Our Experts Written by Steve Conaway, Ry Crist Karen Freeman Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement Why You Can Trust CNET 16171819202122232425+ Years of Experience 14151617181920212223 Hands-on Product Reviewers 6,0007,0008,0009,00010,00011,00012,00013,00014,00015,000 Sq. Feet of Lab Space How we test CNETs expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.Table of Contents Our Picks Best overall cooler Cabela's Polar Cap Equalizer 80-quart cooler View details $350 at Cabela's View details Best large cooler Magellan Outdoors Pro Explore IceBox 75-quart cooler View details $250 at Academy Sports View details Best soft-sided cooler Magellan Outdoors Pro 24-can square cooler View details $60 at Academy Sports View details Best midsize cooler Yeti Tundra Haul hard cooler View details $425 at Yeti View details Best value cooler RTIC 45-quart hard cooler View details $220 at RTIC View details Best small cooler East Oak Cooler, 25-quart View details $126 at Amazon View details Table of Contents Breaking open a cold one and kicking back with your friends and family isn't possible without a cooler, which is why you should absolutely invest in one. Whether it's enjoying an ice-cold drink in the summer, or among the the autumn leaves at a friend's BBQ, there's always a reason to have one lying around. A good cooler can really make a difference in keeping your food at a safe temperature, too. Weve put a lot of coolers through the wringer with tests to see how well they're insulated and how tough they are, so you can pick the best ones for all your adventures.When it comes to coolers, you should know that there are many different options. Wheeled hard coolers let you take your cooler with you, no matter how much stuff is in it, whereas soft coolers are easier to pack. Thermoelectric coolers give fine temperature control, and lightweight cooler backpacks help you carry them while hiking. That makes it tricky to pick the best fit for your needs. To save you the effort, we've compiled this list of the best coolers your money can buy. Our picks are backed by hours of testing coolers in our climate-controlled lab to help you maximize your cooler budget. Watch this: Best Coolers for Barbecues, Camping and More 13:15 Out of all the coolers we've tested, 40 are still commercially available as of this update. To make it easier to peruse this list, I've broken them down into four main categories:Small or personal-size coolers that advertise internal volumes of less than 40 quarts (that's less than 10 gallons or 38 liters).Midsize coolers, where most of your top options seem to land, range from 40 to 59 quarts (10 to 14.75 gallons or 38 to 56 liters).Large "party" ice chest coolers that boast volumes over 60 quarts (over 15 gallons or 57 liters).Soft-sided coolers don't have a specific capacity range but tend to be offered in the same categories as small or personal-size coolers.With a mass of test data in hand showing us just how well these things perform, I've gone ahead and separated the winners from the also-rans. (Bonuses like a cup holder or a bottle opener are important, but the most critical thing a quality cooler does is keep your cold drinks cold.) Here's everything I learned, starting with the coolers I think you should rush out and buy before your next camping trip or big family gathering. I update this list periodically.Best coolers of 2025 $350 at Cabela's The last time I tested coolers for this list, I had Cabela's 60-quart version of this cooler listed as the best large cooler. That title is now held by a Magellan Outdoors model. In the big picture, if you want stuff to stay cold, you literally can't beat Cabela's Polar Cap option. Its lowest internal temperature during testing was the coldest, but the real treat was the fact that it held that low-level temp for around 20% longer than the next best contender.The prices range from $300 to $400 for the 60-, 80- and 100-quart models, and what you're paying for is undoubtedly performance. There aren't many crazy features on this unit, but it does have bottle openers built into the rubber latches, a pressure relief valve to help open the cooler when the interior pressure rises, and rubber-padded feet to elevate the cooler and help reduce direct heat transfer. Oh, and it's certified bear-resistant. $250 at Academy Sports The performance of Magellan's largest offering was very close to Cabela's Polar Cap Equalizer. The lowest temperature recorded between the two in our cooling tests was less than a degree apart (44.6 vs. 45.5 degrees Fahrenheit). If your main goal is to keep things cold, then the question is whether or not that extra 0.9-degree is worth paying another hundred bucks for.I say keep the cash and use it to stock your cooler -- especially since these hard-sided Magellan Outdoors coolers boast one of my favorite cooler features of all time: the double-sided hinge latches. The hinges themselves are the latches, and they're featured on both sides of the cooler, so no more walking around to "the other side," reaching over the lid or asking someone to grab your drink. This model also sports wheels, which is great when you're loaded down, as well as metal bottle opener inserts on either side of the cooler.

