuff Works dot com and it was about 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:48.159 home theater systems. The article and the person called me 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:51.879 out because I used the term man cave right at 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.080 the very beginning of the article, and the criticism was 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.240 that that I had fired off a gendered down right 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.880 at the beginning of a piece. And I want to 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:03.000 be clear, that was a crappy thing for me to 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:07.319 have done. It was crappy back then. It's definitely crappy now. 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:11.760 I would never right it that way today. I'd like 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:14.240 to think that over the following year is from writing 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:16.759 that article, I've grown a little bit as a person, 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.080 and I certainly tried to do that. But all of 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.160 this is my interest to say we're gonna do an 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.600 updated episode about home theater systems, actually a couple of episodes, 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.720 because there's a lot to talk about. Now. Maybe you 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.399 want to put together a home theater, or maybe you're 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.679 just thinking about upgrading your setup, or maybe you just 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.440 want to know what's the deal with all the latest 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.959 options out there and to figure out which one might 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:44.000 be best for you, and you know your situation. So 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.320 we're gonna try and build the perfect person cave together. 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:53.000 And this episode is really gonna focus on, uh, the 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:57.040 TV or the screen, depending on what you want to do. 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:01.320 And here's a tricky thing. So there are a lot 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.840 of terms and numbers and metrics when it comes to 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:08.360 home theater systems, and these are not always the easiest 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:13.120 to understand or parse. Also, there's this tendency to think 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:18.120 that bigger numbers are better. They're not necessarily better, and 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.680 that might shock some of my fellow Americans because we 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.959 typically go with more please when it comes to metrics. 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.720 So I'm gonna try and do my best to demystify 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.760 some of these different features and explain what it actually means. 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:35.160 So at a minimum, a good home theater system needs 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.840 a screen, whether a projection screen or a TV screen, 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.200 and a sound system. So we're gonna really focus on 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.800 the screen part for this episode, and let's start with 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:51.639 talking about you know, UM resolutions, because when I first 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.800 started writing about home theaters, the top of the line 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.600 TV screens at that time, when I was first writing 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.280 about them, they max doubt in the h D t 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.960 V range that stands for high definition television, which is 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.239 almost obsolete at this point as far as new televisions 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.320 are concerned. So it's a good idea to kind of 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.400 go down the path of those you know, definitions and 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.120 resolutions to talk about what that means and what the 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.440 state of the art is today now. Mostly it does 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:27.480 come down to resolution, or how many distinct components called 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.800 pixels ake a little points of light makeup and image 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:35.000 on the screen. So when we look at a television, 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.120 the images we see are made up of thousands of 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:41.680 points of light of various colors. We'll get to color 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:46.360 representation in a little bit in this episode. So there's 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:50.280 this analogy that I typically use when I talk about resolution. 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.320 Let's say that you've got yourself a wooden frame and 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.400 it's on the ground. It's you know, it's edges are 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.440 a couple of inches high, and the frame itself is 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:04.400 about thirty five inches wide and twenty inches tall. Uh. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:08.400 That is roughly the dimensions of a forty inch television, 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:13.320 because we actually measure TVs on the diagonal across the screen, 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.960 so from an upper corner to a lower corner, uh, 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.880 diagonally across rather than just vertically or horizontally. So if 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.560 you've ever wondered, hey, the said it was a you know, 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:25.720 forty two inch television, but it's not for you two 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.320 inches wide. That's why it's on the diagonal. And let's 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:33.080 say that I give you a bucket that's filled with 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.919 little wooden blocks, and each of these blocks are you know, 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.960 a various a specific color, so each block is a 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.479 solid color, and they're all just one inch cubes, so 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.440 you get one inch per side on these cubes. And 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:50.200 I ask you to make a picture using those blocks 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:52.640 inside this frame. And I want the picture to be 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.560 a cat because I work on the Internet, and that 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.719 means there's like a chance that any photo I'm talking 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.159 about is gonna least have a cat in it. Well, 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.200 because each block is a solid color. You would have 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:07.520 to do your best to make a cat image within 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:11.599 the confines of this frame I've given you. And those 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.400 blocks are one inch you know, cubes, so you would 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.400 end up with some pretty jagged edges for any curves 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.120 that you wanted to represent in this cat picture. So 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:26.080 this would be a pretty low resolution image. Now let's 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.760 say we dumped out all those blocks after you made 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.480 your picture of a cat, and I gave you another 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.960 bucket filled with blocks. But these cubes are half an 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.120 inch per side, so you can fit twice as many 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.800 across the horizontal and vertical lines. So with the one 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.719 inch cube, if you were to actually fill the entire 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.000 frame from corner to corner, you would be able to 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.080 fit seven hundred cubes total in that frame. Because we 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:59.839 multiply twenty times thirty five bytes, we get seven hundred 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:03.680 and that, you know, because the cubes are one inch, 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:07.040 that tells you seven cubes could fit within that frame. Well, 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.920 now we're using half inch cubes. With half inch cubes, 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.839 you could fit two thousand, eight hundred cubes in the frame. 