1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 4 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:22,440 Speaker 1: are you today? I thought we would talk a bit 5 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: about resolutions. Not like I'm gonna lose weight this year, 6 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: I promise, but more like, yeah, I got a five 7 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:33,200 Speaker 1: K ultra wide display, so you know, I'm pretty cool. 8 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:38,639 Speaker 1: Resolution is one of the factors that determines the quality 9 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: of image you can have on a display, whether that's 10 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: a television or a computer display. We're largely going to 11 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: talk about TVs in this episode. And remember I said 12 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: one of the factors, because there's actually a ton of 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: different factors that come into play when it's all about 14 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: your image quality. I think that's important because often, I 15 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: guess less often than it used to be. But you know, 16 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: it used to be a thing where people would use 17 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 1: resolution as a as shorthand for quality, right, Like they 18 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: would talk about resolution as if that automatically made one 19 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:20,840 Speaker 1: display or television better than another. And there's this implication 20 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: that the larger the number, the better the experience. It 21 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: is kind of like how Nigel Toughnel of a spinal 22 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: tap insisted that his amp was superior to all other 23 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 1: amps on the market because his goes to eleven and 24 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: eleven is one louder than ten. As it turns out, 25 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: there are lots of elements that determine whether or not 26 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: the image you get on screen is fantastic or if 27 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: it's not, And we'll talk a bit about that at 28 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: the end, but for now, let's just focus on resolution, 29 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: no pun intended. Typically we describe resolution as think of 30 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: it as the number of pixels that are used to 31 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: make up an image, so pixels in this case would 32 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: be individual points of light. This is a lot easier 33 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: to talk about with digital displays. When you get to 34 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:14,920 Speaker 1: analog it's a very different story. We'll touch on that. 35 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: So there have been a lot of different display technologies 36 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: over the years, and they work in different ways, but 37 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: we frequently will still talk about resolution in terms of pixels. 38 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 1: It's just a useful kind of shorthand. Now it's undeniably 39 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: true that if you only have a few pixels, any 40 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: image you create is going to be crude and blocky. Really, 41 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: you'll be able to pick out the shapes of the 42 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: individual pixels. So a lot of the discussion we're going 43 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: to have today is going to be about square pixels. 44 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: And thus, if you make an image with just a 45 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: few pixels and they're all square pixels, it's going to 46 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,519 Speaker 1: look like a bunch of blocks. If you've ever played 47 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: old home video games, like the stuff you would get 48 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: on say an Atari twenty six hundred or the old 49 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: Nintendo Entertainment System, you probably noticed that stuff on screen 50 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: typically is made up of squares. Some of the squares 51 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: could be pretty small, but they're still squares, and they 52 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: have defined edges. If you get a good enough look, 53 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: you can see, oh, these are a bunch of blocks. 54 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: Even rounded characters like the Goombas in the original Super 55 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: Mario Brothers game on the nes, they're made up of 56 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: these tiny little blocks, and pixels are essentially the same 57 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,839 Speaker 1: basic idea, although pixels are really the elements that are 58 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: allowing us to see those blocks. So if I gave 59 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: you a bunch of actual physical wooden blocks, and the 60 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: blocks were of all different colors, like you know, you've 61 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: got like a ton of red, and you've got lots 62 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: of different shades of red, and a ton of blue 63 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: and a ton of green, and all those kind of things. 64 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: But each block measured one inch to a side, So 65 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: these are these are cubes. And I give you a 66 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: frame that's I don't know, like twenty one inches wide 67 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: and twelve inches tall. That's roughly a four x three relationship. 68 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: Not quite, but it's close enough. And I told you 69 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: create a picture of a house using these blocks, Like 70 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: you have to make a house using these blocks within 71 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: that frame. So you're doing what is essentially a two 72 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: dimensional image, Like, yeah, the blocks are cubes, but we're 73 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,159 Speaker 1: just gonna be looking at it from the top down. Well, 74 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,840 Speaker 1: your picture is gonna look pretty primitive because you're using 75 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: these one inch by one inch blocks, and you know 76 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: you're not gonna have any smooth curves or or things 77 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: like that, like anything that's at an angle. You're gonna 78 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: get this blocky texture. But let's say that instead I 79 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: give you the same size frame, but now I'm giving 80 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: you blocks that are half an inch to a side, 81 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: not a full inch. Now you can fit more blocks 82 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: inside that same frame. The house you create will look 83 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: slightly less jagged, it'll look less primitive. Now let's say 84 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,479 Speaker 1: I keep doing that, and eventually you have blocks that 85 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: are just one one hundredth of an inch to a side, 86 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 1: and you're able to manipulate these somehow well, you could 87 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:16,720 Speaker 1: create an image that, from at least a certain distance 88 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:18,760 Speaker 1: might not look like it's jagged at all. It might 89 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: look like it's made up of smooth lines no matter 90 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,840 Speaker 1: what the angle is, maybe even curved lines. Well, that's 91 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: the basic idea behind resolution. It's a combination of pixel density, 