2:04

This is the Daily Tech News for

2:06

Friday, September 8, 2023, from Studio Triscuit. I'm

2:11

Sarah Lane.

2:11

From Columbus, Ohio, I'm Rob

2:13

Dunwood. I'm the

2:16

show's producer, Roger Chiang. And

2:18

joining us today is Robert Herron,

2:20

home theater and TV calibration

2:23

expert. Hi, Robert. Good to have

2:25

you back. Hello.

2:25

Hello. Thank

2:28

you. It's a pleasure to be here. It's kind of

2:30

cool to call yourself a TV calibration

2:32

expert, because not all of us can say

2:34

that exact same thing.

2:36

Hey, I've been doing it a very long

2:38

time. And I say

2:41

the persistence and the education and

2:44

the right equipment, it all pays off if you

2:46

stick with it.

2:47

Well, we're so glad to have you on the show.

2:49

We're going to be talking a lot more about TVs

2:52

a little bit later. But first, let's

2:54

start with the quick heads.

2:59

Tesla and Hilton have partnered to install 20,000

3:01

Tesla universal wall

3:03

connectors across 2,000 Hilton

3:07

hotel properties in the United States

3:09

and Canada and Mexico, starting in The

3:14

deal expands a previous partnership

3:17

between the two, and we'll see chosen properties get

3:19

at least six new chargers. Hilton's

3:22

chief brand officer, Matt Schuler,

3:24

says that the second most search attribute

3:27

for its hotels is EV

3:29

charging.

3:30

The IRS announced a new effort Friday

3:32

to pursue 1,600 millionaires and 75

3:35

large business partnerships that owe hundreds

3:37

of millions of dollars in past due taxes.

3:40

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said that

3:42

new federal funding and AI tools will both

3:44

help the agency target people who

3:46

have cut corners on their taxes.

3:49

AI, making you pay taxes

3:52

if you're very rich. Interesting. In

3:54

a likely effort to fend off AI models

3:57

training on its data, the social

3:59

media flop.

3:59

Platform X, formerly known as

4:02

Twitter, updated its terms of service

4:04

to prohibit scraping and crawling of any

4:06

kind without, quote, prior

4:08

written consent, end quote.

4:10

Twitter has also recently

4:13

updated its robots.txt

4:15

file to remove all crawler bots,

4:17

except Google. X's new terms go

4:19

into effect on September 29th.

4:22

Google's next Chromecast remote might have

4:25

more buttons. Android Deep Diver and

4:27

Michelle Raman dug into the latest Android TV 14

4:29

beta release and found a system

4:31

video showcasing the outline of what looks

4:33

like a brand new remote designed to control Google

4:36

TV software. The new remote resembles

4:38

the current flat, pill-shaped remote, but

4:40

now the six main control buttons seem to have scattered

4:43

to make room for what could be a new volume

4:45

or channel rocker matching the diameter

4:47

of the face buttons.

4:50

Huawei's launch of the apparently 5G

4:53

capable Mate 60 and Mate 60

4:55

Pro smartphones last week raised

4:58

some questions about U.S. sanctions

5:00

efficacy. Today, Huawei

5:03

challenged that further by unveiling

5:06

two more new devices, the Mate 60

5:08

Pro Plus and the Mate X5 Foldable.

5:12

Some gadget sources say that these are 5G

5:14

devices, noting Chinese blogger Vincent

5:17

Zong's speed test on the Mate X5,

5:19

which reached a download speed

5:21

of over 1 gigabit per second, though

5:24

without a 5G indicator. So probably

5:27

5G, but not saying 5G. Related,

5:31

the U.S. Commerce Department has begun an official

5:33

probe into what kind of chip exactly

5:35

is in Huawei's latest smartphone

5:37

line. And those

5:40

are the quick hits. Now

5:42

the official launch of iOS 17 is

5:45

expected, along with new iPhones and

5:48

who even knows what else, at Apple's

5:50

Wonderlust event that is due

5:53

for Tuesday, September 12th. We

5:55

will be covering it with the Snob OS team,

5:57

Terrence Gans and Nika Monford joining

5:59

us.

5:59

as we do for Apple events,

6:02

it's going to be a lot of fun. But ahead of that,

6:05

Apple released iOS 16.6.1, which

6:09

patches two zero day exploits

6:12

used to inject Pegasus spyware.

