Podcasts about uhd tv

On this week's show Ara gets a new TV! It came down to a UST Projector and a Mini LED. We also read your emails and take a look at the week's news. News: Amazon Debuts New Streaming Ads on Prime Disney and Warner Set to Bundle Disney Plus, Max and Hulu Starting This Summer Fox Says Tubi Now Has 80 Million Average Monthly Users; FAST Platform's Engagement Also Up 36% Sunday Leadoff' Is Coming to The Roku Channel Apple, Netflix Amazon Want to Change How They Pay Hollywood Stars Comcast Plans Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV+ Streaming Bundle Other: SportsNet Pittsburgh launches direct-to-consumer streaming service My ideal TV has no tuner, no speakers and no smart platform I've had my current TV for about a year now, and do you know how many times I've used its built-in tuner? None. I've not even plugged in the aerial. I've not used any of the built-in apps, either, and the built-in speakers have emitted a sound only a handful of times, and only because the connected sound system didn't automatically switch on as it should have. Full article here… New TV for Ara Ara's original Vizio P-Series UHD TV finally gave out. After posting this information on X, he received a few suggestions on how it could possibly be revived. Unfortunately nothing worked. Vizio customer service even offered to help resolve the issue. But after ten years of trusty service, it was time to move on.  Ara posted to X that it was between a Sony Mini LED and an AWOL UST projector. The response was mixed. So where did he land? The field was quickly narrowed down to: The AWOL LTV-2500 4K 3D Triple Laser Projector $3000 + $1000 for a 100” screen. Bring The Cinematic Experience to Your Home: AWOL VISION LTV-2500 powered with a cutting edge Triple Laser without Color Wheel Technology, Dolby Vision & Dolby Atmos 4K UHD Resolution, HDR10+, 3D available, brings you a stunning 150", 4K Movie Theater experience. Coupled with exceptional audio immersion technology with Dolby Atmos, LTV-2500 is the most colorful with details' ultra short throw 4K laser projector for controlled light environment. and The BRAVIA XR 75” Class X93L Mini LED 4K HDR Google TV (2023) $2500 The Cognitive Processor XR™ delivers a picture with wide dynamic contrast and natural colors, replicating how we see the real world. See ultimate contrast from thousands of Mini LEDs and billions of accurate colors, all precision-controlled by the XR Backlight Master™ Drive and XR Triluminos Pro™. The winner is…. The Sony Bravia.  The Process: Cost was a factor but not as big a factor as Lina not wanting to rearrange the artwork above the current TV. Some on X said that the UST was only an option if I had good control of the light in the room. Even my first gen UST looks decent in full daylight and it does not have the lumens of this projector. So that was not and issue that disqualified the UST While I would have liked a 100” screen. The 75” Sony is a small step up from the 70” Vizio. Tip! Regardless of choice I was going to have to get rid of my old Vizio. I'm thinking I'd have to call my trash company and pay to have it hauled away. So I thought let me try to see if someone wanted a free broken UHD TV. And to my surprise, four people reached out to me. The person who ended up with it worked at a youth center and had a friend who fixed TVs. So he came and picked it up and just like that, problem solved.  Once the Bravia was delivered I simply plugged the cables in exactly as the Vizio. The output of the Yamaha RX-850 to the eARC port, power, and Ethernet. It's actually pretty heavy (97 lbs or 42Kgs). I powered it up and went through the setup. By the way, I did not accept anything that I interpreted as them spying on me. The TV is also a GoogleTV. I did not log into my account. For calibration I selected cinema mode and turned off motion flow and automated adjustments.  I did enable calibrated mode for any programming that sends that info in the stream. First issue… My Yamaha for some reason would not pass HDR data even though it says it will. Solution… Connect Oppo and AppleTV to the Sony and use eARC for audio, Second issue…I could not send ATMOS data through to the receiver because it does not support eARC.  Not a big deal because this is the family room and there is no ATMOS. But I also can't get Dolby digital. Solution… Set AppleTV to force DD 5.1 and set Sony to pass signal untouched to Yamaha. Not the best solution but hey! I don't have to explain to my wife why we now need a new receiver. There is a high probability that there will be a new receiver purchased on Black Friday! The picture looks phenomenal! A few times I caught myself saying it's like looking out a window. The colors are so saturated and beautiful! And while the black levels are not like OLED. They are quite good! No regrets. Not even a letter ;-) Review to come after I have had a chance to use the TV and dial it in. 

This week we look at 9 tips that will get the most out of your LG C3 and G3 OLED TVs. These tips can find equivalents on pretty much any UHD TV. And Apple introduced its challenger into the VR goggle arena with the Apple Vision Pro. Will it succeed? We also read your emails and take a look at the week's news. News: AMC and Vudu score big with new on-demand streaming partnership YouTube TV is Cracking Down on Password Sharing Ahead of NFL Sunday Ticket Launch Apple's Vision Pro headset will include Disney+ content The Average Cable TV Subscriber Now Pays $1,764 a Year Just For TV Other: Netflix has hidden test screens to calibrate your TV — here's how to find them HT Guys Music Playlist on Apple Music HT Guys Music Playlist on Amazon Music HT Guys Music Playlist on Spotify Ara's Woodworking 9 Essential (But Simple) Tips To Get The Best Out Of Your LG OLED TV Easy picture setting changes for the new LG C3 and G3 and by extension all UHD TVs. Full article… Apple Vision Pro Watch the Video  So what is the Apple Vision Pro? Quoting Apple's video its "a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world." Apple has developed a new operating system that features a three dimensional interface. So this is much more than a VR gaming headset, although you can game with it. I have to say, it's got me intrigued enough to consider spending the $3,499 as a late Christmas gift to myself. It will be available in Apple retail stores in the U.S. only in early 2024. From Apple: A singular piece of three-dimensionally formed and laminated glass is polished to create an optical surface that acts as a lens for the wide array of cameras and sensors needed to blend the physical world with digital content. The glass flows into the custom aluminum alloy frame that gently curves around the user's face, while the modular system allows for a tailored fit to accommodate a wide range of people. The Light Seal is made of a soft textile, and comes in a range of shapes and sizes, flexing to conform to a user's face for a precise fit. Flexible straps ensure audio remains close to the user's ears, while a Head Band — available in multiple sizes — is three-dimensionally knitted as a single piece to provide cushioning, breathability, and stretch. The band is secured with a simple mechanism, making it easy to change to another size or style of band. You control the Vision Pro with your eyes, hands, and voice. You can browse through apps by simply looking at them, tapping your fingers to select, flicking your wrist to scroll, or using voice to dictate. It also supports Apple's Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad. It has an ultra-high-resolution display system with 23 million pixels across two micro-OLED displays – more than a 4K for TV for each eye. Vision Pro uses high-speed cameras and a ring of LEDs that project invisible light patterns onto the user's eyes to track gaze. The headset also contains the M2 chip paired with a new "R1" chip, dedicated toward real-time sensor processing. It also has a new Spatial Audio system with two individually amplified drivers inside each audio pod, which delivers Personalized Spatial Audio based on the user's own head and ear geometry. It can match the sound to an environment using audio ray-tracing. The headset is capable of running for two hours on a single charge.  

