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[James Bond]

Hey @Black Sabbath!

Bumping this to ask your expertise before I go ahead and cave on this:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/philips-philips-55-4k-uhd-hdr-led-smart-tv-55pfl5922-f7-black-55pfl5922-f7/10589700.aspx?icmp=Recos_TV_mr_tvs_f_thr_szs

The Philips TVs seem to get shit on for their smart features but that's not what I'll be using it for. 

[Black Sabbath]

On 10/24/2017 at 8:16 PM, James Bond said:

Hey @Black Sabbath!

Bumping this to ask your expertise before I go ahead and cave on this:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/philips-philips-55-4k-uhd-hdr-led-smart-tv-55pfl5922-f7-black-55pfl5922-f7/10589700.aspx?icmp=Recos_TV_mr_tvs_f_thr_szs

The Philips TVs seem to get shit on for their smart features but that's not what I'll be using it for. 

Sorry man, I thought I had responded to your previous post.

Honestly, while that Philips may not give you the "quality" of a Sony, Samsung, or LG at double or more the price, it's still likely to give you a great picture. It's a true 4K TV and from what I can tell, it IS 120hz (some TVs are 60hz with some 'simulated' higher refresh rate). And of course, it had the inputs you're looking for.

Woest case scenario, it sucks or you don't like it for some reason, and you return it and keep search, but honestly it looks like a fair price for a good display. I'd say go for it.

[James Bond]

14 hours ago, Black Sabbath said:

Sorry man, I thought I had responded to your previous post.

Honestly, while that Philips may not give you the "quality" of a Sony, Samsung, or LG at double or more the price, it's still likely to give you a great picture. It's a true 4K TV and from what I can tell, it IS 120hz (some TVs are 60hz with some 'simulated' higher refresh rate). And of course, it had the inputs you're looking for.

Woest case scenario, it sucks or you don't like it for some reason, and you return it and keep search, but honestly it looks like a fair price for a good display. I'd say go for it.

Well I'm glad you think so because I went and grabbed one.  

Yeah, I couldn't pass up the price for what I'm getting in terms of features. Now I've officially entered the world of 4K.

[James Bond]

Finally got the TV hooked up - only a month after the fact! Moving sucks.

But, of my brief time with it, the picture is stunning even on the default settings. Even the built in audio is pretty good and that's usually not a particularly high point for flat screen televisions. It's a moot point because I use a soundbar for TV volume but nevertheless.

[James Bond]

I will retract yesterday's comment - the TV is going back to Best Buy tomorrow. Today it just stopped functioning. You turn it on and the menu just keeps turning itself on and off making it impossible to watch anything. I even took out the batteries to rule out a button on the remote being stuck. The buttons on the TV itself also ceased to work. I did the old "unplug it and plug it back in" and still the same story. There's still some post-Black Friday stuff going on so I'm going to say fuck Philips and spend the extra $200 on a Sony.

[Black Sabbath]

Got my dad a 4K blu-ray player for Christmas and while I am no stranger to the technology, I was surprised at how much I noticed a difference in the picture quality of 4K movies in the home.

We popped in a few movies (The Revenant, The Grinch, Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy 2) and they all looked incredible, to say the least. I figured I would notice a difference of course, but just didn't expect to be as impressed as I was.

That said, my dad doesn't even have a 4K TV with HDR or Dolby Vision (he has a Sony 55X810C), and the movies still looked fantastic; Can only imagine how certain movies would look with those features. Which leads me to ask @Powerage5, I remember you mentioning something before about an issue with your 4K TV and 4K blu-rays with HDR - or something?

All in all, while I was in no rush to upgrade to 4K capable hardware anytime soon, I've decided I'll likely make the jump by the end of the year. 

[Powerage5]

3 hours ago, Black Sabbath said:

Got my dad a 4K blu-ray player for Christmas and while I am no stranger to the technology, I was surprised at how much I noticed a difference in the picture quality of 4K movies in the home.

We popped in a few movies (The Revenant, The Grinch, Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy 2) and they all looked incredible, to say the least. I figured I would notice a difference of course, but just didn't expect to be as impressed as I was.

That said, my dad doesn't even have a 4K TV with HDR or Dolby Vision (he has a Sony 55X810C), and the movies still looked fantastic; Can only imagine how certain movies would look with those features. Which leads me to ask @Powerage5, I remember you mentioning something before about an issue with your 4K TV and 4K blu-rays with HDR - or something?

