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On this week's episode of You Asked: Laser TV projector and screen versus huge mini-LED TV, what happens to the TVs I test when I'm done with them, breaking in TV speakers—is that actually a thing, and why are we so obsessed with TV picture quality?

Welcome back, everyone. I'm Caleb Denison, and this is episode 61 of You Asked, the show where I answer questions you asked in hopes that I can help you and others with similar tech questions. If you've got a question for me, please email it to YouAsked@digitaltrends.com, and we'll see if your question gets picked to be answered on the show.

Anand writes that they’re finally building a dedicated media room in a new home and were planning on going with an ultra-short throw projector, AKA Laser TV, until they saw my video about the 110-inch Hisense UX. They feel the UX is overpriced right now, but they’re willing to wait a year if the price might drop to $5,000 or $6,000.

Anand, I do not think the Hisense 110 UX is going to drop by more than 50% in just a year. I do think that next year's version may come out less expensive and then eventually get even less expensive, and that this year's version, if there are any still left—I suspect Hisense isn’t making a ton of those—may drop by as much as 50%. But I suspect that TV will sell for no less than $10,000 until it’s gone.

If you want a screen larger than 100 inches, then I suggest you go with your original plan of getting an ultra-short throw projector and ALR screen. That’s actually probably the smarter move all the way around. In your light-controlled media room, that UST projector is going to be plenty bright enough for a thrilling experience.