1000 Episodes in Review It's our 1000th episode so we thought it would be fun to go down memory lane. It has been so much fun getting to know all of you. Some we know well and have developed personal relationships with. Others came and went as things in their lives changed. To Industry members, thank you for your support! To our listeners, thank you for subscribing, downloading and listening to our show. It's because of you that we are here today and will be here tomorrow!   There was a big gap in our records between 2005 and 2007. We switched to Google Docs in 2007 and have been able to keep everything we wrote archived there. But from memory some highlights were: We became the official podcast of AVS Forum and were introduced to members at their CES Party We had an affiliation with HDTV Magazine Met Mark Cuban (owner of HDNet at the time) and Interviewed the President of Syntax-Brillian at the HDTV Conference in Beverly Hills Dolby Flew us to San Francisco to demo some of their projects they were working on. While there we recorded two shows of their now defunct Dolby podcast Oppo and Monoprice were big supporters of the show early on as was Olevia TVs Sonos - The first real product we reviewed on the show back in 2005 A few of our day job colleagues mocked us for doing a podcast. LOL jokes on them   HT Guys TV Tech Timeline Braden (Sony CRT...) ->  Panasonic Plasma 480p EDTV ->  JVC LCoS 1080p Rear Projection ->  Epson 1080p Projector(s) ->  (Lots of 4k TCLs) ->  Sony 4k LED Ara  RCA CRT -> Samsung DLP-> Panasonic Plasma-> JVC Projector-> Vizio 4K TV Optoma UST Reviews of all the Rear Projection TVs from 2007 - JVC HD-61FN97 61" HD-ILA Our bottom line at the time - The JVC HD-61FN97 is an excellent value.  It looks great, does a wonderful job with HD content, a great job with DVDs and a pretty good job with standard definition TV.  Blacks are good, contrast is solid, colors are excellent and detail is vivid.  We try to look for great values to help you (and us for that matter) get a little more out of each hard earned dollar. You'd be hard pressed to find a better looking 61" TV at its price. At an online street price of $2125 this is an awesome TV for the money.  It really helps bring the big screen home. Our first mention of home automation was in March of 2007. We wrapped up our discussion with - One day home automation will be standard.  We'll wonder what people ever did without them.  But for now your options are somewhat limited.  You can spend a lot of money to get it custom built and done just right, with a system like Crestron, AMX or Control4, or you can try to put it together yourself if you don't mind the occasional hiccup that comes with a home made system. This can be one of the most fun home projects you've ever worked on.  And it lasts forever - it's the gift that just keeps on giving. Our earliest “Kaleidescape Killer” comment was also in 2007 when we showcased a $2500 Linux based machine with full DVR and DVD server capabilities. The company was called Interact-TV and they are no longer in business. Our Top Ten shows in HD from 2007: Ara: American Idol (Fox) Dancing with the Stars (ABC) Football/Basketball/Sports Center/Etc on ESPN Planet Earth/Sunrise Earth (Discovery HD Theater) Lost (ABC) CSI Miami (CBS) CSI (CBS) Bikini Destinations (HD Net) Heroes (NBC) NHL Hockey on HD Net Braden: The Unit (CBS) Las Vegas (NBC) Numb3rs (CBS) Monday Night Football (ESPN) Lakers Basketball on KCAL 24 (Fox) I Shouldn't Be Alive (Discovery HD) Destination HD (Discovery HD) Planet Earth (Discovery HD) CSI Miami (CBS) SlingMedia VS Major League Baseball Issue: Slingboxes infringe on the local cable company's right to broadcast the content. Interactive TV Still not a thing  DVDpedia In an attempt to build a video server or “Kaleidescape Killer” out of a Mac Mini Ara used DVDpedia to catalog and display album art and id3 data about his library. It worked OK but was quickly abandoned for Boxee and then eventually Plex. Plex is indeed the Kaleidescape Killer! Vudu Movie Download Set Top Box ($399) - October 2007 What we liked: High quality movies on demand Large selection with more coming every week Easy to use remote and easy menu navigation Up and running in five minutes   What we disliked: No lease option to defray $400 entry price Not a large selection of Dolby 5.1 Downloads interfered with VOIP telephone service Bottom Line: This is the best home video on demand system the HT Guys have seen. The video quality is first rate! The user interface is clean and simple. You will have the system up and running in no time. All of this is with the initial release of the system software. With more movie releases coming, HD, external storage, and new software updates this product will only get better. At $400 for the Vudu box its not for everyone, but you will get a very good video on demand system for the investment. HDDVD - Bluray - a comparison Conclusion Blu-ray clearly has an advantage in specs, higher storage capacity and higher maximum bitrate.  HD-DVD seems to hold the edge in "market readiness" if that's a real term.  All the features you want were required in the spec from the beginning, so you know your player supports it.  Man it would be nice if the studios would create discs in both formats so we didn't have to buy two players... Netflix Watch Instantly Technology Minimum Requirements Computer running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or higher, or Windows Vista Internet Explorer version 6 or higher Windows Media Player version 11 (DRM version 5145) or later An active broadband connection to the Internet 1.0 GHz processor 512 MB RAM 3 GB free hard disk drive space Recommended in addition to minimum requirements An active broadband Internet connection of at least 1.5 Mbps 1.5 GHz processor 1 GB RAM The Death of Rear Projection TVs - Jan 2008 Harmony One Universal Remote - As with any Harmony remote, the One is a great choice for your home theater.  It's new, sexy and easy to use.  The touchscreen is cool and the larger buttons make it a bit easier to use.  But overall it doesn't represent a huge departure from the 880.  Of course we're gadget freaks, so we'll both be using them, but if you want to save some money, the 880 remains a great option.  Bang for the buck, the 880 is still probably the way to go.  For the coolness factor, the One is where it's at. Mobile Digital TV Standard - Although ATSC 3.0 has a provision for this most people are just using IPTV over the Cell Networks Orb Speaker Review - we did a review of these cool spherical speakers that sounded pretty good at the time. The cost for a 5.1 system was $1597 in June of 2008. The company is still around and today you can get an improved 5.1 system for $740. Is TidalTV the Next Big Thing? - a new service that mimics the Cable or Satellite experience over the Internet. So the answer is No and Yes! This was in 2008 Popcorn Hour A-100 Review Not a week goes by that we don't hear something about the Popcorn Hour A-100 network media player.  We tried relentlessly to get a demo unit for review, but to no avail.  Finally, slightly weary but committed whole-heartedly to the show, Ara decided to pony up the cash and purchase one.  It arrived last week and we got a chance to play with it.  All in all, not a bad little unit. If you want an inexpensive network media player that can play anything, the Popcorn Hour is the best we've seen so far.  It requires some IT expertise to get it up and running and to use it on a day-to-day basis, but it works like a champ.  Even streaming 1080p HD content over the network looked good, granted it was all that was happening on the network at the time, but it still looked good.  If you want something with a little more visual appeal, stick with AppleTV, the PS3 or the Xbox 360 (or Vudu when it adds local network playback).  But all of those options are a bit more expensive and not quite as flexible. Vudu HDX Movies Black Friday Roundup 2008 Panasonic Viera 50" 720p Plasma HDTV 899.99 min 10 per store Sony 40" 1080p LCD HDTV & Sony Blu-Ray Player Bundle (Model # KDL40V4100 and BDPS350) - $1,199.98 Sony Blu-ray Player (BDP-S350) -- $179 (with a firmware upgrade and a 1 GB USB stick this will be come BD Live Compliant) Mitsubishi 65" Home Theater 1080p DLP HDTV (Model # WD65735) - $1,199.99 IPTV - Can it replace Cable and Satellite?  Note- This was us just talking about the subject LONG (2009) before it was even dreamed of in it's current state -  If you had to, you could cut the cord between you and your cable company and not miss a beat. But in reality if you won't have the same video quality. The other thing to consider is that the Cable or Satellite box has an simple well understood interface. Connecting a computer to the TV requires using a keyboard and a mouse and there are no channel numbers. You'll have to bookmark your sites. Companies like Apple, Netflix and Boxee are all trying to provide a ten foot interface that is Grandma proof but we still have a ways to go. Finally, cable companies are not going to be happy with subscribers that watch a lot of Internet streamed content. So even if the quality improved you may not be able to stream a months worth of TV into your home. If you are a light TV watcher that is computer savvy then you may be able to cut the cable cord completely. But in actually, for most of us, IPTV is a good way to augment what we already have. If you are on the road you can watch something on your terms. If you forget to record something then its a great backup. Its also a great way to watch old TV shows that are no longer aired. What if AppleTV Replaced my DVR?  The concept at this point in time was to buy subscriptions to your favorite TV show. But as we see today, that's not even required. Plus we now have boxes from Apple, Google, Amazon and Roku. It's safe to say that the AppleTV type STBs have replaced the DVR Zune HD The Zune HD is a powerful portable media device. It has a beautiful OLED screen, small form factor, smooth touch screen menus, and wonderful 720p output to a TV. However, for Microsoft to steal some iPod users, more apps and video content need to be available in the Zune Marketplace. The Zune HD has solid hardware that is almost as sexy as the iPod. What would make this device perfect for a home theater would be Hulu and Netfilx support. Microsoft has also stated that they will release games for the Zune HD, since Xbox Live and the Zune Marketplace already seem to be linked, the possibility of it being a good portable gaming device are great. The Zune HD is a solid device. With future updates it may take a run at the iPod's dominance in the market. RedEye Universal Remote Control (MSRP $190) 2010 - This remote eliminated the need to be in the same room with your gear and will work with your iPod Touch or iPhone. LED TV Technology was just coming on the scene in 2010 Quartics(2010) Quartics Inc. is a semiconductor company based in Irvine, CA, with offices in India, China and Taiwan. Quartics was formed in 2003 to focus on semiconductor architecture for video-based media, aiming to overcome a raft of modern digital challenges. To date, the company has been granted 10 patents, with 40 pending, in media processing architecture, video and graphics processing and QoS algorithms.  We don't know if these patents were sold or even used. But the company does not seem to be in business any longer Life|ware Today as part of our ongoing series on home automation we discuss Life|ware.  Life|ware™ is software developed by Exceptional Innovation that allows you to seamlessly merge control of your home along with your world of digital entertainment.  Life|ware lets you control your home through your TV with a Media Center PC, Media Center Extender or Xbox 360™, from your home or office PC or notebook, or from a Life|point touch screen. You can even use your iPhone or iPod Touch and iPad as a Life|ware client with full two-way functionality. One of the biggest draws to Life|ware is that it works with numerous third party devices. Life|Ware provides bridges to lighting, HVAC, Media and more. The system will go from IP to IR, RF, or RS-232. Life|ware is OS agnostic as well. The control software will run on Windows, Mac OS, and LINUX machines.  But if you don't want to mess with loading the software on your own equipment Life|Ware sells a complete line of home automation controllers, servers, and bridges.  We can't find a trace of this company any longer. It may have been sold or merged Are High End Audio/Video Retailers a Dying Breed? “If the AV business cannot more clearly illustrate why specialty audio is in fact special, then expect more stores and regional chains to fold in the coming months even as the economy improves, simply perhaps fueled by the fact that mainstream home theater gear is just too good.“  Crystal LED HDTV Technology So when can I have one and how much will it cost? Sony isn't answering any of these questions. Our hunch is that it will cost about what an OLED TV will cost. And if Sony wants this technology to have a chance it needs to come out at about the same time as OLED. We know that Samsung will be releasing their OLEDs in the second half of the year. Our prediction is that you will be able to buy a Crystal LED TV from Sony by the summer of 2013 and it will run about $6,000.   The best we can tell is that this tech never made it into consumer TVs. Sony still has a page dedicated to it but more in the commercial side of it's business. Revolv Home Automation Hub 1/2013  The beginning of the “Year of Automation” The best we can tell is that Revolv was bought by Nest and lives on in their products Conclusion When we first learned about a device that could unify all the various home automation and control devices out there we were sceptical. But after putting the Revolv Home Automation Hub through its paces, we can say, yes you can control everything regardless who makes it. Well maybe not everything yet. But we are sure the engineers at Revolv are working diligently to make that happen! Is a 7.1 System Worth it? Bottom Line - A properly installed 7.1 system with 7.1 content will take your home theater to the next level. You will definitely be able to hear a difference, especially with good content like the movie Super 8 . However, if you are not watching Blu-rays or your room doesn't support proper placement of the rear surround channels, a better approach would be to upgrade your 5.1 system or just save the money. This was from 2013. Consistent with our ATMOS recommendations too Netflix SuperHD (6/2013) Netflix SuperHD claims to provide superior 1080p video quality for the same price as regular streaming. But not everyone is eligible.  Requirements Netflix Super HD requires an internet connection with at least 5Mb/s download. Not all devices can play Super HD. Super HD is only available via Internet Providers that are part of the Open Connect network. Supported devices include Sony PlayStation 3, Apple TV with 1080p, Roku with 1080p, Nintendo Wii U, Windows 8 App, TiVo Premiere DVR Blu-Ray Players, Smart TV's, Home Theaters, and Streaming Players with existing Netflix 1080p support Bottom Line Netflix is really pushing the streaming frontiers and they have come a long way. We can now sit on our couch on any given evening and find a high quality movie at a moment's  notice. We anxiously await the day when we will be able to stream Blu-ray quality movies whenever we want. From what we have seen that day is not too far away! Is Blu-ray a Dead Format? Also from 6/2013 Ask anyone who knows something about home theater what is the highest quality audio and video available to mere mortals today and they will tell you Blu-ray. Blu-ray video is stunning and the audio is simply amazing. But we don't have to tell you that. So does Blu-ray have a future? The following are some reasons why Blu-ray may not be around for too much longer. . . . Time to Bury Blu-ray? Its probably too early to put the last nail in the Blu-ray coffin right now. There needs to be one or two more paradigm shifts before Blu-ray goes away. The first is the studios realizing that DRM is more hassle than it is worth. Once this hurdle is crossed in-store Kiosks or online downloads will soar. Prices will come down and the world will be saved from all that plastic being created. The second is a jump in online speeds. Once gigabit Internet is ubiquitous there will be a shift to storing content in online lockers and again the world will be saved. The big question is when? Based on what we are seeing we are betting on within 5 years.   ZyXEL 500 Mb/s Fast Ethernet Powerline Wall-Plug Adapter We reviewed almost a dozen powerline Ethernet adapters. They never achieved their advertised speeds, but they did work and depending on what you needed them to do they were an excellent solution. However, with faster mesh network Wifi it's not really a thing any longer. Aereo  In April of 2014 we interviewed a broadcaster who opposed our stance on Aero's business plan. He felt Aero was making money off of the local broadcasters. We felt Aero was providing a service to allow us the viewer to watch our local stations. The Courts agreed with the broadcaster. But today we have Locast. And so far they have been in business for a couple of years. SmartThings Home Automation Hub And so continues the many years of “The Year of Automation”. This was before Samsung bought the company. A full year after we kicked off the “Year of Automation” Pono Player (1/2015) Neil Young's "high resolution" PonoPlayer is on sale for $400. PonoPlayer, a triangular portable music player that promises only the highest of fidelities.  We were Skeptics from the beginning: The point is that you don't need fancy hardware to make music sound good, and that no amount of hardware will make your ears hear better than the limits of biology and physics. Ara's first DIY Speaker project was in Jan 2015 Axiim Q Wireless Home Theater System 2/2016 The first Wisa system we reviewed. We are happy to say it's still around today! Conclusion Many of our listeners have asked us to recommend wireless solutions for their home theater over the years. We have tested and rejected all but a few and the acceptable solutions still required some speaker wire from an external amp. Not exactly wireless! The Axiim Q Wireless Home Theater System is the first one that delivers on the promise of a truly wireless system that is simple to install, looks fantastic and sounds great! We hate having to send it back! It would be so easy to bring 5.1 to your master bedroom that we are seriously thinking about buying one! What is HDR? (4/2016) To Sum it Up Getting the best picture from an HDR TV will require HDR content.  To guarantee your TV will support HDR look for the “Ultra HD Premium” label. If you really want a UHD TV that does not have the “Ultra HD Premium” label buy a TV that has or comes close to 1000 nits brightness.  HDR from cable, satellite, and OTA are still a bit off. We will stop here in 2016 because we'll save some for the next 1000 shows. Along the way we have had dozens of interviews, product reviews, buying guides, and lists that were not mentioned in this episode. Some weeks we struggled to come up with show ideas, some weeks we had too many. But we always managed to have a show ready for your Friday morning commute. 