6:15

Internet

6:15

watchdog group Citizen Lab explained

6:17

in a blog post last week that

6:22

they found a zero click vulnerability, which

6:24

means a hacker's targets don't have to tap

6:26

or click on anything to be affected. Basically,

6:29

you just have to be affected. Add

6:31

in quote, the exploit chain

6:34

was capable of compromising iPhones

6:36

running the latest version of iOS 16.6

6:39

without any interaction from the victim

6:41

and quote,

6:43

all right, Rob, the big news from those

6:45

who've been following this is that you should update

6:47

your iOS device immediately if you haven't

6:50

already. That's pretty clear. We

6:53

hear this with exploits all the time.

6:56

Is there anything unusual about

6:58

this particular one that we can take away from?

7:00

Well, what makes this one particularly nasty

7:03

is that you don't have to do anything. As you said,

7:05

if you just get it, you've got it and

7:07

you're infected and they can put this nasty

7:10

Pegasus software on your device.

7:13

So as you said, you want to make sure that

7:15

you are updating your device.

7:18

Don't say I want to get the new iPhone, I

7:20

can just hold out. You need to go ahead and run

7:22

this update. Apple

7:25

makes it really easy to do. And this is one

7:27

of the times when you should absolutely exercise

7:30

that ease and make sure you get this done.

7:34

Robert, Robert Herron,

7:36

we got another couple of Rob's on this Friday.

7:40

It used to be the case that a

7:42

lot of Windows stuff,

7:43

you'd hear about things

7:45

like this, but Apple stuff

7:47

was somewhat exempt. We're in

7:49

a different world. Totally,

7:52

they are the biggest phone manufacturer

7:54

in the world and they are a prime target

7:57

for exploits like these. And it's

7:59

especially

7:59

important if you happen to be in a country that

8:02

is actively targeting say journalists

8:05

or other people who may not be

8:07

toeing the line in terms of how they represent

8:09

the country or discussing things the country

8:11

would rather not be discussed and things

8:13

like that. And that's where I think these updates are the most

8:16

important for any platform, be it Android

8:19

or iOS, there are companies

8:21

like this one that will actually pay top

8:24

dollar for these zero click exploits

8:27

or zero day exploits that currently have no

8:29

protection to be had. And

8:31

looking at companies like Apple, it's nice just

8:34

to see that how far they extend

8:36

their updates. I believe the

8:38

6S that I still use for testing, it

8:41

just went off the latest update list. So

8:44

if you have anything from approximately an

8:47

iPhone 7 or later, you're still

8:49

protected by these latest updates. And that's really

8:51

nice to see. And it's something I'm seeing

8:53

carrying over to other manufacturers like Samsung,

8:57

Google themselves and others on the Android

8:59

side providing longer term security

9:01

updates for issues

9:04

that really don't affect all of us. But it's still one

9:06

of those things where man, I don't

9:08

even want the capability of somebody to be able

9:10

to just send me a link or

9:13

with no interaction on my part at all, take over

9:15

my phone and turn it into a personal spy

9:17

device, considering how personal these devices

9:20

are.

9:20

Yeah, I mean, I happen to be running iOS 17

9:24

because, you know, I'm part of the beta program.

9:26

So I was like, well, I'm not, you know,

9:29

this doesn't apply to

9:31

me specifically. But

9:34

the next one, good. And

9:36

yeah, I think being

9:38

vigilant about this stuff and not

9:41

ignoring anything

9:43

that pushes you to update

9:45

something based on something

9:47

that is a security update is

9:50

not the worst

9:50

idea in the world. I have 100% agree. Well,

9:54

you know what, let's

9:56

talk a little bit about Spotify

9:58

because Spotify has been

9:59

in the news lately for a variety of reasons.

10:02

Most recently, as a podcast hub

10:04

that may be shifting course after some exclusive

10:06

series haven't panned out as planned. But

10:09

it sounds like Spotify is doubling down on

10:11

its non-music audio efforts, including

10:13

a pilot that tests free audio book bundles

10:15

for its paying subscribers in the coming

10:17

months.