92 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: as in how many pixels are within that frame, and 93 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: then the display size how big is the frame. So, 94 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: going back to our example where we were starting with 95 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: a frame that's twenty one inches wide and twelve inches tall, 96 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: let's say we increase the frame size by a factor 97 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: of ten. We might get ten times larger. But instead 98 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: of adding more blocks, I also just increase the size 99 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,600 Speaker 1: of the blocks as well, So the pixels in this 100 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: case also get to be ten times long. The resolution 101 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: would be the same. Even though the image is bigger, 102 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: The resolution is the same because it's the exact same 103 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,279 Speaker 1: number of pixels that make of that image. It doesn't 104 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 1: matter how big I make that frame. If the pixels 105 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: expand along with the frame expanding, we get the same 106 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: blocky image. Now, granted, if you get further and further 107 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: away from the picture, it starts to look better because 108 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: we lose the fidelity with our vision. Human vision has limitations. 109 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,799 Speaker 1: But if I really want to make a higher resolution image, 110 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: I have to change the size of the pixels. That's 111 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 1: what's important, so I can put more pixels within that 112 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,840 Speaker 1: frame now, at least to a certain point. The higher 113 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: the pixel density, the smoother and image will appear on 114 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: a display. I say to a certain point because as 115 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, human vision has its own limits, and 116 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: beyond those limits, you are not likely to notice a difference. 117 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: It's not like there's a hard cutoff for all people. 118 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: Obviously everybody's different, But if you were to look at 119 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: a typical person, you would say that beyond a certain resolution, 120 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: if you're considering a certain size display and a certain 121 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: distance from it, you're not really going to notice a 122 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: difference in increase resolution. It just comes a point where 123 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: a curve line is going to look perfectly curved. Now, 124 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: if you were to zoom way way in, you would 125 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: see that actually that curve line is made up of 126 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: these little individual points, and if you go in far 127 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: enough you might see, oh, these edges, there's edges to 128 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: this curve. It's not perfectly curved, but only if you're 129 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: zoomed way in. For our normal vision, it looks smooth, 130 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: and that's that. Now, you might technically be able to 131 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: cram even more pixels into that frame, but it wouldn't 132 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: really make a difference in the experience. So this kind 133 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: of becomes one of those if a tree falls in 134 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,680 Speaker 1: the woods and no one is around to hear it, 135 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: does it make a sound of situations? If a manufacturer 136 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: boosts resolution in a display but you're not able to 137 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: perceive any difference, does it matter. I would argue that 138 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: from a consumer standpoint it doesn't really matter, but the 139 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: resolution tends to get tied into sales pitches and marketing 140 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: and pr and from that side, it really does matter 141 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: because it's a way for you to set your product 142 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: apart from your competitors, because again, big numbers sound really impressive, 143 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: and certain types of people just naturally want to think 144 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: they're buying the best thing that's out there, even if 145 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:41,320 Speaker 1: they can't actually tell the difference between that and say, 146 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:46,520 Speaker 1: earlier or competitor models. I'm reminded of a time where 147 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: I attended cees. This was years ago, and I went 148 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: to a certain company's booth. I'm not going to name them, 149 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: mostly because I can't really remember which booth it was, 150 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: but it was one of the big ones that does television, 151 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: so probably probably something like Phillips or Samsung. The company 152 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:10,439 Speaker 1: had several televisions and displays, and they had all different 153 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: ranges of resolution, from some that were still in the 154 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 1: high definition range, which we'll talk about a little bit, 155 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:18,839 Speaker 1: up to what I think was eight K. I think 156 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: they had an eight K TV on there, and this 157 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: was in the earliest days of eight K technology. It 158 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: was kind of a prototype device, so this was before 159 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 1: you could buy an eight K television as a consumer, 160 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,719 Speaker 1: and it was really just a demonstration of that technology. 161 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:40,200 Speaker 1: And the representatives in the booth had magnifying glasses and 162 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: they would hand one to you and encourage you to 163 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: step right on up to that screen and hold up 164 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,439 Speaker 1: the magnifying glass and look for pixels. And even when 165 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: you did that, they were still really really hard to see, 166 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:53,720 Speaker 1: and they were saying, see, look how small our pixels are, 167 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: and therefore the resolution is incredible, And yes, it was impressive, 168 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:00,439 Speaker 1: but to my eyes, when I stepped back and I 169 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:03,320 Speaker 1: just looked at the display and I compared it to 170 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:06,959 Speaker 1: lower resolution displays that were, you know, just a few 171 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:12,080 Speaker 1: feet away, some of that was virtually indistinguishable. You know, 172 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:14,600 Speaker 1: ones that were at a lower resolution didn't look that 173 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: much different from the eight K display. Yes, if I 174 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 1: got right on up to them, if I got to 175 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: the point where my nose is almost touching the glass 176 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: of the display, and especially if I use the magnifying glass, 177 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: yes I would see pixels more clearly on the lower 178 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: resolution screens than I did with the eight K. But hey, y'all, 179 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: I don't watch TV that way. I'm usually quite a 180 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,840 Speaker 1: few feet back from the screen, and I rarely ever 181 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: whip out my magnifying glass while I'm watching, you know, 182 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:46,199 Speaker 1: shmigadoon or whatever that being said. As I mentioned earlier, 183 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,839 Speaker 1: if you are a manufacturer and you decide, hey, I'm 184 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,959 Speaker 1: going to create the largest consumer television that's been introduced 185 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: so far, resolution is going to matter in that case 186 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,080 Speaker 1: because the bigger the display you go with, the higher 187 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:01,640 Speaker 1: resolution you're going to need in order to get that 188 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: smooth experience with your image quality unless people are just 189 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:09,600 Speaker 1: looking at the display from really far away. Because you know, 190 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: if you look at a huge television but you're really 191 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: far away. It's kind of the same thing as looking 192 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,679 Speaker 1: at a medium sized television, but you're closer. I know 193 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: that i'm saying the obvious, but it's important for things 194 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: like resolution. So if I'm shopping for a new television 195 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 1: and I'm looking for something that's in the forty three 196 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: inch range, right, like, that's the size TV I'm looking for, 197 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,320 Speaker 1: I probably don't need to go up to an eight 198 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: K television. I'm probably not going to be able to 199 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:40,720 Speaker 1: tell the difference. But let's say I'm crazy wealthy and 200 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: I want to get the equivalent of Samsung's the Wall, 201 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 1: which I think can go up to like one hundred 202 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:49,880 Speaker 1: forty six inches. I mean, it's crazy huge. That's more 203 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: than one hundred inches larger than a forty three inch 204 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: TV right on the diagonal, So that's truly huge. Well, 205 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,200 Speaker 1: if I'm getting something that big, well I probably want 206 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: the best resolution I can get because it will be 207 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,680 Speaker 1: noticeable if you're sitting a little close. I mean, you 208 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:10,559 Speaker 1: probably don't want to sit too close to something like 209 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: that because you wouldn't be able to see everything anyway. 210 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 1: But you get what I'm saying. So I want to 211 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: higre a resolution display if it's really huge. That way, 212 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: I'm not distracted by blockie images. By the way, the 213 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 1: same thing is true for the displays on our phones. 214 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: Resolution does matter on smartphones, but again, once you get 215 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: to a certain pixel density, the differences become harder to spot, 216 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:37,679 Speaker 1: at least with resolution. Smartphones vary in size, but they 217 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 1: don't get to gargantuan proportions like some televisions do. And also, 218 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 1: the distance from which we view our smartphones tends to 219 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: fall in a fairly narrow range. So I looked it up. 220 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: I found the National Institute of Health actually has stats 221 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: on this and says that on average, people hold their 222 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: phone between teen point three centimeters to thirty two point 223 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: nine centimeters or about five point two inches to just 224 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 1: under thirteen inches away from them if they are sitting down. 225 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: If you're laying down, it's different. You get the phone 226 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:15,840 Speaker 1: closer to you, probably because you don't want to be 227 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:18,720 Speaker 1: holding the phone at arm's length above you in bed 228 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: or something. So if you're laying down, it tends to 229 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 1: be between nine point nine centimeters away to twenty one 230 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: point three centimeters. That's about well just under four inches 231 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,439 Speaker 1: to a little more than eight inches away from your face. 232 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 1: So My point is, while companies might boast about increasing 233 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,320 Speaker 1: image resolution at a certain point, it just doesn't make 234 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: a noticeable difference in the image quality. All Right, we're 235 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we'll 236 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: have more to talk about with resolutions. All right, let's 237 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 1: talk about some of the different resolutions that are out there. 238 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,320 Speaker 1: And also we should note that there there's another factor 239 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 1: that's going to come into play in this discussion when 240 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:10,079 Speaker 1: we talk about televisions also computer displays, and that factor 241 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 1: is called aspect ratio. This is the relationship between how 242 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 1: tall a display is versus how wide it is. So 243 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: before the nineteen nineties, with televisions, it was pretty standard 244 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: for those to come in a four to three aspect ratio, 245 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: meaning the display was slightly wider than it was tall, 246 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: but it was, you know, fairly boxy. So it means 247 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: that you would take, you. 248 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 2: Know, let's say you have the width of this this television. Uh, 249 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 2: if you divided the width however wide the TV was 250 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 2: by four, whatever that number was, if you multiplied it 251 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 2: by three, that's how tall the television was. 252 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: That's the four to three, so a little wider than 253 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: it is tall. Beginning in the nineteen nineties, we started 254 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: to see the introduction of what was then called wide 255 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 1: screen television. We just call them TVs today because it's 256 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: the standard format, but they had a different aspect ratio. 