Meta Meta Shatters Lobbying Record as House Passes TikTok Ban Summary A new disclosure reveals Instagram owner Meta spent more than ever on lobbing Congress and the White House as legislation to potentially ban its competitor, TikTok, was drawn up and passed. Meta Platforms and its subsidiaries spent a record high $7.6 million on lobbying the federal government in the first quarter of the year as the U.S. Congress advanced legislation that could ban Instagrams chief competitor, TikTok.Metas recent disclosure, covering lobbying activities from January through March, does not mention the TikTok ban issue directly, but it says that the company lobbied Congress and the White House on Homeland Security topics including Discussions regarding cybersecurity, data security, encryption, platform integrity, election integrity, content policy, and terrorism, as well as Issues related to voter suppression/interference, political ads and misinformation policies. The language in Metas disclosure echoes many of the talking points that have been used against TikTok and its Chinese owner ByteDance, including claims that China could use the app to collect Americans private data and influence U.S. politics.Meta did not respond when asked by Sludge if it lobbied on the TikTok ban legislation. It has previously denied lobbying on a TikTok ban to the Washington Post.The $7.6 million that Meta spent on lobbying in the first quarter is by far the most it has ever spent. Its second-highest-spending quarter was the fourth quarter of 2021, when it reported spending $5.4 million.In March, the U.S. House of Representatives initially approved the bill forcing TikTok to be sold by ByteDance or be banned, and it passed it again this past weekend as part of a larger package that includes foreign aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Those measures have been packaged into a single measure that is currently being considered in the Senate, where it is expected to pass. President Joe Biden has said he would sign the potential TikTok ban into law if it passes through both chambers of Congress and is presented to him. This post is for subscribers only Subscribe now and have access to all our stories, enjoy exclusive content and stay up to date with constant updates. Subscribe Already have an account? Sign in

Forward ThinkingNintendo says Switch 2 backwards compatability was the "best direction" for players, even if it's still staying quiet on which games won't workYou'll have to wait until that April Direct.Image credit: Nintendo News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 19, 2025 The Nintendo Switch 2 will definitely be backwards compatible, but that confirmation did come with a bit of an asterisk, and the house of Mario won't explain why yet.Something that Sony really messed up on back in the PS3/ PS4 era is backward compatibility - neither console could play games from the generation before it (bar those very early PS3s), so the PS5 being backward compatible was obviously welcome news. Nintendo too allowed Wii games on the Wii U, but the switch (pun intended) to cartridges on the Switch obviously ruled that. With the Switch 2 finally being revealed this week, the question on everyone's lips from the moment the trailer started was "ok but can I play all these games I already own." The answer? Yes! But not all of them. All the same, it's pretty clear Nintendo knows it needs to keep its players happy.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Speaking to Game File, the developer explained why it did decide on making its games backwards compatible. "Nintendo Switch is played by many consumers, and we decided that the best direction to take would be for consumers to be able to play their already purchased Nintendo Switch software on the successor to Nintendo Switch," Nintendo said. "As a result of that thinking, Nintendo Switch 2 plays Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive games, as well as both physical and digital Nintendo Switch games. Certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2. Details will be shared on the Nintendo website at a later date."Honestly, it's more than likely that this applies to games like Ring Fit Adventure and Labo, which can only use the original Joy-Cons - the new ones are larger so wouldn't fit in their respective peripherals, and you obviously don't want people calling up and complaining about that. That doesn't mean Nintendo is ready to say which games won't work yet, as it explained it has "nothing more to announce on this topic" and that if you want more details, you'll need to tune into that Direct on April 2.Hopefully it is a limited selection of games that will be unplayable, as there will be plenty of players who will upgrade rather than add to their collection. Mostly I just don't want Nintendo to charge $60 for ports of games that are only a generation old (it should stop doing that for games that are older than that too (and to credit its developers better too)).

