Disney George Clooney’s grizzled face filled the screen, and I was in awe. Not at the face per se, but at all the wrinkles. The individual creases and lines. Fine hairs and pores. Then there were the subtle variations in skin tones. Or how his white tunic was so bright (yeah, it was a different …

Today there are plenty of TVs for sale with 4K resolution, the successor to high-definition TV, but almost no actual 4K content. With the absence of pretty much anything else to watch in 4K today, gaming is one of the most commonly mentioned uses for 4K TVs. “Sure,” they say. “There’s no 4K movie or TV shows yet, but think …

Sarah Tew/CNET It’s probably been a while since you upgraded your AV receiver, right? Receivers, those bulky boxes at the heart of many surround sound systems, tend to last longer than a lot of other gear. However, if you use yours not only to power your speakers, but to switch video as well — that is, all your sources are …

Update 1/2017: There’s been an update that supersedes this one, it’s called HDMI 2.1. HDMI 2.0a is the latest version of the beloved/despised spec that regulates those ubiquitous cables, inputs and outputs that connect pretty much everything in your home entertainment center. It’s a minor update, but a potentially important one for this year and beyond. The most important part …

It’s a hard burn from Perth. A nearly straight line due east, six hours and change across the hot flat of Western Australia. In the distance, over the horizon: gold. Or at least, the hope of gold, hiding deep beneath the Earth. Machines the size of buildings toil around the clock, hauling dirt laced with promise. Next to the town …

Samsung has launched several new, expensive televisions under the “SUHD” name, and we’ve received a few questions from readers wondering what it means. UHD is the official industry term for Ultra High Definition, which is the less-popular way to say ” 4K.” So what is “S” UHD? Super UHD? Spectacular UHD? Sassy UHD? Perhaps just Samsung UHD? Samsung’s official answer …

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET Since the first color TV signals were broadcast, over 50 years ago, there have been shockingly few advancements. Thanks to limited bandwidth, legacy standards and the limitations of ancient CRT televisions, even the HDTV standards introduced in the early 2000s didn’t improve color realism much beyond what had been possible for decades. That’s all about to change. In …

The smallest triangle (circles at corners) is what your current HDTV can do. The next largest (squares) is P3 color. The largest (triangles) is Rec 2020. Geoffrey Morrison/CNET (triangles); Sakurambo (base chart) One of the least appreciated, and frequently overlooked, aspects of a TV’s performance is the realism of its colors. The more accurate the colors, the more lifelike the …

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET Contrast ratio, put simply, is the difference between the brightest a TV can be, and the darkest. More so than color ( quantum dots or otherwise), resolution ( 4K or otherwise) or other aspects of picture quality, contrast makes the difference between a good- and a bad-looking image. TVs with the best contrast look best to casual viewers …

When you think of major submarine bases (if you think of major submarine bases), you might think of New London, Kings Bay, Pearl Harbor, maybe Rybachiy. But… Fremantle? During World War II, Fremantle, on the west coast of Australia, was actually one of the largest submarine bases in the world, and largest in the southern hemisphere, home to over 160 …