The big "How do I choose an HDTV?" thread.

I've given up on receivers and surround sound systems. The days of complex input switching and macros are pretty much done as well with the Xbox One.. it's literally good enough for all media consumption from UHD Blu-Rays to all the streaming services so I rarely have the need to switch from that Device. So I can use the simply Xbox One remote to control the TV and Xbox and my Soundbar.

I went to Sonos Soundbars with the wireless Sonos Sub and I'm perfectly happy watching everything with that setup. If I wanted to in the basement I could even add a pair of Sonos Play 1's as rear speakers for surround but I haven't felt the need yet for that.

TheGameguru wrote:

The days of complex input switching and macros are pretty much done as well with the Xbox One.. it's literally good enough for all media consumption from UHD Blu-Rays to all the streaming services so I rarely have the need to switch from that Device. So I can use the simply Xbox One remote to control the TV and Xbox and my Soundbar.

Is 1080p blu ray playback still half broken on the Xbox One S if the system is set to output 4k? Also does the Amazon app have HDR support? Does the Netflix app still wash out when HDR content gets played on some TV's because of improper implementation of the HDR standards? All of this was an issue, the 1080p thing as recently as when I bought my TV.

And last I checked they still didn't have support for bistreaming the common audio codecs that get used most often on UHD blu ray discs like Atmos/TrueHD or DTS:X/DTS:MA. I want my Atmos support at the very least.

I almost updated to an S as my UHD blu ray player, but at the time there were complaints all over that the S wouldn't play 1080p discs without going into the display options and changing the output resolution any time you wanted to watch an older disc. It was just kind of refusing to upscale.

As a regular movie watcher it sounded like a nightmare and I skipped it and bought a dedicated player. I'll end up with whatever Scorpio ends up being anyway.

Samsung is adding new obtrusive ads to your old smart TV

If you're Samsung and you want to wring additional cash out of your television business, what do you do? Add annoying advertisements to TVs that people already have in their homes, apparently. The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung is readying the European expansion of an initiative it started in the United States last June: adding interactive advertisements to the menu bars of its high-end smart TVs. The impact isn't going to be limited just to customers buying new Samsung televisions, either, as the company reportedly plans to use software updates to retroactively bring the ads to older models that people already have in their homes.

(emphasis mine)

This is unbelievably sh*tty behavior.

TheGameguru wrote:

The days of complex input switching and macros are pretty much done as well with the Xbox One.. it's literally good enough for all media consumption from UHD Blu-Rays to all the streaming services so I rarely have the need to switch from that Device. So I can use the simply Xbox One remote to control the TV and Xbox and my Soundbar.

Between the viewing and gaming habits of my wife and I, we need the Xbox One, Xbox 360, Apple TV, and Chromecast all connected to the TV. The "complex input switching" days are alive and well in the Prime household, and the Logitech Harmony remote will continue to benevolently rule over all.

Malor wrote:

Samsung is adding new obtrusive ads to your old smart TV

If you're Samsung and you want to wring additional cash out of your television business, what do you do? Add annoying advertisements to TVs that people already have in their homes, apparently. The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung is readying the European expansion of an initiative it started in the United States last June: adding interactive advertisements to the menu bars of its high-end smart TVs. The impact isn't going to be limited just to customers buying new Samsung televisions, either, as the company reportedly plans to use software updates to retroactively bring the ads to older models that people already have in their homes.

(emphasis mine)

This is unbelievably sh*tty behavior.

Which is why I'll never buy a Samsung.

Is 1080p blu ray playback still half broken on the Xbox One S if the system is set to output 4k? Also does the Amazon app have HDR support? Does the Netflix app still wash out when HDR content gets played on some TV's because of improper implementation of the HDR standards? All of this was an issue, the 1080p thing as recently as when I bought my TV.

I don't know about 1080P Blu-Rays.. I ditched all my physical media some years ago.. I use Plex for all my movies that I had.. and buy digital now for movies I don't care enough to buy in UHD Blu-Ray.

Don't watch any Amazon stuff so far.. but I can check to see if there is a HDR support for it.

Netflix in HDR seems fine to me on my LG's but since that's the only HDR set I have I can't speak to how it looks vs other sets.. I watched a bit of HDR on my Sony 940D and it looked fine to me.

And last I checked they still didn't have support for bistreaming the common audio codecs that get used most often on UHD blu ray discs like Atmos/TrueHD or DTS:X/DTS:MA. I want my Atmos support at the very least.