All in all, while I was in no rush to upgrade to 4K capable hardware anytime soon, I've decided I'll likely make the jump by the end of the year. 

Yeah, the problem I had was any HDR disc essentially looked under-exposed - it tended towards the dark end of the spectrum. I never solved it either, so I’m at a standstill and haven’t bought anymore UHD discs, or really even used what I’ve got. 

[Powerage5]

I really want to upgrade my TV again so I can actually play the 4K content I have. How much do you guys think I could get for my Sony XBR-55X850B? I don't really know how to go around pricing used TV's, and there aren't any on eBay.

[downzy]

I finally bit the bullet and bought a 55" LG OLED B7.  

Coming from a seven year old 43" LG LED tv, the difference is striking.  It took awhile to play around with the various picture settings to get something that I thought worked best.  A colleague I know bought one last summer and returned it because he thought it was too dark.  I noticed this too when I first turned it on but things brightened up considerably when I turned off the Power Management/Saving feature.  The dynamic range on this television is mind-blowing.  I've enjoyed just watching the little fireworks screen saver that comes on after a few minutes.  

I've got an Xbox One S so I'm able to play 4K UHD discs on it.  Right now I have Planet Earth II, Mad Max, and Dunkirk.  I haven't had a chance to watch the two movies, but have watched a couple of episodes of Planet Earth II.  The colours and visuals are stunning on this set.  The B7 does support ATMOS and there times when it does sound like sound is coming from behind me, but it's nothing substantial and I'm looking forward to buying an ATMOS or wireless surround-sound sound bar later this year.  I'm not setup to use wires in my living room so it has to be wireless or a soundbar.  I've been reading reviews at this years CES and Sennheiser's soundbar upcoming offering looks amazing.  Likely won't be cheap but considering premium surround sound offerings by Samsung, Sony, and Sonos range from $1700-$2300 here in Canada I'm hoping it will be similarly priced when it comes out.

So far so good and I'm really happy with it.  Just need to add some serious sound to the setup and I'll be good for a long time to come.  

[Black Sabbath]

9 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

I really want to upgrade my TV again so I can actually play the 4K content I have. How much do you guys think I could get for my Sony XBR-55X850B? I don't really know how to go around pricing used TV's, and there aren't any on eBay.

My dad has the 810C and honestly, after messing with the settings a bit, I myself haven't had any complaints on the picture quality, even with the HDR capable discs (his TV doesn't support HDR); And I'm a huge quality snob.

So not sure what to say about your set

I will be getting a 4K HDR TV by the end of this year though.

[Powerage5]

On 1/17/2018 at 7:11 PM, Black Sabbath said:

My dad has the 810C and honestly, after messing with the settings a bit, I myself haven't had any complaints on the picture quality, even with the HDR capable discs (his TV doesn't support HDR); And I'm a huge quality snob.

So not sure what to say about your set

I will be getting a 4K HDR TV by the end of this year though.

Okay, so after yet another visit to Best Buy trying to make some sense of the 4K world, I’ve got a working solution. They think it was likely a cross-comparability issue between the Samsung player and a Sony TV. They sold me a Sony UHD player (Can’t remember the model number offhand) and it’s working great. The difference between 1080p and 4K is much greater than on the Samsung player, and it’s not suffering the under-exposure issue. The image is slightly desaturated, but maybe only by five percent or so, not even noticeable if it’s not a film you know inside and out. 

 

So...anyone want a Samsung UHD player for cheap?

[Black Sabbath]

8 minutes ago, Powerage5 said:

Okay, so after yet another visit to Best Buy trying to make some sense of the 4K world, I’ve got a working solution. They think it was likely a cross-comparability issue between the Samsung player and a Sony TV. They sold me a Sony UHD player (Can’t remember the model number offhand) and it’s working great. The difference between 1080p and 4K is much greater than on the Samsung player, and it’s not suffering the under-exposure issue. The image is slightly desaturated, but maybe only by five percent or so, not even noticeable if it’s not a film you know inside and out. 

 

So...anyone want a Samsung UHD player for cheap?

That is odd, but if it works, then awesome! 

[Powerage5]

3 hours ago, Black Sabbath said:

That is odd, but if it works, then awesome! 

He did say those Samsung K8500 players were pushed out to the market expedited without any real field testing so that Samsung could claim they were the first UHD player on the market. He said he’s had a number of people who had various big problems with them. Why this was the first I heard of semi-widespread problems, I don’t know. 