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:17.400 So you've half the size and you've quadrupled the number 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:22.159 of blocks you can use. So your cat picture that 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.680 you use with these half inch blocks is going to 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.240 be better than the first one because the blocks are 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.440 using allow you to approach fine detail a little more effectively. 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.400 So as we decrease the size of the blocks, but 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:39.839 we're keeping the same shape of the frame, we increase 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.320 the number of blocks that can fit in that frame, 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.680 and our picture starts to look more sharp and clear 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:50.240 as we do this. That is resolution to a point anyway. 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:55.360 So by the time resolutions were standardized during the history 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:59.480 of television, you really had two broad standards. You had 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:02.599 the europe and pal and SCAM systems, which used a 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.960 resolution that we referred to as five hundred seventy six. 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:10.080 That meant there were five hundred seventy six rows of pixels. 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.840 Uh So, if you isolated one vertical line of pixels 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.000 from top to bottom on the screen and you counted 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:17.920 them all, you would count up to five d seventy 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.880 six across the screen from side to side, you had 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:26.120 seven hundred four columns of pixels. So seven hundred four 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.600 pixels from left to right, five hundred seventy six from 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.440 top to bottom. Multiply those together, that gives us a 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.120 total of more than four hundred thousand pixels to play 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.400 with to make our pictures. In the US, it was 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:42.800 a slightly different story. Standard definition was four hundred eighty 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:48.040 pixels vertically so from top to bottom, and seven hundred 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.600 four horizontally left to right. That gave us a slightly 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.440 lower resolution of than Europe had of around three hundred 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.880 thirty eight thousand pixels on the screen, a little less 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:01.120 than that actually, And I should also add that most 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:05.120 screens had an aspect ratio of four to three. This 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.320 refers to the ratio of the television's width compared to 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.440 its height. Now, in the example I gave earlier, the 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.600 frame that I mentioned that would actually be more the 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.720 modern standard of aspect ratios for televisions, which is sixteen 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.200 by nine. That's what we used to call the wide 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:25.920 screen format back when those TVs were first hitting the market, 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.800 and not everyone was sold on them back in those days, 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.160 because we are also used to the four by three ratio. 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.360 But in the old days, most TVs looked a little 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:37.280 more boxy than the ones we have today, and this 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:41.160 is why when you watch older television shows, you frequently 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.000 see that the image doesn't really extend all the way 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.120 to the edges. Of your television screen unless someone has 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.040 you know, like digitally punched in, which is awful because 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.600 that means you lose the details that are otherwise at 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.160 the edges. The Simpsons did this and it was terrible 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.640 because a lot of visual gags got cut off because 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.200 the image was punched in, and um, I want to 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.120 say Fox and then Disney kind of relented and gave 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.559 people the option of being able to view those episodes 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:14.240 in their original four by three aspect ratio. And that's 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:16.560 kind of how things were for decades, with you know, 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:18.839 some exceptions, but that's all in the past, so we're 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:20.840 gonna leave them for now because we don't really need 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.280 to go into detail. But then we get up to 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.360 the era of h D t V and things started 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.439 getting really confusing because there were different flavors of h 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.400 D t V more so than you found was standard definition. 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.520 So the three big ones were seven ten A d 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:41.679 I and ten A DP in most parts of the world. 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.640 So let's go with the numbers first, then I'll explain 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:50.760 what that I M P mean. So seven twenty referred 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.560 to a resolution of seven D twenty pixels tall by 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.280 one thousand, two hundred eighty pixels wide. That gives us 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.720 a total of nine one thousand, six hundred pixels. This 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:06.160 one often was called HD ready as opposed to full H. 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.120 D t V ten eighty refers to one thousand eighty 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:14.120 pixels tall by one thousand nine d twenty pixels wide. 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.040 And you might say, all right, but when I multiply 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:22.119 those two together, I get two point zero seven million pixels. 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:24.600 And that's true. But here's where we got to talk 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.720 about the P versus the eye. So the P stands 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:33.400 for progressive scan, and the eye stands for interlaced. So 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:38.040 with an interlaced display, the screen shows alternating horizontal lines 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.560 of pixels and paints the image across the screen and 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.720 then down the screen. So if we were to number 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:49.160 the rows of pixels on the screen, going from row 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.920 one and then working our way down until we had 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.720 labeled all the way down to row one thousand eighty, 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.400 and if we were slow things way way way down, 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.800 like super super super low, we would see that the 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:08.760 screen would display the odd rows first, so rose one, three, five, seven, 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.440 and so on all the way down to one thousand 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:16.760 seventy nine would display first. Then you would get the 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:21.600 even rows two, four, six, eight, etcetera. Now this happens 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.880 at a speed that is so fast our eyes can't 