WEBVTT - What is progressive scan? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.720 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello there, everyone, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.200 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Pouette 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:22.360 and I'm the tech editor here at how stuff works 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.439 dot com. Sitting across from me, as he always does, 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:30.480 is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, So we uh 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.520 where we're going to talk about something that you might 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:38.400 see and not understand, at least in my case, because 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:41.519 you know, because you see it and you don't understand 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.760 it exactly. This comes This comes to us courtesy of 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:49.479 a little listener mail and here we go. Hi. My 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:51.839 name is James. I love how stuff Works. I was 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:53.880 reading an article on h d M I and kind 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.639 of learned how progressive scan works. But better to hear 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:58.760 it from the experts. What can you tell me in 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:03.280 podcast form? Well, James, um, first, as they have the 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.520 whole experts. I know, maybe we're supposed to a forward 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.560 this onto someone, but we'll we'll give it a shot. 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:13.600 So progressive scan, we're talking about television's here, or monitors, 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.680 computer monitors as well. Can I progressive scan most do. Um, 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:22.959 and Uh, it's it's a technology specifically that deals with 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:28.960 how your television generates images. Now, your old analog TVs 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.240 and the the big old bulky machines that we used 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.760 to watch television on us to some of us still 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.880 own analog TV. Yeah, a lot of our listeners have 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.880 never watched television on one of those. Can you can 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:45.520 you think? Can you wrap your head around that? Okay? 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:49.560 So okay, the old people in the room, Uh, we 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.919 used to and sometimes still do watch television on these 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:57.560 old analog television sets. And these TV sets use a 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:03.000 technology called interlacing display images. So every single time you're 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.480 looking at a television that's on and showing something like 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.720 some sort of television program, Um, you're actually looking at 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:15.360 thousands and thousands and thousands of tiny little dots of 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.560 light that we call pixels all right now. And they 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.080 come in rows, yes, rows, and columns in fact, uh, 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:27.360 and so we we usually look at them. Uh. You 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.919 can either look at them as horizontal rows or vertical columns. 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:35.560 The idea here is that the television sort of paints 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:39.400 this picture with light, all right. The old analog TVs 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.080 used an electron gun to paint these pictures and we'll 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.840 probably talk more about the electron gun, how it did this, 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:50.880 and kind of the evolution of TVs and another future podcast. Yeah, 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:52.520 we've got a lot of requests for that, so that 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:54.920 that's in the that's in the works. We haven't we 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:56.519 haven't tackled that one yet because it's a it's a 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:00.280 little bit heavier of a topic than this, and any rate, 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.520 it paints the pictures line by line, all right, and 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:09.360 with the old interlacing technology, it wouldn't paint the entire picture, 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:14.840 it would paint every other line, uh per per scan 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.200 if you want to call it that, all right. Basically 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.720 the even lines and the odd lines, and it alternates 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:25.720 between the two and each set displays for one of 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.400 a second, So thirty times a second you get all 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:31.680 the odd lines, and thirty times a second you get 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:36.040 all the even lines, and they're they're alternating back and forth. 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:40.000 That gives you your sixty hurts refresh rate. Okay, but 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:44.560 you're only getting thirty per set of lines. So that's 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.400 called interlacing. It interlaces the odd lines with the even lines. 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.400 Progressive scan is different, and progressive scan you get all 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:58.560 the lines shown on each on each blasts. So instead 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.000 of getting you know, half of them every thirty and 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:05.040 the other half sorry, thirty every second for half a 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.320 thirty every second for the other half, you get sixty 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.560 of all of them per second with a sixty hurts 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:14.200 refresh rate. Yes, because let's talk about sixty times per second. 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.640 That's what the hurts means in this case. Um, So 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.400 it's painting every line on the picture. Now, what does 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:24.920 this mean to you as a television viewer? Well, did 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:26.360 you want to take a stab? Well, I was going 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:30.760 to say that damage appears more stable, yes, and it 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:34.160 doesn't display as many artifacts, which is a very important 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.800 digital bits that don't seem to you know, Yeah, they 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:43.720 look really jagged, these little jagged exactly, there's these. If 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:49.000 you've ever watched, um, say, a really good DVD on 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:54.719 a on an old interlace television set, um, you might 0:04:54.839 --> 0:05:00.240 notice that there are these occasionally these little jagged uh 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.599 images that show up as the as the show or 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.839 the DVD plays. And it's once you notice them, it's 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.320 hard not to notice them. From that point on, you 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:15.280 start noticing them in everything, and um, it's very irritating. 