Podcast #1095: Best Passive Bookshelf Speakers and is 1080p HDR all you Need

This week we look at the best passive bookshelf speakers under $600. We also revisit the RTINGS.com long term burn in investigation and we ask the question, "Is 1080p with HDR all we really need?" Pulse we read your emails and the week's news.

News:

• Google Home app improves support for curtains, heaters, appliances, more
• Shares in Regal Cinemas' owner hit all-time low
• YouTube starts presales of NFL Sunday Ticket subscription
• Google TV Adds Hundreds More FAST Channels From Tubi, Plex and Haystack to Its 'Live' Tab

Other:

• HT Guys Music Playlist on Spotify

The best passive bookshelf speakers for most people

We tested a bunch of five to six-inch speakers under $600 and picked our favorite. Full article here…

Longevity Burn-In Investigative Paths After 3 Months

RTINGS.com has been running a long term longevity test and we are more than three months in. The TVs are at 2400 hours of run time. If you watch your TV about 5 hours a day that's equivalent to almost a year and a half in just over three months. So what are they finding? Here are just some highlights. RTINGS.com has a very thorough investigation and explanation found in the article link: Longevity Burn-In Investigative Paths After 3 Months

• Three partial TV failures and one complete failure. The Samsung S95B OLED completely failed while the Hisense U7G, Sony X95J, and LG G2 OLED were deemed partial failures.
• Both QD-OLED displays are showing signs of potential permanent image retention
• Some of the Sony WOLED displays are also showing burn-in ( A8H, A80K, A80J, A90J, and A90K). After running a pixel refresh video they were able to nearly eliminate all image retention on the Sony A8H, A80K, and A90J. The Sony A80J and A90K, however, don't look any better, and it looks like this is a permanent burn-in on these two TVs.
• There were significant brightness fluctuations on a handful of TVs. While some of this variation can be explained by the margin of error of the test equipment, a few TVs warranted a deeper look to determine what was going on.

HDR: Simply Better Pixels

Do We Really Need 4K if HDR is So Good? SMPTE Life Fellow Mark Schubin has compared formats, frame rates and HDR to show what provided the best data option. Full article here…

I asked Matthew Goldman, senior director, Media Engineering & Architecture for Sinclair Broadcast Group. and Tim Walker, senior product manager at AJA Video Systems the same visual quality question: With all things being equal, on a scale from 1 to 10, if 1080p SDR is a 1 and 4K HDR is a 10, where would you place 1080p HDR and 4K SDR?

Both answered exactly the same: 1080p HDR sits at 8, while 4K SDR sits at 4