Yeah I can imagine if you have a complex audio setup then the S won't work.. like I said I'm down to Sonos Soundbar's and Sonos subwoofers for all my viewing areas so things like Atmos don't matter to me anymore. I did pre-order that Creative Labs Soundbar that supports Atmos and the Xbox One is getting Atmos support at some point... so that's something.

http://us.creative.com/soniccarrier/

https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/26/...

WizKid wrote:
Malor wrote:

Samsung is adding new obtrusive ads to your old smart TV

If you're Samsung and you want to wring additional cash out of your television business, what do you do? Add annoying advertisements to TVs that people already have in their homes, apparently. The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung is readying the European expansion of an initiative it started in the United States last June: adding interactive advertisements to the menu bars of its high-end smart TVs. The impact isn't going to be limited just to customers buying new Samsung televisions, either, as the company reportedly plans to use software updates to retroactively bring the ads to older models that people already have in their homes.

(emphasis mine)

This is unbelievably sh*tty behavior.

Which is why I'll never buy a Samsung.

Right now, Samsung has the best TV for 4K/HDR gaming. An ad isn't going to force me to buy a worse TV. But then, I would never connect my TV to the internet, so I'm not sure it would matter.

Right now, Samsung has the best TV for 4K/HDR gaming. An ad isn't going to force me to buy a worse TV. But then, I would never connect my TV to the internet, so I'm not sure it would matter.

You shouldn't need to do that. And you especially shouldn't need to protect yourself against Samsung unilaterally changing the rules of how your TV works.

Samsung's feeling poor this quarter? Well, guess what? They're going to change the terms of the deal you thought you had. You don't get an opinion, you just get monetized.

Even as someone who also never connects TVs to the Internet, I wouldn't buy one of their products after seeing that.

You shouldn't have to defend yourself against your own consumer electronics.

It's funny my last Plasma the Panasonic Z still served me ads even though it was only connected to the network a few times for firmware updates. It was the same ads every time but still ads lol

I am the proud new owner of the UN65KS8500 as of an hour ago. Friend is running to HD for longer lag bolts for the wall mount, but otherwise, this thing's even pretty turned off.

Upgrading from a 12-year-old Sony LCoS display, which I still love to death. Technology finally got to the point where it was a big enough difference that I cared.

Looks like LG's HDR Game Mode firmware update has started rolling out for 2016 OLED's. No update yet for B series though as well as any model from 2015.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarch...

In the ~34ms range now with HDR mode which is excellent! Sucks you have to be on a 2016 model though was hoping I would see the update to the 2015 models as well.

Oh well I mostly game on my 2016 55" C and I did snag a 55" 2016 E during that ebay sale at $1799 (I couldn't resist for my game room) so I'm mostly ok.

Of course no B series update

*My B series just asked me if I wanted to update. Is this some other update unrelated to the input lag thing?

I've ordered a Samsung KS700 (though I did think about Malor's point). I've downloaded totally black image witha white cross on it from rtings.com to test backlight uniformity. Any tips on how I do it? Do I need to put brightness to maximum or anything like that? On NeoGaf someone was testing the image while adjusting something called 'Smart LED".

1Dgaf wrote:

I've ordered a Samsung KS700 (though I did think about Malor's point). I've downloaded totally black image witha white cross on it from rtings.com to test backlight uniformity. Any tips on how I do it? Do I need to put brightness to maximum or anything like that? On NeoGaf someone was testing the image while adjusting something called 'Smart LED".

The problem with Smart LED is that it kind of needs to be on for HDR to really shine on those sets, but that means any time you have bright objects moving across a mostly black screen you get this kind of verticle stripe of super bright backlights (because it's edge lit) and it kills black levels above and below the bright object.

If that's a limitation of the TV I'll live with it. I just need to know what to turn on and off the understand the quality of the panel in the first instance.

Is my memory correct and the KS7000 across the pond is essentially identical to the KS8000 here in the states? The whole different model numbers for one country vs another for the exact same TV thing is really dumb

For testing the basic quality of the panel you'd want Smart LED turned off for any kind of black uniformity testing.

As far as how you test it, there's no meaningful way to do the test without also being able to measure the light output of the screen based on your settings. For instance if you wanted to compare it to Rtings.com's results you'd have to set the TV so that it's outputting at 100 cd/m2 of light.

With no way to measure its light output there's no way to meaningfully compare results.

You could copy Rtings' settings (they generally always have a link to them in their reviews) and theoretically get at least somewhat or even very close, depending on just how similar your panel is to the one they tested, but no two are exactly alike.