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:19.159 Progressive scan eliminates a lot of that because it does 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.839 smooth out the picture. So this is why when you 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.520 were first looking at h D t vs back when 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.400 they were first becoming popular. Uh, you know, you had 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.520 a couple of different choices. There was the seven twenty 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.320 and the ten eight, which that refers to how many 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.279 lines of pixels you have? Right, yes, so for for 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:44.560 top to bottom there are seven lines or right, so, 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.640 and that that changes the resolutions the top to bottom, 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:49.640 like I think it's left right that would make sense. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.440 I'm sorry, because left right, if you have a ten 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.520 a D line TV, that's the sixteen by nine resolution 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:01.159 versus the three. Yeah, OK, so I apologize, that's all right. No, 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.560 I get confused all the time about this guy's I 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:05.120 mean I write about them all the time, and I 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.000 still have to look it up because there's so many 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.600 numbers that are involved here. So, but seven twenty, if 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.599 you you could get like a seven twenty television, that 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.560 would mean that it was a progressive scan television that 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.680 had the seven or twenty lines of resolution or ten 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.800 eighty I resolution, which mean I had a thousand eighty 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.680 lines of resolution and that was interlaced by the way, 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.040 the seven ten eighty thing. That's not really how many 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.320 lines of resolution you have? How many lines of pixels? 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.760 But we're gonna stick with that just because that's the 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.479 what the industry standard is called. Yeah, um, so don't 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.360 write in and tell me you know, actually it's not 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.520 really one thousand eighty because I happen to know that. Um, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:48.960 but we're yeah, well, don't pause the podcast. People listen 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:50.279 to it all the way through and then tell us 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:54.520 how stupid we are. Um, actually we're great. So anyway, 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.840 the you might think, all right, well, if this television 0:06:57.839 --> 0:06:59.880 has more lines of pixels, it must be better, be 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.600 because more is better, right, well, not necessarily. Yes, you 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:08.040 might have more pixels per on your screen. You might, 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.360 and which more means you're gonna have smaller pixels usually 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.920 means you have a sharper image, right, a sharper picture. 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:15.880 That's why the definition really is all about, not the 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:22.000 sharper image. But you're smirking at me. So, so usually 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:24.440 more pixels does mean better. But when it comes to 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:29.000 interlace versus progressive then you have a different argument. You're saying, well, 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.880 progressive scan gives you a smoother image, especially when stuff 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:36.240 is moving around. Um, and interlace can give you these 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.680 artifacts so in that case, it might be better to 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.440 get the seven twenty rather than the ten eight, especially 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:46.239 if you're talking about smaller TVs, because these higher resolutions 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:51.720 aren't really that noticeable on televisions that are around I 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:54.160 don't know, thirty six inches or smaller. Three six inches 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:56.520 is a big TV, and it really is kind of big. 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.280 But when you're starting it's only when you start getting 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:01.640 up into the fifth and sixty inch televisions that you're 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.600 really start to need to worry about a ten eight resolution. 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.800 And if it were ten A d I with the interlace, 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.600 it would not necessarily be a better experience than if 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:15.040 you were to get the same size. And now eventually 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:19.440 manufacturers started to come out with ten A DP models. 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:23.200 So these are the progressive scan uh sets that have 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:27.960 one thousand eighty lines of resolution, and uh, those are 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.080 really nice. They look really sharp. Um, again, unless you 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.160 have an enormous television, it may not really make a 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.200 huge difference how many lines of resolution are in there, 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:42.640 but the the technology behind it matters a lot. Yes. Now, 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:47.240 another thing to keep in mind is the refresh rate 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:51.120 on your television. Now, this is this is different from 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.160 whether it's progressive or interlaced. Your refresh rate is how 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:58.320 many times your television is generating that image per second. 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:00.560 And as we mentioned before, we were we started off 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.240 talking about sixty hurts, where it was either going to 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:07.080 be thirty times per second per set of lines with 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.959 interlaced order sixty times per second for the entire picture 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.840 with progressive um. But you now can find televisions with 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:17.800 much higher refresh rates. One hurts is pretty much common 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.720 now And if you go into an electronics store, yes, 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.280 so that means it's regenerating that image a hundred twenty 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:29.800 times per second. Uh, you can even find higher as 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.160 refresh rates. Two hundred forty hurts is not unusual. In fact, 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.160 someone in the office just recently purchased a two forty 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:39.800 hurts television. Was not It was not I, and obviously 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:43.480 wasn't me. Now it was someone else. I won't mention 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.680 names because I didn't ask if I could, But someone 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:48.920 else in the office for Christmas received a or went 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.880 out and purchased actually a two hurts refresh rate television. 