Pat Walsh writes,

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enOn this week's episode of You Asked: Laser TV projector and screen versus huge mini-LED TV,  what happens to the TVs I test when I'm done with them, breaking in TV speakers—is  that actually a thing, and why are we so obsessed with TV picture quality?Welcome back, everyone. I'm Caleb Denison, and this is episode 61 of You Asked,  the show where I answer questions you asked in hopes that I can help you and others with similar  tech questions. If you've got a question for me, please email it to YouAsked@digitaltrends.com,  and we'll see if your question gets picked to be answered on the show.Anand writes that they’re finally building a dedicated media room in a  new home and were planning on going with an ultra-short throw projector, AKA Laser TV,  until they saw my video about the 110-inch Hisense UX. They feel the UX is overpriced right now,  but they’re willing to wait a year if the price might drop to $5,000 or $6,000.So, Anand, I do not think the Hisense 110 UX is going to drop by more than 50% in just a  year. I do think that next year's version may come out less expensive and then eventually  get even less expensive, and that this year's version, if there are any still left—I suspect  Hisense isn’t making a ton of those—may drop by as much as 50%. But I suspect that TV will  sell for no less than $10,000 until it’s gone. If you want a screen larger than 100 inches,  then I suggest you go with your original plan of getting an ultra-short throw projector and  ALR screen. That’s actually probably the smarter move all the way around. In your light-controlled  media room, that UST projector is going to be plenty bright enough for a thrilling experience.Pat Walsh writes, \"I was just watching the UX unboxing video, and I was wondering,  how do you guys box these things all back up to return them? I mean,  it’s impossible to put all of the wrapping back on. Does it get moved on to another  reviewer in its slightly used state? If so, do only certain reviewers get a pristine tester?  Keep up the good work! I love my U8K, which your video helped me decide on.\"Yeah, Pat, so when we re-box these TVs to go back to the manufacturer,  you’re right—I can’t put the protective film back on the TV. And sometimes the protective sheath or  bag gets a little torn up because that material isn’t all that strong to begin with. Plus,  the tape they use to keep it in place tends to rip. So, while we do a pretty great job  re-boxing these TVs, they are clearly not factory fresh when we send them back. Now, I do know that  manufacturers will often go over the TV before sending it back out to the next reviewer, but  I have been the recipient of TVs that have already gone out to another reviewer—not every TV I get is  factory fresh, though most of them are—and yeah, you just don’t get the protective film on those.Most manufacturers are pretty good about resetting the TVs, which is great because I am so bad at  resetting them before I pack them up for return. But sometimes brands are so urgent to get the  TV to another reviewer that it leaves my place bound for the next person, and so they get to see  me logged into their TV. My apologies to fellow reviewers—though, to be fair, sometimes they play  pranks on me by watching crazy content to mess up my recommended feeds. Guess I deserve that.Now, what happens to these TVs after they've been reviewed by everybody that needs to review them? I  think that depends on the brand and that company’s policy. I’d like to think they land in the hands  of somebody who can appreciate and enjoy them, but I also know of at least one brand that sticks  them in a warehouse where they just sit there doing nothing and then eventually get recycled,  which is a shame and a waste of a great TV. I also know some TVs get damaged enough with  repeated shipping that a brand wouldn’t want to put it out into the public—and I get that too.Hey, before I read this next question, I just realized that almost every single one of them is  a follow-up somehow to the unboxing of the Hisense UX. I didn’t plan that, it just happened! Anyway…Steve Wes writes, \"Just finished watching the unboxing video of the 110-inch Hisense UX,  and you mentioned breaking in the speakers. While I’m not expecting anything amazing from  my Bravia without at least a soundbar, I’m now curious—what steps can I take to get the most  out of what I’ve got? Do you have a particular routine that you carry out every time on new TVs,  or does it vary depending on the make and model? Keep up the great work!\"Thanks for that question, Steve. Interesting you picked up on that in that unboxing video. So,  the notion of speaker break-in is the matter of some debate and has been for a really long  time. Some folks believe that it provides no audible change to a speaker's performance,  but it has been scientifically proven that a speaker driver’s  operation changes a little after several hours of use.Now, the idea of TV speaker break-in might even seem more laughable to some folks because if  the idea that a high-end tower speaker may not appreciably change after break-in is  up for debate, then the idea that a tiny TV speaker might sound different after break-in  is dubious for sure. I’ll tell you this: The more elaborate the speaker system in a TV,  the more inclined I am to give it a break-in period. The primary reason I do this is that  I don’t want to leave any question as to whether the performance I witness is  indicative of the performance a user might get after their TV’s been used for a while.There are speaker break-in videos on YouTube that are basically glorified pink noise,  where all the frequencies are being produced all at once. Run that for several hours,  and your TV speakers are likely to get as broken in as they’re going  to get. I would not expect a dramatic shift in performance, though. And as a parting thought,  I’ll just throw out there that some folks believe breaking in the listener is more important than  breaking in the speaker. If you want to hear more about that idea, let me know down in the comments.Rick Hall writes, \"Why are we obsessed with perfect TV quality? When I go to the movies,  I don’t see inky blacks, nor do I see amazing specular highlights like the YouTube demos. I see  an amazingly huge picture combined with awesome sound quality, providing an A+ experience!\"Rick, I love this question. It’s one of those things that make you go, “Hmm…” Questions that  almost seem obvious once you’ve heard them out loud, but very few people have thought about this.  To answer your question with what is basically just my opinion, I’ll start by pointing out that  in several of my super large-screen TV reviews, where the TV was not at the top of the line,  it was more of an affordable model that happened to be super huge. I’ve pointed  out that I think a lot of folks are very happy with very good picture quality at a huge size  and would take that nine times out of ten over excellent picture quality at a smaller size.There really is something amazing about the massive scale of a commercial movie theater  screen, and the sound too—again, perhaps not as high-fidelity as some home systems—it’s  just bigger, louder, and more expansive due to the scale of the system. I think there’s a lot  of psychology at play here. One is that we want to get the best experience we can, so in lieu  of getting a massive 200-inch or larger screen, we seek the best we can get by getting the best  picture quality available. Also, I think there’s something to the fact that we own our TVs for a  long time, and we look at them almost every day. It’s a lot easier to hone in on a TV’s weaknesses  than it is to get wrapped up in what a projector is or is not doing in a theater where we’re in  and out in just a couple of hours—unless it’s a Martin Scorsese film, of course.Finally, I think it’s because we can get such great picture quality at home that  there are levels of awesomeness for us to purchase that get us thinking about  the return on our investment. I also think that just the smell of the popcorn and the  excitement of an entertainment destination makes us a little more forgiving. So yeah,  add all that up, and I think that helps explain why we’re so obsessed with getting the best TV  picture quality that we can. And I’ll add that I am super excited that’s how some humans operate  because it keeps me in a job that I love very much. Thank you guys—I really mean it.Thanks as always for watching, everyone! What did you think of this week’s episode?  Let me know down in the comments. Click that thumbs-up button should you feel moved to do  so; it really helps us out here. Subscribe if you want to see more. I’ll see you on the next one,  and until then, here are two other videos I think you might like.It rang my ears, but it didn’t have the body that I wanted. I don’t have the body that I wanted.\n"