HDR + 4K TV 2016 Buzz Words

High Dynamic Range or HDR, a feature from Cameras of recent release made its way into the TV monitor space with the new Buzz word for TV's in 2016, say it with me "HDR"
4K is missing content, most people do not own a blu-ray player that supports 4K, and lets be honest, 4K TV's have been on the scene since 2014, but the prices did reach normal people levels until just recently as of late 2016. Netflix claims to stream 4K, but lets be honest Netflix, its not full 4K, its more like 2K that renders on your 4K TV, and yes it is sharper than 1080P, but at the end of the day, your not going to see a huge difference unless you sit really close to a huge screen. To actually see 4K at home, you need a 4K blu-ray disc with content, a 4K blu-ray player and a 4K TV, so you have to upgrade your whole system and drop a lot of cash on a platform that will not be ready until late 2017. I would advise waiting on 4K, at least until the next Xbox Project Scorpio launches!

5K iMac

The newer iMac 27inch has a 5K display ha ha ha, and at least on a computer screen that makes a good difference since your eyes are often less than 2ft from the screen. Here photographers and videographers can actually make use of the 14mp display (5K)

HDR FTW

HDR will give your display more dynamic range which the human eye see's as better color gamut and better contrast and hue depth, but its not the IPS P3 display of an iMac, and nothing even close to that in terms of quality. To get a TV that renders like the new iMac, expect to drop $4000 or more on a new TV. HDR is great on still cameras mounted to a tripod, and some phones have an HDR mode that is decent due to the relative powerful computer inside of modern smartphones that can click off capturing 3 bracketed shots in very quick succession, while also using software based alignment automation to stack the bracketed shots for composting into an HDR image. Most camera have a much slower computer inside then the kind of hardware you find in current smartphones. This means they cannot capture images for HDR as quickly, and should be tripod mounted, with either a timer trigger or remote trigger! I guess the HDR TV will be the thing to view HDR photos on, since you will be able to display the HDR images in the HDR format. Sounds kind of funny, like a logical loop. You can shoot A to view A on B if you have B to look at what you shot with A.... lol

Xbox One : One S : Project Scorpio Next

2017 will be the big year for 4K content when Microsoft launches the next Xbox, Project Scorpio, which also supports 4K gaming. The current Xbox One S only supports 4K video, and only if you have a TV that supports 4K and a HDMI cable that works with that standard. The One S also supports HDR10 if you TV also supports HDR 10, buyer beware! In the reviews, the new Xbox One S is 40% smaller, bright white, and comes with a huge 2TB drive, similar to the 2TB fusion drive in my iMac! If you own the big black Xbox One, don't bother upgrading, unless you live in a 25sq ft apartment in Tokyo where that tiny additional volume is actually useful. Noteworthy is the lack of a dedicated external power brick, the new Xbox One S has an internal power supply. That sounds like bad idea given Microsofts history of overlooking thermal management issues with the RROD in the Xbox 360, and liberal use of case space and huge fan in the Xbox One or XBONE as it is known. I actually like that the AC to DC conversion is happening outside the Xbox, only clean DC entering the console. I can hear echo's of Seymour Cray in my memory, he was a proponent of clean power in computer systems.

Larger > 4K

Having a bigger display is better than having 4K in most TV installations. In many instances, people are going to be sitting 6ft or more away from their TV screen, meaning a 50in 1080P display would look better than a 46inch 4K display, given a similar price point and display module quality. Go bigger with your display and wait another year or 2 for 4K content to become more mainstream.

LED Energy Star

LED has gone a long way towards making TV's very light, thin, and energy efficient. Our 48inch Sony using only $14 worth of power annually according to the Energy Star Yellow Placard that shipped stuck to the edge of the display. That was assuming 3hr per day and power for $0.12/kWh. I call our TV a display because we do not have cable, we stream content from a blu-ray player, an Apple TV, or Chrome cast, through HDMI, via wifi-or RJ45 hard wired into our router, over comcast cable Performance Speed internet. The Chrome Cast is benched in a drawer for now, the old Apple TV serving up the low heat alternative to the Xbox One. We are having a heat wave right now, so I pulled the Apple TV out of storage and hooked it up so we could leave the Xbox One in standby, its a space heater by comparison, great for gaming too ^^ Forza Horizon II and Destiny are the games Meg and I like the most, though there are some other fun games installed like Assassins Creed Black Flag, it shipped free with the console!