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.600 Now that means that the image refreshes two hundred forty 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:59.160 times per a second. Now, refresh rate helps smooth out 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.839 images that are in that are moving very quickly. Yes. 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.560 When I say moving very quickly, I mean that objects 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.320 on the screen appeared to be moving. I mean, of course, 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.560 it's all an illusion anyway, right, it's all the nation, 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:15.080 But in particular, this is very important for things like sports. 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.840 You know, sporting events, you've got people moving around really fast, 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.400 You've got a lot of action going on. Um and 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.960 with the incredible detail that you get with high definition, 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.840 it can create a lot of artifacts, a lot of blurring. 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.720 So you want two things. You want a television that 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.120 can show a very sharp image, and you want television 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.440 that can show very smooth motion. And that's where the 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.880 refresh rate comes in. So that means that the three 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.080 things you really need to concentrate on when you're shopping 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.880 for televisions. For an HDTV are the lines of resolution. 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:48.800 Depending on the size of the TV. If it's a 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.319 really really big TV, you want the ten a D. 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:56.360 The method of of how it's displaying the image, whether 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.680 it's interlace or progressive. Progressive is better than interlace. Uh, 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:04.360 there's no two ways around that. And then the refresh 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:08.319 rate and refresh rate is also very important for three 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:13.240 D technology because three D we're going back to showing 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:18.319 two different images alternating between the two very very quickly. UM, 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.880 and that requires a very fast refresh rate so that 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:26.320 you can keep that that transition very smooth. So if 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.839 you have a display that has a very high refresh rate, 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.000 then it is better. It's going to be better than 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.920 showing three D images. And of course here I'm talking 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:41.440 mainly about UM ones that use polarized lenses. Uh, you 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:43.440 have to use glasses that have a polarized lens as 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.520 opposed to the old red and blue sets, because any 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.680 TV can show the redden blue. I mean, that's that's 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:52.679 a little different. You know, you don't have to have 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.720 a special HD TV to do that, but if you 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.480 want to do the polarization, then you're gonna need one 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:00.880 that has a really good refresh rate. And we actually 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:05.280 talked about the different kinds of of three D goggles 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.840 or glasses, I should say, and uh, like a year ago, Yeah, 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:13.560 like a year ago. That was almost a year nine nine, Okay, 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:15.839 And I know this because I answered a listener mail 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.000 today about three D. Do you want to talk about 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:24.600 the the component video cable because I mean, here again, 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.200 this is something we've talked about in previous podcast. But uh, 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.040 you know, because of the progressive scan, the the amount 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.959 of information the cables are actually handled a little differently 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.800 because you don't have the typical you know, single video cable, 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:42.800 the yellow and the red white yellow. Yeah, that's that 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:47.640 is an important distinction progressive scan. Uh, the higher quality 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:52.080 of device you have eating video into your television, the 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.600 better the cables need to be. In the sense that 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:59.480 the of types of cables not necessarily better within a type. 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.280 We had a discussion in another podcast about whether or 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:08.280 not expensive cables are worth it. In general, a decent 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.240 cable is going to perform just as well as a 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:15.280 very high end cable, at least for most people. I 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:19.920 guess arguably, if you had amazingly finely tuned human senses 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.640 that go beyond my own understanding, you might be able 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.520 to detect the difference between high end and normal. It 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.120 depends on how long the cable is and a couple, 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:31.760 but in general, if you if the if the cable 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.080 is really well made in the sense that it's really durable, 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:36.559 then that obviously makes a difference too. I mean, you 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.320 might have two cables that start out working really well 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:42.440 and essentially are indistinguishable between the two, and then a 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.280 year later, one is still performing at that level and 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:47.839 the other is slowly kind of fallen apart because it's 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.400 just a you know, not not as well made. But 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.520 you don't tend to see like usually you're not going 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.679 to see a jump in quality based upon the cable. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:01.720 But getting back to component, a component versus a composite cable. 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:06.680 Component cable breaks out the video stream into three separate streams. 