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:25.840 detect it, so to us it just looks like a 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.960 solid image. We don't see that it's really alternating these 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.760 lines at all. We're getting the experience as if it's 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.880 all happening at once. But it does mean that effectively, 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.920 it's only showing half the number of pixels UH in 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:45.600 a given moment. Now we say this means an interlaced 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:50.079 screen uses two fields. One field has all the odd 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.079 horizontal lines of pixels, and the second field has all 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.000 the even ones, and these are necessary to create a 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.880 single frame of videos. So each frame is made up 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:04.200 a two fields with an interlaced screen. A progressive scan 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:10.000 screen draws every line of a frame in sequence, so 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:14.240 there's no reason to talk about video fields because field 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.079 and frame are essentially the same thing. Here. Now, generally speaking, 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:22.120 the edge would go to progressive scan TVs among home 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:25.840 theater aficionados. They these screens were just better at showing 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:30.760 fast moving sequences in particular, so people who were serious 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:33.160 about home theater in the h D t V era 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:39.440 often would gravitate toward progressive scan screens. These days, you'll 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.360 find higher in televisions in the U h D or 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.959 Ultra high Definition ranges. In fact, four K is pretty 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.679 much the standard now um, but you can also find 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.000 eight K. So now we've moved away from the convention 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.320 that we used to use to describe resolution in the 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:58.880 in the s D and h D eras, and it 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.400 doesn't help that there's some screpancies here as well. Like 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.920 one of the issues that you often run into with 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:08.839 home theater is that there's a lack of universal standards 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.200 for a lot of stuff, and that can cause issues 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:16.600 down the line. In televisions, we generally say it's a 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.800 four K TV when it refers to a resolution of 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.520 three thousand, eight hundred forty pixels wide by two thousand, 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:27.679 one hundred sixty pixels tall and um. First of all, 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.319 you notice that neither of those numbers is four thousand, right, 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:33.280 three thousand, eight hundred forty is close, like you could 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.719 round up to four thousand, but neither of those are 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.200 four thousands. So that makes the four K thing a 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:46.920 little confusing. Also, uh, we see that in previous resolution descriptions, 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.680 the number that we used to refer to how many 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.920 pixels tall and image was was the dominant one right, 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:56.160 ten eighty means that you have one thousand eighty pixels 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.120 from the top of the screen to the bottom of 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.600 the screen. But with four K without three thousand, eight 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.000 hundred forty pixels, we're actually looking at the width of 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.040 the screen from left to right, not the height of 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.840 the screen from top to bottom. So those three thousand, 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.319 eight hundred forty pixels go across the screen. And if 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.160 you're saying, you know, three thousand hundred forty isn't the 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.880 same as four K, like I said, you're right. And 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:20.960 if you're wondering, well, why don't we call it twenty 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:23.680 one sixty because that would still be in the same 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:25.840 line as ten eight, Right, we called it ten eight 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.760 Why don't we call four K six? Well, that's because 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.120 I don't know. For some reason, we decided to switch 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.480 things up and talk about width rather than height as 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.200 far as pixel density goes. Now, if we're talking about 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:46.080 movie projection instead of television screens, four K usually has 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:50.680 a different resolution of four thousand, nineties six pixels across 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.800 and two thousand, one hundred sixty pixels up and down. 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:57.080 So at least there we get to our four K bit, right, 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:00.920 But for TVs, it's really more four K ish, and 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.880 in fact, there are several different resolutions that are in 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:08.359 that neighborhood that are lumped together in the four K designation. 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.880 There even some TVs that you could argue are five K, 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:15.720 but they get lumped down with four K, and it 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:18.440 gets even more confusing when you start talking about cameras 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.600 and stuff. But we're gonna leave all that here. It's 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:25.520 mostly to say that it's a higher resolution than the 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.640 h D t V market. I imagine the switch to 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:32.520 four K nomenclature is mostly for the convenience of marketing, 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:35.360 plus to cover the fact that there were so many 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.360 slight variations on resolution that it kind of helped cut 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.880 down on confusion because the differences didn't really translate to 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.280 a massive difference in viewing experience. So, in other words, 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:50.560 if one TVs four K resolution was technically slightly less 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:54.720 than another four K TVs resolution, typically you couldn't really 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.960 tell because it was at a level of resolution that's 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.000 so high that our human i is aren't able to 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.520 pick up on the differences. So, in other words, you 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:05.720 could have two of these televisions right next to each other, 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.200 they have slightly different resolutions and not be able to 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:14.280 see a difference. Then we've got eight K resolution. And 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:16.720 this is where the numbers get even bigger, and like 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:20.040 four K, this is more about eight K ish than 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.080 actually having eight thousand pixels across the width of a screen. 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.720 That number is really seven thousand, six hundred eighty. And 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.720 as for up and down the screen, well that's four thousand, 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.880 three twenty. That is the maximum resolution allowed by the 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:36.920 u h D or Ultra High Definition standards set down 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:42.400 by the i TU DASH our recommendation bt DOT twenty twenty. 