The HDMI cable solved a lot of problems. It removed the need for a number of cables, making cable management a cakewalk. There are now versions of this cable, each iteration better than the last. This is where the confusion comes in.
Last week, at CES, you saw a lot of display manufacturers talk about innovations in display technology and how this year’s modular TVs are going to be everywhere. But it is not yet as simple as bringing home a TV and playing high-resolution content on it.
Even if you have the right cable for it, not all content is ready for the kind of promises that these TVs are making.
What are the things that you are most likely to hear this year about TVs? And how you should take it with a grain of salt.
Screen resolution
QLED panels trump OLED panels. Quantum displays are here. And more companies will start making those. 4K resolution is tame now so the move towards 8K and 10K has increased. Along with that, so has the emphasis on higher refresh rates. Everyone wants to enjoy the kind of refresh rates while watching a movie as they do on their gaming monitors. So, 8K TVs with 120Hz refresh rates are something that you might end up seeing.
HDR
One of the features that TV manufacturers boast about, High Dynamic Range. This is what gives you bright highlights and punchier colors. The latest standard of it is HDR 10+. The idea of dynamic HDR is to give an accurate output per frame rather than decide an output range for the whole show. This is, of course, better because shows and movies have varying scenes in terms of brightness and color.
Connectivity options
The push for wireless has increased now more than ever. But you will still need to connect a few things to your TV. There are a fair few ports that you will still need. HDMI 2.1, HDMI 2.0, USB, DisplayPort, and even RCA ports. With these ports, you will also need to make sure you have the right cables. While the HDMI version is always downward compatible, you cannot simply use older cables to get the best results. You need an HDMI 2.1 cable, as well as HDMI 2.0 cable with these ports.
Sound options
TVs will boast of Dolby Atmos. In 2020, that is not quite as fanciful as it used to be. Televisions have a tendency of sounding okay, and speaker sets have always given a better experience until now. So, it remains to see if this year’s TVs are going to attempt to one-up the speaker industry or not. But the odds are in favor of the speaker.
Gimmicks to be careful about
With every piece of technology, there are caveats. There are TVs that are as thin as a debit card, TVs that roll out of sight, and modular TVs that you can arrange all over a wall. The question is if you actually need that. Are you ever going to use that feature once the novelty wears off? And more importantly, how long will that TV last when its structure is flexible?
All consumer goods come down to price, but with technology that is this premium, it comes down to worth more than just the price. Is the price justifiable? Is the technology still developing but the marketing of living in the future done too well?
If you are in the market for a television, this year is good a year as any to get one. Even more so because the HDMI 2.1 cable that came out last year succeeding the HDMI 2.0 cable, will actually be in use now. The port will be in TVs beyond just the flagship ones, and it might just be relatively cheaper.
Display tech will change, the HDMI cable will live on, at least for the near future. SFCable has your cable needs covered no matter the variant of all cables under the sun. But it is important to know which one works the best with your equipment and we will help you figure that out.