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:10.200 So each one of those cables is carrying essentially one 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.800 third of the information necessary to generate the image on 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:18.480 your television, and it provides an incredibly sharp picture if 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:23.000 you have the right equipment feeding the image into the TV. Yeah, 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:27.680 it actually splits out the light and the color yes um, 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.320 into the three different cables. Yeah, the cables themselves are 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.280 colored red, green, and blue. So some people believe that 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.720 that means that all the red information is carried on one, 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:39.360 the green on another, and the blue on the third. 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.680 It's not the case. Yeah, it's a color. It's just Yeah, 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:44.760 it's just so that you plug the right cable into 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.600 the right socket. It's all that that. That's all that 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:50.240 really indicates. It's not an indication of what color. It 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:54.160 tends to carry now the old, the old composite ones 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:58.560 that like you said, it's the one yellow, it's the 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.040 entire video feed, which is not going to be that 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.400 that sort of high definition experience you want. You can 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:06.640 also use h d M I, which will give you 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:12.560 the high definition experience. I prefer the component video over 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.880 the h d M I mainly because component video does 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.840 not have UM DRM. Yes dr M associated with it. 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.840 Digital rights management. Yes, h d M I does have 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:26.440 digital rights management associated with it, which means that you 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:28.440 may or may not be able to do things like 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.120 make a legal copy of something for your own benefit 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.360 because it's using HDMI rather than component But that also 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.520 does suggest that there there's been talk that movie studios 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:44.960 and manufacturers may stop supporting component video um entirely. They'll 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:49.160 just stop creating devices that have component video outputs, forcing 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.800 you into h d M I, which would mean, you know, 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.640 that's the convenient way of getting around that whole d 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:59.720 D r M loop. So I do not look forward 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:03.160 to that day because eventually any electronics device that you 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.440 purchase you will have to replace sometime. I mean, it's 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:10.160 just not gonna work forever. Um. You know, either it 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.080 just wears out, or the cat throws up on it, 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:15.440 or the kid throws up on the cat and then 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.160 the cat rubs up against it. It's something there's a 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.560 lot of vomit involved. That's really pleasant. Thank you so 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.840 much for that. Yeah, lunch is right after the podcast, folks. 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:33.080 Um not anyway, So for Matt Frederick, Matt Frederick is 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.960 our guest producer today, Ladies and gentlemen, and I hear 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:41.400 him whimpering halfway between laughter and halfway between little sounds 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.560 being disgusted. Yes, it's great. That's how we know the 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.680 episode is a success when we when we discussed the 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.920 producer um, So yeah, that's the that's the whole component 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:57.000 versus composite video chord Um. Is there anything else you 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.680 wanted to cover about progressive scanning? We pretty much covered 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.360 the base six and and you know there's of course 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.760 there's a lot behind the scenes if you're talking about 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:09.399 technology about how does this actually work? But just for 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:11.680 the regular consumer, the important thing to remember is that 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.439 little lower case P that is going to be the 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.600 indication that you're going to get the smoothest, sharpest picture. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:21.280 The P stands for quality. Yes, just look in a 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:25.960 mirror and then it's a cue. Um yeah, because the 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:30.679 the eye. Yeah, this is the confusing thing about technology 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:32.560 is when you see a number and it's a bigger 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:34.959 number than another number, you immediately think, oh, this one 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:36.920 has to be better. This is one of those cases 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:41.480 where that's not necessarily true. Well, it's easy to market 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.159 because it's easy for people to understand. That's kind of 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.440 going back to the whole megapixel thing with cameras. Yeah, 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:51.040 mega hurts that, yes, that's getting of course now it's 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:55.720 giga hurts, but yes, yes, go out and get yourself 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.359 a progressive scan DVD or HD or well blue ray player. 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.080 That's gonna say, h D DVD, but that's just silly. 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:05.879 Don't go out and get one of those people that 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.200 that format has been dead for two years now. Um 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:12.359 go get a blue ray player again, an HDTV player, 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:17.120 get a get a nice component video cord, hook them 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.640 all up, enjoy that high refresh rate, watch that that 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:24.120 high definition movie. Let your jaw hit the floor. Remember, 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.560 you know, in in two thousand ten this year and 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.239 we're gonna see some three D content start to come 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:32.159 out on things like the Discovery Channel and ESPN. So 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.280 you're still want one of those fast televisions, you can 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:37.359 watch that and then just just because you have a 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.200 fast television doesn't necessarily mean it's three D ready either. 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.119 But we're gonna start seeing those come out hit the 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.480 market this year too, so they're becoming more affordable though. 