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.480 I t U in this case stands for International Telecommunication Union, 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.480 and we're gonna touch on tech standards a lot throughout 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:54.840 this episode, because boy, but at least this one is 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:58.520 one that is well and truly set and standardized. It's saying, 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.720 this is the up end. This is where eight K 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:05.159 ends right here at this resolution. So yeah, eight K 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.840 TVs that maximum resolution. Have a screen filled with more 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:13.639 than thirty three million pixels. If you were to have 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.560 every pixel light up and you were to number each 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:18.560 one of them, you would come up with more than 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.080 thirty three million of those suckers. So you've got thirty 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:26.200 three million and change teeny little blocks of light which 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.320 you can use to make your images. And right now, 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.240 that's the top of the resolution charts that you can 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:37.760 find for home theater television screens. So does that mean 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:44.600 that more resolution means a better picture. Not quite. It's 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:49.000 actually way more complicated than that. Resolution is important, but 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.840 it's just one component of making a good picture. Also, 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.520 there's a limit to the amount of detail that our 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.640 human eyes can see, and that limit depends upon each 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.919 person's vision. So it's not like I could give you 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.879 a specific resolution and say this and no further. If 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.080 you go any higher than this, it's a fool's errand 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:09.200 because you'll never tell the difference. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:13.520 But there are some other factors that that tie in 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.679 with resolution when it comes to your viewing experience and 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:20.479 how clear or sharp an image is. One of those 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.720 is the size of the television screen. So let's say 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:27.000 we have three television's, all of them are at hd 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.080 TV resolution just to make this easy, And one of 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.320 those televisions is forty two inches, another one is fifty 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:36.439 five inches, and the third is sixty inches, but they 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.520 all are ten a DP resolution. Well, that means that 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.119 if you were to count up all the pixels on 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.639 each of those screens. Each screen would have the same 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:50.359 number of pixels, but that means that the pixels for 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.200 the six screen have to be a little bit larger 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:55.440 than the ones that you would find on the forty 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.240 two inch screen, and then the fifty in screen would 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:00.240 be right in the middle, right, because the same number 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:03.199 of pixels are on all three screens, but the screens 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:06.399 are different sizes, So it's possible that you would spot 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.119 a difference in resolution if you were to view the 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.480 same video source on that forty two inch screen as 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:15.400 the sixty inch screen at the same time. You put 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.040 those next to each other, and you might say, oh, 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.840 the picture looks more sharp on thet in screen than 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:26.640 the sixty because you have greater pixel density per area there, right, 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.359 So screen size does matter, and if you want to 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:35.280 go really big, like obnoxiously big with your television screen, 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:38.560 then you're gonna want to hire resolution to make up 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:42.240 for all that real estate that you're gonna be using 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.320 to view your stuff. Now, another factor is how close 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.679 you are sitting to the screen, and this matters for 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:51.640 a couple of reasons. The closer you are, the more 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:56.120 likely you're gonna see issues with resolution up to a point. Um, So, 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:58.280 if you have a really big screen and you happen 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:00.840 to sit really close to it and it's all an 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.080 h D t V resolution, you could end up saying 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:05.919 this doesn't look high definition to me. Now, there are 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:09.159 various sources that give out formulas for how far you 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:12.560 should sit away from your television depending upon your television size, 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.119 and I'll cover more of that in just a moment, 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:26.520 but first let's take a quick break. Okay, so I 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:28.640 mentioned before the break that we needed to talk about 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:31.760 viewing distances. See now, in the old days, you know, 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:34.280 the h D t V days, how close you sat 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:38.080 was dependent on a few things, not just the television size, 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:40.560 but also the resolution of the TV and how good 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.720 your vision was, because limitations and resolution would become apparent 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.800 if the TV were particularly large or if you were 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.920 sitting fairly close to it. So in other words, you 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:53.280 would say, like, it doesn't look that great. But in 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:55.639 the u h D era of four K and beyond, 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:59.960 it's getting really super hard to spot those resolution issue 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.840 unless you're talking about, you know, a gargantuan television like 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:05.679 one of those that sharp would show off at c 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:08.680 e s on some years something that's like a hundred 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.120 inches or something. So now the main thing is how 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:14.639 your vision. You know, how much of your vision should 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:17.480 the television actually fill, or rather, how much of your 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:20.280 field of view should be taken up by the TV. 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.960 So let's say that you've got typical vision for a 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:28.200 human being. And just for the record, I actually don't 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:31.200 have typical vision. I have less than what is typical. 