WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.960 If you're old enough, you might remember all the hype around HDTVs when they first came out 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:10.960 in the late 1990s and how expensive they were. In fact, the cheapest model you could get at first 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:17.600 would set you back $8,000. But nowadays, you can get an HDTV that's over 40 inches for under 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:24.080 $250. And not only that, but they take up far less space and have connectivity features unheard of 00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:29.120 back in the late 90s. So how the heck have TVs gotten so darn cheap anyway? 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:33.600 One part of it is that as electronics have become more and more common in everyday life, 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:39.040 the average consumer has gotten wise to the early adopter tax, where new technologies are 00:00:39.040 --> 00:00:44.320 nearly always more expensive shortly after they've just come out. This means consumers often 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:50.000 strategically wait for prices to come down to buy new electronics, which actually lowers demand 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.280 for the stuff and forces prices down in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Of course, manufacturers 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:00.000 couldn't actually lower prices if the screens were still super expensive to make, 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.800 but fortunately, this isn't the case anymore. As it is with many things, manufacturers optimize 00:01:04.800 --> 00:01:10.640 their processes as time goes on. And in the case of LCD screens, they're now printed on much larger 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:15.200 machines than they were back in the 1990s. This means just one piece of equipment can make the 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:20.640 panels for a large number of devices, making them much cheaper to produce in bulk. For example, 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:27.280 the new Gen10 Plus manufacturing process uses a sheet of glass that's just under 10 square meters, 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:34.320 and the dimensions are such that exactly 8 65-inch TVs can be produced from it with no wasted material. 00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:38.480 Combined with tighter quality control that's been helped along by advances in the materials, 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:43.360 even large panels can be made relatively cheaply from these giant pieces of mother glass. 00:01:43.360 --> 00:01:47.600 Speaking of the panels themselves, you may have noticed that when you go into your local 00:01:47.600 --> 00:01:54.320 big-box electronics store, many of the TVs you see don't really look that different from one another. 00:01:54.320 --> 00:02:00.000 Obviously, you can pay a premium for technologies like OLED, Quantum Dot, or Mini-LED, but it's 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.320 getting to the point where it's difficult for TVs to differentiate themselves from one another 00:02:04.320 --> 00:02:09.840 based on picture quality. The initial leap from standard-def to high-def was a huge deal, 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:14.080 and the difference in picture quality was clear as night and day to the average consumer. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:18.240 But these days, much of the underlying tech is very similar between models. 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:24.080 You have an LCD panel with an LED backlight operating at a resolution of 1080p or 4K depending 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:28.960 on the content. And for the average user, this is more or less good enough in the sense that 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:34.000 advancements in picture quality over the years haven't resulted in some huge C change that has 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.360 everyone rushing to get some hot new style of TV. I mean, it's still extremely difficult to receive 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:44.560 cable or satellite broadcasts in 4K, partly because there isn't a huge amount of demand for it. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:50.640 And HDR has not spurred huge demand for more expensive TVs either. All this means that instead 00:02:50.640 --> 00:02:56.400 of trying to compete primarily on picture quality, manufacturers are now competing on price. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:01.440 But there's still a huge piece of the puzzle missing. Have you wondered why nearly every 00:03:01.440 --> 00:03:08.160 new TV these days, even a cheap one, is a smart TV? This isn't just because TV manufacturers 00:03:08.160 --> 00:03:12.080 want to give you extra features out of the goodness of their little hearts. No, 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:16.000 many of the various streaming services available on smart TVs share revenue that they get from 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.360 advertising with the manufacturers. And on top of that, the manufacturers often collect data 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:26.400 themselves, then they sell that on to both marketers and to streaming services so that 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:29.840 they can get a better picture of people's viewing habits. This creates a situation where 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:35.440 manufacturers can make more money off of the way people use their TVs than they do off the TVs 00:03:35.440 --> 00:03:40.880 themselves, especially when you consider how cutthroat the pricing wars are, resulting in TV 00:03:40.880 --> 00:03:46.160 hardware being a low-margin business. And it makes sense when you think about it. Many people simply 00:03:46.160 --> 00:03:51.200 accept default settings when they set up their TVs that allow for lots of data collection. And even 00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:57.360 if you go in and turn it off, it's hard to completely turn it off. Hmm, I wonder if someone 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:02.320 at Hulu is judging me for all the embarrassing reality shows I watched in the meantime. I really 00:04:02.320 --> 00:04:07.680 like Smut. So thanks for watching guys. If you liked this video, hit like, hit subscribe, 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:11.280 and be sure to hit us up in the comments section with your suggestions for topics that we should 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:13.680 cover in the future times.