Tis the season for us to go shopping and to continue to help you spend your money - one of our favorite times of the year. If you or anyone in your life is looking for a new UHD TV this Christmas, but still aren’t sure which one to buy, we’ve got you covered. There are some incredible TVs out there with fantastic pricing.

Wyze Video Doorbell review: Spotty performance holds it back The Wyze Video Doorbell comes at an incredible price for an app-enabled live-streaming buzzer: $30. Nothing from major brands like Amazon's Ring or Google's Nest comes close to that level of affordability. That said, I experienced issues with the camera's performance on this video doorbell -- something I haven't encountered with other Wyze cams (more details on that in the section below). Full article here… Steven Soderbergh: The Reports of Cinema's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated We are only taking a look at a couple of questions from this interview. We recommend that you take a look at the entire interview linked here. Full article here… HDTV Buying Guide 2020 Tis the season for us to go shopping and to continue to help you spend your money - one of our favorite times of the year. If you or anyone in your life is looking for a new UHD TV this Christmas, but still aren't sure which one to buy, we've got you covered. There are some incredible TVs out there with fantastic pricing.  50 Inch If you are looking for a TV in this size category you probably have a small room and don't want to spend a lot of money. With that said, you still want a good TV for your home.   Hisense H8G Quantum Series Android 4K ULED Smart TV with Voice Remote (Street Price $525) When you consider the price and performance this TV is hard to beat. By the way, it comes in bigger sizes with similar values. RTINGS.com gives it a 7.8 out of 10 rating for overall use. Having full-array local dimming gives it great contrast and black levels.  The TV has a good color gamut which produces rich and saturated colors in HDR content. The HDR drops off in a well lit room as the TV does not get bright enough. Finally, off angle viewing is not the best. 65 Inch At this size we are not looking for a bargain but more a high quality TV that won't break the bank.  Vizio P-Series Quantum X 4K HDR Smart TV (MSRP $1530) This TV is great for most uses garnering an 8.3 overall rating from RTINGs.com. If you were turned off by the previous model due to its limitations in bright rooms, then this TV is for you. But it also does well in dark rooms with it's dark blacks which makes watching movies a joy. However, this TV has off angle viewing issues as fo most all LCD based TVs  75 Inch Now we are getting into serious TV watching here and will up the budget substantially. We also want a TV with as few compromises as possible. LG CX 77 inch Class 4K Smart OLED TV w/ AI ThinQ® (MSRP $3500) This OLED delivers excellent picture quality with the best black levels on the market. RTINGS.com rates it 8.8 overall and a whopping 9.3 for movies! If you are a movie junky this TV is for you, with the caveat that the room is dark. This is the only TV on our list that has no off angle viewing issues. The CX has a wide color gamut for HDR content. The only issue we have with the TV is the brightness. If you are watching in a bright room you may not be able to get brightness levels you like.  Ultimate TV (for Braden) Our Ultimate category was added specifically for Braden this year by Ara. He is trying to get Braden to buy something!! Even if he has to store it in his garage until the home is ready for it's use.  We all know Braden has an affinity for TCL but this TV is going into his main room so we are upping the game! 85" Class Q80T QLED 4K UHD HDR Smart TV (2020) (MSRP $3800) At 85 inches, this TV gets into the projector size category. I ruled out OLED out solely based on price but at $3800 this TV is not cheap. RTINGS.com gives this TV 8.4 overall. The Q80T is a wonderful all around TV. Great picture quality and contrast ratio combined with its high peak brightness makes it a great choice for use in bright rooms. But thanks to it's full-array local dimming, the Q80T has great contrast which allows it to perform well in dark rooms too. Finally of all the non-OLED TVs, this one has the best off angle viewing.  

The 7 Best 4K TVs - Spring 2020 (RTINGS.com) The editors at RTINGS.com have just updated their Seven Best Best 4K TVs for the Spring and we bring those to you. RTINGS.com is a great resource when you are looking to buy a new UHD TV. They have the most thorough reviews of any site on the Internet. All the TVs that we discuss come with an in depth review that can be found at the links below. Best 4k TV: LG B9 OLED (Street Price $1,900 65”) The best 4k TV we've tested so far is the LG B9 OLED. With OLED technology, you get an amazing picture quality that's suitable for almost any type of setting. It has exceptional dark room performance due to its infinite contrast ratio and perfect black uniformity, and its excellent reflection handling and good peak brightness make it a good choice for bright rooms too. Its out-of-the-box color accuracy is a bit disappointing, but on the bright side, it supports a wide color gamut to produce rich and vibrant colors in HDR content. Full Review 8.9  Mixed Usage  9.3  Movies  8.5  TV Shows  8.7  Sports  9.4  Video Games  9.0  HDR Movies  9.0  HDR Gaming  8.9  PC Monitor  PROS Perfect blacks and black uniformity. Image remains accurate when viewed from the side. Nearly instantaneous response time and very low input lag. CONS Has the risk of permanent burn-in with static content (see here). Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL) can become distracting at times. Best 4k TV Cheaper LED Alternative: VIZIO P SERIES QUANTUM X 2019 (Street Price $1,000 65”) If you'd rather not have to worry about the possibility of burn-in on an OLED TV like the LG B9 OLED, then consider the Vizio P Series Quantum X 2019. It has a VA panel with an outstanding native contrast ratio, and it also has a great local dimming feature that boosts the contrast even more, producing deep, inky blacks when viewed in the dark. And best of all, VA panels are virtually immune from image retention and permanent burn-ins. The most notable aspect of this TV is its incredible peak brightness. Combined with its excellent wide color gamut, HDR content is delivered the way it was intended, with saturated colors and bright highlights. Response time and input lag are both outstanding, but unfortunately, it has sub-par viewing angles, so images don't look as good when viewed from the side. Vizio's SmartCast platform is easy to use; however, it's still quite limited when it comes to app availability. Full Review 8.4  Mixed Usage  8.4  Movies  8.1  TV Shows  8.1  Sports  8.9  Video Games  8.5  HDR Movies  8.7  HDR Gaming  8.7  PC Monitor  PROS Outstanding peak brightness in SDR and HDR. Deep, uniform blacks. Great motion handling. CONS Image degrades when viewed at an angle. Best 4k TV For Color Accuracy: Sony X950G (Street Price $1,400 65”)  The TV with the best color accuracy out of the box is the Sony X950G. This TV has a great picture quality and a host of features to please most people. It has outstanding contrast ratio and impressive black uniformity, making it a good choice for dark room viewing. It even has a full array local dimming feature, though the performance is somewhat mediocre. If you have a wide seating arrangement, the VA panel can cause colors to shift when viewed from the side, but the larger variants of this TV has Sony's 'X-Wide Angle' feature to improve viewing angles, albeit at the expense of contrast ratio. Full Review 8.3  Mixed Usage  8.4  Movies  8.1  TV Shows  8.0  Sports  8.7  Video Games  8.3  HDR Movies  8.5  HDR Gaming  8.6  PC Monitor  PROS Outstanding peak brightness. Amazing out-of-the-box color accuracy. Great motion handling. CONS Poor viewing angles. For the remaining TVs will list category, model, price, and mixed usage rating. We'll also provide a link to the full review. Best 4k TV For Color Accuracy Wide Viewing Angle Alternative Model LG SM9000 Street price $1,100 65” Mixed Usage 7.9 Full Review  Best 4k TV For Color Accuracy Alternative for Gaming Model SAMSUNG Q70/Q70R QLED Street price $1,100 65” Mixed Usage 7.9 Full Review  Best Budget 4k TV Model Hisense H9F Street price $900 65” Mixed Usage 8.4 Full Review  Best Budget 4k TV (Cheaper Alternative) Model Hisense H8F Street price $600 65” Mixed Usage 8.0 Full Review 

The editors at RTINGS.com have just updated their Seven Best Best 4K TVs for the Spring and we bring those to you. RTINGS.com is a great resource when you are looking to buy a new UHD TV. They have the most thorough reviews of any site on the Internet. All the TVs that we discuss come with an in depth review that can be found at the links below.