257 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: Their aspect ratio was sixteen to nine. That means there's 258 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:19,240 Speaker 1: a bigger difference between height and width, right, The width 259 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 1: is wider now than it changed more than the height did. 260 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: And you could think about that, like if you multiplied 261 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: four to three by three, it would be twelve to nine. 262 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:33,239 Speaker 1: But we're not talking twelve to nine. We're talking sixteen 263 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: to nine. So the width changed more than the height did. 264 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: That's when we get the wide screens. That's also going 265 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 1: to affect how we talk about resolution. The introduction of 266 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: computer displays complicated matters considerably because televisions followed a fairly 267 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: standardized path. They had to. It was a necessity because 268 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 1: they needed to be able to show broadcast television and 269 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: cable television and these followed. So the televisions that we 270 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: bought needed to be able to display those standards and 271 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: make it a good experience. So, while there was nothing 272 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: inherently requiring televisions to all follow the exact same you know, 273 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:20,000 Speaker 1: measurements and everything or aspect ratios. It was important that 274 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: they did so, otherwise you would end up with like 275 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 1: weird bars along the sides or top and bottom of 276 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: images so that they would fit your screen, and people 277 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:35,760 Speaker 1: typically don't like those so much. So we're again, we're 278 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: going to focus primarily on televisions. But you know, computer 279 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: displays didn't have those restrictions, so computer displays have come 280 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: in all sorts of different shapes and aspect ratios and 281 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: thus also resolutions. So the reason we're going to focus 282 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: on televisions is because if we tried to do it 283 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 1: with computer displays, it would we'd be here for weeks, 284 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: and some of them reference like a display that was 285 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:05,720 Speaker 1: used for a couple of years and hasn't been used since, 286 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: and it would make no sense to even really spend 287 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 1: time on it. So with televisions, we typically start discussions 288 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,359 Speaker 1: by talking about standard definition TV. You technically could go 289 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: back further than that, but there's no real point in 290 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:22,920 Speaker 1: doing it, so don't ask me to do it. Besides, 291 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,200 Speaker 1: I've already done episodes where I talk about the history 292 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:28,120 Speaker 1: of TV and kind of talked about this. Also, I'm 293 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: out of coffee, so I'm a little cranky today, so 294 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: you know, it's just getting grouchy, Jonathan, I'm sorry. So 295 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 1: standard definition really came in two formats, and they followed 296 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:45,159 Speaker 1: two different technologies. They were different enough to be incompatible, 297 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,399 Speaker 1: and what you got depended upon where you lived. So 298 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: for folks who lived in places like the United States, 299 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:55,359 Speaker 1: we had standard Definition TV that was at four eighty I. 300 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,920 Speaker 1: The I in this case stands for interlaced. That gets 301 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: into a related but arguably tangential territory. So I'm just 302 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: going to stick with the resolution. But if you were 303 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: in England, then you had the PAL format and that 304 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 1: had five seventy six I resolution, So for eighty in 305 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 1: the US five seventy six in the UK. Technically PAL 306 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:21,679 Speaker 1: crammed more pixels onto the screen. It also had a 307 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: different frame rate from US or in TSC based tv U. 308 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,440 Speaker 1: These formats are largely obsolete today. Obviously, if you watch 309 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: older content made for television, you're going to see that 310 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 1: reflected in both image quality and aspect ratio. The numbers 311 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:43,520 Speaker 1: there indicate the number of lines that made up images 312 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,160 Speaker 1: on the screen, and we're talking lines from the top 313 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: of the screen to the bottom or from the bottom 314 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:50,959 Speaker 1: to the top if you prefer. So, we're talking about 315 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 1: the height of the display, So four eighty means there's 316 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: four hundred eighty lines. Five seventy six means there's five 317 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: hundred seventy six line. Uh, And thus the five to 318 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:06,680 Speaker 1: seventy six format is putting more image into a displays, 319 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:10,679 Speaker 1: cramming more lines of image. So if we were talking 320 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: about digital, we would say by taking a four to 321 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: three aspect ratio television and old style TV showing standard 322 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: definition TV, if we were thinking of it as digital, 323 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 1: we would say it was four eighty by six forty. 324 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,359 Speaker 1: That's what you get. Would you take the four eighty 325 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,439 Speaker 1: height and you put it through that four to three ratio. 326 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:36,160 Speaker 1: Remember the three in the four to three is the height, 327 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:40,200 Speaker 1: So it's four eighty tall and six forty wide five 328 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:42,479 Speaker 1: seventy six. If we did the same thing, would be 329 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: five seventy six tall and seventy seven hundred and sixty 330 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:50,919 Speaker 1: eight wide. Again, assuming that you're using square pixels, that 331 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,919 Speaker 1: also would change things. But we're trying to keep this 332 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 1: as symbol as possible. Now, that's if we were talking 333 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:02,160 Speaker 1: digital information with the standard definition, we wouldn't be Typically 334 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,400 Speaker 1: we'd be talking about analog television, that's a very different thing. 335 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,639 Speaker 1: We would still be talking about lines, but we wouldn't 336 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,680 Speaker 1: be talking about pixels so much. It's a different way 337 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,439 Speaker 1: of going about creating an image. So pixels gets a 338 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,359 Speaker 1: little muddled in that context, not that it really matters 339 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: for our discussion because we're talking about largely obsolete technologies. 340 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: But when you get up to enhanced definition television, the 341 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 1: resolutions actually become four eighty by seven twenty and five 342 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,880 Speaker 1: seventy six by seven to twenty. So you might say, well, 343 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:39,320 Speaker 1: why why seven twenty Why is the width standard but 344 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:41,879 Speaker 1: the height different. Well, the answer to that is a 345 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: little complicated and also largely moot, and so I'm not 346 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: going to go into it because it doesn't really matter. 