WEBVTT - Tech Glossary: From GPU to IRC 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.680 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.920 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio, 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.200 and I love all things tech, and I want to 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.800 welcome you all back to our ongoing saga of tackling 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:28.440 various acronyms and initialisms in tech and demystifying them. So 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:30.600 we're just kind of making our way through the alphabet 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.680 and learning what these different groups of letters actually stand for, 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.440 and hopefully learning a bit of extra stuff about them 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.159 along the way. So far, we've we've made it up 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:42.519 to the g s, and we have a couple more 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:44.120 to go in that realm before we get the H 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:47.840 out of here, So let's get started. Also, Hey, as 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.879 I've gone through this, I've noticed that I may have 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.400 left out, you know, a few acronyms and initialisms just 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:59.280 because of blind spots or you know, just just skimming 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.320 over stuff or why whatever. So after all these episodes, 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.120 if you feel there's some that I've missed, let me 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.399 know on Twitter at tech Stuff HSW and maybe I'll 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.800 do a roundup episode at the end. All right, g 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:16.120 PU this stands for graphics processing unit. Now, back in 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.400 the first episode of this series, I talked about c 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.520 p u s, or central processing units. Well, GPUs are 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.120 kind of similar in that they are microprocessors that execute 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:30.039 instructions on data and they produce output. But as the 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:34.120 name suggests, the intended purpose for a GPU is to 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:38.360 process graphics. Now, in the ancient days of the nineteen nineties, 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.920 there was a shift in computing and the need for processors. 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:48.000 Programmers primarily video game developers, but not exclusively video game developers. Well, 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:52.160 they kept making software that pushed computing hardware to the limit, 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:56.600 and sometimes went beyond that limit. The central processing units 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:00.000 of these computers would get over taxed and performance would suffer, 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.760 and you just typically wouldn't be able to get as 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.000 much out of the game as the developers had hoped 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:10.000 you would. Now, graphics cards, which could help offload some 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.280 of the work that the CPU had to do, had 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:15.720 been a thing since the nineteen eighties. The nineteen nineties 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:20.160 saw developers creating games and applications that included three D graphics. 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:23.000 Not that the graphics were coming out of your screen 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.360 or whatever, but rather images now appeared to have depth 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.080 to them. They weren't just two dimensional like flat cutouts 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.840 on screen, and we saw companies like in Nvidia and 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:37.079 three d f X manufacture more sophisticated cards to help 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.760 handle that processing requirement, to kind of offload that work 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:45.680 so the CPU wasn't so burdened. And Video introduced the 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:50.040 g Force to five six in n and the company 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:54.079 referred to it as the first graphics processing unit. So 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.520 while we had cards that fulfill the function of a 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.639 GPU for a while, this would be when someone actually 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:05.920 coined the term itself. These days, the architecture of a 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:10.040 GPU means that it has a parallel approach to processing data. 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.680 That means they can process information in parallel, dividing up 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:18.519 data into more manageable chunks, and working on everything at 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:22.679 the same time. And I always use a classroom analogy 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.040 to describe parallel processing because I think it really helps 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.919 illustrate how this works from a high level. So let's 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.519 go over that right now. So let's say you've got 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:35.760 a class of six really bright math students, and one 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:39.280 of those students is a true genius, someone who just 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:43.680 has a natural affinity for mathematics, and we'll call her Rachel. 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.960 So Rachel is a math genius and she's great at math. 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:51.920 She can solve any mathematical problem faster than her fellow students. 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.040 The other five just aren't as fast. They are all 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.800 very good. They're all very good students, they just aren't 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.680 genius level. One day, the teacher comes in with a challenge, 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.600 and the teacher has a math quiz and has five 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.960 problems on that quiz. Each problem is completely independent of 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.280 the others, so there's no connection between like problems one 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:14.520 and two and two and three and so on. And 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.279 the teacher hands out the quiz to all six students 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:21.560 and explains that Rachel is going to tackle all five problems, 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.799 but the other five students will each take only one 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:28.800 problem each, So student one takes problem one, student who 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.320 takes problem to, etcetera. So it's going to be a race. 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.200 And the quiz begins and Rachel gets to work, but 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:38.000 she needs to solve all five problems one after the other, 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.560 while the other five students each must concentrate on just 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.279 one problem each. The other students get to tackle the 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:49.560 quiz in parallel. They chop up the quiz into individual problems. 