10:18

Yeah, so the Wall Street Journal sources say

10:20

that Spotify is working with publishers

10:23

in the US, which would let

10:25

subscribers listen up to 20 hours

10:27

of audio books per month. Spotify

10:30

executives are reportedly looking

10:33

to challenge something like Audible,

10:35

which is sort of the

10:37

audio book offering that gets attention. Hard

10:40

to really

10:43

figure out what is

10:45

an Audible, you know,

10:49

what is challenging Audible, although you have

10:52

other options, some free options. For

10:54

example, if you have a library that

10:56

has free audio books as part of the

10:59

library pass, you might be able to do

11:01

that. But looks like Spotify is

11:03

trying to figure out how

11:06

it might challenge Audible. Some of the new

11:08

offerings might be designed to appease

11:11

Spotify

11:11

users though grumbling

11:13

about Spotify's price hike that

11:15

happened in July. It was $1 now at $10.99 per

11:18

month. Robert, are you a Spotify user or a audio

11:24

book user or both?

11:27

I am neither actually, I do

11:29

have some premium audio subscriptions

11:32

to my Sonos device actually

11:34

is my primary one. My main use

11:36

for audio books though has always been

11:38

for commute hours or trips

11:41

where I'm in the vehicle for a long period of time,

11:43

or just simply traveling. It's just one of those things

11:45

where I have the time to

11:48

actually pay attention and it can

11:50

really make a trip go by quickly. And it's one of the most

11:52

wonderful ways of quote unquote

11:55

killing time, so to speak, when you're in a situation

11:57

like that. So I

11:59

fully understand.

11:59

Spotify's desire to transition

12:02

some of their millions and hundreds of millions

12:05

of users to being paid clients

12:07

and going up against someone like Audible is interesting

12:10

to say the least considering Audible is like

12:12

the first company I think of when I think of

12:15

an audiobook experience so

12:17

that's the only one that I think

12:19

of although there are others but

12:22

you know that's the incumbents right yeah

12:25

there's definitely others out there but I can't think

12:27

of the names of any of them I know I know I use

12:30

something as you said Sarah with my library

12:32

subscription that allows me to get audiobooks

12:34

but Audible is the only one

12:36

that I can think of but I think one

12:39

of the things that Spotify is doing here is

12:41

that they have been on a run they've been signing

12:43

up users left and right lately I

12:45

mean they really have been hitting their

12:47

numbers as far as net new users the problem

12:50

is that they're not hitting their numbers as far

12:52

as people who are paying for their service so

12:54

I believe right now Spotify has 551 million

12:57

users only 220 million

12:59

are paid subscriptions so I think this

13:02

is an effort to try to get some of those free

13:04

users oh I can get audiobooks instead of paying

13:07

for Audible maybe I will just

13:09

do that inside of you know a

13:11

paid Spotify subscription since I'm already using

13:13

Spotify I think that that may be

13:15

one of the you know one of the areas that they're going after here

13:19

I like the idea of checking out your local library

13:21

too that was a good reminder especially

13:23

for maybe new parents out there

13:25

let their kids check it out I mean 100% that I mean

13:29

to be able to read free books and

13:31

get free audiobooks ebooks all

13:34

all the things I feel

13:36

like nobody pays enough attention

13:39

to your local library however talking

13:42

about what Spotify is doing here I think is

13:44

really

13:44

interesting in fact I pulled a couple

13:46

of friends that I know our Spotify users

13:49

I'm an Apple music user but I

13:51

always say like they're the same they're

13:53

roughly the same price you

13:55

get the same roughly the same

13:57

libraries maybe there's an exclusive

13:59

here or there But

14:02

yeah, the idea that Spotify has

14:05

gone hard into podcasts

14:07

with mixed results, depending on the

14:09

podcast that you're listening to, but

14:11

now wanting to be a place that you also

14:13

think of as a spoken word

14:16

type of place that you

14:18

might want to pay for, such as an audiobook.

14:21

I asked a couple of friends, like, how often do you listen

14:23

to audiobooks? And many

14:25

of them said, yeah, that's the only way I

14:27

read. Not that

14:29

I don't like reading, but I don't have time. But

14:32

I can be in my car, maybe an Uber,

14:34

maybe on a train, maybe on a plane.

14:38

And there is a lot going on

14:40

here. So yeah, I think

14:42

it'll be interesting to see how Spotify

14:46

retains audiobook listeners

14:49

six months from now.

14:51

The Travelers is the sweet

14:53

spot for this. A good buddy of mine, we know

14:56

Rod Simmons from SMR Podcasts

14:58

and Barbecue and Tech, he travels

15:00

internationally two

15:02

to three times per

15:04

month. So he is an avid audiobook

15:06

listener, and he probably goes through three dozen books a year

15:10

or more easily. That's

15:12

crazy. That sounds crazy

15:15

to me, because again, I'm like, who has

15:17

time to sit down and read all those books?