TikTok went dark for users in the US on Saturday night, but it may not be gone for long.President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that he will issuing an executive order Monday that will extend the period of time before the laws prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.Even before TikTok went down, Trump had said he would most likely give the company a 90-day extension.In his post today, Trump also presented his initial thought on what a deal might look like, describing it as a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership.Bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress passed a law last April that would force ByteDance to either sell TikTok or see it banned in the United States; the law was quickly signed by President Joe Biden. Trump, who tried to force ByteDance to sell TikTok during his first term, loudly opposed the ban this time.With the Supreme Court upholding the law in a ruling Friday, the law set to take effect today, and Trumps inauguration scheduled for Monday, White House and DOJ officials made statements suggesting that theyd leave the bans actual implementation to the incoming president.However, TikTok said that critical service providers needed a more definitive statement that they would not be punished for continuing to host or list the app; without those assurances, the app would go dark. (A White House spokesperson called TikToks position a stunt.) When the app actually went down, TikTok shared a message with users that We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.Trumps post suggests that hed like to see TikTok go live again even before he issues his executive order, writing that hes asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark and that his order will confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations, Trump said.

Can somebody tell please, VAT tools from SideFX and Vertex Animation Tools (plugin from unreal) use different description of position in a file? Textures I exported from Houdini is not working with unreal VertrexAnimTools, It interpritates it wrong.Is it possible to convert one to another? 1 post - 1 participant Read full topic

Tech How to stop robocalls on your flip phone Did you know you can stop robocalls on a flip phone? Here's how it's done Published January 19, 2025 10:00am EST close There's an alarming spike in scam calls originating from robocalls Many of these calls were made by scammers, often promising to eliminate your taxes. Robocalls can be a real headache, no matter what type of phone you use. If youre like many people who prefer the simplicity of a flip phone, you might be wondering how to tackle this issue.Donna reached out to us with a simple but great question, asking, "Is there a way to eliminate robocalls from a flip phone?"We've reported extensively on how to stop spam calls from coming to your smartphone, but what if you don't like using a smartphone and prefer a flip phone? While flip phones are generally harder to block spam calls from, it's not impossible, but it's not as easy as dealing with robocalls on your smartphone. Image of a flip phone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?How to deal with robocalls on a flip phoneDealing with robocalls on a flip phone can be challenging, but you can take a few steps to minimize them. You'll have to make some phone calls, so it won't be as simple as blocking spam callers on a smartphone. But if you're willing to place a few phone calls and do some extra work, you can live happily without spam calls on your flip phone. Here are the steps you can take:1. Avoid answering unknown numbers: If you dont recognize the number, let it go to voicemail. Legitimate callers will leave a message.2. Be cautious with your number: Be mindful of where you share your phone number to reduce the chances of it being added to robocall lists.3. Register on the Do Not Call List:Register your phone number on theNational Do Not Call Registry. This can help reduce the number of legitimate telemarketing calls you receive. You can register a phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry online at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to be registered with the Do Not Call Registry.GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE Man looking at a flip phone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)4. Contact your carrier: Many carriers offer call-blocking services. Contact your carrier (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) and ask if they provide robocall-blocking features for flip phones. Many carriers do, but it depends on the brand of flip phone you have and which carrier you have.5. Manual call blocking: If your flip phone has the option, you can manually block specific numbers. Check your phones user manual for instructions on how to do this. While this feature is common with all smartphones, many newer flip phones can also manually block callers, but, as we mentioned, you'll need to check your instruction manual. Flip phone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)6. Report robocalls to the FTC:Report unwanted calls to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This helps authorities track and take action against robocalls. While this method doesn't block robocalls from calling your flip phone, it does help the FTC locate robocalls and prevent them from calling. It's a good way to help the FTC fight back against robo-spam callers. Here's what you need to do to report a robocall to the FTC:Go online atReportFraud.ftc.gov or call 1-877-382-4357.When filling out your report, you'll need the robocaller's number and the date and time of the call. FTC logo (Federal Trade Commission)7. Consider using a data removal service:Regrettably, there is a high probability that your phone number is readily available on many lists sold by data brokers to hundreds of people search websites. However, removing it from the web can reduce the likelihood of spammers and telemarketers obtaining your number and contacting you.While no service promises to remove all your data from the internet, having a removal service is great if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of removing your information from hundreds of sites continuously over a longer period of time.Check out my top picks for data removal services here.Kurt's key takeawaysRobocalls can be a real nuisance, especially for flip phone users. To tackle this issue, consider registering your number on the National Do Not Call List and avoid answering unknown numbers. Additionally, check with your carrier for any call-blocking services it may offer. With a few proactive steps, you can significantly reduce those pesky interruptions.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPWhat do you find most frustrating about robocalls, and how do you typically handle them? Let us know by writing us atCyberguy.com/ContactFor more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/NewsletterAsk Kurt a question or let us know what stories you'd like us to coverFollow Kurt on his social channelsAnswers to the most asked CyberGuy questions:New from Kurt:Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on "FOX & Friends." Got a tech question? Get Kurts free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com. Related Topics

The Galaxy S25 series is slated to be announced on Wednesday, but we may also get surprise appearances on the wearables side.