The 7 Best LED LCD TVs - Summer 2019 (RTINGS.com) The editors at RTINGS.com have just updated their Seven Best LED TVs for the Summer and we bring those to you. RTINGS.com is a great resource when you are looking to buy a new UHD TV. They have the most thorough reviews of any site on the Internet. All the TVs that we discuss come with an in depth review that can be found at the links below. Best LED TV: Samsung Q90/Q90R QLED (65” Street Price $2500) The best LED TV is the 2019 QLED Samsung Q90R. It has impressive quality and an excellent dark room performance, thanks to the deep blacks due to the native contrast ratio and very good local dimming support. This TV is suitable for a bright room, as it can get very bright and can easily fight glare. HDR content looks full of saturated colors and bright highlights thanks to the TV's wide color gamut and high HDR peak brightness. It has a very fast response time that delivers clear and crisp motion, which is great for watching sports or playing video games. The input lag is very low even with motion interpolation, and gamers will also appreciate the auto low latency mode and FreeSync variable refresh rate support. Full Review Mixed Usage 8.7 Movies 8.6 TV Shows 8.6 Sports 8.6 Video Games 9.2 HDR Movies 8.5 HDR Gaming 8.9 PC Monitor 9.0 Pros: Very bright both in SDR and HDR. Excellent low input lag and gaming features. Remarkable motion handling. Cons:  Some gray uniformity issues at the edges. CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE: VIZIO P SERIES QUANTUM 2018 (65” Street Price$1500) Mixed usage rating of 8.6 Best LED TV for Color Accuracy: Sony X900F (65” Street Price $1500) If you want the most accurate image, the Sony X900F is the best LED TV for color accuracy that we've tested so far. This TV delivers great picture quality, with an excellent contrast ratio, a decent full array local dimming feature, and great peak brightness. It also has outstanding accuracy out of the box and has a great wide color gamut, which is important for a good HDR experience. This TV also has excellent motion handling, with an outstanding response time, a nearly flicker-free backlight, and a versatile motion interpolation feature. It also has an optional black frame insertion feature, but it can't flicker at 60Hz, so there are noticeable duplications when playing 60Hz content. Full Review Mixed Usage 8.3 Movies 8.5 TV Shows 8.2 Sports 8.1 Video Games 8.6 HDR Movies 8.4 HDR Gaming 8.5 PC Monitor 8.3 Pros: Deep and uniform blacks Excellent motion handling Bright HDR highlights Cons:  Picture quality degrades at an angle CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE: VIZIO P SERIES 2018 (65” Street Price$1000) Mixed usage rating of 8.3 Best Budget LED TV: TCL 6 Series/R617 2018 (65” Street Price $750 if you can still find them) If the Sony X900F is too expensive, the TCL 6 Series R617 is the best budget LED TV that we have reviewed. This TV delivers great performance for most uses. It has excellent dark room performance thanks to the deep contrast ratio and full-array local dimming system. It also has excellent low input lag, perfect for gaming or for use as a PC monitor. Unfortunately, there have been widespread reports of gray uniformity issues with this TV which may or may not have been fixed, so sports fans might not be pleased with this model. Full Review Mixed Usage 8.0 Movies 8.0 TV Shows 7.7 Sports 7.6 Video Games 8.6 HDR Movies 8.1 HDR Gaming 8.4 PC Monitor 8.3 Pros: Very bright in HDR and SDR Excellent low input lag for gaming Good local dimming and native contrast produce deep blacks Cons:  Picture quality degrades at an angle Uniformity could be better CHEAPER ALTERNATIVE: TCL 4 SERIES/S425 2019 (75” Street Price$1000) Mixed usage rating of 7.3 Notable Mentions Samsung Q80/Q80R QLED: Excellent TV; less expensive than the Q90R, but lacks the One Connect box and has less local dimming zones. See review Samsung Q9FN/Q9/Q9F QLED 2018: Excellent TV; worse viewing angles, but some large sizes are probably worth it over the Q90R. See review Sony Z9F: Great TV with great picture quality, but the Vizio P Series Quantum is better. See review Sony X950G: Great TV, but the X900F is less expensive and performs similarly. See review LG SK9500: Good TV with wide viewing angles, but not very competitive. See review Vizio M Series 2018: Good TV, but the TCL R617 is better and cheaper. See review TCL 5 Series/S517 2018: Decent versatile 4k TV, but more expensive than the TCL 4 Series S425 for similar performance. See review Vizio V Series 2019: Decent TV, but the TCL S425 has better smart features. See review Vizio P Series Quantum X 2019: Excellent TV, but not worth the price difference over the 2018 Vizio P Series Quantum. See review  

The editors at RTINGS.com have just updated their Seven Best LED TVs for the Summer and we bring those to you. RTINGS.com is a great resource when you are looking to buy a new UHD TV. They have the most thorough reviews of any site on the Internet. All the TVs that we discuss come with an in depth review that can be found at the links below.

