Color resolution (color bit depth)

The color resolution of HDTVs and other video gear is typically described as a color bit depth such as "8-bit" or "10-bit." Color resolution indicates how fine the gradations can be between different shades of the same color — it's a measure of color accuracy. Nearly all consumer video equipment is 8-bit, and 8-bit resolution allows 256 possible shades. That's 256 each for the red, green, and blue primary colors. To calculate the total number of possible colors an 8-bit TV can reproduce, you multiply 256 x 256 x 256, which equals 16.7 million. Recently, TVs have begun to appear which use 10-bit panels and video processing. That may not sound like much more, but 10-bit resolution means 1024 possible shades and over one billion total colors.