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I figure my plasma will hold me long enough until OLED gets its shit sorted and comes down in price. Watched football on my mom's 65" Vizio LED, damn refresh rate just can't keep up on some of that stuff. Hope everyone is happy now that plasma is gone, enjoy your blurry failures.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Bump!

Was going to start a new thread but figured it's best to bump this one since my question is related.

Looking to buy a new television set. The current tv my wife and I have is a four year old 42" LG LED/LCD that has a white and a black line that run vertically down the screen. I'm kind of use to them, but I think it's time to upgrade.

I've been researching television sets and it seems as though 4K is a little overblown right now, unless you're buying anything north of 65 inches, which is way above my budget.

The big step up in screen technologies seems to be HDR video, but the standards haven't bet fully established and we're likely three or four years away from wide spread content.

With that in mind, I'm leaning towards buying LG's 55 inch OLED 1080p screen, as the reviews indicate it has by far the best picture quality for a 1080p screen, with vastly superior picture dynamic range versus LED/LCD. In Canada they're $3000 CAN, but I can easily drive to the states and buy the same set for $1800 US. I wouldn't pay any taxes on it since I'd bring it over the border myself (and I've yet to be searched), which would mitigate the exchange rate.

I've been also looking at the Samsung 65 inch screens with 4k, but if you want HDR ready compatibility, they're around $3500 and up. I think I'd rather wait it out and buy an HDR television in four or five years when standards have become settled.

Thoughts?

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Bump!

Was going to start a new thread but figured it's best to bump this one since my question is related.

Looking to buy a new television set. The current tv my wife and I have is a four year old 42" LG LED/LCD that has a white and a black line that run vertically down the screen. I'm kind of use to them, but I think it's time to upgrade.

I've been researching television sets and it seems as though 4K is a little overblown right now, unless you're buying anything north of 65 inches, which is way above my budget.

The big step up in screen technologies seems to be HDR video, but the standards haven't bet fully established and we're likely three or four years away from wide spread content.

With that in mind, I'm leaning towards buying LG's 55 inch OLED 1080p screen, as the reviews indicate it has by far the best picture quality for a 1080p screen, with vastly superior picture dynamic range versus LED/LCD. In Canada they're $3000 CAN, but I can easily drive to the states and buy the same set for $1800 US. I wouldn't pay any taxes on it since I'd bring it over the border myself (and I've yet to be searched), which would mitigate the exchange rate.

I've been also looking at the Samsung 65 inch screens with 4k, but if you want HDR ready compatibility, they're around $3500 and up. I think I'd rather wait it out and buy an HDR television in four or five years when standards have become settled.

Thoughts?

Sent you a PM with some thoughts/ideas.

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Bump!

Was going to start a new thread but figured it's best to bump this one since my question is related.

Looking to buy a new television set. The current tv my wife and I have is a four year old 42" LG LED/LCD that has a white and a black line that run vertically down the screen. I'm kind of use to them, but I think it's time to upgrade.

I've been researching television sets and it seems as though 4K is a little overblown right now, unless you're buying anything north of 65 inches, which is way above my budget.

The big step up in screen technologies seems to be HDR video, but the standards haven't bet fully established and we're likely three or four years away from wide spread content.

With that in mind, I'm leaning towards buying LG's 55 inch OLED 1080p screen, as the reviews indicate it has by far the best picture quality for a 1080p screen, with vastly superior picture dynamic range versus LED/LCD. In Canada they're $3000 CAN, but I can easily drive to the states and buy the same set for $1800 US. I wouldn't pay any taxes on it since I'd bring it over the border myself (and I've yet to be searched), which would mitigate the exchange rate.

I've been also looking at the Samsung 65 inch screens with 4k, but if you want HDR ready compatibility, they're around $3500 and up. I think I'd rather wait it out and buy an HDR television in four or five years when standards have become settled.

Thoughts?

Sent you a PM with some thoughts/ideas.

Awesome... Thanks!

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When I bought my big screen HD TV a few year ago, after much research, I ended up getting a Panasonic Plasma as it blew away just about every LED TV I saw except the Sharp Elite series which was 2X the price at the time. Sadly Plasma is now a dead technology but OLED has many of the same benefits that Plasma had over LED

- superior black levels

- superior viewing angle

- superior screen uniformity

- superior contrast ratio

The one area that OLED is similar to LED is motion blur which was another area Plasma excelled in. For me this was only really noticeable for fast moving sporting events which was another reason I chose Plasma over LED as I watch a fair amount of sports.

I suggest you go compare at the stores and ask if they will let you play with the settings as they are usually cranked up to max for demo. I would also ask if they had any material with fast motion to check out the motion blur as the demo pictures are either static or lacking in fast motion.

I have never really checked out the OLED TV's but based on what I have read I think I would go with the OLED over a LED as it has so many advantages over LCD at least on paper. :shrugs:

http://www.cnet.com/news/led-lcd-vs-oled/

Edited by classicrawker
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I am excited to see how quickly OLED progresses, the potential is definitely there to take plasma's place, its just a young technology.

