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What Hi-Fi?
What Hi-Fi?
Technology
Kashfia Kabir

The defining TV formats of the 21st century – 1080p, OLED, 3D, 4K, 8K and beyond – and the first time What Hi-Fi? reviewed them

What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision magazine cover.

2026 is quite the momentous year: not only is What Hi-Fi? celebrating its 50th birthday, but it's also 100 years since the TV was first invented by John Logie Baird in 1926.

The way TV technology (along with broadcast, film and smart features) has progressed over the past century is nothing short of astonishing: chunky CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs gave way to slimmer LCDs and then even slimmer OLEDs, while screen resolution has gone from cosy standard definition to widespread 4K to futuristic 8K.

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