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:34.399 So if you don't have typical vision, please don't feel 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:37.160 badly about it. I'm just using it as a way 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:42.560 of setting, uh, you know, a framework. So typically humans 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:44.959 have a field of view of an arc of around 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:48.760 two degrees or between two ten and two twenty in 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:50.879 front of them, and that is, if you were to 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:54.800 draw straight lines out from the very edges of your 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:58.280 vision while you're looking straight ahead, then the angle between 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:03.480 those lines would be somewhere around degrees. Now, not all 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:07.000 of that vision is equal, right, The stuff closer to 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:10.080 the edges of your vision, well, that's in your peripheral 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:14.240 and you won't see as much sharp detail there. You're 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:17.240 aware of things that happen in the periphery, but you're 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:20.359 not focusing on that. In fact, when you get beyond 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:24.040 about thirty degrees arc. You're really talking about the mid 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:27.320 peripheral part of your vision. So generally speaking, you want 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:30.439 your TV to take up no more than say, thirty 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:34.280 to forty degrees of your field a few and this 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:36.880 should guide your decision when it comes to figuring out 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:39.479 where you need to put, say your chair or your 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:43.080 couch or bean bag or whatever it is. But I 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:45.600 don't know about you. I don't have like a handy 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:49.119 dandy protractor to help me figure out that kind of stuff, 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:52.560 like what degree arc am I looking at when I've 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:55.040 got something in front of me. So we go to 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:57.880 a more basic formula to kind of rough it out. 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:01.920 And that formula is to multiply the size of your 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:06.160 television's screen and inches by the number one point six. 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:08.800 That's our constant, and that will give us the number 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:11.520 of inches that we should sit away from that TV 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:14.800 to get that thirty degree view in our field of view. 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:17.880 Or let's say that you are starting from the other 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:20.639 side right like you already know how far away you 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:23.000 plan to be sitting from where your TV is going 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:25.960 to go, Well, you can take that distance and inches 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:28.840 and then divide that by one point six, and that 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:31.399 would give you a rough idea of how large a 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:34.760 television you should go and shop. Four all right, so 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:38.359 let's use an example. Let's say that I have just 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:41.560 gone out and I've purchased a fifty five inch television, 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:44.800 and I want to know how far from this television 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:47.400 I should have my couch so that I can get 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:51.639 that optimal viewing experience and have that thirty degree field 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:55.359 of view view of the screen. So I take the 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:58.760 size of the screen fifty I multiply that by one 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:02.440 point six. That gives me eighty eight inches. So when 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:05.440 I convert that into feat that's seven point three feet 0:24:05.520 --> 0:24:08.000 or so, so a little more than seven feet away, 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:10.960 and that will give me that thirty degree view of 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:13.560 the television. And it doesn't have to be exact. It's 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:16.080 kind of the ballpark figure. It tells you, all right, 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:18.560 somewhere around seven ft you should have a pretty good 0:24:18.640 --> 0:24:23.120 viewing experience. But what if instead, I've got a room 0:24:23.280 --> 0:24:25.040 and I've got set up so I know where the 0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:26.920 couch is gonna go, I know where the TV is 0:24:26.960 --> 0:24:29.000 going to go, but I haven't bought the television yet, 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:31.960 but I know the couch has to be this distance 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:35.280 from the TV, and I happen to know that it's 0:24:35.359 --> 0:24:38.639 eight feet away from where the television is going to be, Well, 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:42.080 then we convert our eight ft two inches, that's inches. 0:24:42.520 --> 0:24:45.640 We divide ninety six by one point six. That gives 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:48.679 us sixty So that means we would want something close 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:52.200 to us sixty inch television to go in that space. 0:24:52.920 --> 0:24:56.120 It's a good general rule to follow, assuming that you're 0:24:56.119 --> 0:25:00.280 talking about uh D televisions, which again, those resolute sans 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:03.200 are high enough where you're not likely to have any 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:06.240 issues when it comes to resolution quality. Also, you don't 0:25:06.600 --> 0:25:08.159 have to be right on the dot for any of 0:25:08.160 --> 0:25:11.040 these measurements. Thirty degrees is your target, but really just 0:25:11.520 --> 0:25:13.399 you know, if you're a little bit closer, a little 0:25:13.400 --> 0:25:15.920 bit further away, it's not going to ruin the experience, 0:25:16.720 --> 0:25:21.080 all right. So that's resolution. And I should also add 0:25:21.119 --> 0:25:23.520 you should really get the benefits of resolution if the 0:25:23.560 --> 0:25:27.960 source of the video you're watching matches the resolution of 0:25:28.119 --> 0:25:31.720 your display, or to put it in another way, what 0:25:31.880 --> 0:25:34.840 you see on screen is limited by the weakest component 0:25:34.920 --> 0:25:38.119 in your system, and sometimes you might not even be 0:25:38.160 --> 0:25:40.679 able to view it, Like if your TV is an 0:25:40.800 --> 0:25:42.920 hd TV and you're trying to watch a four K 0:25:43.720 --> 0:25:46.720 video on it. That just ain't gonna work. Period. But 0:25:46.840 --> 0:25:50.040 let's say that your TV is the highest point in 0:25:50.080 --> 0:25:53.200 your system. Well, you're still limited about whatever the lowest 0:25:53.359 --> 0:25:56.679 point is. So if you're watching an old VHS tape 0:25:57.000 --> 0:25:59.720 and you're using your eight K U h D t V, 0:26:00.520 --> 0:26:03.080 it's not gonna look like eight K video. It's going 0:26:03.119 --> 0:26:06.520 to be limited to VHS levels of resolution, which is 0:26:06.800 --> 0:26:10.159 close to standard definition. So the quality of what you 0:26:10.200 --> 0:26:14.560 see depends on what that video source is coming from. 0:26:14.640 --> 0:26:17.360 If you don't have a source that can create outputs 0:26:17.400 --> 0:26:21.120 of four K, let alone eight K video, then you're 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:25.200 not really going to get the benefit of that higher resolution. Well, 0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:29.639 there is one thing these higher definition televisions can do 0:26:30.280 --> 0:26:35.680 to compensate for lower resolution video sources. This is called upscaling, 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:38.840 which is really a necessity. It's not like it makes 0:26:38.840 --> 0:26:42.720 it sound like it magically makes video better. That's not 0:26:42.920 --> 0:26:46.199 really what upscaling is doing. But let's say that you 0:26:46.240 --> 0:26:49.560 wanted to watch a lower resolution video on your high 0:26:49.680 --> 0:26:53.560 resolution screen and there was no way to adjust for 0:26:53.600 --> 0:26:56.480 this difference. Okay, so there's no system in place to 0:26:57.480 --> 0:27:01.000 have this video somehow expand to fill the number of 0:27:01.040 --> 0:27:06.600 pixels that are on your uh D television screen. Well, 0:27:06.600 --> 0:27:09.240 that video just contains information for an image that takes 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:13.120 up a specific number of pixels horizontally and vertically. So 0:27:13.280 --> 0:27:16.040 what you could do is have that video play on 0:27:16.080 --> 0:27:18.720 your screen, but it only takes up those pixels, so 0:27:18.800 --> 0:27:21.040 it