No doubt but even as a young technology it looks to have many advantages to the current LED technology.......If I was buying a TV today I would be tempted to select OLED over LED as it looks to be closer to Plasma performance. The only downside I see is it evidently has motion lag just like LED TV's.

That was one flaw I hated about LED TV's so I would want to see how noticeable it is with OLED TV's available today as that would be deal breaker for me.

Edited by classicrawker
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Thanks for the advice guys. Russ was giving me a heads up on what Americans can usually save during Black Fridays, however, my passport expires in early February and they don't let you into the U.S. if your passport expires within three months of entry. So likely not going to be making the trip this time around.

Think I might hold off until I see what gets announced at the 2016 CES in January. I'm not opposed to dropping some serious money on a set if I knew it would hold up for 7-10 years (working in television advertising, I can also write if off as a business expense). I really want to see what LG does with its OLED technologies. Apparently OLED televisions will be dropping in price somewhat dramatically as LG ramps up its production capabilities. If I could get a 4K 55" or 65" for $3000 - $3500 or less I'd jump on board. I read an article tonight that LG are working on screens that are only 1 mm thick and magnetically attach to your wall, with the added function of being able to peel the screen off your wall and move it to another location. That likely won't arrive until 2017, but there's likely going to be some big revolutionary jumps in tv technology should they be able to deliver.

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Question about my room configuration, probably a stupid one at that. I've been wondering for a while now, what's the best way to set the volume on each speaker in a 5.1 system when your furniture is spread all over the room? Here's a (poor) diagram of the room, x's are speakers, boxes are furniture, and the box with the x is my subwoofer:

http://imgur.com/eALlAK7

I'd guess my rear speakers could get kicked up a few notches, but the problem is they get overpowering if you're sitting in one of the chairs at the back of the room. Should I just flatline all my speakers, or is there some combination that will allow for a more uniform sound no matter where you sit?

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Not sure what receiver you have Powerage but there are two things I would consider

1. Your received most likely has a setup feature to set the speaker distances from your main listening position. This is to minimize time delay

issues which can cause funky reverb effects. unfortunately there is not one setting for all positions in your room that will sound uniform so you may have to try all the seating positions and see what sounds best. I set mine up for the main listening position as that is where we spend most of our time watching TV.

2. Sound level settings: Unless your receiver has a built in calibration program, like Audyssey, you will need to do this by ear. I would use the test tones that your receiver should have built in for setup but if not you can buy calibration DVD's which will help with this.

These are a pretty good articles that explains what I mention above.

http://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/setting-speaker-levels-distance-in-a-surround-sound-system

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/home-theater-calibration-guide-manual-speaker-setup/2/

if you don't want to spring for an SPL meter you can download apps from Google play, if you have an android phone, which are reasonably accurate

which may help you in setup of the levels. Just be aware that the phone mic is setup to reproduce vocals so it is not as accurate as a decent SPL meter. but it can give you an idea of SPL levels from your usual listening positions.

I have a Marantz 9.2 receiver which has Audyssey calibration built in and it did a reasonably good job adjusting my speakers to the room but even then I felt the need to bump up the levels on my 2-subwoofers as the calibration program set them up a little low so trust your ears on what sounds best to you.

Good luck and enjoy!

Edited by classicrawker
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  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...

Time to give this one a bump as my living room received quite the upgrade yesterday: I got a 65KS9500 and 4K blu-ray player. 

The TV itself looks incredible but the 4K player just elevates everything. I only own the Independence Day and Deadpool 4K discs so far, but I'm looking forward to getting more. ID4 looks as good as it possibly can and Deadpool looks nothing short of astounding.

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3 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Time to give this one a bump as my living room received quite the upgrade yesterday: I got a 65KS9500 and 4K blu-ray player. 

The TV itself looks incredible but the 4K player just elevates everything. I only own the Independence Day and Deadpool 4K discs so far, but I'm looking forward to getting more. ID4 looks as good as it possibly can and Deadpool looks nothing short of astounding.

Nice upgrade!....

If you ever consider upgrading your receiver I would check out a decent ATMOS cable surround format unit............I have heard ATMOS which has had propoer setup and let me tell you it is an amazing experience.....you feel like you are in the movie.........I love my Marantz 9.2 receiver but if I had waited one more year I could have scored basically the same receiver which had ATMOS. 

Edited by classicrawker
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53 minutes ago, classicrawker said:

Nice upgrade!....

If you ever consider upgrading your receiver I would check out a decent ATMOS cable surround format unit............I have heard ATMOS which has had propoer setup and let me tell you it is an amazing experience.....you feel like you are in the movie.........I love my Marantz 9.2 receiver but if I had waited one more year I could have scored basically the same receiver which had ATMOS. 

Funny you should mention Atmos, as that's my next trick. I'm going to order the HW-K950 Atmos Soundbar as soon as it's available.

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/1/2016 at 10:42 AM, classicrawker said:

Nice upgrade!....