[Powerage5]

So I spoke too soon about everything being good in the 4K world for me

 

The video is still great - tweaked the settings so that the HDR - SDR conversion is barely noticeable. The audio though is still giving me some headaches. Now that I've finally had time to sit down and watch a couple full movies in 4K (All of which look amazing so far), I've noticed I'm not getting 5.1 audio. Regardless of the source on the disc (7.1 or 5.1), I'm actually getting 2.1 out of my system (Front left and right, and the subwoofer). 

 

The way I've got my system set up is this: Sony UBP-X800 player > (4k compatible HDMI) > Sony X850B TV (HDMI port 2 - one of the HDCP2.2 ports) > (HDMI for an ARC) > Sony BDV-E390 "receiver". That's one of those home-theater-in-a-box deals, still left over from before I started getting more serious about my home theater. I feel like if it was going to get downmixed at all it would be to 2.0, not 2.1. So I feel like something is getting lost in translation. I know this is an...unorthodox way to hook it up, but I don't understand why it's not working. I've taken multiple trips to Best Buy trying to figure it out, and gotten a different answer every time. One guy told me there's no work around. Another told me to just get a newer HDMI for the ARC that would definitely support 5.1 pass through - that didn't work. Another told me to get rid of the ARC, and run an optical cable from the TV to the E390; the surround audio would go to the TV via the HDMI from the UHD, and since Sony TV's can switch 5.1 audio, that would just get carried to the E390 and still output in 5.1 - no luck there either. I've done a bit of research and it does look like Sony TV's can indeed switch 5.1 audio to carry via optical, so what's going on here that I can't get more than 2.1? Is there just some setting buried in one of these three devices that I need to tweak?

[Black Sabbath]

5 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

So I spoke too soon about everything being good in the 4K world for me

 

The video is still great - tweaked the settings so that the HDR - SDR conversion is barely noticeable. The audio though is still giving me some headaches. Now that I've finally had time to sit down and watch a couple full movies in 4K (All of which look amazing so far), I've noticed I'm not getting 5.1 audio. Regardless of the source on the disc (7.1 or 5.1), I'm actually getting 2.1 out of my system (Front left and right, and the subwoofer). 

 

The way I've got my system set up is this: Sony UBP-X800 player > (4k compatible HDMI) > Sony X850B TV (HDMI port 2 - one of the HDCP2.2 ports) > (HDMI for an ARC) > Sony BDV-E390 "receiver". That's one of those home-theater-in-a-box deals, still left over from before I started getting more serious about my home theater. I feel like if it was going to get downmixed at all it would be to 2.0, not 2.1. So I feel like something is getting lost in translation. I know this is an...unorthodox way to hook it up, but I don't understand why it's not working. I've taken multiple trips to Best Buy trying to figure it out, and gotten a different answer every time. One guy told me there's no work around. Another told me to just get a newer HDMI for the ARC that would definitely support 5.1 pass through - that didn't work. Another told me to get rid of the ARC, and run an optical cable from the TV to the E390; the surround audio would go to the TV via the HDMI from the UHD, and since Sony TV's can switch 5.1 audio, that would just get carried to the E390 and still output in 5.1 - no luck there either. I've done a bit of research and it does look like Sony TV's can indeed switch 5.1 audio to carry via optical, so what's going on here that I can't get more than 2.1? Is there just some setting buried in one of these three devices that I need to tweak?

So to be clear, long story short, you're using ARC (audio-return-channel) HDMI to transmit the signal back from the TV to the receiver? Nothing wrong with that hook up - fairly standard, actually. Same goes with if you went the route of having the optical cable out for the audio (that's technically more convoluted, but still possible).

So all that said, in all honesty, it sounds like it's possibly something with the receiver/HTIAB transmitting the signal properly. I said that because my receiver does that occasionally (though mine is due to a small glitch itself, but it does correct itself).

Hell, try one of the other HDMI ports instead of the 2.2 port (unless you've done that already, but honestly, it's not 100% necessary).

 

If that doesn't do the trick - buy a new setup!

[Powerage5]

6 hours ago, Black Sabbath said:

So to be clear, long story short, you're using ARC (audio-return-channel) HDMI to transmit the signal back from the TV to the receiver? Nothing wrong with that hook up - fairly standard, actually. Same goes with if you went the route of having the optical cable out for the audio (that's technically more convoluted, but still possible).

So all that said, in all honesty, it sounds like it's possibly something with the receiver/HTIAB transmitting the signal properly. I said that because my receiver does that occasionally (though mine is due to a small glitch itself, but it does correct itself).