would be like a little thumbnail video. It would 0:27:21.080 --> 0:27:23.560 be like maybe in the corner, maybe playing in just 0:27:23.600 --> 0:27:25.600 the very center of your screen, with lots of black 0:27:25.680 --> 0:27:30.760 space around it, because it only takes up that subset 0:27:30.800 --> 0:27:33.600 of pixels and your television is way more pixels than 0:27:33.640 --> 0:27:36.359 the video source does. This would be kind of like 0:27:36.400 --> 0:27:40.360 those thumbnail videos you occasionally see on websites, and it's 0:27:40.400 --> 0:27:45.560 not a very satisfying experience. Or you could build in 0:27:45.600 --> 0:27:48.640 an upscale function, and this is a process in which 0:27:48.640 --> 0:27:52.720 the television essentially starts to fill in pixels to make 0:27:52.800 --> 0:27:56.359 up for the fact that the video source is a 0:27:56.400 --> 0:28:00.320 lower resolution than the screen can display, and it's a 0:28:00.320 --> 0:28:03.920 way of boosting the pixel count of the original video source. Now, 0:28:03.960 --> 0:28:06.840 typically this means that the television is is using light 0:28:07.119 --> 0:28:11.760 that's of a similar quality in neighboring pixels to fill 0:28:11.840 --> 0:28:14.879 in for missing ones. So let's say that we've got 0:28:14.920 --> 0:28:17.160 a video and it happens to be showing a green 0:28:17.240 --> 0:28:20.439 meadow and a blue sky. Well, the television would essentially 0:28:20.520 --> 0:28:24.840 be inserting pixels that would be shades of green similar 0:28:24.880 --> 0:28:26.720 to the green and the meadow over in the meadow 0:28:26.760 --> 0:28:29.000 side of it, or shades a blue similar to the 0:28:29.000 --> 0:28:30.960 blue of the sky and the sky part of it, 0:28:31.520 --> 0:28:34.840 and try to match the brightness to neighboring pixels to 0:28:34.920 --> 0:28:37.399 kind of fill out and even out this image. So 0:28:37.440 --> 0:28:41.360 you're adding information to something that was being fed to 0:28:41.440 --> 0:28:45.880 the screen. This process does not add detail, however, so 0:28:45.960 --> 0:28:49.680 it doesn't make those images more clear or more sharp. 0:28:50.360 --> 0:28:53.880 So the bigger gap you have in resolution between your 0:28:53.920 --> 0:28:57.680 display and the video source, the less good it's gonna look. 0:28:58.160 --> 0:29:01.880 So an eight K TV up scaling a VHS video 0:29:02.040 --> 0:29:05.200 would not just magically like eight K television. It would 0:29:05.680 --> 0:29:10.240 it looked pretty jankie. All that being said, resolution is 0:29:10.240 --> 0:29:14.200 really just one factor to consider when you're looking at television's. 0:29:14.200 --> 0:29:16.760 There are tons of uh D TVs on the market, 0:29:17.080 --> 0:29:20.120 and they are not all equal. Some are just playing 0:29:20.200 --> 0:29:23.520 better when it comes to picture quality, even if they 0:29:23.600 --> 0:29:26.320 happen to have the same number of pixels as a 0:29:26.360 --> 0:29:30.680 competing brand. Now, anyone who remembers the days when we 0:29:30.800 --> 0:29:33.720 used to buy digital cameras, you know, before all of 0:29:33.720 --> 0:29:38.800 our phones came with one, you'll remember how the megapixel 0:29:39.120 --> 0:29:42.520 number was a really big selling point for cameras. You know, 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:48.200 the general marketing point was that more megapixels means better pictures, 0:29:49.000 --> 0:29:54.040 except it didn't, at least not necessarily. Megapixels, which just 0:29:54.160 --> 0:29:58.000 refers to the resolution output of a camera, is really 0:29:58.080 --> 0:30:00.880 just one part of what can make a picture good. 0:30:01.240 --> 0:30:04.800 But it is way easier to sell a camera to 0:30:04.840 --> 0:30:08.720 the public by saying this one goes to eleven, then 0:30:08.760 --> 0:30:11.160 it would be to try and describe all the different 0:30:11.200 --> 0:30:15.280 factors that go into the quality of a photo. So 0:30:15.760 --> 0:30:18.640 the same thing is true with television's But another really 0:30:18.680 --> 0:30:23.360 important thing besides resolution is a television's contrast ratio, and 0:30:23.520 --> 0:30:26.560 that refers to the ratio that describes the difference between 0:30:27.400 --> 0:30:30.840 the luminance or the brightness. If you prefer of the 0:30:30.960 --> 0:30:35.400 darkest shade that the display can produce and the brightest 0:30:35.600 --> 0:30:38.360 shade that it can produce, and you want a really 0:30:38.480 --> 0:30:42.840 high contrast ratio which indicates a wide spectrum of luminance, 0:30:43.480 --> 0:30:47.440 and that can really impact image quality. I'll explain a 0:30:47.480 --> 0:30:58.200 bit more, but first let's take another quick break. Okay, 0:30:58.240 --> 0:31:01.640 we were talking about contrast a shio. Now, some televisions 0:31:01.720 --> 0:31:05.320 naturally just have better contrast ratios, especially when it comes 0:31:05.360 --> 0:31:08.320 to showing off the darker colors. And this comes down 0:31:08.360 --> 0:31:13.000 to the technologies that actually power the TVs. Televisions that 0:31:13.080 --> 0:31:16.400 have a back light, uh, that is, the image is 0:31:16.440 --> 0:31:20.600 generated on screen, it's coming courtesy a little tiny lamps 0:31:20.600 --> 0:31:23.760 that are behind each pixel. UH, those can have trouble 0:31:23.840 --> 0:31:27.520 with darker colors. And that's because that lamp is essentially 0:31:27.520 --> 0:31:31.880 it's always on, even during the dark scenes, and the 0:31:32.200 --> 0:31:35.200 liquid crystals that are meant to block the light, sometimes 0:31:35.200 --> 0:31:37.320 they allow a little bit of light to bleed through, 0:31:38.000 --> 0:31:40.680 and sometimes that means that dark stuff that should be 0:31:40.880 --> 0:31:44.120 say pitch black, might actually come out looking more like 0:31:44.200 --> 0:31:47.360 their charcoal gray when they're on your screen. And if 0:31:47.360 --> 0:31:49.440 you're trying to watch something in which a character in 0:31:49.480 --> 0:31:53.040 really dark clothing is moving around in a dark building, 0:31:53.320 --> 0:31:55.200 it might just look like you're looking at a big, dark, 0:31:55.240 --> 0:31:57.800 gray screen with nothing going on. In fact, that's what 0:31:57.880 --> 0:32:00.120 a lot of Batman movies might look like on one 0:32:00.120 --> 0:32:03.920 of these screens. And this is particularly noticeable if your 0:32:04.040 --> 0:32:07.240 room is really dark as well, in bright rooms it's 0:32:07.280 --> 0:32:12.680 not quite as bad. Some television's have what's called dynamic contrast, 0:32:12.800 --> 0:32:15.920 which puts the backlight into a low power mode to 0:32:16.040 --> 0:32:18.320 reduce that kind of bleed through, and that helps a bit. 0:32:18.680 --> 0:32:22.560 And of course not all televisions rely on the same technology. 0:32:22.600 --> 0:32:25.600 So l e ED television's have little l e ED 0:32:26.160 --> 0:32:29.880 you know, light emitting diodes as lamps behind a liquid 0:32:29.880 --> 0:32:33.000 crystal display or l c D panel, and this type 0:32:33.160 --> 0:32:35.200 is the kind that can have that light bleed through. 0:32:35.520 --> 0:32:38.400 The l c D crystals act kind of like window shades. 0:32:38.440 --> 0:32:41.720 They control how much light can pass through to the screen, 0:32:42.320 --> 0:32:46.200 but they aren't necessarily perfect at blacking everything out. There 0:32:46.200 --> 0:32:48.800 are actually a couple of different LED panels that can 0:32:48.840 --> 0:32:52.760 have different effects. So a vertical alignment panel, those tend 0:32:52.800 --> 0:32:55.400 to be more efficient in blocking light, they have better 0:32:55.520 --> 0:32:59.040 contrast as a result. Uh then you have in plane 0:32:59.120 --> 0:33:02.320 switching panel. These tend to let a little bit more 0:33:02.440 --> 0:33:04.320 light through. So this is where you might get some 0:33:04.360 --> 0:33:07.400 of that bleed through. But you rarely see these bits 0:33:07.440 --> 0:33:11.280 of information about what kind of l e ED display 0:33:11.400 --> 0:33:14.360 the television has on the TV box, right so it's 0:33:14.360 --> 0:33:17.160 hard to kind of shop for that, But then you 0:33:17.200 --> 0:33:21.080 could also use an oh LAD screen. Oh lads are 0:33:21.320 --> 0:33:25.040 organic light emitting diodes. They don't need those little backlights. 0:33:25.080 --> 0:33:27.640 They can sort of think of these as little bitty 0:33:27.680 --> 0:33:30.080 points that act as a light source and a pixel 0:33:30.160 --> 0:33:33.400 all in one go, and they can actually turn on 0:33:33.680 --> 0:33:37.000 or off, you know, dynamically, and thus they tend to 0:33:37.000 --> 0:33:39.320 be much better when it comes to contrast. They can 0:33:39.360 --> 0:33:42.520 show darker colors with more accuracy, and I would finally 0:33:42.520 --> 0:33:45.400 be able to tell what the heck Batman was actually doing. 0:33:45.720 --> 0:33:49.880 Several years ago. I would also be talking about plasma televisions, 0:33:49.920 --> 0:33:53.880 which could also provide pretty amazing contrast, although at the 0:33:53.920 --> 0:33:56.880 expense of brightness. They couldn't get as bright as L 0:33:56.920 --> 0:34:00.520 E D t vs could typically, but plas the TVs 0:34:00.520 --> 0:34:03.520 were really expensive, they never really caught on the same 0:34:03.520 --> 0:34:06.280 way that L E ED t vs did. Plus, there 0:34:06.400 --> 0:34:09.360 was this potential issue of burning, meaning that if you 0:34:09.440 --> 0:34:11.680 had a plasma screen and you were showing the same 0:34:11.719 --> 0:34:14.640 image for a long time, you might have a remnant 0:34:14.719 --> 0:34:17.080 of that image that can stick around even after when 0:34:17.120 --> 0:34:19.360 you're watching other stuff, So it affects the quality of 0:34:19.400 --> 0:34:22.480 your experience, but the major TV company has pretty much 0:34:22.560 --> 0:34:25.680 stopped making plasma televisions back in two thousand fourteen, so 0:34:25.800 --> 0:34:28.920 it's kind of a moot point. And before I move on, 0:34:28.920 --> 0:34:32.560 I should also talk about projectors too. So far I've 0:34:32.560 --> 0:34:35.680 been focusing on TV sets, but one way you can 0:34:35.760 --> 0:34:37.920 trick out a home theater is to get a really 0:34:38.000 --> 0:34:41.080 nice projector, which can give you a big screen experience 0:34:41.160 --> 0:34:44.040 at a much lower price point, depending on you know 0:34:44.080 --> 0:34:47.320 which model you're looking at, and I do mean depending, 0:34:47.360 --> 0:34:50.040 because there's some projectors out there for high end markets. 