The register

Every entry, in one place

Twenty-eight entries across eight sections. This page is the complete list; the front page is an edit of it.

01 — Contrast

The thing everybody can see.

Contrast entries
Entry	What it is about	Which way to spend
Contrast beats resolution	At normal seating distance most people cannot resolve the extra pixels, but everyone sees a black that is actually black. Dynamic range is the difference you notice; pixel count is the number on the box.	Spend on black level and on controlling the light.
Black level	What the panel does when it is asked to show nothing.	Spend on the floor before the ceiling.
What a contrast figure means	Quoted ratios are measured under conditions that do not resemble a living room.	Spend on measuring your own room instead of reading the box.
The room lifts the black	Any light in the room raises the floor and throws the ratio away.	Spend on blackout and dark surfaces.

What each technology can and cannot do.

Panels entries
Entry	What it is about	Which way to spend
Emissive and transmissive	Whether each pixel makes its own light or filters a backlight decides almost every other property.	Spend on the technology that suits the light you actually have.
Local dimming	Zones of backlight approximating per-pixel control, and the halo that gives it away.	Spend on zone count only if the room is dark.
Motion	Persistence, sample-and-hold, and why film judder is not a fault.	Spend on understanding the cadence, not on interpolation.
Burn-in and lifetime	A real property of some technologies, routinely overstated and occasionally real.	Spend on habits: vary the content, hide the static furniture.

The uncontrolled variable.

Light in the Room entries
Entry	What it is about	Which way to spend
The bright room problem	A screen competes with everything else lit in the room, and it usually loses.	Spend on controlling light before changing the display.
Bias lighting	A small light behind the screen makes the picture look better by making the room worse.	Spend on one dim neutral source behind the screen.
Wall colour	Every surface facing the screen bounces some of it back.	Spend a tin of dark matte paint on the screen wall.

What is actually being corrected.

Calibration entries
Entry	What it is about	Which way to spend
What calibration corrects	Not preference — the gap between what the signal specifies and what the panel emits.	Spend on calibration after the room is dark, not before.
Grayscale and gamma	Neutral through the range, and the curve that maps signal to light.	Spend on the curve that matches your light level.
The meter	You cannot do this by eye; the eye adapts faster than it measures.	Spend on measurement, or on somebody who owns it.
Modes and defaults	Shop settings are built to win under shop lighting.	Spend nothing: change the mode.

Geometry, not preference.

Placement entries
Entry	What it is about	Which way to spend
The triangle	Two speakers and a seat form a triangle, and the angles matter more than the electronics.	Spend an afternoon with a tape measure.
Toe-in	Aiming trades a wide sweet spot against a precise one.	Spend on angle. It is free.
Height and the ear	Tweeter at ear height, seated, is the whole rule.	Spend on stands before electronics.
Distance from walls	Boundaries reinforce low frequencies whether you want it or not.	Spend the space: pull the speakers out.

A standing wave, not a sound.

Bass entries
Entry	What it is about	Which way to spend
A standing wave	Low frequencies have wavelengths the size of the room, so bass is a property of the room far more than of the speaker.	Spend on placement before correction.
Nulls and peaks	Move the seat a metre and the bass changes completely. Nothing is broken.	Spend on moving things, not on adding level.
More than one subwoofer	Two badly placed usually beat one placed well.	Spend on a second source rather than a bigger one.

First reflections and what to do about them.

Treatment entries
Entry	What it is about	Which way to spend
First reflections	The earliest reflected arrivals smear the image. Find them with a mirror and a second person.	Spend on the first points, then stop.
Absorb or diffuse	Deaden and it goes lifeless; scatter and it stays alive. Most rooms need both.	Spend on both, in different places.
What furniture already does	A carpet, curtains and a full bookshelf are treatment.	Spend nothing first: count what the room already has.

Signal, scaling and where quality is lost.

The Chain entries
Entry	What it is about	Which way to spend
Where scaling happens	Something in the chain resizes the picture, and it matters which thing does it.	Spend on deciding where scaling happens.
Bit depth and banding	Visible steps in a gradient are a depth problem, not a panel fault.	Spend on the source and the link, not the panel.
Cables	Digital either arrives or does not. The failure mode is dropouts, not warmth.	Spend to spec, then stop.