E03: What does the future hold for video codecs? This week, The Video Insiders look at the past and present to assess the future landscape of video encoding as they discuss where AVC, VP9, and VVC fit into the codec stew. The following blog post first appeared on the Beamr blog at: https://blog.beamr.com/2018/12/15/the-future-of-3-character-codecs-avc-vp9-vvc/ Anyone familiar with the streaming video industry knows that we love our acronyms. You would be hard-pressed to have a conversation about the online video industry without bringing one up… In today's episode, The Video Insiders focus on the future of three-character codecs: AVC, VP9, and VVC. But before we can look at the future, we have to take a moment to revisit the past. The year 2018 marks the 15-year anniversary of AVC and in this episode, we visit the process and lifecycle of standardization to adoption and what that means for the future of these codecs. Want to join the conversation? Reach out to TheVideoInsiders@beamr.com. TRANSCRIPTION (lightly edited for improved readability) Mark Donnigan: 00:49 Well, Hi, Dror! Dror Gill: 00:50 Is this really episode three? Mark Donnigan: 00:52 It is, it is episode three. So, today we have a really exciting discussion as we consider the future of codecs named with three characters. Dror Gill: 01:03 Three character codecs, okay, let's see. Mark Donnigan: 01:06 Three character codecs. Dror Gill: 01:09 I can think of … Mark Donnigan: 01:09 How many can you name? Dror Gill: 01:10 Let's see, that's today's trivia question. I can think of AVC, VP9, AV1, and VVC? Mark Donnigan: 01:21 Well, you just named three that I was thinking about and we're gonna discuss today! We've already covered AV1. Yeah, yeah, you answered correctly, but we haven't really considered where AVC, VP9, and VVC fit into the codec stew. So when I think about AVC, I'm almost tempted to just skip it because isn't this codec standard old news? I mean, c'mon. The entire video infrastructure of the internet is enabled by AVC, so what is there to discuss? Dror Gill: 01:57 Yeah. You're right. It's like the default, but in fact, the interesting thing is that today, we're (in) 2018 and this is the twenty year anniversary of AVC. I mean, ITU issued the call for proposals, their video coding expert group, issued the call for proposal for a project. At the time was called H26L, and their target was to double the coding efficiency, which effectively means halving the bit rate necessary for given level of fidelity. And that's why it was called H26L, it was supposed to be low bit rate. Mark Donnigan: 02:33 Ah! That's an interesting trivia question. Dror Gill: 02:35 That's where the L came from! Mark Donnigan: 02:36 I wonder how many of our listeners knew that? That's kind of cool. H26L. Dror Gill: 02:42 But they didn't go alone. It was the first time they joined forces in 2001 with the ISO MPEG, that's the same Motion Pictures Experts Group, you know we discussed in the first episode. Mark Donnigan: 02:56 That's right. Dror Gill: 02:57 And they came together, they joined forced, and they created JVT, that was the Joint Video Team, and I think it's a great example of collaboration. There are standards by dealing with video communication standards, and ISO MPEG, which is a standards body dealing with video entertainment standards. So, finally they understood that there's no point in developing video standards for these two different types of applications, so they got all the experts together in the JVT and this group developed what was the best video compression standard at the time. It was launched May 30, 2003. Mark Donnigan: 03:35 Wow. Dror Gill: 03:36 There was one drawback with this collaboration in that the video standard was known by two names. There was the ITU name which is H.264. And then there's the ISO MPEG name which is AVC, so these created some confusion at the start. I think by now, most of our listeners know that H.264 and AVC are two of the same. Mark Donnigan: 03:57 Yeah, definitely. So, AVC was developed 15 years ago and it's still around today. Dror Gill: 04:02 Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's really impressive and it's not only around, it's the most popular video compression standard in the world today. I mean, AVC is used to deliver video over the internet, to computers, televisions, mobile devices, cable, satellite, broadcast, and even blu-ray disks. This just shows you how long it takes from standardization to adoption, right? 15 years until we get this mass market adoption market dominance of H.264, AVC as we have today. Dror Gill: 04:31 And the reason it takes so long is that, we discussed it in our first episode, first you need to develop the standard. Then, you need to develop the chips that support the standard, then you need to develop devices that incorporate the chip. Even when initial implementation of the codec got released, they are still not as efficient as they can be, and it takes codec developers more time to refine it and improve the performance and the quality. You need to develop the tools, all of that takes time. Mark Donnigan: 04:59 It does. Yeah, I have a background in consumer electronics and because of that I know for certainty that AVC is gonna be with us for a while and I'll explain why. It's really simple. Decoding of H.264 is fully supported in every chip set on the market. I mean literally every chip set. There is not a device that supports video which does not also support AVC today. It just doesn't exist, you can't find it anywhere. Mark Donnigan: 05:26 And then when you look at in coding technologies for AVC, H.264, (they) have advanced to the point where you can really achieve state of the art for very low cost. There's just too much market momentum where the encode and decode ecosystems are just massive. When you think about entertainment applications and consumer electronics, for a lot of us, that's our primary market (that) we play in. Mark Donnigan: 05:51 But, if you consider the surveillance and the industrial markets, which are absolutely massive, and all of these security cameras you see literally everywhere. Drone cameras, they all have AVC encoders in them. Bottom line, AVC isn't going anywhere fast. Dror Gill: 06:09 You're right, I totally agree with that. It's dominant, but it's still here to stay. The problem is that, we talked about this, video delivery over the internet. The big problem is the bandwidth bottleneck. With so much video being delivered over the internet, and then the demand for quality is growing. People want higher resolution, they want HDR which is high dynamic range, they want higher frame rate. And all this means you need more and more bit rate to represent the video. The bit rate efficiency that is required today is beyond the standard in coding in AVC and that's where you need external technologies such as content adaptive encoding perceptual optimization that will really help you push AVC to its limits. Mark Donnigan: 06:54 Yeah. And Dror, I know you're one of the inventors of a perceptual optimization technique based on a really unique quality measure, which I've heard some in the industry believe could even extend the life of AVC from a bit rate efficiency perspective. Tell us about what you developed and what you worked on. Dror Gill: 07:13 Yeah, that's right. I did have some part in this. We developed a quality measure and a whole application around it, and this is a solution that can reduce the bit rate of AVC by 30%, sometimes even 40%. It doesn't get us exactly to where HEVC starts, 50% is pretty difficult and not for every content (type). But content distributors that recognize AVC will still be part of their codec mix for at least five years, I think what we've been able to do can really be helpful and a welcome relief to this bandwidth bottleneck issue. Mark Donnigan: 07:52 It sounds like we're in agreement that for at least the midterm horizon, the medium horizon, AVC is gonna stay with us. Dror Gill: 08:01 Yeah, yeah. I definitely think so. For some applications and services and certain regions of the world where the device penetration of the latest, high end models is not as high as in other parts, AVC will be the primary codec for some time to come. Dror Gill: 08:21 Okay, that's AVC. Now, let's talk about VP9. Mark Donnigan: 08:24 Yes, let's do that. Dror Gill: 08:25 It's interesting to me, essentially, it's mostly a YouTube codec. It's not a bad coded, it has some efficiency advantages over AVC, but outside of Google, you don't see any large scale deployments. By the way, if you look at Wikipedia, you read about the section that says where is VP9 used, it says VP9 is used mostly by YouTube, some uses by Netflix, and it's being used by Wikipedia. Mark Donnigan: 08:50 VP9 is supported fairly well in devices. Though, it's obviously hard to say exactly what the penetration is, I think there is support in hardware for decode for VP9. Certainly it's ubiquitous on Android, and it's in many of the UHD TV chip sets as well. So, it's not always enabled, but again, from my background on the hardware side, I know that many of those SOCs, they do have a VP9 decoder built into them. Mark Donnigan: 09:23 I guess the question in my mind is, it's talked about. Certainly Google is a notable both developer and user, but why hasn't it been adopted? Dror Gill: 09:33 Well, I think there are several issues here. One of them is compression efficiency. VP9 brings maybe 20, 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AVC, but it's not 50%. So, you're not doubling your compression efficiency. If you want to replace the codec, that's really a big deal. That's really a huge investment. You need to invest in coding infrastructure, new players. You need to do compatibility testing. You need to make sure that your packaging and your DRM work correctly and all of that. Dror Gill: 10:04 You really want to get a huge benefit to offset this investment. I think people are really looking for that 50% improvement, to double the efficiency, which is what you get with HEVC but not quite with VP9. I think the second point is that VP9, even though it's an open source coder, it's developed and the standard is maintained by Google. And some industry players are kind of afraid of the dominance of Google. Google has taken over the advertising market online. Mark Donnigan: 10:32 Yes, that's a good point. Dror Gill: 10:34 You know, and search and mobile operating systems, except Apple, it's all Android. So, those industry players might be thinking, I don't want to depend on Google for my video compression format. I think this is especially true for traditional broadcasters. Cable companies, satellite companies, TV channels that broadcast over the air. These companies traditionally like to go with established, international standards. Compression technologies that are standardized, they have the seal of approval by ITU and ISO. Dror Gill: 11:05 They're typically following that traditional codec developer past. ISO MPEG too, now it's AVC, starting with HEVC. What's coming next? Mark Donnigan: 11:16 Well, our next three letter codec is VVC. Tell us about VVC, Dror. Dror Gill: 11:21 Yeah, yeah, VVC. I think this is another great example of collaboration between ITU and ISO. Again, they formed a joint video experts team. This time it's called JVET. Dror Gill: 12:10 So, JVET has launched a project to develop a new video coding standard. And you know, we had AVC that was advanced video coding. Then we had HEVC which is high efficiency video coding. So, they thought, what would be the next generation? It's already advanced, it's high efficiency. So, the next one, they called it VVC, which is versatile video code. The objective of VVC is obviously to provide a significant improvement in compression efficiency over the existing HEVC standard. Development already started. The JVET group is meeting every few in months in some exotic place in the world and this process will continue. They plan to complete it before the end of 2020. So, essentially in the next two years they are gonna complete the standard. Dror Gill: 13:01 Today, already, even though VVC is in early development and they haven't implemented all the tools, they already report a 30% better compression efficiency than HEVC. So, we have high hopes that we'll be able to fight the video tsunami that is coming upon us with a much improved standard video coder which is VVC. I mean, its improved at least on the technical side and I understand that they also want to improve the process, right? Mark Donnigan: 13:29 That's right, that's right. Well, technical capabilities are certainly important and we're tracking of course VVC. 30% better efficiency this early in the game is promising. I wonder if the JVET will bring any learnings from the famous HEVC royalty debacles to VVC because I think what's in everybody's mind is, okay, great, this can be much more efficient, technically better. But if we have to go round and round on royalties again, it's just gonna kill it. So, what do you think? Dror Gill: 14:02 Yeah, that's right. I think it's absolutely true and many people in the industry have realized this, that you can't just develop a video standard and then handle the patent and royalty issues later. Luckily some companies have come together and they formed an industry group called The Media Coding Industry Forum, or MC-IF. They held their first meeting a few weeks ago in Macau during empic meeting one through four. Their purpose statement, let me quote this from their website, and I'll give you my interpretation of it. They say the media coding industry forum (MC-IF) is an open industry forum with a purpose of furthering the adoption of standards initially focusing on VVC, but establishing them as well accepted and widely used standards for the benefit of consumers and the industry. Dror Gill: 14:47 My interpretation is that the group was formed in an effort for companies with interest in this next generation video codec to come together and attempt to influence the licensing policy of VVC and try to agree on a reasonable patent licensing policy in advance to prevent history from repeating itself. We don't want that whole Hollywood story with the tragedy that took a few years until they reached the happy ending. So, what are you even talking about? This is very interesting. They're talking about having a modular structure for the codec. These tools of the codecs, the features, can be plugged in and out, very easily. Dror Gill: 15:23 So, if some company insists on reasonable licensing terms, this group can just decide not to support the feature and it will be very easily removed from the standard, or at least from the way that companies implement that standard. Mark Donnigan: 15:37 That's an interesting approach. I wonder how technically feasible it is. I think we'll get into that in some other episodes. Dror Gill: 15:46 Yeah. That may have some effect on performance. Mark Donnigan: 15:49 Exactly. And again, are we back in the situation that the Alliance for Open Media is in with AV1. Where part of the issue of the slow performance is trying to work around patents. At the end of the day you end up with a solution that is hobbled technically. Dror Gill: 16:10 Yeah. I hope it doesn't go there. Mark Donnigan: 16:13 Yeah, I hope we're not there. I think you heard this too, hasn't Apple joined the consortium recently? Dror Gill: 16:21 Yeah, yeah, they did. They joined silently as they always do. Silently means that one day somebody discovers their logo… They don't make any announcement or anything. You just see a logo on the website, and then oh, okay. Mark Donnigan: 16:34 Apple is in the building. Mark Donnigan: 16:41 You know, maybe it's good to kind of bring this discussion back to Earth and close out our three part series by giving the listeners some pointers. About how they should be thinking about the next codec that they adopt. I've been giving some thought as we've been doing these episodes. I think I'll kick it off here Dror if you don't mind, I'll share some of my thoughts. You can jump in. Mark Donnigan: 17:11 These are complex decisions of course. I completely agree, billing this as codec wars and codec battles, it's not helpful at the end of the day. Maybe it makes for a catchy headline, but it's not helpful. There's real business decisions (to be made). There are technical decisions. I think a good place to start for somebody who's listening and saying “okay great, I now have a better understanding of the lay of the land of HEVC, for AV1, I can understand VP9, I can understand AVC and what some of my options are to even further reduce bit rate. But now, what do I do?” Mark Donnigan: 17:54 And I think a good place to start is to just look at your customers, and do they lean towards early adopters. Are you in a strong economic environment, which is to say quite frankly, do most of your customers carry around the latest devices? Like an iPhone X, or Galaxy 9. If largely your customers lean towards early adopter and they're carrying around the latest devices, then you have an obligation to serve them with the highest quality and the best performance possible. Dror Gill: 18:26 Right. If your customers can receive HEVC, and it's half the bit rate, then why not deliver it to them better quality, or say when you see the end cost with this more efficient codec and everybody is happy. Mark Donnigan: 18:37 Absolutely, and again, I think just using pure logic. If somebody could afford a more than $1000 device in their pocket, probably the TV hanging on the wall is a very new, UHD capable (one). They probably have a game console in the house. The point is that you can make a pretty strong argument and an assumption that you can go, what I like to think of as all in HEVC including even standard definition, just SDR content. Mark Donnigan: 19:11 So, the industry has really lost sight in my mind of the benefits of HEVC as they apply across the board to all resolutions. All of the major consumer streaming services are delivering 4K using HEVC, but I'm still shocked at how many, it's kind of like oh, we forget that the same advantages of bit rate efficiency that work at 4K apply at 480p. Obviously, the absolute numbers are smaller because the file sizes are smaller, etc. Mark Donnigan: 19:41 But the point is, 30, 40, 50% savings applies at 4K as it does at 480p. I understand there's different applications in use cases, right? But would you agree with that? Dror Gill: 19:55 Yeah, yeah, I surely agree with that. I mean, for 4K, HEVC is really an enabler. Mark Donnigan: 20:00 That's right. Dror Gill: 20:01 For HEVC, you would need like 30, 40 megabits of video. Nobody can stream that to the home, but change it to 10, 15, that's reasonable, and you must use HEVC for 4k otherwise it won't even fit the pipe. But for all other resolutions, you get the bang with the advantage or you can trade it off for a quality advantage and deliver higher quality to your users, or higher frame rate, or enable HDR. If all of these possibilities that you can do with HD and even SD content, give them a better experience using HEVC and being able to stream on devices that your users already have. So yeah, I agree. I think it's an excellent analysis. Obviously if you're up in an emerging market, or your consumers don't have high end devices, then AVC is a good solution. If there are network constraints, and there are many places in the world that network conductivity isn't that great. Or in rural areas where we have very large parts of the population spread out (in these cases) bandwidth is low and you will get into a bottleneck even with HD. Mark Donnigan: 21:05 That's right. Dror Gill: 21:06 That's where perceptual optimization can help you reduce the bit rate even for AVC and keep within the constraints that you have. When your consumers can upgrade their devices and when the cycle comes in a few years when every device has HEVC support, then obviously you upgrade your capability and support HEVC across the board. Mark Donnigan: 21:30 Yeah, that's a very important point Dror, is that this HEVC adoption curve in terms of silicon, on devices. It is in full motion. Just the planning life cycles. If you look at what goes into hardware, and especially on the silicon side, it doesn't happen that way. Once these technologies are in the designs, once they are in the dies, once the codec is in silicon, it doesn't get arbitrarily turned on and off like light switches. Mark Donnigan: 22:04 How should somebody be looking at VP9, VVC, and AV1? Dror Gill: 22:13 Well, VP9 is an easy one. Unless you're Google, you're very likely gonna skip over this codec. Not just that the VP9 isn't the viable choice, it simply doesn't go so far as HEVC in terms of bit rate efficiency and quality. Maybe two years back we would consider it as an option for reducing bit rate, but now with the HEVC support that you have, there's no point in going to VP9. You might as well go to HEVC. If you talk about VVC, (the) standard is still a few years from being ratified so, we actually don't have anything to talk about. Dror Gill: 22:49 The important point is again to remember, even when VVC launches, it will still be another 2 to 3 years after ratifying the standard before you have even a very basic playback ecosystem in place. So, I would tell our listeners if you're thinking, why should I adopt HEVC, because VVC is just around the corner, well, that corner is very far. It's more like the corner of the Earth than the corner of the next block. Mark Donnigan: 23:15 That's right. Dror Gill: 23:18 So, HEVC today, VVC will be the next step in a few years. And then there's AV1. You know, we talked a lot about AV1. No doubt, AV1 has support from huge companies. I mean Google, Facebook, Intel, Netflix, Microsoft. And those engineers, they know what they're doing. But now, it's quite clear that compression efficiency is the same as HEVC. Meanwhile, after removing other royalty cost for content delivery, HEVC Advance removed it. The license situation is much more clear now. You add to this the fact that at the end of the day, two to three years, you're gonna need five to ten times more compute power to encode AV1, reaching effectively the same result. Now Google, again. Google may be that they have unlimited compute resources, they will use it. They developed it. Dror Gill: 24:13 The smaller content providers, all the other ones, the non Googles of the world and other broadcasters with growing support for HEVC that we expect in a few years. I think it's obvious. They're gonna support HEVC and then a few years later when VVC is ratified, when it's supported in devices, they're gonna move to VVC. Because this codec does have the required compression efficiency improvement over HEVC. Mark Donnigan: 24:39 Yeah, that's an excellent summary Dror. Thank you for breaking this all down for our listeners so succinctly. I'm sure this is really gonna provide massive value. I want to thank our amazing audience because without you, the Video Insiders Podcast would just be Dror and me taking up bits on a server somewhere. Dror Gill: 24:59 Yeah, talking to ourselves. Mark Donnigan: 25:01 As you can tell, video is really exciting to us and so we're so happy that you've joined us to listen. And again, this has been a production of Beamr Imaging Limited. Please, subscribe on iTunes and if you would like to try out beamer codecs in your lab or your production environment, we are giving away up to $100 of HEVC and H264 in coding every month. That's each and every month. Just go to https://beamer.com/free and get started immediately.