15:20

But again, if you've got the downtime,

15:23

especially if you're traveling, it's

15:26

great to do. We would love to know more

15:28

about if you listen to audiobooks

15:30

and how. Friend of mine was like, I listen

15:33

to audiobooks on 2x. And I was like,

15:35

that's insane. Why? And

15:37

he said, because I don't have

15:38

time. I

15:40

get through the book twice as fast. I

15:43

thought, hmm, all right, cool. Everybody

15:46

does things differently. Feedback at dailytechnewsshow.com

15:49

is where to send your feedback. So,

15:51

if you have anything about this, but just

15:53

to let you know, if you are not

15:55

familiar with Know a Little More, this season

15:58

is better than ever.

15:59

Tom breaks down a pivotal moment

16:02

in tech history in the latest episode called

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the mother of all demos. How many

16:06

technologies we use today were

16:08

introduced in the in the

16:10

year of 1968? Many

16:13

of us were not born at that time.

16:15

Some of us might have been. But

16:17

why did it take over a decade for

16:21

some of those technologies to go mainstream

16:23

after that year? All this season on Know

16:25

a Little More, check out the Patreon page

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at patreon.com slash know

16:30

a little more to know a little

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more.

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17:45

All right, Robert Heron, we're so glad to have

17:47

you on the show today.

17:50

You recently covered a lot

17:52

of stuff that came out of the Custom Electronics

17:55

Design and Installation Association, or

17:57

CDES.

17:58

sorry, C E

18:01

D I A, which started yesterday,

18:03

which means it's time to talk about

18:05

trends that people can expect from

18:07

the TV and home theater space.

18:10

We had Patrick Norton on the show earlier this

18:12

week to talk about soundbars and

18:14

you know how that's all evolving. So what

18:18

might we be seeing in upcoming TV

18:20

designs that might make

18:22

your home theater better?

18:24

In addition to CD there's one other show currently

18:27

going on right now. We're about to finish up called IFA,

18:29

I F A and that is the other one where

18:32

new TVs are being introduced and it's likely

18:34

things we're going to be seeing soon at CES

18:36

come January in Las Vegas. One

18:39

of the big trends, literally

18:41

for TVs right now is the fact

18:43

that they're becoming supersized. I thought

18:45

the 85 inch was a pretty big screen and

18:47

it is, but now there are several

18:50

options for 98 inch or even larger

18:52

screens out there at a variety

18:54

of price points from familiar manufacturers

18:57

that you may already know

18:59

something about, including folks like

19:02

Samsung, TCL and high sense.

19:05

I am kind of shocked really about how many

19:07

models are coming out at that particular size

19:10

and that might be something that's going to be important

19:12

for folks who would like to go maybe projection,

19:15

but don't have the rooms set up

19:17

for that where it can be dark enough to be

19:20

compelling. Whereas you could

19:22

put up an idea at inch TV and get a pretty

19:24

damn big screen experience with

19:27

something that can do very good contrast, brightness

19:29

and color and the price points to

19:32

some of these 98 inch screens for this

19:34

year will likely start at about $6,000

19:37

and of course the more premium ones are

19:39

going to go up into the solid five figures. But

19:42

anyway, I think that is a, uh,

19:45

actually too, I was taking a look at Best Buy. There

19:47

is a 2022, I believe

19:49

version of a TCL 98 inch TV

19:52

right now, part of their Excel collection that

19:54

happens to be a mere $4,000 on

19:57

sale right now that kind of blows

19:59

me away. in terms of just the cost for

20:01

the given screen size. A TV literally

20:04

about the size of a queen-size

20:06

bed. And like I said too,

20:08

if you've thought about projection and

20:11

dealing with things like screens and room

20:13

environments and the projector unit itself

20:15

is just too much, having just a standalone

20:18

large format TV is the way to go. However-

20:21

I know a lot of people say $4,000, that's

20:23

still crazy. But for a 90-inch television,

20:26

it-

20:28

A year ago, if

20:30

we were talking about this, it would have been $7,500. You

20:33

know, if you're lucky. Why

20:35

do you think the prices are coming down and who's

20:38

this for? Because I think most

20:40

people say, bigger the better, right? But

20:43

most people simply don't have

20:45

a room where they could get

20:48

far enough back from something of this

20:50

size.