347 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: It's not something that you would commonly encounter today. That 348 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 1: again was standard definition that was in the before times, 349 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:00,119 Speaker 1: and then high definition would bring new resolutions into the picture, 350 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,400 Speaker 1: so to speak, and also a change to the sixteen 351 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: to nine aspect ratio that would have a large impact 352 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:11,880 Speaker 1: as well. So once we got to HDTV, the lowest 353 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: resolution for HDTV was seven twenty P. So the P 354 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:22,080 Speaker 1: in this case stands for progressive scan. That's the alternative 355 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,199 Speaker 1: to interlace. Right, we talked about four eighty I and 356 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: five seventy six I seven twenty P progressive scan progressive 357 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,000 Speaker 1: versus interlace. We're still talking about the height of the 358 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: screen when we use that number seven to twenty P. 359 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 1: So a seven to twenty P HDTV has seven hundred 360 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: and twenty vertical pixels. If we were to measure the 361 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: width of the screen in pixels, we would count one thousand, 362 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:52,880 Speaker 1: two hundred eighty pixels across. You got to multiply both 363 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: of those to get the full number of pixels that 364 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: are on the display. Right, the height times the width, 365 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: that'll give us nine hundred two twenty one thousand, six 366 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,440 Speaker 1: hundred pixels. That's how many pixels make up a seven 367 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:09,200 Speaker 1: to twenty P HDTV image. Now, a step up from 368 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:13,520 Speaker 1: seven to twenty P was ten eighty P. We also 369 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: had ten eighty I, which was arguably a step up 370 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,880 Speaker 1: because it was a higher resolution, and I say arguably 371 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: because of the differences between interlaced and progressive scan. But 372 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:26,400 Speaker 1: again that gets into a different technology. So a ten 373 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 1: eighty screen shows images that are one thousand and eighty 374 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,160 Speaker 1: pixels tall. So we're still talking about the vertical here, 375 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 1: and then for with we're talking one thousand, nine hundred 376 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:41,320 Speaker 1: and twenty pixels wide, So you multiply those two together 377 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:44,120 Speaker 1: and you get more than two million pixels on display, 378 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: so more than twice as many of a seven to 379 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:50,440 Speaker 1: twenty p display. So you're really cramming those pixels in there. 380 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:54,359 Speaker 1: Of course, we're only just getting started. Also, this is 381 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: at the point where the television industry did something silly. 382 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,160 Speaker 1: So again, up to this point, when we're talking numbers, 383 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,200 Speaker 1: what we're describing is the number of vertical pixels in 384 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: a column, right, how tall the image is in pixels. 385 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,520 Speaker 1: That's what we've been talking about with standard definition and 386 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,720 Speaker 1: high definition. But then we get into the ultra high 387 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:22,200 Speaker 1: definition territories and we suddenly stop looking at the vertical 388 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,920 Speaker 1: side of the equation and we look at the horizontal 389 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: the width. So ten eighty would mean one thousand and 390 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 1: eighty vertical pixels. But when we hit UHD, we do 391 00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:36,680 Speaker 1: the flippy floppy, and we talk about the pixels that 392 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,359 Speaker 1: are across rather than the ones that go up and down. 393 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 1: So let's say that you were talking about a two 394 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:48,400 Speaker 1: K display. Technically two K really references resolutions that are 395 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 1: somewhere in the neighborhood of two thousand pixels wide. That 396 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,679 Speaker 1: means you could actually call a ten eighty P television 397 00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: a two K television because yes, it's one thousand eighty 398 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: pixels tall, but it is one thousand, nine hundred twenty 399 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: pixels wide. One nine hundred and twenty is practically two thousand, 400 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:11,680 Speaker 1: So a ten adp TV is technically also a two 401 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,919 Speaker 1: K TV. This helps because there was never a formal 402 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:20,120 Speaker 1: definition of two K. There are other technologies that create 403 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: two K images, like cameras, and they can have different resolutions, right, 404 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,120 Speaker 1: like it could be two thousand, five hundred and sixty 405 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 1: pixels wide as opposed to one nine hundred and twenty, 406 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: But that's cameras, not displays. Really, we typically skip over 407 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:43,159 Speaker 1: two K we go straight to four K, and a 408 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 1: four K UHD screen has three thousand, eight hundred and 409 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: forty pixels across, so that's what we're referencing. When we 410 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,199 Speaker 1: say four K, we're actually talking about three thousand, eight 411 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:57,119 Speaker 1: hundred and forty and it's two thousand and one hundred 412 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:01,159 Speaker 1: sixty pixels vertically. So if we had used the old 413 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:06,479 Speaker 1: HDTV classification instead of saying four K, we would call 414 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,560 Speaker 1: it twenty one sixty, right, because we went from ten eighty. 