Hell, try one of the other HDMI ports instead of the 2.2 port (unless you've done that already, but honestly, it's not 100% necessary).

 

If that doesn't do the trick - buy a new setup!

You mean try the 4K into another HDMI port, or try the receiver from another HDMI port? The receiver is in HDMI 1, because that's the only one that supports ARC. Though theoretically if I went to another port with the 4K that's not HDCP 2.2 then I wouldn't get 4K resolution, correct?

If it's just a signal being transmitted wrong, what do I do?

A new sound system is on my list of things to do, I just don't have the money for it currently. 

[Black Sabbath]

12 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

You mean try the 4K into another HDMI port, or try the receiver from another HDMI port? The receiver is in HDMI 1, because that's the only one that supports ARC. Though theoretically if I went to another port with the 4K that's not HDCP 2.2 then I wouldn't get 4K resolution, correct?

If it's just a signal being transmitted wrong, what do I do?

A new sound system is on my list of things to do, I just don't have the money for it currently. 

You should still get 4K without using the 2.2 port. Worst you can do is try.

[Powerage5]

20 hours ago, Black Sabbath said:

You should still get 4K without using the 2.2 port. Worst you can do is try.

Made no difference. I honestly don't know what else I can try. I've hooked it up multiple ways, spent hours trying a million different settings in all three units, this is so damn frustrating.

[Powerage5]

Actually, scratch that last response. I pulled up Netflix on the 4K player just for the hell of it, to see what audio I got if I played Netflix from there (I usually just do it from the TV Netflix app). Guess what? I get 5.1 audio. So the chain of units is porting the surround audio through all the way, but for some reason when I play a disc specifically on the 4K player, I only get 2.1 audio. I'm totally stumped at this point. 

[Black Sabbath]

2 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

Actually, scratch that last response. I pulled up Netflix on the 4K player just for the hell of it, to see what audio I got if I played Netflix from there (I usually just do it from the TV Netflix app). Guess what? I get 5.1 audio. So the chain of units is porting the surround audio through all the way, but for some reason when I play a disc specifically on the 4K player, I only get 2.1 audio. I'm totally stumped at this point. 

Have you tried switching throughout the audio options in the disc menus? Seems it's something to do with the player transcoding the disc options - somehow

[Powerage5]

14 hours ago, Black Sabbath said:

Have you tried switching throughout the audio options in the disc menus? Seems it's something to do with the player transcoding the disc options - somehow

Yeah. Any and all audio tracks put out at 2.1. I went to Best Buy again last night and all 3 guys in the home theater section plus one Geek Squad guy were all stumped. They suggested just calling Sony at this point. At least if I do that all my components are Sonny, so it should ease the headache a bit

[Powerage5]

Well, a two and a half hour call to Sony later, and I have a half solution. After exhausting just about any other option, they had me try turning DTS Neo:6 on on the HTIAB. I am now indeed getting 5.1 audio from the 4K discs, but isn't DTS Neo:6, for lack of a better term, essentially "fake" 5.1? From the few spot tests I've run since I did that it sounds fairly good, though I'm not quite convinced it has the same depth and clarity as a true 5.1 track. I guess my question at this point is, how different should a should track (5.1-7.1) sound when being processed by DTS Neo:6 as opposed to if the receiver was truly putting out the surround audio track it should be?

[Powerage5]

Success (ish)! All I had to do was turn off the BD Audio Mix Setting on the 4K player. That said - nothing can ever be perfect  I am now getting native 5.1 audio on discs, but only if it's a Dolby audio track - LPCM and DTS tracks still come through as 2.1. I have read online both that Sony TV's can and cannot passthrough DTS 5.1, so that could explain that but I haven't read anything about LPCM 5.1 - does anyone here have any knowledge of that?

 

Regardless, at least I'm getting native 5.1 audio on Dolby tracks, so that's a big step in the right direction. 

[Black Sabbath]

In all honesty, doubt you would hear the difference from a Home Theater in a Box (I mean that in a nice way). Hell, doubt I would notice much audible difference with my setup even.

[Powerage5]

10 hours ago, Black Sabbath said:

In all honesty, doubt you would hear the difference from a Home Theater in a Box (I mean that in a nice way). Hell, doubt I would notice much audible difference with my setup even.

You mean between 5.1 and 2.1? Or you mean between native 5.1 and if I turned on DTS Neo:6 for those films without a Dolby track?