20:50

You need a decent-sized space

20:53

for it. But if you could be back, say, at least 10

20:55

feet from the screen, it's not an unreasonable

20:58

size to consider. Obviously, you could

21:00

have a larger room than that even. One

21:02

thing to keep in mind is that LCD technology

21:05

as a display system, there is

21:07

really not much left in terms of development

21:10

going into it. It's more of a

21:12

massaging of all the current features on

21:14

a very incremental basis going

21:16

forward from this point. Folks are focused- These

21:19

companies are focused more on

21:20

what's next.

21:21

And that will be things like OLED,

21:23

and we'll talk about that in a second. But keep in

21:25

mind that the people making these screens are

21:28

trying to just capture as much of whatever

21:30

the remaining market's going to be going

21:32

forward with LCD technology. Now,

21:36

if I'm looking for what I'm going

21:38

to recommend to somebody out there right now, budget

21:41

permitting, it will be an OLED-based display

21:43

system, an organic light-emitting diode. The

21:46

display system that's going to give you that infinite contrast

21:49

ratio, perfect black

21:51

levels, and just punchy color

21:53

with historically great viewing angles where you can sit

21:55

pretty much anywhere in the room and

21:58

still see a really nice picture. I

22:00

still consider OLED to be king and it

22:02

is, it can, at least

22:05

on the high end, it's still kind of an expensive

22:08

technology for some

22:10

people. But budget permitting, there are TVs

22:12

out there right now like the Samsung S95C

22:15

that I would consider one of the top in

22:18

its category and class. This uses

22:20

the new Quantum Dot OLED technology, which

22:22

in my opinion provides some of the most saturated

22:25

looking color, just purity

22:28

of color that you'll see. And this is their

22:29

second generation of this technology. The

22:32

panel itself made by Samsung Display

22:35

and then sold through Samsung Electronics in the

22:37

form of a TV. If you find the price

22:39

points of that TV a little too

22:41

much, you can go with their S90C, which knocks

22:44

the brightness down a little bit, but it still features

22:46

that color purity of the Quantum Dot

22:49

OLED technology. Now, LG

22:51

is not screwing around. This is their 10th anniversary

22:54

of their OLED technology. And for

22:56

that, they introduced one of the very finest

22:59

displays they've ever crafted

22:59

in the form of the G3 Evo

23:02

OLED TV. This is using the

23:05

metal lens array technology that they've integrated.

23:08

That was basically a lab thing a couple

23:10

of years ago and is now being integrated. Millions

23:12

of tiny lenses in the front of the TV to

23:14

help capture light that would otherwise

23:17

scatter incorrectly and redirect

23:19

it forward for improved brightness, literally

23:22

about a 50% bump in

23:24

overall luminance coming out of the front of that

23:26

screen. And that technology also

23:29

improves off-axis

23:29

viewing as well,

23:32

making it just one of the most compelling

23:34

looking TVs as far as their

23:37

premium flagship for the year. Again,

23:39

if you want to. I

23:40

think one of the things that, sorry

23:43

to interrupt you, one of the things that people ask

23:45

me the most because I'm sometimes

23:47

the most technical person in the room, it's

23:50

like, what's all that proprietary

23:53

OLED stuff? Depending

23:55

on what manufacturer you want to go

23:58

with or price point. or

24:00

both. I feel like

24:02

a lot of these companies are talking about the

24:04

same thing, right?

24:06

For the panel, to me, there's only

24:09

two manufacturers currently. It's either the

24:11

Samsung display panel using

24:13

the QD OLED technology, the

24:15

Quantum Dot OLED technology. And

24:18

technically speaking, that's just a blue

24:20

OLED material that then has

24:22

Quantum Dot color converters for red and green.