0:34:50.239 --> 0:34:53.440 They're in the tens of thousands of dollars range. That 0:34:53.640 --> 0:34:56.879 is way outside of my budget. But you can find 0:34:56.920 --> 0:34:59.760 others that are, you know, around five d two thousand dollars. 0:34:59.760 --> 0:35:04.560 There's still expensive, but they are less expensive per inch 0:35:04.760 --> 0:35:09.000 than your flat screen televisions typically are. Like you can 0:35:09.040 --> 0:35:12.920 get screens that are a hundred twenty inches or larger, 0:35:13.560 --> 0:35:15.960 and if you have a really big home theater set up, 0:35:16.040 --> 0:35:19.239 that means that you could have a effectively a one 0:35:20.680 --> 0:35:24.600 or two hundred forty inch TV, but for a fraction 0:35:24.640 --> 0:35:27.440 of the cost of some of these other flat panel 0:35:27.520 --> 0:35:31.080 display styles. You can also find a range of resolutions 0:35:31.080 --> 0:35:34.400 with projectors as well, including ultra high definition projectors, so 0:35:34.440 --> 0:35:37.520 you can find four K projectors no problem, uh, and 0:35:37.560 --> 0:35:40.200 you can really create that kind of theater experience. But 0:35:40.360 --> 0:35:43.600 one thing that matters a lot with this particular setup 0:35:43.800 --> 0:35:47.640 is ambient light. You want as little light in your 0:35:47.719 --> 0:35:50.720 environment as possible. You want that room to be dark 0:35:51.040 --> 0:35:53.000 if you're going to be using a projector, So that 0:35:53.160 --> 0:35:56.319 usually means that projectors are best in spaces that have 0:35:56.440 --> 0:36:00.560 few or no windows, or you have treated those windows 0:36:00.600 --> 0:36:04.239 with like blackout curtains or blackout shades so that you 0:36:04.239 --> 0:36:09.960 can have a really dark movie Dungeon. Um televisions can 0:36:09.960 --> 0:36:12.279 give you a good experience at other light levels, so 0:36:12.360 --> 0:36:15.560 they you know, they're not as dependent upon this. So 0:36:15.680 --> 0:36:18.879 really this comes down to your setup, like what room 0:36:18.920 --> 0:36:21.439 you're planning on using as a home theater. If your 0:36:21.480 --> 0:36:24.480 home theater is going to be out in a sun room, 0:36:24.520 --> 0:36:26.960 well you're probably not going to have a good experience 0:36:27.000 --> 0:36:30.040 with a projector unless you're only watching things in the 0:36:30.080 --> 0:36:32.839 dead of night. Oh and what's more, you can also 0:36:32.840 --> 0:36:35.640 find projectors that have built in WiFi receivers and even 0:36:35.680 --> 0:36:38.360 ones that have apps included to let you access popular 0:36:38.400 --> 0:36:41.280 streaming services. So you don't have to hook the projector 0:36:41.400 --> 0:36:43.799 up to some other computer or set top box in 0:36:43.880 --> 0:36:47.040 order to get those functions. Those projectors do exist, and 0:36:47.080 --> 0:36:49.399 that's pretty darn cool too that they're kind of neat. 0:36:50.360 --> 0:36:53.080 Now it's time to chat about another confusing factor in 0:36:53.120 --> 0:36:56.480 image quality, and that is HDR. And this one's really 0:36:56.560 --> 0:37:03.080 irritating because while there is a standard HDR, there are 0:37:03.120 --> 0:37:06.440 other flavors of HDR, and that means there's lots of 0:37:06.480 --> 0:37:10.680 competing technologies all trying to accomplish the same goal, but 0:37:10.719 --> 0:37:13.719 they're not necessarily compatible with each other. That means you 0:37:13.719 --> 0:37:17.239 could end up buying an HDR TV and HDR set up, 0:37:17.719 --> 0:37:20.920 and that the two don't necessarily work together. Like if 0:37:21.000 --> 0:37:24.600 you're set up is working on one set and your 0:37:24.600 --> 0:37:28.160 TV is meant for a different set, you've got some issues. 0:37:28.520 --> 0:37:32.120 So let's get into that. So HDR, in case you're 0:37:32.160 --> 0:37:35.600 not familiar, stands for high dynamic range. This became the 0:37:35.640 --> 0:37:38.399 buzzword of modern TVs and it tends to be one 0:37:38.440 --> 0:37:41.480 of those features that gets positioned as a main selling point. 0:37:41.560 --> 0:37:45.560 So when resolution used to be the big differentiator, now 0:37:45.600 --> 0:37:49.000 it's does it have high dynamic range? Well? And it 0:37:49.080 --> 0:37:54.200 centers around this representation of color and brightness, So dynamics 0:37:54.320 --> 0:37:57.919 references extremes, right, So like in a in sound, let's 0:37:57.920 --> 0:38:00.480 say you're talking about music, you would say a song 0:38:00.719 --> 0:38:03.480 was really dynamic if there were was a lot of 0:38:03.560 --> 0:38:06.920 variation between the loud parts and the soft parts of 0:38:06.960 --> 0:38:09.879 the song, if there were a lot of levels there, 0:38:10.040 --> 0:38:13.319 volume levels. That's a lot of dynamics as opposed to 0:38:13.480 --> 0:38:15.920 a piece that maintains more or less the same level 0:38:16.000 --> 0:38:20.600 of volume throughout the whole piece. With televisions, these dynamics 0:38:20.600 --> 0:38:24.000 are in the shades and brightness of the colors on 0:38:24.040 --> 0:38:29.600 the screen, which ideally manifests as really vibrant on screen displays, 0:38:29.640 --> 0:38:32.200 so the colors really pop out at you, and there 0:38:32.239 --> 0:38:35.600 could be much more subtle shifts with light and shadow 0:38:36.120 --> 0:38:39.880 when you're working with a system that has really good HDR. 0:38:40.360 --> 0:38:45.120 In fact, a superior television with high resolution and HDR 0:38:45.239 --> 0:38:47.399 could even give you the feeling that you're looking through 0:38:47.400 --> 0:38:51.000 a window almost rather than a screen, because HDR, if 0:38:51.040 --> 0:38:54.240 it's implemented well, can even convey a sense of depth. 0:38:55.080 --> 0:38:58.000 And this is true even if the television isn't a 0:38:58.080 --> 0:39:00.160 three D TV. And let me tell you, I'm so 0:39:00.200 --> 0:39:03.640 glad we are past the three D television fad because 0:39:03.960 --> 0:39:05.680 that man I didn't have to talk about three D 0:39:05.760 --> 0:39:09.080 in this episode. But there are some caveats when it 0:39:09.120 --> 0:39:12.799 comes to HDR, and one is that every component in 0:39:12.880 --> 0:39:16.760 your system that deals with video has to be HDR 0:39:16.840 --> 0:39:19.520 compatible in order for you to get the benefit. So 0:39:19.600 --> 0:39:22.520 let's say that you have a game console and it 0:39:22.640 --> 0:39:27.000 supports hd R, and you've got a television that supports HDR, 0:39:27.400 --> 0:39:30.360 but the cable you're using to connect your console to 0:39:30.400 --> 0:39:34.440 your TV isn't HDR compatible, Well, you would not be 0:39:34.520 --> 0:39:37.840 able to take advantage of HDR. Or let's say that 0:39:37.880 --> 0:39:41.040 your TV and your cable are both HDR ready, but 0:39:41.280 --> 0:39:45.879 your video source isn't the same problem, every single component 0:39:46.400 --> 0:39:48.640 has to be hd R ready in order to take 0:39:48.680 --> 0:39:54.279 advantage of HDR. Moreover, HDR is kind of it's more 0:39:54.320 --> 0:39:57.680 of what you call guidelines. As Barbosa would say, it's 0:39:57.719 --> 0:40:00.440 like a defined goal. It's a system it has to 0:40:00.480 --> 0:40:05.560 achieve a certain benchmark in uh in in color representation 0:40:05.600 --> 0:40:08.359 in order to be considered HDR. But how it goes 0:40:08.400 --> 0:40:12.400 about achieving that benchmark, which is technically, you know, a 0:40:12.440 --> 0:40:15.080 resolution of at least four K and a certain contrast 0:40:15.239 --> 0:40:19.480 ratio that isn't standardized. So in other words, you're saying, 0:40:19.520 --> 0:40:22.000 here's your destination, but how you get there is up 0:40:22.040 --> 0:40:25.560 to you. So that means there are different flavors of HDR. 0:40:25.640 --> 0:40:29.840 There's HDR ten that's your baseline version. Most other versions 0:40:29.880 --> 0:40:33.160 support HDR ten, so hopefully if you have a setup, 0:40:33.680 --> 0:40:37.000 you can use that. But then you have other more 0:40:37.280 --> 0:40:42.719 you know, uh, feature filled versions. There's Advanced HDR, which 0:40:42.760 --> 0:40:46.800 was a product from Technicolor. There's Dolby Vision, which is 0:40:46.880 --> 0:40:48.799 kind of like hd R plus, and there are more 0:40:49.239 --> 0:40:52.080 besides that. So to take advantage of those versions, you 0:40:52.080 --> 0:40:54.919 would have to have your television and all your other 0:40:54.960 --> 0:40:58.319 components be compatible with that specific version of HDR for 0:40:58.360 --> 0:41:01.120 you to be able to experience riens it. So you 0:41:01.120 --> 0:41:04.280 could end up with an HDR system that can't really 0:41:04.320 --> 0:41:08.920 play certain HDR media, at least not with the HDR 0:41:08.960 --> 0:41:11.920 effects you were expecting, because the media was built for 0:41:12.000 --> 0:41:16.200 a different version of HDR, And yeah, that kind of stinks, 0:41:16.640 --> 0:41:19.440 but when it all does work together, it's pretty phenomenal. 0:41:19.480 --> 0:41:22.279 So your display should have a great contrast ratio, it 0:41:22.280 --> 0:41:27.240 should have great resolution, it should have HDR. What else well, 0:41:27.360 --> 0:41:30.279 you might consider the refresh rate. I don't see this 0:41:30.800 --> 0:41:33.680 touted as much as it was a few years ago, 0:41:33.960 --> 0:41:36.520 right around the time when Peter Jackson was releasing the 0:41:36.560 --> 0:41:40.000 Hobbit films. That's really when refresh rate became a big thing. 