TikTok ban - how much longer?CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty ImagesIts the question now being asked by 170 million American users who have been left dark as TikTok shutters its U.S. operations for the time being at least. When will the app be back? And the nightmare scenario has come true. This isnt just an App Store issue, this is a platform issue. TikTok has pushed its adherence to the ban to the fullest extent.Many users who read the news commentary in the lead up to Sunday expected a VPN might help circumvent the ban. Not so. Unfortunately, VPNs arent currently working to bypass the ban, Top10VPNs Simon Migliano told me. Bytedance seems to be completely committed to preventing even a single U.S. user from accessing their TikTok account.As I reported early this morning, just after the ban came into effect, the only workaround seems to be using a VPN to create a new account from a non-U.S. IP and SIM, Migliano confirmed. But thats as good as it gets at the moment if your TikTok account was created in the U.S. or with an American SIM, then changing your IP address or spoofing your GPS data wont unblock TikTok as you would normally expect.The overnight surge in VPN demand in the U.S. has been as high as 827%, a really significant increase as VPNs are already very popular in the U.S., so it takes a lot to move the needle like this. That just underlines the sudden impact TikToks shuttering its platform has had on the American public.MORE FOR YOUAnd thats critical because it underlines the political angle here. TikToks decision to trigger the biggest impact it could, the fact that Biden has essentially deferred enforcement to the incoming Trump administration, the warm words from Donald Trump himself as to his plans to extend TikToks timeline as soon as tomorrow to see a deal done, and now some rumblings from Republican leaders that reversing TikToks shuttering might not be as easy as thought.And then theres the issue of the devil you know the inference that while TikTok has its issues, were several years and a whole lot of scrutiny into a containing strategy. The raft of new Chinese apps surging on apps stores in the U.S., Rednote in particular, has security implications that no-one has yet really grappled with.All told, I expect your iPhone and Android apps will be restored in some way by the end of this week it could be much sooner than that, maybe even by Tuesday if all goes smoothly. But TikTok will need to change as a consequence of all this, and it needs ByteDance to compromise on a U.S. deal despite reluctance to do so in the past or we will find ourselves back here more permanently. Right now it seems inconceivable that the huge public impact will be ignored.As painful as it is, ByteDance has played a clever but risky hand. In going further than needed, it has made a stark point and forced the timing of what happens next. But the risk will be the unintended consequences of that decision. No-one can fully control what happens next, not ByteDance and not even Donal Trump there are too many moving parts.