24:25

It converts some of that blue light super

24:27

efficiently into the red and the green for

24:30

the red, blue, green that is used

24:32

to generate all the colors we see. Now

24:34

in the case of LG, they

24:37

use a whitish material that

24:39

then goes through a more standard traditional

24:41

color filter. And it's really

24:44

just two ways of doing it. There are

24:46

pros and cons to each one. I would

24:48

say one thing in common with both technologies though

24:50

right now is that compared to years past,

24:53

they are more robust than they've ever been

24:55

in terms of just how long

24:58

they're going to last, how less susceptible

25:00

to things like burn-in they are. And

25:03

in general, if you were looking at one of the new 2023

25:05

TVs, I could wholeheartedly

25:07

recommend it. The one OLED everyone's

25:10

still waiting for is Sony's version

25:12

of the QD OLED technology. Using

25:14

Samsung display's panel, last

25:17

year the

25:18

A95K from Sony took first

25:20

place in the shootout for last year's home

25:23

theater TVs. This year everyone's

25:25

waiting for the A95K and

25:27

it is still not out yet. It should, you

25:30

can pre-order it right now. It will be

25:32

out on October 13th and Sony in

25:36

terms of offering a factory

25:38

calibration that's just superb is

25:40

one of those companies where it's probably the

25:43

best massaged TV you could

25:45

buy. You'll pay a premium for it but

25:47

the out of the box experience can be fan-freaking-tastic.

25:57

here

26:00

and was like, ask him about something

26:02

that's just, you know, the best 55 inch TV. I

26:05

don't want anything bigger than that. I just

26:08

want the best one of in

26:11

that category. And,

26:13

you know, could perhaps be,

26:17

you know, get a soundbar, you know,

26:19

figure out a little simple home

26:21

theater stuff going on along with that. What

26:24

do you tell people who ask you about

26:26

things in that category?

26:27

If the word best creeps into it and the budget's

26:30

there, I'll direct them towards Sony.

26:32

Sony's version of that QD

26:34

OLED technology is not only just

26:37

well built from the factory, it also has some very unique

26:40

functionality built into it. It actually

26:42

has a way of vibrating the screen

26:45

and the whole screen is actually an actuated

26:48

speaker and it is compelling

26:50

to actually realize that sound is coming directly

26:53

out of the picture itself. And

26:55

that to me is pretty fantastic. They also

26:57

integrate a camera system on

26:59

top of the TV to not only determine

27:01

room light levels

27:02

and how far you are away

27:04

from the TV and it'll

27:06

do automatic adjustments for both sound

27:09

and picture quality in real time

27:11

for that. And they've also incorporated

27:13

some pretty robust privacy controls as well so

27:15

you're not freaking out about having a camera looking

27:18

around the room while you're doing that. But

27:20

again, that TV comes out next month and

27:22

that's the one most folks are just kind of waiting

27:24

to see and they will compare every other

27:27

OLED out there to it. And that's the one

27:29

I'm, I already have appointments people are

27:31

asking me about. They've already preordered

27:33

it and I'm scheduled to go take a look at it as soon as

27:35

it arrives so I'll be doing that. But

27:38

outside of OLED technology, if you're

27:41

looking for a good value, it's going to be the LCD

27:43

panels out there. That remains

27:45

your best bang for the buck in terms

27:47

of just I need a big TV, I need

27:50

something bright, robust and

27:52

at a variety of price points. You

27:54

can always spend just as much on a

27:56

good LCD as you can, a good OLED

27:58

as well. companies like TCL,

28:01

they have their QM8 4K TV. That

28:04

is one that is, I would put up there with,

28:06

you know, some of the best work I've seen

28:08

out of companies like Samsung and Sony. I

28:11

will say

28:12

it is one of the brightest TVs you can currently

28:15

buy as far as LCD technology goes. A

28:18

few thousand nits of peak brightness, which

28:20

this could be the, if

28:22

you have a very bright room, this would be a TV that

28:25

would compete very well with that. There

28:27

are some quirks to its picture quality

28:29

currently, and I love TCL as

28:31

a company. I'm really hoping they put

28:33

out at least one more good firmware update

28:35

for this TV, and that's something I will be keeping an eye on. This

28:39

is a Google-powered TV, so it has that

28:41

built into it as well. Its direct

28:43

competitor, I would say, would be the Hisense U8K

28:46

that is also historically

28:48

a company that you're in and you're

28:51

out is doing better and better work. The

28:53

new U8K has arrived

28:56

and it is currently available, priced a

28:58

little more competitively

28:59

than the TCL I just mentioned, and

29:02

the brightness might not hit the same peak levels, but it's

29:04

still a dramatically bright,

29:07

colorful, punchy TV. You

29:09

know, just in the interest of time,

29:11

because we could go through this all

29:13

day, and I love nothing more than

29:15

to talk about televisions, because,

29:17

you know, who doesn't like it? If

29:20

anyone were to say, okay, so OLED

29:22

is the best, but you're also talking about

29:24

pretty great LCD TVs, what would be the

29:27

one thing that you would say is the discerner

29:29

between the two? You know, maybe, sure,

29:33

you care about color quality, but, you know,

29:36

is there one thing in a room

29:38

that you potentially are going

29:40

to put this new TV in that you really have to think

29:42

about?