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.520 So Rachel is fast, but she's not fast enough to 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.200 overcome the advantage that the other students have, and that's 0:04:56.200 --> 0:05:00.640 how parallel processing works. A processor that can perfor warm 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:04.240 parallel processing a lot of alliteration in this passage. Uh, 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.120 you know, like a multi core processor or modern GPUs 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.720 are all in this way. They can solve certain types 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:16.640 of computational problems far faster than a really really beefy 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:21.160 single core processor could. But there are also computational problems 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:25.080 that cannot split up into smaller chunks. So if the 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:29.120 teacher structured the math quiz so that question two depended 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.719 upon the answer to question one, and question three dependent 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:35.719 upon the answer to question two, and so on, Rachel 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:39.000 would have the advantage then because the five individual students 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.720 would have to wait for the previous answer before they 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:46.360 could jump on their particular question. Well, graphics processing is 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:51.560 a really specific computational task, and thus GPUs don't need 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.080 to be able to do all the general computing that 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:58.479 a CPU has to handle. That means that manufacturers can 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:03.000 optimize GPUs to make them really efficient for that specific 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:07.480 type of processing. On a side note, cryptographers and bitcoin 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.919 miners really love GPUs because they can be repurposed to 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:18.520 tackle other parallel processes like breaking encryption or mining bitcoins. 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.120 For that reason, it can often be very difficult for 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.119 gamers to get hold of the most recent GPUs because 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.960 other folks are scooping them up to use in completely 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:31.279 unrelated applications. And in the case of bitcoin mining, it's 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:37.200 a very potentially profitable application, and thus the money generated 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.599 from the mining can go back into building out even 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:47.560 more powerful bitcoin mining systems, and that requires more GPUs. 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.240 And thus do you have your you know, humble gamer 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.719 who just wants to build a gaming PC who can't 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.360 get hold of a graphics card. Plus the graphics cards 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.760 prices are skyrocketing because of this high demand. Well in 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.080 part because of the high demand, they're also very expensive. 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:07.279 Moving on g u I. This stands for graphical user 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.720 interface and most of the time we don't say g 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:14.240 u I, we actually say gooey. So gooey is a 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.800 g UI, which is intern a graphical user interface. Most 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:24.280 popular operating systems these days have a g UI. Windows, Mac, os, iOS, 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:28.880 and Android all have gooey's and the gooey represents programs 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:32.640 and processes as icons that you click on and then 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.320 they activate. So, if you remember from the last episode 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:40.760 we covered DOSS, which is a text based operating system 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.400 with DOWS you have to type in commands to navigate 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:48.800 the OS and execute programs. It's far less intuitive than 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.160 an OS that uses a gooey. But on the flip side, 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:57.920 text based operating systems require much fewer computer resources to operate, 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.160 so it leaves way more are for the actual programs 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.160 you want to run, and they don't have to worry about, 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.360 you know, the OS itself hogging some of those resources. 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:10.960 Early work and gooey design dates back to the nineteen sixties. 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.960 Douglas inglebart Man, associated with the gooey as well as 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:19.160 the computer mouse and other innovations, demonstrated a system in 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:22.160 the late nineteen sixties during an event that folks later 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.280 referred to as the mother of all demos. Xerox Is 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:30.160 Park Division developed a gooey for an internal computer system 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.040 that never really saw much practical use, but folks like 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.640 Steve Jobs got a chance to see a gooey in 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.480 action along with the computer mouse, and saw it as 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:42.679 the future of operating systems. A well designed gooey significantly 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.880 lowers the learning curve of using a computer. In the 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.880 early days of personal computers, the general sense was that 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:53.400 computers were for hobbyists and other nerds and geeks, people 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:57.280 who didn't mind diving into manuals to learn cryptic commands 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.560 in order to make these mysterious machines actually work. But 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.160 the emergence of the gooey in the mid nineteen eighties 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.240 made it way easier to understand how to interact with 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.840 a computer. All the processes that required people to navigate 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.000 file trees and type in commands were out the window, 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.360 so to speak, and now icons and clicking did all 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.360 the work. Since then, the gooey has become the standard 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:23.960 OS approach for most consumer facing computational devices. You still 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.040 have some text based systems out there, but for the 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:32.160 most part, the general public doesn't encounter them. Specialists totally 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:36.360 different story, but general public mostly gooey based. These days, 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:41.120 we're a gooey bunch. Next is h d D. This 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:44.640 stands for hard disk drive. So a disk drive is 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.800 a device that allows the computer to read and write 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.200 to some form of digital storage, and there are lots 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.600 of different versions of disk drives. Back