You’ve finally invested in a quality new 4K or 8K television. Welcome to the 21st century!
The question is, have you reached the pinnacle of TV viewing simply by having made the purchase? Are you wondering whether your new TV has reached its full potential? Or is there anything holding it back from top performance and optimum viewing experiences?
One way to find out how you can get the most out of your new equipment is to call Thomas TV and ask, ‘what can I do to upgrade my new TV and what are some of the things that can affect performance?’
For starters, is your new TV hooked up using your old cables? Cables have changed a lot in the last few years. Traditional “100% shielding” is not enough against today’s Wi-Fi, Cellular, LTE,3G,4G,5G and Satellite radiation, WIFI enabled appliances, Smart Home Wi-Fi products and much much more. All of these electronic devices give off some form of RF or Radio Frequency interference.
How does this affect your new TV?
RF noise can reduce your TVs picture quality adding artifacts that shouldn’t be there!
These could be flickers in the background, pixelized images, distorted text colour shifts etc. It has an even larger more noticeable effect on your sound, adding unwanted static and distortion, making voices harder to hear and music sound hollow. Unfortunately, cables can pick up Radio-Frequency Noise. Your cables are great antennas – hard to picture but this even includes the power cord. For this article we will focus on the HDMI cables.
“There have been many different versions of HDMI cables,” said Tyler Thomas, owner of Thomas TV. “They all have the same physical appearance for the most part, but inside they have undergone significant change. Needless to say, if your HDMI cable is older then your new TV you should probably replace it.”
| HDMI Version | Max Resolution | Bandwidth | Audio Channels |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDMI 1.0 (2002) | 1080p | 4.95 Gbps | 5.1 |
| HDMI 1.1 (2004) | 1080p | 4.95 Gbps | 5.1 |
| HDMI 1.2 (2005) | 1080p | 4.95 Gbps | 7.1 |
| HDMI 1.3 (2006) | 1440p | 10.2 Gbps | 7.1 |
| HDMI 1.4 (2009) | 4K | 10.2 Gbps | 7.1 |
| HDMI 2.0 (2013) | 4K | 18 Gbps | 32 Dolby Atmos |
| HDMI 2.1 (2019) | 4K/8K | 48 Gbps | 32 Dolby Atmos eARC |
**Basic chart specifications may vary by manufacture or sub versions. This chart is for illustration purposes only.
According to Thomas, most if not all 4K TVs are backwards compatible so they will limit their performance to match the HDMI cable used.
“For example, let’s say you have just purchased a fantastic top of the line 8K Samsung. You connect it to your source with an old HDMI, say a Version 1.2. The best the TV can produce is 1080P. At Thomas TV we are experts at matching the right cables to the TV to make sure you’re getting the most from your purchase.
We use AudioQuest HDMI cables. Because all 19 conductors, including the critically important eARC and power pairs, are Direction-Controlled, this helps to drain away RF Noise from the most sensitive electronics to where it will cause the least harm to your picture and sound. AudioQuest HDMI also use multiple layers of superior materials to combat RF Noise. We have found that this is the best defense against noise."
For the ultimate noise reduction AudioQuest adds to their best cables a (DBS) system with a Noise Trap that effectively “pulls” RF noise out of the cable. Its amazing how effective this is to get the most out of your new 4K-8K TV. Why hold it back? See what it can do without the negative effects of RF noise.
Your new TV has special features for making your favorite streaming services and movies come to life on the screen. HDMI 48Gbps bandwidth is necessary for all of HDMI’s new and future features all varieties of HDR (including HDR10+ and Dolby Vision), which can be found on Ultra-HD Blu-ray and all major streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, and others. Without these active you will miss out on the realism the director intended for the movie or show.
What about gaming?
Its amazing how far gaming has come in such a short time. Games themselves have become cinematic masterpieces. Gaming features have very specific HDMI requirements – we can help you match the right cables to your consol or PC requirements. The Xbox Series X and the PS5 each have HDMI 2.1 support, allowing them to transmit 4k content up to 120 frames per second a real game changer!
Your new TV also has the ability to control other equipment connected to it by today’s HDMI hardware supports enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC), This also increases the digital bandwidth dramatically to support uncompressed and lossless high-resolution multichannel audio, including Dolby TrueHD and Atmos, and DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS: X. The best part about eARC is it allows you to connect all of your devices (Blu-ray, game console, etc) directly to either your TV or to the A/V receiver and have a single HDMI cable connecting to the other device. This enables bi-directional communication between your receiver and TV; audio is sent from the TV to the receiver, or the receiver sends video back to the TV, with only one cable. This is great for a wall-mounted TV as it helps keep your install clean.
When the Best Audio Video experience is your top priority, Thomas TV has an exceptional selection of cables and accessories. We also have an in-home service available; we can assess what would best improve your system performance.
The technical jargon in this article can be a little overwhelming.
To have it all explained in layman’s terms and to find out how to optimize your new TV, visit Thomas TV at 130 Thorold Road West in Welland. Or connect online here.