Tis the season for us to go shopping and to continue to help you spend your money - one of our favorite times of the year. If you or anyone in your life is looking for a new UHD TV this Christmas, but still aren’t sure which one to buy, we’ve got you covered. We each pick two TVs and one ‘money is no object’ / ‘dare to dream’ TV for you to consider.

HDTV Buying Guide 2018 Tis the season for us to go shopping and to continue to help you spend your money - one of our favorite times of the year. If you or anyone in your life is looking for a new UHD TV this Christmas, but still aren't sure which one to buy, we've got you covered. We each pick two TVs and one ‘money is no object' / ‘dare to dream' TV for you to consider. Ara's Picks LG UK6570PUB 4K HDR Smart LED UHD TV w/ AI ThinQ® - 70" Class $999.99 Seventy inches for $1,000??? Are you kidding me? This can make any family room feel like  media room. Even though it's 70 inches it does not dominate the room. Measuring in at 61.9" (157cm) x 38.6" (98cm) x 11.7” (29cm) and weighing only 92 lbs (41Kg) it can be bought, moved, and installed by just about anyone. Features include: active HDR 4K (HDR10 and HLG), webOS 4.0, ultra Luminance which enhances brightness and provides better contrast, quad-Core Processor to continually process the video for best results regardless of source, ultra Surround Sound but really who cares about that? Hard to believe but this is my budget TV. It also comes in 75” and 86”. Sony XBR75X900F 75-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV $2800 My second pick goes up in size picture quality and price (although the TV is available in 50 - 85 inch sizes). The reason I picked this Sony is it is a full array LED architecture which will give you deep blacks and high contrast. Also I have been very impressed with the X1 processor on Sony TVs. This model comes with the X1 Extreme processor which improved your 1080p content. The X900F can handle HDR10, Hybrid Log-Gamma and Dolby Vision™ making it a TV that is pretty much future proof! Other features include: compatible with Amazon Alexa & Google Home to change channels & more, dimensions 66 x 40 3/4 x 14 inch, 4 HDMI inputs. Braden's Picks TCL 65" 65R617 4K UHD Dolby Vision HDR Roku Smart LCD TV $999 It wouldn't be a Braden TV list without a TCL on it. TCL's 6-Series delivers 4K HDR picture performance and the Roku TV smart platform in one. Dolby Vision for greater brightness and contrast, as well as a fuller palette of rich colors. TCL's Contrast Control Zone technology individually optimizes the image across up to 120 zones for better contrast. The 6-Series models' iPQ Engine™ provides precise color replication while HDR Pro Gamma is supposed to improve HDR performance in any setting. It has an enhanced remote control with Voice Control and 3 HDMI 2.0a ports with HDCP 2.2 (1 ARC). Add a pair of Roku TV Wireless Speakers for soundbar performance with almost no setup or configuration. It's a great TV that can be the center of an awesome home theater or an impressive addition to a bonus room or game room. Samsung QN75Q6 Flat 75" QLED 4K UHD 6 Series Smart TV $2499 Stepping up a little in size and opting for better picture quality requires we more than double the price. And this isn't even the top of the line QLED series, but as the entry line, you can still get a pretty good value on a really good set. A 75” TV is a really good size for just about any room in most homes and QLED has emerged as a strong second place option to the significantly more expensive OLED sets on the market. In addition to the stellar QLED picture quality and HDR, it has a bunch of cool features like Ambient Mode that can put art on the TV so it blends perfectly with your décor, and can even play a bit of light background music. Bixby Voice search lets you search for content, flip channels, or even ask questions such as the current weather using only your voice. OneRemote automatically detects and controls all your compatible connected devices and content. The universal guide brings your favorite content from multiple devices and apps together in one easy-to-browse menu. And you can even download the SmartThings App on your mobile to control and monitor your new QLED TV and connected devices all in one screen! Ultimate Christmas Present Ara: Samsung QN88Q9FAMFXZA 88" Q9F QLED 4K TV $20,000 This TV will make you forget about your projector! QLED has not received the accolades that it really deserves. With Samsung's Elite Black+ with Infinite Array backlight system the Q9 gets very close to OLED in black and contrast. It can also provide a brighter picture. The only real knock we have is that off angle viewing is not as good as OLED. However, with a TV this size is there really someplace in the room that is off angle? Keep that in mind if this is a possibility for you. Other features include: 100% color volume, smart TV, OneRemote automatically detects and controls your connected devices (satellite, cable, Blu-ray, soundbar) and content with no manual programming required, Burn-In Free for life, Guaranteed. Braden: Samsung QN85Q900RAFXZA 85" Class Q900 QLED Smart 8K UHD TV $14,999 Not quite as big as Ara's 88 inch Samsung, but this 85 inch set is $5000 less and, yep, 8K. Before you say that 8K is a waste, there's no content and there won't be for a long time, an 85” TV is pretty big. It can actually be divided into the equivalent of 42 inch 4K TVs.  Although it has 4 HDMI inputs, it doesn't appear to have this split screen capability as a native feature, but it should. But you get all of the awesome quality of a QLED television, with all of the advanced features of a top of the line samsung, and 8K. What's not to love? Ok, sure, you can get an 85 inch 4k LCD for $2500, so it might be a it early to plop down such a premium for 8k. Or is it?  

VPNFilter router malware (persistent, reset router to clear, FBI warning), 4K vs UHD TV defined (4K has 4096 horizontal pixels and 2160 vertical lines, UHD has 3480 horizontal pixels and 2160 vertical lines), impact of quantum computing on Internet security (does not look good, 2025 expected deployment), negotiating with ISPs after cordcutting (try to be treated as a new customer), Profiles in IT (Bradford Parkinson, one of the fathers of GPS), Electromagnetic Drive does not work (NASA got it wrong, drive violates laws of physics), Amazon bans shoppers who return too many items, Samsung ordered to pay Apple over %500M for patent infringement, DOJ investigates cryptocurrency manipulation (looking at pump and dump), skills that AI will not make obsolete (higher cognitive skills, social and emotional skills, technological skills), mining malware is dominant cybersecurity threat (Coinhive and Crytoloot are top two violators), Stich Fix uses AI to amke clothes buying easy for consumer (fashion industry beware), Twitter CEO does not have laptop (uses mindfulness and awareness to be more productive), and General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect in EU (companies scramble to comply). This show originally aired on Saturday, June 2, 2018, at 9:00 AM EST on WFED (1500 AM).