415 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: Now we'd go to twenty one sixty. But for some reason, 416 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:18,159 Speaker 1: the industry decided instead to switch this up to width 417 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 1: rather than height, So we talk four K. If we 418 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:26,120 Speaker 1: go up to eight K, then we're talking about seven thousand, 419 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:31,040 Speaker 1: six hundred eighty pixels wide and four three hundred twenty 420 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:35,400 Speaker 1: pixels tall. So again, if we were using the old classification, 421 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: we'd call it a forty three to twenty television. So 422 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 1: as we get higher in resolution, we also see that 423 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 1: screens are cramming more and more pixels in there. Like, 424 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 1: the number doesn't have to go up a whole lot 425 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:52,000 Speaker 1: in either direction for the total number of pixels to 426 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 1: go to crazy amounts. I mean, we're talking about the 427 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,280 Speaker 1: millions and millions of pixels at this point, and like 428 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: I said, depending upon stuff like the size of the 429 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: display and how far away you are from it, that 430 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:06,120 Speaker 1: may or may not make a difference. If you've got 431 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,159 Speaker 1: the cash to PLoP down for a luxury Samsung display, 432 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: you know that one hundred and forty six to one, 433 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:13,640 Speaker 1: which I think will cost you like half a million 434 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,280 Speaker 1: dollars or maybe a quarter million something like that. I mean, 435 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: it's way more than I could ever ever pay. Then 436 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:22,400 Speaker 1: you know, you're you're probably not gonna sit so close 437 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: that you're fogging up the glass, but you're gonna want 438 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,960 Speaker 1: a pretty high resolution for that. But if you're again, 439 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: if you're looking at something that's in the probably the 440 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: forty to fifty inch range, I could see you going 441 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: as high as four K, depending on how far away 442 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 1: you're sitting. But even that, to me feels like overkilled. 443 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:41,840 Speaker 1: But you also have to keep in mind I'm talking 444 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,879 Speaker 1: about my experience with my vision, which is probably not 445 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,600 Speaker 1: as good as yours. So it's it's entirely possible that 446 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:53,399 Speaker 1: you could immediately tell the difference between HD and UHD 447 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:58,120 Speaker 1: from resolution alone. I'm not here to say that there 448 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,119 Speaker 1: is no difference. You might be able to spotted immediately, 449 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:05,439 Speaker 1: even on smaller screens, but for someone like me, it 450 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:09,399 Speaker 1: doesn't make much sense. Okay, we're going to take another break. 451 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,159 Speaker 1: When we come back, I'm gonna talk a little bit 452 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 1: about computer displays, because, as I said, that makes things 453 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:30,439 Speaker 1: oh way more complicated. So computers and their displays. The 454 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:36,040 Speaker 1: earliest personal computers mostly relied on televisions to serve as monitors, 455 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:38,959 Speaker 1: like you would actually hook up a television one that 456 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 1: you're presumably not using for anything else to your computer. Now, 457 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,240 Speaker 1: later on models would have their own monitor. Often in 458 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 1: early computers, the monitor was incorporated into the body of 459 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,679 Speaker 1: the computer itself, so it wasn't like you would go 460 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: and buy a display and then a computer and then 461 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: pair them together. They would be one and the same. 462 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: Eventually we would get standalone displays that could be used 463 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: with different types of computers as long as the connections 464 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:13,639 Speaker 1: were standardized between the two. Right, and there are many, many, 465 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 1: many graphics formats that affected everything from resolution to aspect ratios, 466 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,119 Speaker 1: far too many for us to go into, because if 467 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: we did, honestly, this episode would just become a numbers station. 468 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 1: You know, one of those radio signals where if you 469 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,760 Speaker 1: pick it up, there's this creepy music playing in the background, 470 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 1: and then a voice comes over the air and just 471 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: starts reading out a string of numbers, and then the 472 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: music plays again, and then it repeats. Well, I don't 473 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 1: have any creepy music to play in the background, so 474 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: I can't pull that off. So I'm just going to 475 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: talk about the most common screen resolutions that we use today, Like, 476 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: we could be talking about stuff like three twenty by 477 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:55,720 Speaker 1: two hundred from way back in the day, but that 478 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: makes no sense, So I'm gonna use stat counter. And 479 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,800 Speaker 1: I'm also talking about displays for desktops. Obviously, if we 480 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,920 Speaker 1: talk about things like laptop computers or mobile devices, that's 481 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:11,160 Speaker 1: another matter entirely and would require a different episode. So 482 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: let's say you've got yourself a desktop computer. What are 483 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 1: the most common screen resolutions in use currently? Well, according 484 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,640 Speaker 1: to stat counter, the most common resolution in use today 485 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: is nineteen twenty by ten eighty that's the equivalent of 486 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:33,520 Speaker 1: HDTV ten eighty HDTV Right, nineteen twenty by ten eighty pixels. 487 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:38,920 Speaker 1: Following that, you've got thirteen sixty six by seven sixty eight. 488 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,960 Speaker 1: After that is fifteen thirty six by eight sixty four. 489 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:49,239 Speaker 1: So that's interesting, right, Like, the most popular is the 490 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: equivalent of HDTV. The second most popular is you know, 491 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,240 Speaker 1: a step down. The third most popular is a slight 492 00:29:56,360 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: step in between the two. I thought thought that was interesting. 493 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 1: Number four would be twelve eighty by seven twenty. That's 494 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 1: the equivalent of seven to twenty p television. But none 495 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:10,600 Speaker 1: of that marks the top end of computer resolutions. Those 496 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:14,520 Speaker 1: are just the most commonly used, and this is just 497 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:18,480 Speaker 1: based on pulling data from folks going to different websites 498 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,600 Speaker 1: and stuff, because web pages need to render properly on 499 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,200 Speaker 1: a screen, and so you get that information by collecting 500 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,400 Speaker 1: all the data on the back end. It's yet another 501 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:32,560 Speaker 1: data point that gets collected about us as we use 502 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 1: our technologies. So if you're going on the slightly higher 503 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: end of resolutions, that still are They're not common, but 504 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:47,160 Speaker 1: they're more frequently used than the top top of the line, 505 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 1: mostly along the lines of people who are in creative 506 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:55,040 Speaker 1: industries like video editing or image production, or they're the 507 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,920 Speaker 1: gamer types. Then you might get up to around twenty 508 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: five sixty to fourteen four These are also known as 509 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 1: fourteen forty P resolution monitors. That's less common. It's it's 510 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 1: higher quality, but it is not even close to the 511 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 1: top of the line because you you do have five 512 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:19,720 Speaker 1: K and even eight K monitors available on the market. 