Bottom line: Microsoft has addressed a significant security vulnerability that left Windows 11 open to malware attacks at one of the system's most critical levels for more than half a year. It's concerning though perhaps not surprising that Microsoft knowingly left this loophole unpatched for such a long period. Users are strongly advised to apply the update immediately. The vulnerability (CVE-2024-7344) allowed bad actors to sneak malicious code onto devices in a way that could bypass many of Windows 11's built-in security defenses. It exploited a flaw in how certain third-party firmware utilities handled secure UEFI boot processes, giving attackers elevated system privileges and allowing their malicious payloads to hide in plain sight. Those types of firmware-based attacks are among the most difficult to detect.The issue stems from how some legitimate system utilities use Microsoft-approved digital certificates. The company has a strict manual review process for third-party firmware apps that must run during the secure boot phase. However, a researcher at security firm ESET discovered that at least seven different vendors had been using a signed firmware component called "reloader.efi" in an insecure manner.By employing a custom executable loader, these utilities could inadvertently bypass Microsoft's security checks and run any firmware code, including unsigned binaries that secure boot protections should have blocked. That opened the door for sophisticated attackers to piggyback malware onto legitimate utilities.The vendors who unknowingly exposed this risk with their system utilities include Howyar Technologies, Greenware, Radix, Sanfong, WASAY, CES, and SignalComputer. They have all issued updates to address the issue. Microsoft has also revoked the digital certificates for the affected firmware versions, which should prevent hackers from exploiting the security hole.Still, the bigger story is how the vulnerability persisted for over seven months after ESET initially notified Redmond of the problem in July 2024. There's no evidence that hackers actively leveraged this vulnerability in real-world attacks. However, the fact that such a glaring hole existed for such an extended period is disconcerting. // Related StoriesMicrosoft has pushed out an update to resolve CVE-2024-7344, so Windows 11 users should ensure they have all the latest patches installed specifically from the January 14th Patch Tuesday release.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Table of ContentsTable of ContentsTV mounting: How high is too highHisense 116 UX: whats the latest?HDR content from CES?Dodging the Soap Opera EffectOn todays You Asked: How high is too high to mount your TV? When is the Hisense 116 UX coming and how much will it cost? Will our CES videos ever be shot in HDR? And how does a 120Hz TV display 30 fps TV content without forcing the soap opera effect?Digital TrendsBrian Rock writes: Theres a lot of information about optimum viewing distance from the wall-mounted TV based on screen size, but I havent seen anything on optimum mounting height based on TV screen size. Assuming there are no viewing obstructions, what dimensional guidelines do you recommend for 16:9 screens of different sizes?Its true: We talk a lot about optimum size for viewing distance and there are easy-to-find calculators to help, but mounting height doesnt seem to get as much attention. Lets change that.RelatedThere are three guidelines to keep in mind. The goal is to satisfy as many of the three as possible with the understanding that everyones situation will be different.The first guideline is pretty simple: The closer to eye level you can get the center of the TV screen, the better. The principle behind this is also simple. With the center of the screen at eye level, your eyes have less looking up or down to do to take in the picture. Unfortunately, placing a TV at eye level is extremely unrealistic for many of us. Many of us (myself included) have some kind of entertainment stand sitting in front of where we place our screens.Heres an example situation. When Im sitting on the couch in the studio, eye level for me is somewhere between 38 inches if Im lounging back and 42 inches if Im sitting bolt upright. The 65-inch LG G4 OLED is 32 inches tall, meaning the midpoint is at 16 inches. If I placed the midpoint of the TV at 38 inches above the floor, the bottom of the TV would be just 22 inches off the floor less than two feet and my BDI stand, which is 29 inches off the ground, would cover about 20 percent of my screen. Instead, I have the center of the LG G4 at about 49 inches off the ground seven inches higher than my highest eye level and it is very comfortable to watch. Of course, the bigger the screen, the higher the midpoint needs to be. That leads me to the second guideline.Ideally, a TV should be mounted so the vertical viewing angle to the center of the TV is no more than 15 degrees up or down. It is fairly uncommon for the center of your display to be more than 15 degrees down from your eye height when seated. This guideline is meant to keep the center of the screen from being too high, which is often what happens if you mount the TV above a fireplace.Perhaps the easiest way to figure out the optimal screen height is to take your viewing distance from eyeballs to the surface of the TV say, 10 feet or 120 inches and divide by 2.5. That would give you 48 inches. Start there, and then move the center of the screen up until you can see the whole display.In my example, 48 inches works great for a 65-inch TV. For an 85-inch TV, my BDI stand would block the bottom of the TV and Id need to move it up to see the whole screen. The vertical