VPNFilter router malware (persistent, reset router to clear, FBI warning), 4K vs UHD TV defined (4K has 4096 horizontal pixels and 2160 vertical lines, UHD has 3480 horizontal pixels and 2160 vertical lines), impact of quantum computing on Internet security (does not look good, 2025 expected deployment), negotiating with ISPs after cordcutting (try to be treated as a new customer), Profiles in IT (Bradford Parkinson, one of the fathers of GPS), Electromagnetic Drive does not work (NASA got it wrong, drive violates laws of physics), Amazon bans shoppers who return too many items, Samsung ordered to pay Apple over %500M for patent infringement, DOJ investigates cryptocurrency manipulation (looking at pump and dump), skills that AI will not make obsolete (higher cognitive skills, social and emotional skills, technological skills), mining malware is dominant cybersecurity threat (Coinhive and Crytoloot are top two violators), Stich Fix uses AI to amke clothes buying easy for consumer (fashion industry beware), Twitter CEO does not have laptop (uses mindfulness and awareness to be more productive), and General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect in EU (companies scramble to comply). This show originally aired on Saturday, June 2, 2018, at 9:00 AM EST on WFED (1500 AM).

Agent Derek Meister from the Geek Squad spoke to Bill about First Steps for Your New 4K UHD TV

Cognify (embue intelligence with cloud-based machine learning), public-private key encryption (how it works, certificate authority), Profiles in IT (Azim Premji, Czar of the Indian IT Industry), demographic bonus in India (responsible for IT boom in Southern India), gifts for techies (4k UHD TV, Apple TV 4K, Roku Ultra, Tablo 4 tuner DVR, DJI drone, Apple watch with LTE, Amazon Echo, Google Home, TP-link Smart Plug), Food Science (Champaigne bubbles explained, best Champaigne glass), Live Champaigne bubble demo (plastic vs glass), and FCC cancels Net Neutrality regulations (good news for the Internet, reverses FCC over reach). This show originally aired on Saturday, December 16, 2017, at 9:00 AM EST on WFED (1500 AM).

Cognify (embue intelligence with cloud-based machine learning), public-private key encryption (how it works, certificate authority), Profiles in IT (Azim Premji, Czar of the Indian IT Industry), demographic bonus in India (responsible for IT boom in Southern India), gifts for techies (4k UHD TV, Apple TV 4K, Roku Ultra, Tablo 4 tuner DVR, DJI drone, Apple watch with LTE, Amazon Echo, Google Home, TP-link Smart Plug), Food Science (Champaigne bubbles explained, best Champaigne glass), Live Champaigne bubble demo (plastic vs glass), and FCC cancels Net Neutrality regulations (good news for the Internet, reverses FCC over reach). This show originally aired on Saturday, December 16, 2017, at 9:00 AM EST on WFED (1500 AM).

Patrick and Robert eye the best UHD TV, examine the best smartphone display, get interested in Monoprice HT gear, and contemplate the future of Netflix.

What is HDR? For more than a year now we have been talking about 4K TVs and how they are supposed to be the next big thing. But in actuality the increased resolution is only mildly better than equally spec'd 1080p HDTVs. We have pointed to case study after case study that says you need very large (100” or more) screen to see a difference between 1080p and 4K when sitting at normal viewing distances. This alone is not a good reason to upgrade. What has us really excited is what is coming along with these new UHDTVs, HDR (High Dynamic Range) and that IS a good reason to go out and buy a new UHDTV. We have mentioned HDR on previous shows but we we never really talked about what HDR entails in any detail. We thought it would be a good idea to explain what HDR is and why you will want this on your next TV. First we need to differentiate between HDR in photos and HDR in TVs. Photo HDR combines multiple images with different exposures to create a single image that mimics a greater dynamic range. TV HDR expands the TV's contrast ratio and color palette to offer a more realistic, natural image than what's possible with today's HDTVs. Photo HDR can make a picture look unrealistic whereas TV HDR actually makes the picture look more realistic. HDR capable TVs coupled with HDR content will display a more realistic color range, higher contrast ratio which in turn yields deeper blacks and brighter more vivid colors. HDR is far more important to your next TV purchase than 4K but at this point in time it is unlikely that there will be a 1080p HDTV that supports HDR so you will end up with a 4K TV regardless. A TV's ability to display a wider and richer range of colors, brighter whites, and deeper, darker blacks gives the TV picture a more ‘dynamic' look, which is where the name comes from. Format War There are two HDR formats vying for your dollars, one from Dolby and one from Technicolor. However this format war is not like Blu-ray vs HDDVD. You will unlikely be stuck with an orphaned UHDTV. Both of these formats support the HDR-10 specification which is supported by UHD players. Streaming services will more than likely support the HDR-10 format although Netflix has some support for Dolby Vision on some of their original content.   Some TVs manufacturers are supporting both so it's unlikely that you will be stuck with a TV that won't support HDR content. If we had to choose between a TV that supported only one format we would pick the one that supports Dolby Vision. Dolby has always been out front with it's support at the point of content creation. They are at the studios working with sound mixers and video professionals to make sure their format looks and sounds best. We heard this with Dolby TrueHD and we expect the same with Dolby Vision. How Do I Know Which TV to Buy? At CES, the UHD Alliance, a 35-member consortium released a standard called “Ultra HD Premium” which is supposed to make it easy for consumers to identify UHDTVs that meet their specification. To be certified Ultra HD Premium a UHDTV must achieve a brightness of at least 1000 nits. There is no specific HDR specification but there are for black levels and color gamut which will guarantee a minimum level if HDR quality. What about cables? You won't need new cables for HDR. Current High-Speed HDMI cables can carry HDR content. The source device (a 4K Blu-Ray player, say) and TV must be HDMI 2.0a to transmit the metadata, however. If you have a receiver and want to use it for switching, it will need to be HDMI 2.0a as well. HDR content (the key) All these new features won't really do anything to enhance your experience unless you have content that takes advantage of it. HDR content is starting to trickle out now and more is on the way. Amazon has a few titles in HDR (Mozart in the Jungle, Red Oaks, and a few others) and Vudu is offering HDR content in Dolby Vision. Netflix streams Marco Polo and Daredevil in HDR. There are also UHD discs that support HDR so if you have a UHD TV that supports HDR you should be able to find something to watch and show it off! To Sum it Up Getting the best picture from an HDR TV will require HDR content. To guarantee your TV will support HDR look for the “Ultra HD Premium” label. If you really want a UHD TV that does not have the “Ultra HD Premium” label buy a TV that has or comes close to 1000 nits brightness. HDR from cable, satellite, and OTA are still a bit off.  

Samsung 2016 UHD TV line-up revealed, Skype removed from Smart TV systems and the death of 3D TV, plus cinema reviews and more...

Google Project Sunroof revealed, Hermann Holerith punch card tabulation machine (100 years ago), resetting lost Windows password (resetting Microsoft Live, using utility boot disk, restoring factory defaults), Profiles in IT (Jeff Moss, founder of Black Hat and DEC CON Conferences), Tip of the Week (defogging windows quickly), Consumer Electronics Show trends (Internet of Things, car automation, smart applicance ecosystem and standards, virtual reality, UHD TV, wearables, assistive technology, drones and robots, 3D printers), and NYC coverting pay phones to Wi-Fi hotspots. This show originally aired on Saturday, January 9, 2016, at 9:00 AM EST on WFED (1500 AM).

Google Project Sunroof revealed, Hermann Holerith punch card tabulation machine (100 years ago), resetting lost Windows password (resetting Microsoft Live, using utility boot disk, restoring factory defaults), Profiles in IT (Jeff Moss, founder of Black Hat and DEC CON Conferences), Tip of the Week (defogging windows quickly), Consumer Electronics Show trends (Internet of Things, car automation, smart applicance ecosystem and standards, virtual reality, UHD TV, wearables, assistive technology, drones and robots, 3D printers), and NYC coverting pay phones to Wi-Fi hotspots. This show originally aired on Saturday, January 9, 2016, at 9:00 AM EST on WFED (1500 AM).

UHD Alliance set to introduce 4K Logos for UHD kit, Are 4k UHD TV prices dropping too fast and more...

Next Generation Broadcast TV The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) have their year meeting in Las Vegas in the Spring every year. When we worked for Sony Pictures we would get excited about going and demonstrating the gear we were developing as well as seeing what other companies were showing off. It was not quite as hectic as CES but it was still a great time. Nowadays we are a little more focused on what we take away from the NAB show. In particular of interest this year is the ATSC 3.0 specification.  This year there will be some demos of the technology. Layered Division Multiplexing This technology will cram more data into a single channel. Think of this as a bus traveling down the road where the road is the channel on your tuner. You can only get one lane of busses through that road. But what if now you had a double decker bus. On that same road you have doubled the data coming through to you. Its not as simple as just adding levels to the bus. Imaging a three level bus trying to go under an over pass. The main takeaway is that this technology will enable you to get UHD over the air while using only one channel. HEVC H.265 Compression is key to getting UHD content to you. Right now ATSC uses mpeg 2 and Blu-ray uses mpeg 4. With mp4 you get about a doubling of the data as you do with mp2. If you look at the current ATSC spec, television stations are transmitting streams of anywhere between 10 and 18 Mbps in mp2. You can get the same quality mp4 picture with streams of about 5 to 9 Mbps. And if you are using H.265 that drops to about 2.5 to 4.5 Mbps. But rather than give us current quality in less space, the goal is to give us better than Blu-ray quality picture and sound in the same spectrum (channel).  The National Engineering Center for DTV from Shanghai, China will be demonstrating  a full-chain Ultra HD TV system, which includes a UHD TV presentation system, as well as realtime UHD TV encoding, broadcasting, receiving and decoding. Targeted Ads, Better EPG, and Interactivity A US company will be showing off interactivity and rich media that won't require a second screen like a tablet or phone. Broadcasters will be able to insert local ads more easily and the EPG gets a makeover. Broadcasters will be able to transmit HTML 5 applications that will support voting and polling. Now you'll be able to vote for your favorite performer on whatever talent show you are watching right from your TVs remote.   Object Based Surround We're quite happy that its not too late to add this to the ATSC 3.0 spec. There are three competing standards to bring three dimensional sound into your living room. Of course you would expect Dolby's Atmos and DTS's DTS:X. But there is also one from Qualcomm and Technicolor. They are testing 60 sound tracks with each of the three systems.   When is it all going to Happen?   There is still plenty of time to enjoy your ATSC 2.0 TV. The specification won't be finalized until 2016 and then it will take years before the broadcasters and manufacturers have equipment ready to accept OTA UHD. Look for there to be a brief period where you will be able to buy an external UHD tuner. We wonder if they will provide vouchers to buy UHD to HDTV converters.  

