Octopuses Notice and Prefer High-Def TVs, Unlike Dad

John Herrman — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:36:42 EST

Extremely important research is being done in Australia right now, and it's yielding extremely important results: octopuses are officially more technically discerning than about 1/5th of the American public.

Macquarie University's Renata Pronk has discovered that the animals, despite probably not even seeing color, were much more interested in HDTV than in SD, though not for the reasons you might think. The preference, Pronk thinks, comes down to hertz, not pixels. Because of a quirk of their sense of sight, Octopuses may see SDTV as a series of jerky still images, needing the 50/60hz of an HDTV to get the fluid effect that humans enjoy in both cases.

With Christmas fast approaching, this could be the evidence you need to convince a stubborn friend or loved one to finally make the switch. A suggestion: look them in the eyes and slowly, earnestly say, "You're not an octopus. You're better than an octopus." You can't go wrong with that kind of flattery. [Sydney Morning Herald via Slashdot]

Question of the Day: HDTV or SDTV?

Jason Chen — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:00:25 EST

Although we write about HDTV and HD content all day like all of us have it (because most of us editors do), some of our readers actually don't. We want to find out how exactly how many of you make up this group of resolution-deprived bastards. Vote, and then tell us exactly what type of set you have. Bonus points to the person who has the most number of TVs in their house, no matter what type.

Gizmodo: sdtv

Octopuses Notice and Prefer High-Def TVs, Unlike Dad

Question of the Day: HDTV or SDTV?