Television Television is certainly one of the most influential forces of our time. Through the device called a television set or TV, you are able to receive news, sports, entertainment, information, and commercials. The average American spends between two and five hours a day glued to "the tube"! Television (TV), is the electronic delivery of moving images and sound from a source to a receiver. By extending the senses of vision and hearing beyond the limits of physical distance, television has had a considerable influence on society. Conceived in the early 20th century as a possible medium for education and interpersonal communication, it became by mid-century a vibrant broadcast medium, using the model of broadcast radio to bring news and entertainment to people all over the world. Television is now delivered in a variety of ways: “over the air” by terrestrial radio waves (traditional broadcast TV); along with coaxial cables (cable TV); reflected off of satellites held in geostationary Earth orbit (direct broadcast satellite, or DBS, TV); streamed through the Internet, and recorded optically on digital video discs (DVDs) and Blu-ray discs. The technical standards for modern television, both monochrome (black-and-white) and color were first established in the middle of the 20th century. Improvements have been made continuously since that time, and television technology changed considerably in the early 21st century. Much attention was focused on increasing the picture resolution (high-definition television [HDTV]) and on changing the dimensions of the television receiver to show wide-screen pictures. In addition, the transmission of digitally encoded television signals was instituted to provide interactive service and to broadcast multiple programs in the channel space previously occupied by one program. What is 4K? The basics of Ultra HD explained The TV tech term 4K describes an ultra-high-definition screen resolution. You might also see this labeled as UHD, 4K, or 4K UHD depending on which brand makes the TV. But they're all talking about the same thing. Right now, 4K has overtaken both HD and full HD to become the most popular TV resolution of choice for all major TV brands. You'll find the 4K screen resolution in most of today's TVs – except some small TVs, which tend to cap out at Full HD resolution – as well as most PC monitors. The important thing to know here is that just because you've got a 4K UHD TV doesn't mean you need to have lots of 4K TV shows and movies. That's because many of the best 4K TVs are able to display lower-resolution images. This means your favorite TV shows and movies that have been filmed in HD will play like they're meant to on a 4K display regardless – some might even be upscaled by your TV, which means they're improved to ensure they look normal on a 4K screen. ; The brilliant resolution offered by a 4K UHD TV could tempt anyone into upgrading their non-4K UHD TV. But there are other new kinds of technology inside many of the best 4K UHD TVs that are also worth finding out more about. They could make an upgrade a must-have rather than a nice-to-have. These features include Quantum Dot and OLED panels, as well as High Dynamic Range (HDR), but they vary from model to model. What is 4K resolution? 4K resolution, at least the way most TV companies define it, is 3840 x 2160 pixels, or 2160p. To put that in perspective, a Full HD 1080p image is only 1920 x 1080. 4K screens have about 8 million pixels, which is around four times what your current 1080p set can display. Think of your TV like a grid, with rows and columns. A full HD 1080p image is 1080 rows high and 1920 columns wide. A 4K image approximately doubles the numbers in both directions, yielding approximately four times as many pixels total. To put it another way, you could fit every pixel from your 1080p set onto one-quarter of a 4K screen. Suppose you are watching a movie or video on your computer, the size of the screen is a very important factor. A wider screen means you can see more of the picture, which means more details and better quality. When the screen is too small, you will find it hard to follow the story. So, if you are a fan of watching movies or videos on your computer, you usually want to make sure that your screen is wide enough for easy watching. TV and computer monitors come in different sizes. The standard screen size is a few inches larger than the face of an average adult. That's why most programs display web pages, images, and text using the full screen. If you have a smaller monitor or browser window, you can reduce the size of your display to fit more content on the screen. Full Screen TV refers to the TV with a 4:3 (1.33:1) aspect ratio of early standard television screens. The 4:3 aspect ratio became the standard in film because it mirrored film stock and was the easiest to use. ; Widescreen vs Full Screen Due to the introduction of HDTVs, there are now two basic types of TV screens; the widescreen format and the full screen. The main difference between the two is the aspect ratio that they use. Fullscreen uses an aspect ratio of 4:3, which means that it is 1.33 times wider than it is high. The old CRT TVs are an example of the full-screen format with their square screen. ; A smart television, also known as a connected TV (CTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features, which allows users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TVs are a technological convergence of computers, televisions, and digital media players. Besides the traditional functions of television sets provided through traditional broadcasting media, these devices can provide access to over-the-top media services such as streaming television and internet radio, along with home networking access. Smart TV should not be confused with Internet TV, IPTV, or streaming television. Internet TV refers to receiving television content over the Internet instead of traditional systems such as terrestrial, cable, and satellite, regardless of how the Internet is delivered. IPTV is one of the Internet television technology standards for use by television broadcasters. Streaming television is a term used for programs created by a wide variety of companies and individuals for broadcast on Internet TV. In smart TVs, the operating system is preloaded into the television set's firmware, which provides access to apps and other digital content. In contrast, traditional televisions primarily act as displays and are limited to vendor-specific customization. The software applications can be preloaded into the device or updated or installed on demand via an application store or marketplace, in a similar manner to how applications are integrated into modern smartphones. The technology that enables smart TVs is also incorporated in external devices such as set-top boxes and some Blu-ray players, game consoles, digital media players, hotel television systems, smartphones, and other network-connected interactive devices that utilize television-type displays outputs. These devices allow viewers to find and play videos, movies, TV shows, photos, and other content from the Web, cable or satellite TV channels, or a local storage device. In comparison, a normal TV does not have all of these features of smart TV. It is just basically a normal TV that most people are used to. ; A Smart TV can access the internet via Wi-Fi, whereas a normal TV cannot. A Smart TV may also have the facility to run apps that come built into the TV. The main difference between a Smart TV and Normal TV is that a Smart TV is smarts than a normal TV. It is termed as being smart because it can do more. Primarily, it can access the internet via Wi-Fi, a functionality that has become a must in today's technology and internet-driven world. A Smart TV may also feature online interactive media, where the users can actually interact with the television either through a remote or other device or directly by touching the screen if the device has a touch screen. However, keep in mind that Smart TV is expensive compared to a normal TV. You can get a 42-inch normal TV at the price of a 32-inch smart TV.