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:48.840 That's one thing I noticed over the holiday season, you know, 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.160 with all the you know, deluge of ads. Yeah, Chris 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:54.639 pointed out earlier that a lot of the kind of 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:58.480 the value um models of televisions are starting to come 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.479 out supporting these features. You know, before it was always 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:05.280 the leading edge companies like Sony and Panasonic. These are 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.600 the ones that tend to produce the high end version 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:12.119 of televisions, and now we're starting to see the next 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.400 tier kind of produce their own h D t vs 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:20.200 with a three D capability and other cool goodies. All right, Well, 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.680 I guess that wraps up our discussion on progressive scan 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:26.080 uh and it leads us to a little more listener mail. 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.320 This listener mail comes from Gabriel, who says, hey, guys, 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:36.320 I'm from Brazil and everyone loves your podcast over here. Wow. 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.560 I wish I knew Portuguese for thank you. I'm quite 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:42.840 curious about that in Vidio Home three D monitor. How 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:44.919 does it work? Is it worth to worth it to 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:46.720 buy one now? Or should I wait for the technology 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:48.560 to develop a little more. Thanks guys, and keep it 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.520 up well, Gabriel. I actually looked into this a little 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:53.239 bit because I wasn't sure what you were referring to. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.120 In Video doesn't really make monitors. Now. They do make 0:19:56.240 --> 0:20:00.720 a software called the Nvidia Home Monitor, but that's meant 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:06.440 to monitor your your PC. It's designed to keep tabs 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:09.440 on what your computer is doing, how it's performing. Really like, 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:13.000 is your CPU performing at peak performance? Do you need 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.880 more memory? Do you you know? Do you need more storage? 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:18.080 That kind of thing, And it doesn't in a three 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:21.680 D environment because in Video has been making graphics cards 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:26.600 and glasses that work, uh in you know, in a 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:30.119 three D set up on your computer. Now, if you 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:33.840 want to run three D software on your computer, what 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:35.760 you're gonna need is you're gonna need a computer that 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:39.159 runs at a pretty fast clip. It's gonna have to 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:41.320 have a good graphics card like in this case we're 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.359 talking about. In Nvidia makes several cards that are specifically 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.520 three D capable. You're gonna need um and a pair 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.240 of three D glasses. Now, and in Video's case, these 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:55.840 are active glasses. They're not polarized. They actually have little 0:20:55.880 --> 0:21:00.200 electronic shutters in them that open and close. Self asked 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:02.600 that you can't even see it. You can. You don't 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.119 perceive that they're opening and shutting, but they are at 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:08.240 a really fast rate. The monitor is actually displaying two 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:11.920 different sets of images timed exactly with the way your 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:15.560 glasses are shuttering on and off, you know, each lens alternating. 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:20.040 So that's what creates the illusion of a three D image. Um, 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.720 and the two are SYNCD up together. Right. So you've 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:25.600 got the glasses, you've got the the computer running the 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:29.360 with the graphics card, and you're gonna need a special monitor. 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.520 And in Video actually lists the different kinds of monitors 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:35.719 that are compatible with its system because they all have 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:38.119 to have a specific kind of refresh rate and ord 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:41.280 of it to work with the Nvidia graphics card. So 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.080 when you get those three things together, and then of 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:47.560 course some software that supports three D, uh, you can 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.200 you can play games in three D. There's some software 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.280 like the Nvidio Home Monitor, which, like I said it, 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:54.840 all it does is really show you what your computer 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:58.479 is doing, like how it's performing, UM, then you can 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.680 use that kind of stuff. Having used the Nvidia glasses, 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:04.840 I actually got a chance to test drive them at 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:07.720 the Consumer Electronics Show back in two thousand nine, I 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:09.880 can tell you I was really impressed with them. They 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:14.320 performed really well. I played Left for Dead on UM 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:17.680 in three D, and I was really impressed with how 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.080 it performed. In fact, so much so that it is 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:23.359 hard for me to play Left for Dead without it 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:25.520 being in three D now because it's just not nearly 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:29.560 as much fun. So I'd say that the technology is 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:33.239 actually pretty well developed already. I don't know. I mean, 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:35.639 I'm sure there will always be improvements, right, I mean, 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:38.080 you could always wait and wait and see if something 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:40.160 better comes out, but that's always going to be the case. 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:42.840 You might want to wait a little bit longer because 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:45.920 by the time this publishes, the Consumer Electronics Show for 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:48.960 two thousand and ten will have been over, but there 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:51.760 will be new three D monitors and three D video 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:53.800 cards coming out, so you may just want to keep 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:55.919 an eye out and see what the best thing is 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:59.280 within your own price range. UM. I can tell you 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:02.199 that it was a great experience when I played it, 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:05.919 and more and more video game UH manufacturers, more and 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:09.840