In 2019, another round of the evolution of TVs came. In addition to the newly increased diagonal, 4K, HDR, QLED and other technologie...
In 2019, another round of the evolution of TVs came. In addition to the newly increased diagonal, 4K, HDR, QLED and other technologies obscure to the average person came to the middle price segment (40-60 thousand rubles). To make it easier for you to understand all these names, we decided to understand how the televisions are arranged, which today are becoming mass, although until recently they cost as an inexpensive car.
New processors
“The processor on the TV?” Is it possible?" - this is what comes to mind when you first hear that there is something so complicated in a regular TV panel. In fact, the processor of a modern TV is needed for many rather complex tasks - improving color rendering, correctly displaying HDR video, scaling an image, etc. Artificial intelligence comes to the rescue (the same one that we saw in AMD, Apple, HiSilicon and other chips processor giants). It is machine learning algorithms that allow you to beautifully stretch low-detailed content to full screen with virtually no loss of quality.
Upscaling
Upscaling is the same stretching of the image, which we talked about a little higher. The first 4K TVs were created without an AI processor and automatic upscaling, so they scaled the SD clips to the entire area of the matrix by conventional interpolation - that is, simply increasing the size of the pixels. This approach was used in earlier models, since the time of HD- and FullHD-TVs. Bilinear interpolation is a kind of magnifying glass that reveals the slightest imperfections in the image. Artificial intelligence passes through such areas 60 times per second, correcting the saturation, detail and white balance in those places where this can be done. In order for the processor to understand in what places processing is needed, the base of patterns written not in the form of ordinary textures, but in the form of lines of code is recorded in the TV memory.
HDR
Today, the main standard of this technology is HDR10, which is used in monitors, TVs, and mobile devices. Roughly speaking, HDR (High Dynamic Range) makes the video sequence much more realistic, aligning the brightness and contrast of individual areas of the image. The simplest example of HDR: for sure, everyone who tried to photograph something in the backlight received a re-illuminated light source, and everything else turned out black. At the same time, in many Hollywood films, objects are distinguishable regardless of whether the action takes place against a sunset, a searchlight, or an ordinary bright incandescent lamp. This is because during installation, individual areas are manually brightened or darkened, increased brightness and adjust contrast. In TVs with HDR, the processor
Following HDR10, a new standard comes to the TV industry - HDR10 +, which so far is found only in expensive 8K panels and uses not only the processor but also external light sensors to accurately adjust the color temperature in accordance with the surrounding space. HDR10 + also equalizes the volume of the audio channel in various scenes and improves its quality, making speech more distinct while maintaining the same volume of other sounds.
QLED
After active development in the mid-tenths, today television technology is in a kind of calm. Judge for yourself: UltraHD is unlikely to surprise anyone, HDR is slowly but surely moving into more affordable models, and every second TV has the ability to play streaming video. At the same time, manufacturers of household appliances are still bombarding us with new abbreviations, and most patient marketers are Samsung, the only QLED-producing matrix.
From a technical point of view, QLED TVs (Quantum-dot Light Emitting Diode, quantum dot LEDs) are similar to OLED displays, since in each case each pixel emits its own light, but QLED uses instead tiny quantum dots a few nanometers thick. Although QLED bypasses organic LEDs in terms of clarity and color reproduction, TVs with OLED screens have a higher maximum brightness due to the fact that quantum dots cannot be lit on their own, which is what the backlight does, which makes QLED TV similar to familiar to us LCD / IPS-matrices
Native Apple Services Support
This year, Apple announced support for AirPlay 2 and iTunes with LG, Sony, Samsung, and VIZIO TVs. More precisely, we are talking about the ability to buy and rent movies from the iTunes Store catalog. The Cupertinians did not take this step earlier since when you buy a TV with apple services, you are making a pointless purchase of an Apple TV set-top box, but with the advent of its own streaming service, Apple decided not to bet on selling a rather niche device, but on building up its user base. Among the supported models are TVs released in 2018 and 2019, and if the latter receive pre-installed Apple applications, then in 2018 Smart TV AirPlay 2 will arrive with a software update. A full list of compatible TV models can be found on the Apple website.
