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A/V Veteran
UHDTV or UHD Projector?
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 07, 2017
A recent survey in the AVS Forum about choosing between a flat screen TV and a projector rang a few bells for me. Having just acquired a 65-inch OLED as my reference display, and having recently completed reviews of three new projectors (with a fourth now underway), it’s not a decision I have to wrestle with. For what I do, I need both. But many of you, at one time or another, may have to choose. And with Black Friday (or Cyber Monday) barreling toward us you can use all the information you can get.

Most will choose the flat screen Ultra HDTV. And they’ll inevitably buy an Ultra HD set rather than 1080p HD because the time’s now long past when you can find a good 65-inch or larger set that isn’t Ultra HD. And for a home theater, where movies are king, a 65-incher is likely what you’re looking for...

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A/V Veteran
Ultra HD a Cappella
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 27, 2015
The 2015 International CES is over, but the melody lingers on. The big news in video, of course, is that Ultra HD is coming to us like a great singer who is pushed out on stage knowing the tune but not the lyrics. The result might be a stirring vocalization of “Over the Rainbow,” but the only words the singer can think of are the lyrics to “Does Your Chewing Gum Loose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight.”

In short, most (but not all) of the sets launched at the show still feature only one of the important features of Ultra HD: 4K resolution...

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A/V Veteran
Ultra HD Blues...and Reds and Greens
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 26, 2014
Ultra HD Blues…and Reds, and Greens I recently completed a review of Sony’s new VPL-VW600ES Ultra HD (4K) projector. This isn’t a sneak peak—that would cannibalize our coverage. The review will appear in the May 2014 issue of Sound & Vision. But for those who can’t wait, I’ll just say here that while the 600ES isn’t the champ in all respects, it’s still, overall, the best-looking projector I’ve yet had in my home theater.

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A/V Veteran
Ultra HD's Brave New World: More Than Just 4K
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 10, 2015
As we’ve taken pains to point out previously here at Sound & Vision, there’s more to Ultra HD than just 4K resolution. The latter merely offers eight times as many pixels as 1080p HD. That’s unlikely to make much difference on any but the very largest sets viewed from 6-8 feet from the screen. Advanced color and high dynamic range (HDR), are also a part of the specs for Ultra HD (or UHD for short), and will definitely up the ante in the eye-candy department even on a small set viewed from across the room.

While advanced color and HDR remain, for now, small players in the psychodrama that most folks still refer to as simply 4K, they’re definitely on their way...

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A/V Veteran
Ultra HD, Part II: Is it Soup Yet?
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 22, 2014
A few months back I wrote about the hazards of assuming that any Ultra HD set you might buy today will be future proof. At the risk of repeating myself, some of the points I made there are worth going over again in a different, shorter form—not least of all because new readers are unlikely to devour a long, two month old blog!
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A/V Veteran
Ultra HD: Is It Soup Yet?
Thomas J. Norton  |  May 13, 2014
Ultra HD has been around for a couple of years now, but prices have now dropped to the point that acquiring an Ultra HD set can be a serious consideration for folks in the market for a new TV, particularly early-adopters. TV makers hope that the next Big Thing in video will be Ultra HD, or as it is widely (and imprecisely) called, 4K. They also hope that Ultra HD has the legs that home 3D (now in its, “Hello, I must be going” phase) lacked.

Ultra HD can be much more than simply 4K resolution (more precisely, 3840 x 2160 in the consumer arena—4K in the pro world , including digital cinema projection, is 4096 x 2160). It also has the potential to offer a wider color gamut, an increased color bit depth, and less aggressive color subsampling. If that string of technobabble sounds intimidating, it simply means that in addition to more pixels, Ultra HD could provide a wider and richer color palette than does our current HD standard.

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CES 2015
Ultra-D Glasses Free 3D
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 06, 2015
Ultra-D is a development of Stream TV Networks, in conjunction with partnering companies, to offer glasses free 3D. Their press event was a less elaborate affair than those above (though the awful photograph shown here is largely my fault!).
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CES 2015
UltraHDTVs for Haier
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 08, 2015
Haier is a Chinese brand less well known here than TCL or Hisense, much less Vizio, Samsung, or Sony. It did show some very nice looking sets in a large, tastefully decorated booth, but like Changhong above, it needs to increase its market presence significantly before most consumers will recognize its name.
Accessory Reviews
Ultralink HDMI-RPT HDMI Repeater
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jun 06, 2005

Even as DVI and HDMI were being adopted by video manufacturers as the digital links of choice, one limitation of these connections was already well known: they don't like to be used in long lengths. The generally accepted limit for an unassisted digital video cable of this type is about 5 meters or just over 16 feet, particularly with high-definition sources.

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CEDIA 2015
Unwinding
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 17, 2015
These lucky showgoers (probably weary AV scribes worn out from a hard day spend pounding the keys) catch a few winks before getting back to the grindstone.

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