The Weird World in RGB

Technology Connections
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2019–2023
YouTube
2.7M views · 7 years ago · explainer · evergreen

Technology Connections explains how RGB color works, from how screens mix red, green and blue to why that model breaks down for reflected light. It also covers why LED lighting can make objects look unnatural.

HN people use it as the accessible explanation of color perception and of why RGB light behaves oddly when it reflects off things.

Color
#rgb#colorperception#ledlighting#colormixing#technologyconnections

7 comments from Hacker News

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@surprisetalk2023 · in “The Weird World in RGB (2019) [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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@CaliforniaKarl2020 · in “The Weird World in RGB [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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@kuroguro2019 · in “The Weird World in RGB [video]”
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@goblin892021 · in “Japanese Philosophies That'll Help You Spend Money Consciously”
Why would you do that I don't know, but for me personally the reason is that LEDs tend to strobe (sometimes noticeably to peripheral vision) and do not emit a smooth continuous spectrum—unlike incandescent bulbs, they produce a narrow, spiky spectrum[0] and objects in your room may look unnatural as they reflect it[1]; this may be especially bad with some RGB LEDs but fundamentally is a property of all LED lights because physics. [0] link [1] ▶ this video
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@zinekeller2021 · in “Perseverance Rover lands on Mars [video]”
Short answer: No. We (the majority anyway, as some are colourblind) only perceive lightness, reddish, greenish, and bluish. The brain uses the info and effectively synthesises the image in our brains. Long answer: Colour is a very rabbithole topic but Captain Disillusion has a summary of it (link) and Technology Connections has a discussion (▶ this video).
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@lathiat2020 · in “Short History of LED Lighting”
This works for direct illumination (eg an LCD screen) but fails for reflected light (eg a light). This video from Technology Connections helps explain ▶ this video
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a
@andrewxdiamond2020 · in “Brown: color is weird [video]”
He actually covers that in a previous video, the one he linked below. ▶ this video
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