measurement of an 85-inch screen in a 16:9 aspect ratio is 42 inches, making the midpoint 21 inches. To clear my BDI stand, Id need to have the center of a wall-mounted 85-inch TV at about 71 inches well above the 48-inch recommendation as viewed from 10 feet, but still totally manageable and well within that 15-degree tolerance.Many folks might wonder: Should I get a smaller TV if I cant get the center point really close to the ideal height? My answer is no, its fine if it is a little high just try to avoid exceeding 15 degrees so you dont end up straining your neck.Digital TrendsStephen in Atlanta writes: Hisense wowed us at CES with their 116-inch UX TriChroma mini-LED and the first consumer-ready 136-inch micro-LED TVs. With this RGB technology, how accurate will they be out-of-the-box? Will any calibration be required with this new technology?Also, I just saw a reviewer on YouTube say that the release dates for these two TVs will be in March, and the 116-inch will cost $30,000. He also mentioned that U6, U7, and U8 will have new models announced soon, with a 120-inch coming this summer. Have you heard any of this information? I am extremely anxious to hear more about these models and prices.I pressed Hisense on the release timeframe for the 116 UX and they were optimistic for summer release. That tracks because the highest-end TVs from TCL and Hisense usually come later in the year. The Hisense 110 UX was released in September and TCL released the 115-inch QM891G in July (thats when I got it for review). With that in mind, Id say the timeline from your source is off.When it comes to the price, $30,000 isnt out of the realm of possibility, but Ive seen TV pricing settled just days before release, with adjustments down as much as $5,000 two days before launch. Therefore, claims that the TV will cost a specific amount are likely inaccurate. Well know when we know, and I think well know much closer to launch. However, I do think we will be hearing more about the U6, U7, and U8 TVs in March.As for out-of-box accuracy? Ill bet theyll be as accurate as Hisense can get them. However, the more I ponder RGB mini-LED backlighting, the more I think that real-world color performance when playing content might deviate drastically from color slides on a pattern generator simply by nature of how the backlight jives with the color filter and the fact that color distortion seems inevitable. But, thats another story.Digital TrendsPatrick writes: I watched so much CES 2025 coverage this year and I wish I could better see the color/dynamics of the incredible displays on show there. I was wondering if you ever consider filming event/review videos in HDR?We have definitely considered it, but right now it is totally unrealistic to do so. You may have noticed that we produced an unboxing or two and a review in HDR later in 2024 we were dipping our toes in, seeing how to do it without adding tons of time to the grading and editing process. I think youll be seeing more HDR content from us in 2025. But events like CES? We are far away from that, I think unless we can come up with a lightning-fast, cloud-based upload and download solution and outfit ourselves with screaming fast laptops.Recording in HDR requires us to apply less compression to video files, which makes them exponentially larger. That makes uploading and downloading the videos or even simply transferring them to laptops a time-consuming chore. Wi-Fi at CES sucks. This is why so many big media outlets dont publish in 4K from CES most videos are in 1080p.As soon as we can solve the file size, transfer speed, and workload issues, well do HDR but for now, we are far away from that. Even if we did record in HDR, wed still have to stomp down on some of those ultra bright TVs in dark spaces. Plus, youd need a display as capable as the TV itself to be able to see what the TV was doing. But, honestly, wed probably have to do 1,000 nit grades, which would stomp on the contrast too.Right now, its either publishing two videos in HDR per day, or 4 to 5 videos in SDR per day. We want to show you as much as we can, so we opt for the latter.HisenseDeborah writes: We have satellite service. We watch equal amounts of regular shows and sports. I know native 120Hz would show a clearer picture, but Im concerned about the Soap Opera Effect on the regular shows with 120Hz. I would probably keep the motion enhancement option off all the time, but would that help the regular shows still at 120hz? Can I change the 120hz to 60hz?What TV do you recommend for my situation for under $1,000?First, to clarify: The Soap Opera Effect (SOE) results from a TV making up frames that arent there in the first place. Lets say I have a 30 frame per second (fps) signal and yes, nerds, thats rounding up from 29.97 and its displaying on a 120Hz TV. Without motion smoothing turned on, the TV will simply repeat the frame four times. The clarity advantage comes from the TV being able to pivot to the next frame faster and more smoothly than a 60Hz TV can, which is only repeating the frame twice per second.You get the SOE when the TVs motion smoothing feature is turned on and it makes up new frames it draws pictures in between the real frames to try to connect the two. Its content fabricated by a computer. It looks fake, because it is fake. It has nothing to do with higher refresh rates being better or worse, it has everything to do with the fact that its made-up content.This is why actual high frame rate content looks vastly different than low frame rate content with motion smoothing employed.And for the best TV under $1,000? Take your pick from the list in this article discussing the best TVs under $1,000.Editors Recommendations