Since the
last time I wrote about TVs some new acronyms have popped up. If
you are buying a TV for the future these are important, but if
you are buying a TV for short term, (the next few years) almost
all of these are not important. The reason they are not
important is because almost no one is broadcasting to take
advantage of 4K, HDR-10, (Dolby), except some Netflix and Bluray
DVDs.
Smart TV - These sets are good to have now and the
majority of new TVs are smart TVs. They allow access to the
internet from your home WiFi and provide access to Netflix,
YouTube, Hulu, and more without the need for a separate box. Many Smart TVs give you a full web browser,
so you can use a search engine or visit websites. Some let you
play interactive online games.
4K UHD - these ultra-high-definition televisions offer
four times the resolution of a standard 1080p HDTV. Instead of a
screen that has about 2 million pixels, these televisions show
about 8 million pixels.
HDR-10, Dolby Vision - I lump these two, High Dynamic
Range and Dolby10 together, because they are competing
technologies, kind of like the old Betamax / VHS argument. Some
manufactures are using one vs. the other and some have both. HDR
is currently winning, because it is open source while
manufacturers must pay royalties to Dolby for its technology.
Many advertisements refer to them simply as Dolby and HDR.
The first of the two
major differences between Dolby Vision and HDR-10 is that Dolby
uses 12 bits per color (red, green, and blue), where HDR-10 uses
10 bits per color. The second, Dolby Vision uses dynamic, or
continuous metadata so that color and brightness levels can be
adjusted per scene, or even frame-by-frame basis. HDR-10 uses
static metadata that is sent only once at the beginning of the
video. Both reproduce a wider range of brightness levels, higher
contrast ratio, and richer colors. Contrast ratio is the
measurement of the difference in brightness between the whitest
white and the darkest black. When seen side by side with non-HDR
content, HDR-enhanced video is incredibly bright and with
vibrant colors. Samples show a very positive marked difference.
Some TVs use OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode)
screens for a superior image and other benefits. Televisions
packed with organic light-emitting diodes are incredibly thin,
because each pixel is its own light source, so backlighting is
not required. These televisions are more energy efficient than
other TV panel types. Some LG TVs are as thin as four credit
cards. Quantum
dot or QLED TVs can match the contrast ratio of OLED.
Quantum dots are microscopic dots about a fraction of the width
of a human hair.Samsung uses the term Quantum Dot.
Bottom line, you can
get 4K UHD, HDR (Dolby), OLED on one TV. Every 4K is UHD by
definition. Almost all TVs are LED, but very few are OLED or
Quantum dot. Most TVs are now Smart TVs.
Incidentally, DolbyVision is for pictures and Dolby Atmos is
for sound.