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The Times & The Sunday Times
The Times & The Sunday Times
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Luddite’s guide to... new TV tech

Matt Bingham
The Sunday Times

If you go shopping for a TV, you will probably be bombarded with mysterious acronyms and strings of digits. Don’t ignore them: they reveal a set’s capabilities.

Pixels, HD and UHD
The more pixels, the higher the screen resolution. “Full HD” means 1920 x 1080 of the things. It’s the broadcast format for dozens of TV channels, streaming services and Blu-ray discs. “UHD” is ultra-high definition, or 4K, with 3840 x 2160 pixels: four times as many as Full HD, but you’ll need a 55in-plus set to appreciate the difference.

Watching in 4K, or UHD
4K is the coming thing, but content must have been shot in that format, meaning films, some new series and live sport. Sky offers all three via satellite (from £34 a month); or you can get them online from BT (from £20) and Virgin (from £32). Netflix (£7.49 a month) and Amazon Prime Video (£5.99 a month) stream some series in UHD; a few films are on 4K Blu-ray discs, but you’ll need a player.

OLED v QLED
Regular TVs need a backlight that shines through the pixels. All fine — except when part of the picture has to be bright and part dark: the light for the bright bit reduces the blackness of the dark. OLED (organic light-emitting diode) solves this by having each pixel produce light; it’s impressive and has been adopted by all makers bar one for their pricier ranges. The refusenik is Samsung, which has QLED tech (the Q stands for quantum dot) and for current models relies on backlighting.

One final abbreviation...
HDR (high dynamic range) should work on all sizes of set and all types of pixel. Content shot, broadcast and shown on HDR kit has a wider colour and contrast range and appears incredibly punchy. Look for a badge saying “UHD Premium” to find a set supporting HDR.