Yes, it's the same TV. The naming system is very confusing. I'll try it with the Smart LED turned off as you suggest. I've got no way to measure anything properly - I just want to see if there's anything noticeably bad that requires a return.

I would say try copying Rtings basic settings for brightness and contrast and all those straightforward ones, then display your test pattern and see what you think.

Just don't worry about all their white balance and color correction settings. Those aren't necessary for the vast majority of people anyway and not at all for the test you're doing.

So my lovely wife surprised me with a PS4 Pro for Christmas. I hooked it up to my Samsung KS8000 TV (4K HDR ready) and started some configuration. When it works, it looks great. Uncharted 4 is a jaw-dropper. However, I'm getting a weird inconsistent problem - when I first start up a HDR game, the TV tells me it's now playing HDR content. However, I get weird "blinks" in the video. The screen will go black for a second and then the TV will tell me it's showing HDR video again. Like it's switching resolutions or something. It repeats pretty frequently when I first launch something but eventually (after maybe five minutes) it goes away.

I've searched around online and found a variety of people reporting this problem but with no solid solution. What's mind-boggling is that it eventually sorts itself out and is stable. Could it be the cable? I'm using the brand new HDMI cable that came with the PS4 Pro. I'm not sure what else it might be. Any thoughts?

Might be a cheap HDMI cable that doesn't support 4k 60hz?

Balthezor wrote:

Might be a cheap HDMI cable that doesn't support 4k 60hz?

I'm using the high speed cable that came with the Pro but maybe it's faulty? I'll try that before anything else.

I just went through an adventure where I moved my Xbox One and it got switched to a brand new HDMI 4k/60 capable cable that worked fine with my UDH blu-ray player.

As long as the Xbox One is on any of the newer HDMI cables I have it straight up won't show a picture. The TV gets a 1080p signal but it's just a black screen. I can hear audio when I hit the d-pad on the controller, so it's on and thinks it's sending the picture to the TV but it isn't getting there. I went for the cable first thing but swapped it with yet another newer 4k/60 capable cable. Same result. So I connected it directly to the TV and no dice there either. Then I hooked it up to one of my PC monitors and no picture there either.

Eventually, through random circumstance, I was trying to hook it up from a different physical position because it was just more convenient, but the cables I had were 3 footers and weren't long enough. The closest cable was a super old 8 foot cable that I bought ages ago from Monoprice. We're talking like early HDMI 1.3 here.

And it worked. It works plugged into the TV, the receiver, and into the computer monitor. None of my newer HDMI 1.4 or 2.0 cables work with my Xbox One. Not a single one, but use any of my much older 1.3 cables and it works perfectly. All of them work fine because they all got tested with my UHD blu ray player.

Dumbest sh*t ever.

Trashie wrote:
Balthezor wrote:

Might be a cheap HDMI cable that doesn't support 4k 60hz?

I'm using the high speed cable that came with the Pro but maybe it's faulty? I'll try that before anything else.

I'd try it, just to be sure. Get a nice shiny new HDMI 2.0 cable and go from there.

Trashie wrote:

So my lovely wife surprised me with a PS4 Pro for Christmas. I hooked it up to my Samsung KS8000 TV (4K HDR ready) and started some configuration. When it works, it looks great. Uncharted 4 is a jaw-dropper. However, I'm getting a weird inconsistent problem - when I first start up a HDR game, the TV tells me it's now playing HDR content. However, I get weird "blinks" in the video. The screen will go black for a second and then the TV will tell me it's showing HDR video again. Like it's switching resolutions or something. It repeats pretty frequently when I first launch something but eventually (after maybe five minutes) it goes away.

I've searched around online and found a variety of people reporting this problem but with no solid solution. What's mind-boggling is that it eventually sorts itself out and is stable. Could it be the cable? I'm using the brand new HDMI cable that came with the PS4 Pro. I'm not sure what else it might be. Any thoughts?

I haven't run into problems with the combination of those two devices (also using the cable that came with the Pro), but it did take some setting up in advance. In the Pro advanced settings, make sure the output is set to Auto (not RGB or YUV 2160p). In fact, just set everything to Auto in that menu. In the KS8000 settings, switch to Game Mode and make sure UHD HDMI is turned on for all ports. But, you have to manually adjust the brightness to 20, or you'll see the HDR message but you won't really be getting it. Set the Color Space to Auto and Smart LED to High. Plus, you have to manually turn on HDR in some game menus.

Thin_J wrote:

I just went through an adventure where I moved my Xbox One and it got switched to a brand new HDMI 4k/60 capable cable that worked fine with my UDH blu-ray player.