Interview - Gary Yacoubian President of SVS Speakers From the SVS Website:   SVS was founded in 1998 by four audiophile/engineers who noted that customers were paying too much for lackluster subwoofer performance because of a manufacturing to sales process that was stacked against the consumer. The conventional model, where just good enough subs were sold at high markups did a disservice to customers who wanted great audio experiences but didn't have unlimited funds.   To fix a broken system, SVS pioneered a disruptive, future-facing model by investing heavily in product engineering and performance and reducing operational costs by selling direct to its customers over the Internet. Customers could demo world-class subwoofers and speakers in their homes exactly where the products would be installed, allowing them to make the most informed purchase decision possible, without risk. This strategy allowed SVS to establish a global presence and continues to earn acclaim from professional and amateur reviewers, in forums, and at audio shows, while continuing to grow retail and direct distribution. UHD Blu-ray Many of you either have or will soon have a new UHD TV that will be begging you to throw some UHD content at it. Right now you can stream UHD content from Netflix and Amazon but while good, its not nearly as good as you can get from disc. There aren't any discs, or players, out there that can support UHD. But there will be in the near future. The Blu-ray Disc Association has released a new specification that may help you justify the purchase of a shiny new UHD TV. So what do the new players and disc give you?   Better Color Simply put, the new specification allows your TV to display more colors than your current HDTV. You probably are thinking that your TV already does a good job with this but it can only display about 30% of what your eye can see. The new specification will display about 75%. At this writing we don't know of UHD TV that supports this spec nor do we know when we will see content that does. But its nice to know that your player will be ready when the content is there! High Dynamic Range (HDR) If you have a relatively new smartphone you may have heard of this term. On your phone your camera takes two (or more) shots of the same image, one with the darkest exposure and one with the lightest. Then it combines the best of the images to create one that shows great detail in all areas, nothing washed out and blacks looking black. This will provide depth and greater contrast on screen. 10-bit Bottom line on this one is that it makes better color and HDR possible. Higher Frame Rates Until Hollywood shoots at 60 frames a second, think of this as future proofing the standard. This will help 3D as well. Better Compression There is a lot of data that needs to be stored on a disc for 4K so a more efficient way of compressing it is required. That's where H.265 comes into play. The High Efficiency Video Codec (HVEC) is twice as efficient as H.264 (mpeg4). As a side note, HVEC is what makes streaming 4K from Netflix and Amazon possible at 7 to 10Mbps. Now imagine how good it would be at a little more than 100Mbps. Yes it will be a while before streaming catches up to fixed media. Larger Capacity All those bits need to be stored someplace. The new discs will have capacities of 66GB or 100GB Audio   TBD  

Snowpiercer - Live from nowhere near CES 2015, we discuss the mess that is the UHD TV standard before going completely off the rails discussing the larger mess that is Snowpiercer (2013).Host Joe Rosensteel and Dan Sturm.

4K TV Options 4K or UltraHD technology is starting to approach mainstream, and the options for 4K TVs is getting better all the time. In a quick glance at the choices selling right now at Amazon.com, we were surprised to see how many there are, and how affordable the have quickly become. Of course, Vizio isn't in the list yet, so if you're waiting for that like a certain HT Guy might be, you'll have to keep waiting.  But if you need a new TV now, 4K might be within reach. Four options from Seiki Amazing prices, good reviews. Seiki SE39UY04 39-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz LED TV $339.00 - 4 stars - 495 reviews Seiki SE50UY04 50-Inch 4K UHD 120Hz LED HDTV $549.98 - 4 stars - 495 reviews Seiki SE55UY04 55-Inch 120Hz LED 4k UHD TV $699.99 - 4 stars - 495 reviews Seiki SE65UY04 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz LED TV $1,352.00 - 4 stars - 495 reviews Multiple options from Samsung The perennial powerhouse has a few options that don't require you to sell a child. They come in a plethora of sizes and flavors. Samsung UN40HU6950 40-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz Smart LED TV $997.99 - 5 stars - 5 reviews Samsung UN50HU6950 50-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz Smart LED TV $1,497.99 - 5 stars - 5 reviews 3D Version (UN50HU8550) - $1,797.99 - 4 stars - 47 reviews Samsung UN55HU6950 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz Smart LED TV $1,997.99 - 5 stars - 5 reviews 3D Version (UN55HU8550) - $2,297.99 - 4 stars - 47 reviews Curved 3D Version (UN55HU8700) - $2,797.99 - Not reviewed Samsung UN60HU8550 60-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED HDTV $2,797.99 - 4 stars - 47 reviews Samsung UN65F9000 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED TV (2013 Model) $3,099.00 - 3.5 stars - 78 reviews 3D Version - 2014 - (UN65HU8550) - $3,297.99 - 4 stars - 47 reviews Curved 3D Version (UN65HU8700) - $3,797.99 - Not reviewed Sony brings several Sony XBR49X850B 49-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D LED TV $1,998.00 - 5 star - 6 reviews Sony XBR55X850A 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Internet LED UHDTV (2013 Model) $1,982.97 - 4 stars - 44 reviews 2014 model - (XBR55X850B) - $2,298.00 - 5 star - 6 reviews 3D Smart Version - (XBR-55X900A) - $2,399.00 - 4 stars - 74 reviews Sony XBR65X850A 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Internet LED UHDTV (2013 Model) $2,892.10 - 4 stars - 44 reviews Sony XBR65X850B 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D LED TV 2014 model - $3,298.00 - 5 star - 6 reviews Sony XBR65X850A 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D LED HDTV Media Player Bundle $3,298.00 - Not Reviewed A few models from LG Electronics Life's Good - especially when you're watching in 4K. LG Electronics 49UB8500 49-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED TV $1,299.00 - 4 stars - 20 reviews LG Electronics 55UB8500 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED TV $1,599.00 - 4 stars - 20 reviews LG Electronics 55LA9700 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart Nano LED TV (2013 Model) $1,899.99 - with Sliding Sound Bar - 3.5 stars - 7 reviews 2014 Model - (55UB9500) - $2,299.00 - 4.5 stars - 2 reviews LG Electronics 65LA9700 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart Nano LED TV (2013 Model) $2,899.99  - with Sliding Sound Bar - 3.5 stars - 7 reviews 2014 Model - (65UB9500) - $3,299.00 - 4.5 stars - 2 reviews And a Few Others TCL LE50UHDE5691 50-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz LED TV $799.00 - 4 stars - 64 reviews TCL LE50UHDE5692G 50-Inch 4K Ultra HD120Hz Smart LED TV $1,099.99 - Not Reviewed Toshiba 58L9300U 58-Inch 4K Ultra HD 3D Smart LED HDTV (2013 Model) $2,260.84 - 3.5 stars - 20 reviews Toshiba 65L9300U 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD 240Hz 3D Smart LED HDTV (2013 Model) $2,999.00 - 3.5 stars - 20 reviews Sharp LC-70UD1U 70-inch Aquos 4K Ultra HD 2160p 120Hz 3D Smart LED TV $3,497.99 - 5 star - 13 reviews Future Models coming from Vizio Not ready yet, but the pricing and brand reputation may make them worth waiting for. “With advanced local dimming technology, featuring a backlight that consists of 64 Active LED Zones, HEVC Codec for Ultra HD streaming and VIZIO's V6 six-core processor that combines a quad-core GPU and dual-core CPU for unparalleled performance and maximum speed, VIZIO's P-Series has been engineered to deliver the full range of Ultra HD content consumers want.” VIZIO P-Series Ultra HD Full-Array LED backlit LCD Smart TVs         P502ui-B1 - 50” - $999.99 (MSRP) P552ui-B2 - 55” - $1,399.99 (MSRP) P602ui-B3 - 60” - $1,799.99 (MSRP) P652ui-B2 - 65” - $2,199.99 (MSRP) P702ui-B3 - 70” - $2,599.99 (MSRP)

SONY 4K UHD TVs On the last show we read a news story that SONY announced pricing and availability for their new line for 4K TVs. This week we thought we discuss in a bit more depth the latest from SONY.  For starters there are a total of nine UHD TVs. The nine TVs are tiered on entry, mid, and high and range in price from $2,100 up to $25,000   All support HDMI 2.0 and the HEVC codec which cover two of the three must have features for a UHD TV according to HD Guru. The other being HDCP 2.2 which we couldn't verify. The TVs are also MHL 3.0 compatible so you can watch 4K content from your smartphones or tablets. All the new TVs will support Netflix 4K streaming as it becomes available on the Netflix service.   The SONY developed X Reality PRO picture engine, TRILUMINOS color spectrum, and X-tended Dynamic Range PRO technology are marketing terms for 4K upscaling, deeper color palette, and higher contrast. Entry Level For the entry level 4K market are four models in the XBR-X850B series: 49“ for $2,099 55“ for $2,999 65“ for $3,999 70” for $5,499 Mid-Tier For the Mid-Tier 4K market are three models in the XBR-X900B series:   55” for $3,999 66” for $4,999 79” for $8,999   These TVs use Edge lit LEDs and something SONY calls X-tended Dynamic Range technology to achieve better contrast than the entry level TVs. One thing that many people complain about with thin TVs is that the audio is bad. On these models SONY uses wedge shape design which maintains thinness and provides for better richer sound. Flagship SONY's flagship 4K UHD TVs the XBR-X950B series comes in two models:   65 “ for $7,999 85” for $24,999   The top tier SONYs use direct lit LEDs and something SONY calls X-tended Dynamic Range PRO technology for the highest contrast ratio among this year's line of 4K TVs. SONY has developed a unique backlighting algorithm to further enhance picture quality.  

#191: Hisense announces three Ultra High Definition TV's for 2013 we speak to Andre from Hisense about the UHD market and Hisense as a company. I look at one of the best looking Ultrabooks i've seen - LG's latest, plus we talk Spotify streaming bandwidth, computer issues, Crazy Johns and Blackberries and the HTC ONE

#191: Hisense announces three Ultra High Definition TV's for 2013 we speak to Andre from Hisense about the UHD market and Hisense as a company. I look at one of the best looking Ultrabooks i've seen - LG's latest, plus we talk Spotify streaming bandwidth, computer issues, Crazy Johns and Blackberries and the HTC ONE

#191: Hisense announces three Ultra High Definition TV's for 2013 we speak to Andre from Hisense about the UHD market and Hisense as a company. I look at one of the best looking Ultrabooks i've seen - LG's latest, plus we talk Spotify streaming bandwidth, computer issues, Crazy Johns and Blackberries and the HTC ONE