in the day, 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.319 a floppy disk drive referred to a drive that allowed 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:02.200 a user to insert or remove physical disks from a drive, 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.960 but a hard disk drive could be an integral part 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.800 of a computer all by itself, allowing the system to 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:12.560 store and read information on an internal drive that was 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:16.080 non volatile, meaning that the information would remain in place 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.400 even should the computer be powered down. Some hard disk 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.319 drives are internal to a computer, some are separate and 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.520 connect to a computer via cables, so it all just 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:30.080 depends upon the specific setup. But these hard disk drives 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:34.920 are mechanical devices, and HDD has at least one rotating 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.080 platter inside it, and most h d d s have 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:41.920 multiple platters positioned almost like a stack of pancakes, except 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.960 there's a gap between each platter, so there's not you know, 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.280 they're not stacked touching each other. There's a gap between 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:54.120 each one and in between them, within that gap there 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.640 is an actuator arm. Most h d d s have 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:02.840 multiple actuator arms that can extend between the different platters, 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.080 and at the end of that actuator arm is a 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:09.240 magnetic head that can read or write information magnetically to 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:12.320 the platters, so all the info is stored magnetically. This 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:16.120 is why if you ever were around computers in the 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.600 old days, uh people always said make sure you don't 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.040 have magnets near them, because that could corrupt data on 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.400 the device. Still not a great idea to work with 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:30.680 computers near powerful magnets for multiple reasons, but that was 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.480 the main reason back in the day. Because hd d 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:38.000 s are mechanical, stuff can and does break down. So 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.839 if the platter has become misaligned, the whole thing could 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.440 grind to a halt, or worse, it could shake itself 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:46.480 to pieces. If an actuator arm bends the wrong way, 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.480 it could cause irreparable damage to the platters. There are 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.679 a lot of parts that could potentially break down or 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:56.520 wear out. Not all the problems are show stoppers. Some 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:59.440 of them are totally reparable, but it does mean that 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.720 there are several all potential points of failure with an 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.400 hd D. They also tend to add a lot of 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:09.200 weight to devices. For that reason, many smaller gadgets rely 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.800 on alternative data storage systems, some of which we will 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.200 cover later in these episodes. So for a long time, 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:20.000 h d d s were significantly cheaper than alternatives, and 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.120 they remain the primary method of internal storage for computers. 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.800 But it also takes time for a computer to retrieve 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:28.920 information stored on an hd D Because we have to 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.960 remember this is a mechanical system. It actually takes time 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.000 for components to move into place and start to search 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.800 for and pull relevant data. So on top of the line, 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.559 h d D typically has a lot more storage capacity 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:46.079 than the alternatives, so when it comes to actual storage, 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.880 the hd D tends to win out, particularly when you 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:54.120 look at the price tag per amount of storage. It's 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.560 pretty common to find h d ds today in the 0:12:56.600 --> 0:13:00.360 two to four terrabyte range, which honestly still ows my 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.240 mind because I'm old and I remember when a megabyte 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.640 was a big deal. Next, we have h d M I. 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:12.120 This is high definition Multimedia interface. In the early two thousand's, 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.839 a group of companies that included Tashiba, Sony, Phillips, and 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:20.240 Hitachi worked together to create a standardized technology that would 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.960 allow for the transfer of uncompressed audio and video signals 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.920 from a source to an output, such as from a 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.360 computer to a display or a set top box to 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.360 a television. The HDMI standard would allow for higher resolution 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.920 video while also carrying audio signals, and over the years 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.439 there have been many different cables and ports designed for 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.400 these purposes. So let's do a very quick rundown for 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.480 the video side. Early on in the nineteen fifties, you 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:52.360 had the development of composite r c A this cable, 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:56.920 little yellow tipped cable you might remember, those that could 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:00.920 carry an analog video signal of up to standard definition 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.120 resolution that's either four A d I or five seventy 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.600 six I depending upon your region. The signal coded down 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:11.680 to a single channel of information. A couple of decades later, 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:15.760 companies introduced the S video cable, which carried video into 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.440 channels and allowed for a higher quality video transmission. Then 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.080 you had component video cables, which split the video into 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:27.120 three channels and could be even better quality, especially for 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:31.840 color representation and luminosity. The component video cables were the 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:35.040 top of the line and analog video signal transmission, but 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.720 they also came right at the tail end of that, 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:41.360 just before the digital revolution, so they weren't relevant for 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:46.000 terribly long. They sort of became obsolete. After component cables, 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.000 we got d V I and shortly after that we 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.000 got h d M I, and the h d M 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.520 I tech has essentially one out and become the standard 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:59.520 tech for transmitting digital video and audio. Companies have improved 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.040 the text since its introduction. The h d M I 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.640 of two two was you know HDMI one point oh? 