pans from side to side, higher frame
rates can really help to smooth this
kind of thing out. And when they
can’t, TV picture processors can now
sxoo#rļ#wkh#wdvn#pxfk#pruh#fohdqo|#
than the jarring smoothing routines
ri#|hvwhu|hdu1#\rx#pd|#hyhq#Ľqg#
modes which blank out every other
frame, ensuring you get a new image
rather than an interpolated blend
of both. However, you may also
Ľqg#wkdw#wkhvh#prghv#glvsuryh#
claims that the human eye can’t
make out anything beyond 60Hz
ğ#wkh|#fdq#eh#vrphzkdw#ľlfnhu|1
So what should you look for in
a new TV? Frankly, for all the
technological advancements, you
should look for something you can
dļrug/#vrphwklqj#wkdw#Ľwv#wkh#vsrw#
you’ve got reserved for it and (most,
or least, importantly depending on
your streaming preferences)
something which supports AirPlay 2
natively. While we (clearly) loved our
wlph#zlwk#Vdpvxqjġv#;N#ľdjvkls#
(see our review opposite), that sort
of high end is by no means required:
while you’ll eke some spectacular
image quality out of it, you’re getting
ready for a future which isn’t likely
to come for some time.to push all those pixels, can now
make a very credible stab at
upscaling lower resolution content
— 1080p will inevitably look a lot
better than ever before, even if the
TV has only made a cursory attempt
to interpret what the extra pixels
should be. Many are able to take
this concept a lot further: Samsung,
for instance, is introducing an AI
upscaling engine which analyzes the
picture and scales it up intelligently.BIGGER, FASTER
High refresh rates could be another
strong driver, too: if a panel claims itcan operate at 120Hz, that means
it can (theoretically) display a new
image 120 times per second. This
might not always be strictly true
because some manufacturers are
prone to hyperbole and number
fudging, and an LCD which does
240Hz is far from the same as an
OLED capable of the same. But when
it is, it gives lower frame rate
content time to breathe on screen,
making the transition between
frames sharper and less prone to
streaking. If you’ve ever watched a
show on an older TV and noticed
d#mxgghulqj#hļhfw#zkhq#wkh#fdphud#Image rights from top: Techmoan, Philips.8K when?
We’re at something of an impasse
regarding high–res content. 4K is
becoming more commonplace,
with support from streaming
services like Netflix and Apple
TV+, 4K Blu-ray, and even 4K
uploads on YouTube. But 8K is an
exponential jump that asks a lot of
both storage and bandwidth, one
we’re possibly not quite ready for.
Hollywood tends to film in 6K, and
one minute of raw 8K footage,
before compression, takes up
122GB. An hour, at somewhere in
the region of 7.5TB, exceeds allbut the largest consumer hard
drives. It’s a way off. YouTube’s 4K
feature does raise something
interesting for lower–res screens:
many uploaders, even if they don’t
intend or expect their content to
be seen at max resolution, record
and upload in 4K because the
compression applied to lower–res
versions is more favorable. Get up
close to YouTube’s 1080p videos
and you’ll see smearing and
artefacts, and color repro that
isn’t quite up to scratch. Videos
uploaded at 4K lessen this effect.Philips’ high–end televisions incorporate the company’s Ambilight LED tech, which cleverly
illuminates the wall behind.
Home Life
72 FEB 2020 maclife.com
Videos uploaded at 4K resolution generally scale down much
more effectively than those uploaded at 1080p.