TV Tech Decoded

The world of television can be a confusing place, where several buzzwords and techno-speak could be daunting to the uninitiated. Don’t worry, as here we are to bust the TV-tech jargon. We bet that next time you go TV hunting you are definitely going to go fully informed and the sales guy won’t take you to be just another layman.
Video Processing
Scaling
The TV has its own resolution, while the source has its own (the content to be displayed on the TV), and scaling is the process by which the TV matches the content’s resolution to its own. Your television will have a certain amount of pixels (tiny dots of light) that will form the overall picture at a certain resolution – the higher the resolution the more detailed and defined the picture will be, like UHD (3840 x 2160) Full HD (1080p) or HD Ready (720P) televisions. Regardless of what resolution the source material is, your TV will then process the video signal to match the number of pixels it has.
Screen Refresh Rate
Refresh rate refers to the number of times a television scans the signal per second and is measured in Hertz (Hz). Having a higher number here is better as it means the image should exhibit no flicker and the perception of moving images will be smoother. You must have seen TVs with extremely high refresh rates – anything up to 3000Hz – but it is more a slightly confusing terminology on the manufacturer’s behalf and actually refers to the number of times the backlight can be switched on and off, per second, rather than the number of times the screen is actually refreshing. Still, bigger is generally better but don’t be misled by manufacturer claims of incredibly fast screen refresh rates.
Motion Resolution
To display moving images at their full resolution with perfect clarity, manufacturers include optional motion processing to the TVs, which modifies the frame rate by inserting made-up (guessed) frames to give the impression of greater clarity. However, it is advisable to use the function only in moderate settings as over processing might actually ruin the picture quality.
Input Lag
Input Lag is defined as the time between when the user presses a button on a game controller and when the action happens on the screen. There are many factors that contribute to the amount of input lag, including whether you are using a wired or wireless controller, the network lag (if you are playing online) and the processing speed of the console itself.
Input lag is not to be confused with panel response time, which is the time measured for a pixel to go from grey to white and then back to grey again.
Calibration
Colour Gamut
This is the range of different colours that a TV can accurately display; the more colours, the wider the colour gamut and the more saturated and intense the colours will be. Most modern displays have a wide colour gamut available out of the box, which when displayed on screen adds an artificial punch to the picture. However, if the gamut is over the accepted standards then picture quality will suffer with colour inaccuracies.
High Dynamic Range (HDR)
HDR is a way of displaying the wider dynamic range inherent in the original capture of content. A film camera or a modern digital camera is capable of capturing a higher level of brightness (luminance) and a wider array of colours than the Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) content we more often see.
HDR doesn’t only increase the brightness of an image, it works on overall dynamic range between black and white by making the dark parts darker and the bright parts brighter, while retaining detail when both are in the frame. HDR also adds greater expression and detail within colours too.
Connectivity
HDMI 1.4/2.0/2.0a
For regular High Definition (1080P) video, and for that matter 3D content, an HDMI 1.4 port on the back of your TV will be sufficient. If, however, you’re planning to take the leap in to 4K with an Ultra HD TV, you will want to check its ports are at least HDMI 2.0 compatible. The HDMI 1.4 is also capable of carrying a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, but only at low frame rates, so it is not future-proofed against advances in Ultra HD delivery technology. The HDMI 2.0a connection is also important for High Dynamic Range (HDR) capability and HDR data processing.
HDCP 2.2
The very latest version of High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is 2.2 and you should get compatibility via any HDMI 2.0 labeled input for all that 4K Blu-ray and other UHD content.
Other Terminologies
Contrast Ratios
The contrast ratio of a TV is simply calculated by measuring the brightness of white (peak luminance) and then dividing that by the black level (minimum luminance level) measurement. The higher the contrast level, the more striking the picture will be; higher the better.
Dynamic Range
More the dynamic range in a TV, the more realistic images – closer to what we see in reality. While contrast is the difference between the darkest and brightest elements of the image, dynamic range is the expression of everything in between. A given colour has almost limitless shades (steps) that the eye can see but the content on TV is limited by compression techniques. Currently 4K delivers the best dynamic range with 10-bit video, providing 1,024 steps per colour.
Viewing Angles
When moving to the sides, you may notice that colours and contrast are more washed out and (just like laptop), depending on your room lay-out, this might be an important factor when considering a new TV. If you’re in the market for a new LED/LCD TV, look out for those having an IPS panel if wide viewing angles are a necessity. Or, if you have plenty to spend, OLED TVs offer the best off-axis viewing experience.
Dimming Systems
Dimming systems improve the perceived contrast and black levels, and can be global or local. Where global refers to an overall dimming of the picture, local means that smaller portions or zones of the screen are dimmed, providing a better coloured picture.
Backlit vs. Edge Lit
An LED TV actually means LED LCD TV. LED or Light Emitting Diodes is simply the lighting source of the LCD Panel providing the white light, as the LCD itself cannot illuminate enough to create a vivid image. The LED illuminates the panel in two ways; directly behind regions of LCD screen known as backlit, or on the edges of it, known as edge lit. The backlit LED produces more uniform results.