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.960 These days, the most recent specification is h d m 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:13.000 I two point one, and that specification allows for the 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.640 transmission of signals of up to eight K resolution with 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.200 sixty frames per second or four K resolution at one 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.240 twenty frames per second. I think it can even transmit 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.040 up to ten K resolution, though you do take a 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.680 hit on the frames per second at that point, and 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:30.880 it can transmit data at a band with a forty 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.680 eight gigabits per second. To take advantage of the specification, 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:38.280 all the parts of a connected system have to be 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:42.760 HDMI two point one compatible. That includes the source of 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:46.880 the signal, the cables you're using, and the output device 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.000 whatever you're viewing it on. So, in other words, you've 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.560 got a system that has an HDMI two point one 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.880 out port and an HDMI two point one cable, but 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.240 your television only supports to up to I don't know, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.280 HDMI one point four, you will not get the full 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:05.360 benefit of HDMI two point one. It would still work 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.080 because it is as a specification that is backwards compatible. 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.520 It could still carry and deliver signals that the television 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.040 would be able to show. It just wouldn't be at 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:17.480 the two point one specifications. You wouldn't get the full 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.720 benefit unless every part of the system is current with 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.560 h d M. I well, we are at a point 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:26.240 where I think it's a good time to take a 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.680 break because these acronyms, despite how short they are, get 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:39.960 kind of exhausting. To say, we're back and let's hit 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:43.480 it with h d R, which stands for high dynamic range. 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.280 This is a dynamic range that is high. It can 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.440 actually cover a lot of different types of stuff. High 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:55.680 dynamic range is not limited to a specific technology. Essentially, 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:59.560 it means that whatever range you're looking at, whether it's 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.040 for us of it kind of a signal or color 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:06.720 representation or rendering or whatever, it's a range that has 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.479 lots and lots of divisions. There's a big difference between 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.959 the lowest end of the range and the highest end 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.280 of the range. It's got a lot of dynamics to it. 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:19.560 We call music really dynamic if there are a lot 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:23.520 of variations between the softest tones and the loudest tones, 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.919 as well as the quality of tone. So typically this 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.800 means you have more minute steps between the lowest end 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:33.720 and the highest end. All of that sounds pretty wishy 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.040 washy when I say it out loud. So let's use 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.439 colors as an example. I'm pretty sure you all know 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:45.159 roy GBIV right, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:49.160 the color spectrum for stuff like rainbows. That's a very 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:53.600 simple spectrum, right, just seven colors. But you know there's 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.560 more than just seven colors. There are a lot of 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.760 different shades of these colors, which you could also think 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:04.240 of as little steps between one color whatever you designate 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.720 as being the true version of say red, and the 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:11.280 next color whatever is the true version of orange. Heck, 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:14.960 I remember in the old days having crayons that had 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.880 blue green and green blue in the same crayon pack, 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.920 and the two crayons were not exactly the same color. Instead, 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:24.560 both of them showed a color that in one instance 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.000 was just a little more blue than it was green, 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.359 and the other was the opposite. So, if we're talking 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:34.639 about a color spectrum, HDR might refer to more variants 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.960 or shades of colors, perhaps in a spectrum broad enough 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.560 that two adjacent colors might be difficult to distinguish for 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.200 the average person that they are different, but they might 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:48.040 not be distinct enough for you to be able to 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:52.400 tell on casual glance with a digital display. The sort 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.920 of color range means you're able to experience more lifelike colors. 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.880 The display doesn't have to rely as much on tricking 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.000 your eyes, but using a more limited palette of colors 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.800 to create the illusion of that range, and we end 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.160 up with more vibrant and lifelike images as a result. 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:12.040 So while HDR can refer to a ton of different 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.480 stuff in tech, for the average consumer, we typically see 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:19.480 it in reference to displays and televisions. There's no standard 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.800 HDR format, which is kind of a pain in the 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:26.520 took us since there are competing formats on the market. 