29:44

I think if you really like letterboxed

29:47

movies with the black bars on the screen, it

29:49

is really, and you sit in a light controlled

29:51

environment, a fairly dark room environment.

29:54

There is something kind of magical about OLED screens,

29:56

because of that ability to completely

29:58

turn off a pixel, and you

29:59

it makes for perfect contrast.

30:02

Those black bars disappear. That

30:04

image is literally just floating there. And

30:07

if you move your head a little to the left or the right or you're

30:09

not sitting directly in the sweet spot, you

30:11

still get very good picture quality. And that's where

30:14

some LCDs struggle, especially the more value-oriented

30:16

ones. Now, Samsung's premium

30:18

8K TV, they have a 900C currently. That

30:22

is still one of my absolute favorite LCD

30:25

televisions out there right now in terms of design.

30:28

It has extra technologies

30:29

for off-axis viewing and

30:32

it's overall a fantastic thing.

30:35

But

30:36

when it really just comes down to me being

30:38

in the appropriate room and for taking in

30:40

the image quality, or there

30:43

are certain cases to be argued to for gamers

30:46

as well in terms of pure pixel

30:48

performance, in terms of how fast that pixel

30:50

can switch. OLED is almost

30:53

unbeatable. I can't think of another technology.

30:56

Definitely no LCD that can keep up with it. So

30:58

that's, if you're gonna say, why do I harp

31:00

on and

31:02

make the praises for OLED screens? That's

31:04

why. There's a lot going on there. But

31:06

for absolute brightness, it's harder

31:09

to do it with

31:11

OLED and that's where LCDs can really shine,

31:13

literally and figuratively. Yeah, so

31:15

that's something to keep in mind if you have a room with lots

31:17

of windows, for example,

31:19

or you might not always

31:21

be sitting in the same place in that

31:23

same room.

31:25

And then also applies when you're looking at any TV,

31:28

it's kind of nice to see them ahead of time, or at least

31:30

read the reviews and see how they focus on

31:32

things like ambient light

31:34

glare reflection or anti-glare coatings. Samsung's

31:38

one of the best companies and they've been pioneering for a few

31:40

years now, the ability just to minimize

31:42

any kind of reflection coming off the screen. You'll

31:45

see that going forward with more and more manufacturers

31:48

for this year and next year as well.

31:50

Well, Robert Herron, we are so

31:53

glad to have you on the show. Many

31:55

of us might be in the market for TVs or

31:57

we just want to hear about the newest and

31:59

the...

31:59

greatest and you are the man to do

32:02

that. Let folks know when

32:04

you're not with us on this show where

32:06

they can keep up with your work.

32:08

You can always look me up at harrenfidelity.com

32:11

or robertharren.com, either one, you'll

32:13

find me there. And of course, I also

32:16

am trying to get back with Patrick Norton and get

32:18

the podcast rolling again, but we're currently

32:20

on the summer hiatus for the AVXL

32:23

podcast. And otherwise, that's

32:25

a I imagine that'll be happening sooner than

32:27

later. So

32:28

well, we're so glad to have you

32:30

today. Thank you so much for bringing the knowledge.

32:33

Appreciate it. My pleasure.

32:36

So patrons stick around for the extended

32:38

show. Good day, internet. We have another

32:40

round of Who am I? Can you guess the identity

32:42

of the person before the final clue is

32:45

given?

32:45

Oh, we love our Friday games.

32:48

We're glad to have Robert here and joining us for

32:50

that. But just a reminder, we do the show

32:52

live. You can catch it live Monday

32:55

through Friday at 4pm Eastern 2000 UTC.

32:58

And you can find out more or tell a friend daily

33:01

tech news show.com slash

33:03

live. We hope you all have a wonderful

33:05

weekend. We will be back on Monday with

33:08

Justin Robert Young. Joining us.

33:11

Talk to you then.

33:19

This week's episodes of Daily Tech News

33:21

show were created by the following people

33:24

host, producer and writer Tom Merritt, host,

33:26

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33:29

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33:31

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33:33

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