On this episode of You call for : How do brightness level and quality single-valued function affect SDR content ? ( Or do they ? ) Are n’t all Blu - ray participant basically the same ? What ’s the difference between mini - go and microLED ? And when is TCL ’s monstrous 115 - in , 5,000 NIT TV going to come out ?
Tone mapping
James Barrett writes : Is tint mapping turned on by nonremittal ? Or do we have to manually adjust this to make optimum smartness fit in to the ambient kindling in the same room as the LG television receiver ?
And Christian Brind’Amour compose ( regarding the TV brightness episode of You Asked and tone mapping):Very informative , thanks . How does this apply to unconstipated or cable TV ? It seems you were only bring up HDR - type depicted object .
For those who have n’t seen it , I did avideoandaccompanying article about TV light , the nit state of war , and why it seems like television receiver maker are just going demented endeavor to one - up each other with how bright they can get .
There were a few thing I wish I had included in that TV , like the fact that double the nit does not equal double the brightness . And there were some more technological scene that Christian ’s question impart up .
Tone chromosome mapping — which , in short , is the process by which a TV put to death luminousness harmonize to the instruction it is given — is a cognitive operation pertain to handlingHDR depicted object . So for regular telly and cable , most of which is in SDR , then tone mapping does n’t apply . The TV will never get instructions for brightness that exceed something like 200 nits .
With SDR , you may turn the light of your tv set up and down as you see fit and make the bright parts of the image as shiny or as dim as you wish . You do n’t get that choice with HDR because the brightness — or backlight setting — is maxed out . You do n’t have the option to correct the average picture level — or average brightness — which is why some folk kvetch about HDR contentedness being too dim . Tone mapping is just part of HDR , though there is inactive tone mapping , which intend the telecasting does more or less what it is supposed to , or Dynamic tone mathematical function , which means the TV does whatever the TV Jehovah wants it to do .
I was mouth to another YouTuber – Classy Tech Calibrations — about this recently . HDR is control to be watched in a dark room , mean that some HDR content will appear too dull if you watch out it in a sunlight - soaked room .
Now , I have to controvert something I said earlier . you’re able to make HDR contentedness bright with a deceiver on some TVs . Sometimes , Active Tone Mapping or active HDR will just give you a brighter overall simulacrum . On some boob tube , you’re able to select the brighter version of the HDR picture preset to make the picture bright . Or , in the slip of Dolby Vision IQ , you may use a TV ’s built - in wanton sensor to adjust the tone curved shape so that the brightness of the picture is optimise to calculate good count on the brightness of your room .
And in another surprising and pretty odd move , it look Vizio is building in a smell chromosome mapping Pseudemys scripta on its telecasting , which lets you line up the overall brightness of HDR content up or down . That ’s an interesting move .
Bad Blu-ray
Ymi Yugu compose : Why are there good and bad Blu - re players ? I thought it was just a digital signal commit digitally to the TV .
It is about time we get to a dubiousness like this . I will seek to answer it as just as I can because we could get deep here . Too deep .
I get where this question comes from . I , too , once thought that part of what makes a digital format or a digital signaling so great is that it is just unity and zero , and it either get from one place to another or it does n’t , and there ’s no in - between . If that were the case , there ’d be no need for “ premium ” HDMI cablegram . no indigence for premium digital audio recording player , and no need forpremium Blu - ray players . The digital television and digital sound revolution was somehow this great equalizer , right ? It ’s as simple and aboveboard as smutty or white , yes or no , one or zero — no gray surface area . Just good .
Unfortunately , we got the wrong approximation . I consider I come out learning this lesson when I began to learn a short about howDACs — or digital - to - analog converters — employment . I learned there was such a thing as a clock in a CD role player ; it ’s the part of a certificate of deposit player that syncs up with a DAC and tells it exactlywhento decrypt a signal . It fundamentally keep in line the speech rhythm of a CD instrumentalist .
And not all of them are created adequate .
But we ’re talking about Blu - re players here . And while the Blu - shaft of light format abbreviate some of the variability in picture caliber we see among DVD player before them , it did n’t obviate discrepancy .
Ideally , every decoder , central processing unit , and upscaler built into a Blu - ray player would be the same quality . They would n’t do anything to the signal , leaving the display machine as the only variable — your television , usually . But we know that is not the caseful . There is variance among Blu - ray players and , thus , division in the signal they output . Not a ton , but it does exist . Subjectively , I can tell you the image from aMagnetar Blu - ray playerlooks better than the Sony PlayStation 5 Blu - ray actor but is virtually indistinguishable from the Sony Blu - ray player I have on the bench . I lack the instruments to quantify those difference of opinion , but several the great unwashed were here when I did the A / B comparison , and they saw it , too , without my prompt . In a blind test , the Magnetar beat the PS5 every time .
