CES 2016 TV tech: 4K yawns, high dynamic range dawns
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CNET.com reports that at the television-tech-heavy Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January, TVs with 4K resolution are old hat. So what’s new hat? The next-generation TV technology known as high dynamic range (HDR).
Every few years at the massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the world gets introduced to a new buzzword in television technology. Not too long ago it was 3D, then it was OLED, then it was 4K and Ultra High Definition.
In January 2016, I’m betting the buzzword most uttered in the presence of 100-inch flat panels on the show floor will be “HDR,” which stands for high dynamic range.
TV reviewers — folks like me who try to help you decide what’s actually worth buying — look at HDR as a potentially more important improvement than 3D or 4K. Its benefits can be more visible than 4K and more broadly appealing than 3D.
And since 4K TVs are now basically mainstream, with dirt-cheap prices and correspondingly thin profit margins, the voracious capitalist beast of technological progress needs its next shiny new object. Something higher, in both price and ambition. And that’s why TV manufacturers, the ones who spend millions to power shows like CES, look at HDR as something that might convince you to spend more money on a bigger and better flat-panel.
Read more at http://www.cnet.com/news/ces-2016-tv-tech-preview/