i3 - September/October 2020 - 15

By Mark Levine

Tech

PIPE LINE

How TVs
Have
Become
More Energy
Efficient

One study CTA commissioned, Energy
early everyone owns a television, and many people
Consumption
of Consumer Electronics in
own more than one. We watch news, sports and enterU.S.
Homes
in
2017 (Fraunhofer, 2017),
tainment on televisions every day. They play a vital
found, "the energy consumed by conrole in our lives. TV manufacturers continue to dazzle consumsumer electronics declined about 14%
ers with new technologies that improve the viewing experisince 2013, continuing the trend that
ence. With technologies ranging from Ultra High-Definition
started in 2010," and that "TV energy
trends show that on aver(UHD) to High Dynamic Range (HDR), television
pictures have improved so much it can seem that you New over-the- age, it only costs consumers
six cents a day to power
are not watching a screen at all. For example, when
air broadtheir television." This
watching a football game, the picture has such vivid
casts, called
means the annual cost of
color and resolution, you feel as if you are actually at
"NEXTGEN
running a TV is similar to
the game.
buying a few cups of coffee
TV," will be
Features such as HDR and 4K video resolution give consumers more vivid colors, better brightness and enhanced
resolution. You would expect these picture improvements to lead to increased
power consumption. But TV manufacturers also have improved energy efficiency in other areas of the TV's design.

Tusumaru/Getty Images

Improving Energy Efficiency

Adding Automatic Brightness Control
(ABC) is one method TV manufacturers
use to keep energy use down. ABC uses
a built-in light sensor to detect the
ambient level of light in a room, and
then adjusts the brightness of the screen
to provide a more appropriate and comfortable viewing condition. If the viewer
is watching TV in a well-lit room, the
screen will brighten, and if the viewer is
watching in a dark room, the screen will
dim. Dimming the screen based on
C TA . t e c h / i 3

i3_0920_15_Tech_Pipeline.indd 15

each year.
available in
ambient lighting in the
the U.S. startroom typically results in
NEXTGEN TV
ing in late
less energy consumed.
New over-the-air broad2020.
Another way TV mancasts, called "NEXTGEN
ufacturers are able to
TV," will be available in the
keep energy use down is
U.S. starting in late 2020.
by lowering the backlight in certain
NEXTGEN TV is the future of TV,
areas of the screen, often called "local
offering new ways for viewers to see,
dimming." In dark areas of the picture,
hear and interact with TV programming.
the backlight may be dimmed, which
It includes features such as enhanced
maintains the same picture quality and
video and immersive audio, interactive
consumes less power. For example, if a
capabilities and advanced emergency
movie scene is displaying a dark sky
alert notifications.
with a bright moon in the upper rightThe user will have access to 4K UHD
hand corner, the backlight needs to be
and HDR content as well as 'movie thebright only in the area where the moon
ater-like' immersive sound. Consumers
is on the screen, and the backlight can
will also have access to enriched content
be dimmed on the rest of the screen.
such as an on-demand video library and
This can also give the user a better expe- an advanced TV guide. With all these
rience as well, because the dark sky can
new features, TVs will continue to probe extremely dark and the vivid color of
vide consumers with a quality experience
the moon can really shine through.
while maintaining energy efficiency.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

9/1/20 10:26 AM

http://cta.tech/i3

i3 - September/October 2020

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