As long as the Xbox One is on any of the newer HDMI cables I have it straight up won't show a picture. The TV gets a 1080p signal but it's just a black screen. I can hear audio when I hit the d-pad on the controller, so it's on and thinks it's sending the picture to the TV but it isn't getting there. I went for the cable first thing but swapped it with yet another newer 4k/60 capable cable. Same result. So I connected it directly to the TV and no dice there either. Then I hooked it up to one of my PC monitors and no picture there either.

Eventually, through random circumstance, I was trying to hook it up from a different physical position because it was just more convenient, but the cables I had were 3 footers and weren't long enough. The closest cable was a super old 8 foot cable that I bought ages ago from Monoprice. We're talking like early HDMI 1.3 here.

And it worked. It works plugged into the TV, the receiver, and into the computer monitor. None of my newer HDMI 1.4 or 2.0 cables work with my Xbox One. Not a single one, but use any of my much older 1.3 cables and it works perfectly. All of them work fine because they all got tested with my UHD blu ray player.

Dumbest sh*t ever.

Trashie wrote:
Balthezor wrote:

Might be a cheap HDMI cable that doesn't support 4k 60hz?

I'm using the high speed cable that came with the Pro but maybe it's faulty? I'll try that before anything else.

I'd try it, just to be sure. Get a nice shiny new HDMI 2.0 cable and go from there.

I understand why this is good advice, but man, the sudden contrast with your own story was incredibly comedic!

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I understand why this is good advice, but man, the sudden contrast with your own story was incredibly comedic! :lol:

Well he's talking about the Pro. Using an old cable would just break functionality it's built around anyway

In the case of my old school non-S Xbox One there's clearly something about newer 4k devices it doesn't like when used with the new cables.

But all the new cables work perfectly fine with my Shield TV and my UHD Blu Ray player and all carry 4k/60 and HDR fine from both those devices.

The old fat Xbox One is the only thing I have that won't work with them.

Super confusing.

HDMI has always been kind of a fustercluck. The copy protection component has been especially bad.

I agree. Making the HDMI the centerpiece of the Xbox One was a mistake. It made the TV integration, which I like, complicated and buggy.

Jayhawker wrote:

I agree. Making the HDMI the centerpiece of the Xbox One was a mistake. It made the TV integration, which I like, complicated and buggy.

How else could they have accomplished it?? Like it or not HDMI is the defacto AV standard outside of PC's. I've never had an issue with it..but I did replace most if not all of my OG Xbox One's with S's before I replaced my TVs with 4K sets. I do have an OG Xbox One in my gym that is connected to a 4K TV with HDMI 2.2 Cables and it works just fine.

In my personal life I have had no issues with HDMI... professionally though we had issues integrating an Apple TV into a classroom presentation system once. We were getting the dreaded HDCP Green Screen of Death. Ended up needing new firmware on our Crestron unit. Other than that I dig HDMI.

conejote wrote:
Trashie wrote:

So my lovely wife surprised me with a PS4 Pro for Christmas. I hooked it up to my Samsung KS8000 TV (4K HDR ready) and started some configuration. When it works, it looks great. Uncharted 4 is a jaw-dropper. However, I'm getting a weird inconsistent problem - when I first start up a HDR game, the TV tells me it's now playing HDR content. However, I get weird "blinks" in the video. The screen will go black for a second and then the TV will tell me it's showing HDR video again. Like it's switching resolutions or something. It repeats pretty frequently when I first launch something but eventually (after maybe five minutes) it goes away.

I've searched around online and found a variety of people reporting this problem but with no solid solution. What's mind-boggling is that it eventually sorts itself out and is stable. Could it be the cable? I'm using the brand new HDMI cable that came with the PS4 Pro. I'm not sure what else it might be. Any thoughts?

I haven't run into problems with the combination of those two devices (also using the cable that came with the Pro), but it did take some setting up in advance. In the Pro advanced settings, make sure the output is set to Auto (not RGB or YUV 2160p). In fact, just set everything to Auto in that menu. In the KS8000 settings, switch to Game Mode and make sure UHD HDMI is turned on for all ports. But, you have to manually adjust the brightness to 20, or you'll see the HDR message but you won't really be getting it. Set the Color Space to Auto and Smart LED to High. Plus, you have to manually turn on HDR in some game menus.

Tested out a new AmazonBasics HDMI 2.0 cable last night and the issue seems to have resolved itself. Hopefully, it's stable.

Quick question about the settings comment above - do you mean manually adjust Blacklight up to 20? Brightness is a 1-100 scale and if I move it up to 100, the picture is very washed out. I typically keep it around 45.