If you ever consider upgrading your receiver I would check out a decent ATMOS cable surround format unit............I have heard ATMOS which has had propoer setup and let me tell you it is an amazing experience.....you feel like you are in the movie.........I love my Marantz 9.2 receiver but if I had waited one more year I could have scored basically the same receiver which had ATMOS. 

My Atmos set up is finally being delivered today. I'm SO goddamn excited. I'm gonna bust out the Roger Waters-The Wall Live blu-ray the moment I have everything set up.

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2 hours ago, RussTCB said:

My Atmos set up is finally being delivered today. I'm SO goddamn excited. I'm gonna bust out the Roger Waters-The Wall Live blu-ray the moment I have everything set up.

Sweet!. I  heard a well done ATMOS demo and it is amazing with the right content material. Based on what I have read this is the future of surround sound

Will you have speakers on the ceiling or will your satellites have up-firing drivers to bounces the sound off of your ceiling?

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2 hours ago, classicrawker said:

Sweet!. I  heard a well done ATMOS demo and it is amazing with the right content material. Based on what I have read this is the future of surround sound

Will you have speakers on the ceiling or will your satellites have up-firing drivers to bounces the sound off of your ceiling?

Up firing satellite speakers. I was really impressed with the demo I heard, so I'm really excited to finally own it. 

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4 hours ago, classicrawker said:

Sweet!. I  heard a well done ATMOS demo and it is amazing with the right content material. Based on what I have read this is the future of surround sound

Will you have speakers on the ceiling or will your satellites have up-firing drivers to bounces the sound off of your ceiling?

Got everything hooked up (SUPER easy), watched the Roger Waters The Wall Live blu-ray and was straight up blown away. I've got the Ghostbusters 4K disc playing right now and it's awesome too, especially for a newly created mix.

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  • 4 months later...

Time for some 4K discussion. Hoping @RussTCB can advise me, at the very least.

 

I got one of the Samsung UHD-K8500 4K players for Christmas. I'm trying to set it up now, but in the process I'm uncovering more questions than I am answers. I'm reading online that all components of your system need to be HDCP 2.2 compliant, not just your TV. I'm unable to verify that my receiver is HDCP 2.2 compliant, but I'm almost certain that it's not given that it's 3 years old; it's a Sony BDV-E390, one of the combo receivers/Blu Ray players from them. I'm reading conflicting reports online hat if a device in your system is not HDCP 2.2 compliant, you'll either get an error message when trying to play a 4K disc on the K8500, or it will just playback at 1080. Where I'm starting to get a little fuzzy is, does that only apply to devices that are directly connected to the K8500, or anything anywhere in your system? The way I've hooked it up currently is UHD > TV > receiver. When I have it hooked up as such, I'm getting playback from a 4K disc (testing it out with The DaVinci Code, the only 4K disc I've got so far), as well as audio through my receiver. But that doesn't tell me everything I need to know - I still can't actually verify whether the playback is at 1080 or 4K. I also don't actually know if I've got the 4K player going into one of the HDCP 2.2 compliant ports on my TV; the most info I can find is that two of the four HDMI ports are HDCP 2.2 compliant, but I can't find any info on which two they are. It's a Sony Bravia X850B, for reference.

 

So, any ideas how I can verify all of this?

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1 hour ago, Powerage5 said:

Time for some 4K discussion. Hoping @RussTCB can advise me, at the very least.

 

I got one of the Samsung UHD-K8500 4K players for Christmas. I'm trying to set it up now, but in the process I'm uncovering more questions than I am answers. I'm reading online that all components of your system need to be HDCP 2.2 compliant, not just your TV. I'm unable to verify that my receiver is HDCP 2.2 compliant, but I'm almost certain that it's not given that it's 3 years old; it's a Sony BDV-E390, one of the combo receivers/Blu Ray players from them. I'm reading conflicting reports online hat if a device in your system is not HDCP 2.2 compliant, you'll either get an error message when trying to play a 4K disc on the K8500, or it will just playback at 1080. Where I'm starting to get a little fuzzy is, does that only apply to devices that are directly connected to the K8500, or anything anywhere in your system? The way I've hooked it up currently is UHD > TV > receiver. When I have it hooked up as such, I'm getting playback from a 4K disc (testing it out with The DaVinci Code, the only 4K disc I've got so far), as well as audio through my receiver. But that doesn't tell me everything I need to know - I still can't actually verify whether the playback is at 1080 or 4K. I also don't actually know if I've got the 4K player going into one of the HDCP 2.2 compliant ports on my TV; the most info I can find is that two of the four HDMI ports are HDCP 2.2 compliant, but I can't find any info on which two they are. It's a Sony Bravia X850B, for reference.

 

So, any ideas how I can verify all of this?

My understanding is this: everything the signal is passing through needs to be HDCP 2.2. What happens from there depends on the age of any component that's not. If it's old enough, you'll get an error message, it's it newer, the player will knock the signal down to 1080p. 

What I would do is hook the player directly to the TV first to ensure you get a picture and you can update to the latest firmware. Then go check for the latest firmware of your receiver. Once everything is up to date, you'll have the best chance of passing a picture to the TV if you have a component that's not 2.2

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