513 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,640 Speaker 1: Not only that, but computer displays can actually be other 514 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:28,360 Speaker 1: aspect ratios besides sixteen to nine. You know, that's the 515 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,440 Speaker 1: standard for televisions, but there's no rule that says computer 516 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:36,360 Speaker 1: monitors have to follow that same aspect ratio, So there 517 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: are ultra wide monitors that have a twenty one by 518 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:45,080 Speaker 1: nine aspect ratio. In fact, that's allowing for the possibility 519 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 1: of ten K monitors where you have a display that's 520 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:54,080 Speaker 1: four thousand, something like four three hundred and twenty pixels 521 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 1: tall and then a crazy amount wide because it's a 522 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 1: twenty nine twenty one to nine aspect ratio. With a 523 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 1: monitor that wide, you can actually create the equivalent of 524 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:10,240 Speaker 1: a dual monitor set up, but with just one screen. Right, 525 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 1: you just designate one part of the screen to serve 526 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: for something and the rest of the screen to serve 527 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,960 Speaker 1: for something else, and you don't need two screens because 528 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: your monitor is so wide. You can do it in 529 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,400 Speaker 1: one go, and the resolution is so high that you 530 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:27,200 Speaker 1: can do it without the details suffering in the process. 531 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:33,240 Speaker 1: You can divide up your screen to serve different purposes. Now, 532 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,360 Speaker 1: as I said early on, resolution is really just one 533 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,440 Speaker 1: part of what makes a good image. You do need 534 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:43,120 Speaker 1: higher resolution if you want something to look nice and smooth, 535 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: particularly if you're doing something like using a very large 536 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: display close to you, like you would if you're like 537 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,840 Speaker 1: video editing or whatever, and particularly if it's a very 538 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:57,080 Speaker 1: large display you need to have that higher resolution, but 539 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,680 Speaker 1: there are other elements that are at least as important 540 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: and sometimes arguably more important than resolution in order to 541 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 1: get a great image on your screen. So stuff like 542 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:13,840 Speaker 1: brightness matters, contrast, which is the difference between the brightest 543 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:16,960 Speaker 1: and the darkest colors that your display can show. The 544 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,880 Speaker 1: greater degrees of difference you can have between the brightest 545 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:25,240 Speaker 1: brights and the darkest dark colors, the better color representation 546 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:28,960 Speaker 1: is really important too. You want those colors to be accurate. 547 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 1: You want what you see on your screen to accurately 548 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: reflect whatever the end output is going to be, right, 549 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: So if your monitor can't do that, and you're working 550 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,320 Speaker 1: on something that's going to be displayed in some other format, 551 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,120 Speaker 1: then it may be that what you get out doesn't 552 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: look like what you put in because you have this 553 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:51,520 Speaker 1: disparity between the two. Refresh Rate also matters. The refresh 554 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,920 Speaker 1: rate is how frequently the screen actually refreshes the image 555 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 1: on display. So with video, the higher the refresh rate 556 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: typically the smoother the motion is on screen. That doesn't 557 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 1: necessarily mean that higher refresh rates are automatically better. They 558 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,000 Speaker 1: can be for things like if you're, you know, playing games, 559 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:16,000 Speaker 1: and you want to have a really smooth experience, Yes, 560 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: but if you're watching something on screen and it has 561 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 1: a super high refresh rate on your on your media 562 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 1: and your monitor, it can be distracting. It can create 563 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:29,800 Speaker 1: that effect people talk about where it kind of creates 564 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,680 Speaker 1: the the what they call it the Mexican soap opera effect. 565 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: Everything looks a little too smooth, the motions are too smooth, 566 00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:42,360 Speaker 1: and it doesn't feel right because the way that traditional 567 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:46,680 Speaker 1: television and film has kind of trained us, we see 568 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:51,359 Speaker 1: moving images having different qualities than what we get if 569 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: we have a really high refresh rate. So I know 570 00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:55,680 Speaker 1: a lot of people who when they get a new 571 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:58,839 Speaker 1: television that has the option for a high refresh rate, 572 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:00,800 Speaker 1: one of the first things they do is that down 573 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:04,279 Speaker 1: because otherwise it makes everything look weird, unless you're talking 574 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:08,120 Speaker 1: about sports, which makes it look crazy awesome. So like 575 00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: for specific applications that high refresh rate is a good thing, 576 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,719 Speaker 1: for others, it may be more distracting than good. And 577 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 1: there's still other elements like HDR, which is high dynamic range. 578 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 1: This kind of gets into luminosity or brightness, and specifically 579 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: with relation to color representation, that gets really complicated. It's 580 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:34,560 Speaker 1: not helped by the fact that the industry often will 581 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,480 Speaker 1: push out a technology before that technology is standardized. So 582 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 1: what that means ultimately is that you can have media 583 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:47,600 Speaker 1: that supports one approach toward HDR and hardware that supports 584 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: a different approach to HDR. The two are not necessarily compatible, 585 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:56,200 Speaker 1: which means while technically you have the hardware to produce 586 00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:01,480 Speaker 1: HDR images and the software or media to create them, 587 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:06,200 Speaker 1: because of that lack of compatibility, you can't actually experience. 