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.280 There is a minimum set of specs that each format 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:34.480 has to meet in order for the Ultra HD Alliance 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:38.159 which sounds like a supervillain group UH, for them to 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.240 consider it actual HDR. So, in other words, you have 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:44.399 to meet certain criteria for it to be HDR, but 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.960 there's no standardized way to do this, and it's just 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:51.280 it doesn't matter how you get the output, it just 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:54.800 has to have the output meet those specifications, which is 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.320 a little frustrating. HD M I two point one, which 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.600 we talked about before the break so ports HDR and 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.360 kind of like hd M I. To enjoy the benefits 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:06.840 of HDR, you need every element in your system to 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:11.359 be compatible with whichever format you're trying to display, and 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:15.520 HDR video is about more than just color representation. It 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:19.399 also has to do with luminates or brightness. HDR is 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.440 also a great way to explain that image quality goes 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:26.320 well beyond just resolution. A picture could have very high 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:31.800 resolution but very poor color representation. Video image quality depends 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:37.720 upon multiple factors. So that includes resolution, color representation, contrast 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:41.080 which is the difference between the brightest and darkest colors, 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:43.879 and how many steps there are between those two extremes. 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:47.840 It's kind of its own high dynamic range feature, as 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:50.119 well as frame rate. That's another big one. Now. The 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:52.440 reason I mentioned all of this is in case you're 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:55.800 ever in the market to upgrade your home theater system. 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:58.840 It's good to know there is not just one single 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.480 component you should con learn yourself with, or else you 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:05.400 might find that the setup you buy doesn't match your expectations. 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:11.360 Moving on, next, we have HTML and x HTML. These 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:14.320 are not you know, partners that had a nasty breakup 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:19.080 and now they're X is no HTML is hypertext markup language, 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:25.280 and x HTML is extensible hypertext markup language. Let's break 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.399 these down a bit to understand what they actually mean. So, 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.280 a markup language is a tool that allows someone to 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:35.040 make annotations to a document that is distinct from the 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:39.920 content of that document. So, for example, if you've ever 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.840 worked with a document program that allows editors to put 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:46.080 in comments off to the side in that electronic format, 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:49.600 perhaps it shows up as like a little word bubble. Well, 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.600 that's an example of a markup language system. It's a 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:56.920 technological evolution of an editor making notes in red pencil, 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.760 and man, that takes me back so much red pencil. 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:06.320 Hypertext is a method of creating text that can link 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:10.920 to other parts of a document, an electronic document, or 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:14.959 it can link other documents together. So it's links. In 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:18.080 other words, if you're familiar with the web, it's links. 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:20.960 Let's say that you have an electronic document version of 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:23.600 the play Hamlet by Shakespeare, and you want to go 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:26.560 straight to the to be or not to be speech. Well, 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:28.639 then you can go to the table of contents in 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:32.000 that electronic document and click on the hypertext link for 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:35.800 Act three, Scene one, and boom, that link takes you 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:39.000 to that section of the document. And like I said, 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:42.280 those links can go either within a document itself or 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:46.840 between different documents in the Worldwide Web. Hypertext represents the 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:50.760 strands of web that hold different points together. You can 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:53.640 also think of HTML as a set of instructions as 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:56.919 to how a web browser should display a page. The 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:01.800 markup language uses tags to distinguish different elements within the document. 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:05.960 So for example, there's the tag open bracket i mg 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:12.439 slash closed bracket, which indicates an image. Yeah, I get it. 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:17.439 So using HTML you can create structured documents that behave 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:22.480 a specific way within a browser. Alright, So x HTML 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:26.920 is an x m L version of HTML, and x 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:31.280 m L, as you might guess, stands for Extensible Markup Language. 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:34.600 It's a markup language that is readable by both machines 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:38.280 and humans, and it standardizes the methods to access information, 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:42.439 so it makes that process more efficient and accurate. So 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:45.960 x HTML in many ways is similar to HTML, but 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:49.120 it has a more strict error handling approach. A web 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:52.320 browser will still give the old college Try to display 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:55.359 a web page that has HTML errors in it, but 0:23:55.480 --> 0:23:58.359 with x HTML, well you'll be headed back to editing 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:01.520 to find out where you've done messed up. Tim berners 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:05.000 Lee developed HTML back in the early nineties while working 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:07.560 with CERN, and I'm sure many of you listening to 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:10.879 this have played around with HTML at some point. The 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:14.720 first two web pages I ever made I coded completely 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:19.119 in HTML. Actually had a document open where I typed 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:21.840 everything out in HTML. Then I had to upload it. 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:24.720