0:41:40.120 --> 0:41:43.400 It kind of got a bad name at the time too. Technically, 0:41:43.520 --> 0:41:47.160 refresh rate describes the number of times the television refreshes 0:41:47.239 --> 0:41:50.880 the image on the screen each second, and we measure 0:41:50.960 --> 0:41:54.240 this and hurts or cycles per second, and it's somewhat 0:41:54.239 --> 0:41:56.680 similar to the frame rate of a film. You know, 0:41:56.760 --> 0:41:59.480 we typically playback film at a speed of twenty four 0:41:59.520 --> 0:42:01.759 frames per second. That means the film is really a 0:42:01.800 --> 0:42:04.359 series of still photographs, but when we play it at 0:42:04.360 --> 0:42:07.040 a fast enough speed, it creates the illusion of movement. 0:42:07.520 --> 0:42:10.160 Video is a little bit different. We do still have 0:42:10.239 --> 0:42:13.360 a way of changing the image super fast, and typically 0:42:13.360 --> 0:42:16.800 we're talking around like thirty to sixty times per second, 0:42:17.080 --> 0:42:19.600 sixty times being way more common these days, so that's 0:42:19.640 --> 0:42:23.840 like sixty hurts. Higher in televisions can have higher refresh rates, 0:42:23.920 --> 0:42:28.600 or at least higher advertised refresh rates. Hurts is not uncommon. 0:42:29.440 --> 0:42:32.160 But what does this mean as far as your viewing experience? 0:42:32.200 --> 0:42:36.520 Goes well for fast moving stuff, like stuff that's moving 0:42:36.600 --> 0:42:39.600 quickly across the screen as you're watching it, you would 0:42:39.600 --> 0:42:42.720 typically see a blurring of that image, and the image 0:42:42.760 --> 0:42:45.239 kind of looks a little bit softer as a result 0:42:45.760 --> 0:42:49.520 with televisions that have lower refresh rates. When you have 0:42:50.120 --> 0:42:54.239 faster refresh rates, those same images appear to be more 0:42:54.320 --> 0:42:57.680 sharp and more clear, more solid. So this is really 0:42:57.719 --> 0:43:00.759 great for certain things like sports, where the effect is 0:43:00.760 --> 0:43:03.720 almost like you're there in person because you're not getting 0:43:03.760 --> 0:43:07.399 motion blur and stuff like that. In addition to refresh rate, 0:43:07.480 --> 0:43:11.960 TVs typically have some other anti blurring technologies built into them. 0:43:12.040 --> 0:43:15.239 This can boost the perceived effect. So a lot of 0:43:15.239 --> 0:43:17.719 companies will actually describe this by just saying the TV 0:43:17.920 --> 0:43:22.200 has an even higher refresh rate than the television actually does, 0:43:22.520 --> 0:43:25.120 Like it might really refresh the screen a hundred twenty 0:43:25.160 --> 0:43:27.440 times a second, but I might be advertised at to 0:43:27.719 --> 0:43:32.480 forty or even higher. Because the technical detail of how 0:43:32.520 --> 0:43:35.359 many times it refreshes the screen isn't as important as 0:43:35.360 --> 0:43:41.440 saying this is the effect you will perceive when you watch, right, Like, 0:43:41.840 --> 0:43:45.560 those numbers don't really matter if they don't relate to 0:43:45.719 --> 0:43:48.760 what it's like to watch something on that television screen. 0:43:48.920 --> 0:43:51.680 They're just numbers. It means nothing, you know. It's the 0:43:51.719 --> 0:43:55.480 experience that actually means something. So if the image seems 0:43:55.480 --> 0:43:58.480 more sharp and clear, even when you're looking at stuff 0:43:58.520 --> 0:44:02.080 that's moving fast, that's all that really matters, not which 0:44:02.120 --> 0:44:05.200 collection of technologies made it possible or what numbers we 0:44:05.280 --> 0:44:10.239 associate with them. However, these technologies can also create some 0:44:10.280 --> 0:44:13.480 weird effects that you might not like, so some folks 0:44:13.640 --> 0:44:17.880 complain that these faster refresh rates make stuff look artificial 0:44:18.120 --> 0:44:21.560 or fake. The phrase that you will frequently here to 0:44:21.680 --> 0:44:24.200 describe this is it makes everything look like a Mexican 0:44:24.280 --> 0:44:27.239 soap opera. Which don't get me wrong, I am not 0:44:27.360 --> 0:44:30.719 disparaging Mexican soap operas, but they do have a particular 0:44:30.800 --> 0:44:34.080 look to them, and you don't necessarily want everything to 0:44:34.200 --> 0:44:36.880 look that way. A lot of theater buffs I know 0:44:36.920 --> 0:44:39.920 would actually turn these refresh rates off. That usually there 0:44:39.960 --> 0:44:42.319 was a setting somewhere in the television where you could 0:44:42.320 --> 0:44:45.880 just turn it to like sixty hurts or one twenty 0:44:45.920 --> 0:44:48.319 anything beyond that, a lot of people just kind of 0:44:48.360 --> 0:44:50.920 shied away from and they would opt for that lower 0:44:50.960 --> 0:44:53.400 refresh rate and retain that motion blur for stuff like 0:44:53.440 --> 0:44:57.319 TV shows and movies, maybe activating the higher refresh rate 0:44:57.320 --> 0:44:59.319 for stuff like sporting events and that kind of thing. 0:44:59.719 --> 0:45:01.560 And as with many of the things I mentioned in 0:45:01.560 --> 0:45:05.480 this episode, a lot of this falls to marketing strategies, right, 0:45:05.560 --> 0:45:08.440 Like having a bigger number to point to is a 0:45:08.440 --> 0:45:11.719 way of saying, this is how we differentiate our product 0:45:11.920 --> 0:45:16.200 from our competitors. So knowing that being savvy as a 0:45:16.239 --> 0:45:19.240 consumer is really important, right, Being able to see through 0:45:19.360 --> 0:45:22.960 the marketing speak in order to understand what's actually being 0:45:23.000 --> 0:45:25.560 sold to you. That is critical, especially when you're talking 0:45:25.600 --> 0:45:29.759 about something like the centerpiece of a home theater, which 0:45:29.840 --> 0:45:33.759 is going to presumably be a fairly expensive technology, whether 0:45:33.800 --> 0:45:36.920 it's a television or a projector so it behooves you 0:45:37.000 --> 0:45:40.480 to do this kind of research, understand what these components do. 0:45:40.800 --> 0:45:43.200 Also think about the other things you want to have 0:45:43.360 --> 0:45:45.680 as part of your home theater and make sure they're 0:45:45.680 --> 0:45:48.920 all compatible before you go all in, because there's nothing 0:45:48.920 --> 0:45:52.000 worse than getting a whole bunch of pieces of technology together, 0:45:52.239 --> 0:45:55.200 hooking them up and then realizing there's a compatibility issue. 0:45:55.600 --> 0:46:00.000 I've had that happened to me in different aspects numerous times. 0:46:00.040 --> 0:46:03.480 It is incredibly frustrating and disheartening because you're so excited 0:46:03.520 --> 0:46:05.640 going into it. So it's good to know this stuff 0:46:06.040 --> 0:46:10.680 before you really start making purchases. Well, I'm gonna wrap 0:46:10.719 --> 0:46:13.400 this up now for the televisions, but we will do 0:46:13.440 --> 0:46:15.920 a couple more episodes. I want to talk about sound. 0:46:16.160 --> 0:46:18.719 We need to talk about sound systems for home theaters 0:46:18.719 --> 0:46:22.600 and what all those mean, because that's another confusing technological 0:46:22.880 --> 0:46:25.759 mind field to walk through, right because there's so many 0:46:25.800 --> 0:46:30.359 different variations on surround sound and which ones are right 0:46:30.440 --> 0:46:32.600 for you. I also want to talk about some of 0:46:32.640 --> 0:46:35.960 the other components that you would find, like what are 0:46:36.120 --> 0:46:40.160 the differences in the different resolution video streaming devices and 0:46:40.239 --> 0:46:43.080 video playing devices you can find? Does it make sense 0:46:43.120 --> 0:46:45.759 to buy an eight K television right now? How much 0:46:45.800 --> 0:46:49.840 eight K content is out there? What are the limiting factors? 0:46:50.080 --> 0:46:52.000 So we're gonna talk about more of those things in 0:46:52.000 --> 0:46:55.319 our our next episode, but this episode we're going to 0:46:55.480 --> 0:46:57.759 wrap up. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have 0:46:57.840 --> 0:47:00.160 suggestions for topics I should cover in future EPISO, it's 0:47:00.160 --> 0:47:02.560 a tech stuff, please reach out to me and let 0:47:02.600 --> 0:47:06.080 me know. The best way is on Twitter. Um you 0:47:06.120 --> 0:47:09.600 can tell me about things I messed up in old articles. 0:47:09.640 --> 0:47:11.520 I can't change them. I don't work for Health Stuff 0:47:11.520 --> 0:47:14.960 Works anymore. But um, you know, we can always write 0:47:15.000 --> 0:47:17.880 to the editor and say, hey, we should really change 0:47:17.920 --> 0:47:20.080 this or you should really change this, because I can't. 0:47:20.160 --> 0:47:22.400 I can't do it because um, I would like to 0:47:22.440 --> 0:47:26.799 see that happen. I you know, I I'll own up 0:47:26.840 --> 0:47:31.279 to when I goof and using a gender now at 0:47:31.280 --> 0:47:34.759 the very beginning of an article that should be universally 0:47:35.440 --> 0:47:38.759 you know, applicable. That was a That was a bad 0:47:39.360 --> 0:47:41.759 That was a bad call on my part. So yeah, 0:47:42.160 --> 0:47:45.279 glad that I was called out for that. Uh. I 0:47:45.320 --> 0:47:47.840 mean it stinks that had happened, but that's my fault, 0:47:47.960 --> 0:47:50.920 not not not the person who told me. If you 0:47:51.000 --> 0:47:52.880 have any other suggestions, like I said, hit me up 0:47:52.920 --> 0:47:55.880 on Twitter Tech Stuff hs W and I'll talk to 0:47:55.920 --> 0:48:04.719 you again really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart 0:48:04.800 --> 0:48:08.560 Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit 0:48:08.600 --> 0:48:11.640 the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:48:11.760 --> 0:48:13.080 listen to your favorite shows.