588 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:09,920 Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that the media won't necessarily play, you 589 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,280 Speaker 1: just won't be able to take advantage of that particular feature, 590 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,000 Speaker 1: and then you're paying money for something that you can't 591 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:21,359 Speaker 1: actually use in that particular instance. We've seen similar things, 592 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,279 Speaker 1: by the way, with surround sound, where you could have 593 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:29,800 Speaker 1: a surround sound system that supports certain protocols but not others, 594 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:34,280 Speaker 1: which means you can't be certain just by putting media 595 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:36,480 Speaker 1: into the system that you're going to be able to 596 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: enjoy the full capabilities of it. It has to be compatible. 597 00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:45,920 Speaker 1: That's the issue with standardization, Like you want to have 598 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:48,879 Speaker 1: standardization so that way you don't have to think about 599 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:50,359 Speaker 1: these things. You know, you just go out and get 600 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,920 Speaker 1: what you want, and you play it on what you want, 601 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: and you get the best experience that the two can 602 00:36:56,239 --> 00:37:01,520 Speaker 1: offer you without making any concessions. Unfortunately, that's not necessarily 603 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: where we are, so we often have to do a 604 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,319 Speaker 1: little extra research to make sure that we're getting what 605 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 1: we want. So that is kind of a round up 606 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:16,880 Speaker 1: on resolutions. It falls very similarly along the lines of megapixels. 607 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:21,680 Speaker 1: When digital cameras first became a thing, megapixels was like 608 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:26,480 Speaker 1: the one and only way that manufacturers were using to 609 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:31,440 Speaker 1: differentiate their product from others, and essentially they were saying 610 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: more megapixels equals more better, and if it had a 611 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,000 Speaker 1: higher number for megapixels, then it meant better pictures, which 612 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,239 Speaker 1: is not necessarily the case. It does mean that you 613 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:46,000 Speaker 1: have higher resolution images, but at a certain point that 614 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:50,960 Speaker 1: stops to matter unless there's always none less unless you 615 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:55,040 Speaker 1: need to print the image on some enormous format, in 616 00:37:55,080 --> 00:38:00,280 Speaker 1: which case you need that high resolution in order to 617 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:02,960 Speaker 1: not have a big drop in quality once you scale 618 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,480 Speaker 1: the image up to whatever size you're actually printing at. 619 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:10,000 Speaker 1: But for most people, not a big deal. Same thing 620 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:15,040 Speaker 1: I think with display resolutions. For most people, I don't 621 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,960 Speaker 1: think you need to go overkill on resolution. Also, I 622 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:20,759 Speaker 1: didn't really touch on this, but when we're talking about 623 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: things like eight K televisions, there's a lack of media 624 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,080 Speaker 1: for eight K, right, there's a lack of actual support 625 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 1: for eight K. So you might have an eight K display, 626 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:33,880 Speaker 1: but everything you're watching on it is four K or 627 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: lower resolution. Maybe the display has the ability to upscale, 628 00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:42,920 Speaker 1: but that's kind of like an artificial boost of resolution, right, 629 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:48,440 Speaker 1: it's computers interpreting what should be added to the image 630 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,080 Speaker 1: in order to create a higher resolution. It's not the 631 00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:58,040 Speaker 1: true capture of whatever that thing was. So again, I 632 00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:01,439 Speaker 1: think that going into it knowing these things and knowing 633 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,960 Speaker 1: the limitations is good. Maybe in your case, maybe you've 634 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: got eagle eyes and you're looking for an enormous television 635 00:39:09,719 --> 00:39:12,359 Speaker 1: and eight K is absolutely what you want. You want 636 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,279 Speaker 1: a future proof it because you can already tell the 637 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:17,680 Speaker 1: difference between four K and everything else, and it stands 638 00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:21,279 Speaker 1: out to you. Then it matters to you. If you're 639 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:25,120 Speaker 1: like me, it probably doesn't. I keep getting tempted to 640 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:29,960 Speaker 1: get a ultra high definition television because I'm listen. I 641 00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:33,319 Speaker 1: use a TV until it stops working. So my televisions 642 00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:37,239 Speaker 1: are still in the HDTV range, but I can't really 643 00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:40,640 Speaker 1: tell the difference that much. Maybe slightly, but not enough 644 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:43,640 Speaker 1: for it to really matter. The only reason I would 645 00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,839 Speaker 1: go to ultra high definition is if I were purchasing 646 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,640 Speaker 1: media that was in the ultra high definition format that 647 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:54,319 Speaker 1: had features on it that I wanted. So in other words, 648 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:57,080 Speaker 1: if I'm going out and buying a UHD copy of 649 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,120 Speaker 1: a movie and the reason I'm doing is because there's 650 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,120 Speaker 1: behind the scenes commentary and stuff like that that I 651 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:06,640 Speaker 1: can't get in other formats, then yes, I would want 652 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: to have the hardware to be able to play that 653 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:14,759 Speaker 1: particular media. But you know, most people have gotten away 654 00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:17,160 Speaker 1: from physical media. I've just started to get back into 655 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:21,399 Speaker 1: it because I got tired of stuff on streaming disappearing 656 00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,560 Speaker 1: and not being able to watch it anymore. So having 657 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:26,880 Speaker 1: a physical copy is helpful in that case, but you 658 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:29,080 Speaker 1: have to have a you know, the space and equipment 659 00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:32,640 Speaker 1: to play it. All right, I'm rambling. That's it for 660 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:35,440 Speaker 1: this what was going to be a text of tidbits 661 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:39,200 Speaker 1: on resolution. I know that I rambled like usual, so 662 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,520 Speaker 1: it's not really a tidbits episode. I hope you are 663 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:46,399 Speaker 1: all well and I'll talk to you again. Really soon. 664 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:57,240 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 665 00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:01,360 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast wherever you listen to 666 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:02,360 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.