But the divergence in video recording quality is plausibly the least important cistron . The most important difference to me is build quality . exceedingly bum Blu - irradiation instrumentalist have transports and motor that are n’t built to last . They will probably die over time . Also , cheap Blu - ray players have sleazy DACs that do n’t sound as good as premium player . So if you ’re using it for audio playback and using analogue outputs , that ’s another rationality to buy a more premium player . Then there ’s the user interface , boot - up sentence , load multiplication , and a crew of other touch points that may make one Blu - shaft of light player more desirable than another .
But , yeah , the whole “ digital is digital , and it is all the same matter ” does n’t carry water no matter what some blow - hard in a forum tell you . Without any dog in the fighting , I ’ve see the divergence myself prison term and again over the 28 or so years I ’ve been at this .
Mini-LED vs. microLED
Power5 writes : Is mini - extend the same as Samsung microLED ? These small - size tech names are getting puzzling .
Mini - lead and microLEDare different in terms of size and , thus , how they are used .
A mini - conduce bridges the gap between a conventional LED and a microLED . schematic LEDs — you ’re probably familiar with what those look like — are always over 200 micrometer in size .
Mini - LEDs span 100 to 200 micron in sizing . A microLED must beunder100 micrometer .
The sizing difference is key because it find out how they can be used in displays . A mini - LED is utile as a backlight for an LCD - base television . As we ’ve discussed here before , since they are so much smaller than formal LEDs , more of them can be packed into a space and break down into more tightly hold in zones . That ’s the promise , anyway . Depending on their use , sometimes mini - take TVs are unspoiled for having them , but sometimes they are n’t much better than TVs with normal - sized light-emitting diode .
Mini - LEDs , though , are not diminutive enough to be grouped together to represent a single pixel in a established - sized tv set . However , microLEDs are . Or at least , they can be .
A picture element on a TV needs to be able to develop ruddy , greenish , and blue . And microLEDs are so tiny that a crimson , green , and spicy microLED can be shove in the blank space of one pixel . It use up a while to descale them down to be tiny enough to be in a 65 - in exhibit – but they have been , andSamsung showed us that at CES recently .
TCL X955
Ian writes : It has been quite a while since you covered the new TCL X955 TV . You mentioned it again in your CES 2024 coverage , but there was little unexampled technical or gross revenue entropy . I am yet to see any shipping info for this television . I was wondering if you have any insights into what is happening with the availableness of this idiot box . I am in Australia , so we are always later to the company . I have been hold off for recap and handiness as I am consider the 85 - inch X955 for my home .
Great interrogative sentence . First off , do n’t be pertain . It is very vulgar for TV brands to announce TVs several ( or many ) month in progress of their handiness . I ideate they savour building prediction and demand as folks like us masticate on the noesis that it will exist , but have to waitress until we can finally buy them .
I ca n’t tell you on the dot when the TVs from TCL will be available , but I can offer some well - civilize guesses .
First , for anyone who may not have been be : TCL Global made an proclamation in late August 2023 that theX955 TV — a 5,000 - nit TV — would be come . Very exciting . Then , more recently , atCES in January 2024 , TCL North America announced theQM89 – a 115 - inch , 5,000 - nit TV .
The X955 announced globally and the QM89 announce for North America are not on the dot the same . But they are very close .
For North America , I can differentiate you that we will likely not try more about the QM89 or any of TCL ’s other TVs until sometime in May . In May 2023 , I attended the TCL result in New York , where that year ’s lineup was shown and announced . I got my first belief of the QM8 in all its glorious sizing . Then , TCL ’s TVs get down hitting stock ledge in mid - June .
I bear the same will happen in 2024 : new TCL TVs , at least in North America , coming in June , with a sneak peep in May . I do not know the vent window for Oceania , but I reckon it wo n’t be too far off that timeline .
Historically , big and challenging tv like the 115 - column inch QM89 have come out a turn later than the core TV lineup — we ’ve seen this from several brands . It is potential that could happen here . But I have a very strong , clairvoyant vibe go here that the QM89 could also be available in June . We may not have to wait until later in the twelvemonth for it .
Would n’t that be awful ?
Anyway , if you want to see the first meaningful trailer and impressions of the QM89 — estimate where you ’ll see it ? Yup . Right here .
