Weird “banding” issue with my TV

[rexcrk]

I think “banding” is the word I want to use, I’m not entirely sure though lol.

It’s like a horizontal “block” that goes across my entire TV. It’s more or less noticeable depending on what I’m watching and what’s happening on screen. It definitely seems worse during dark scenes. And it’s also more noticeable during a camera-pan up / down.

Like right now I’m watching the first Captain America movie on 4K, and the opening scenes (when they’re digging in the ice, when Schmidt finds the Tesseract, etc.) and it was VERY noticeable, but during the outside scenes at the camp (when we first meet Peggy) the “banding” is barely noticeable. I’ve noticed this issue with other 4K discs too.

It also seems to be worse depending on what format I’m watching. Like, if I’m watching something like Curb Your Enthusiasm or The Simpsons on DVD, I can’t even tell if my TV has that “banding”. On some Blu-rays it’s very noticeable and on some it isn’t. Again, depending on if it’s a darker scene or not.

The weird thing is, if I stream, then those problematic scenes in Captain America that I mentioned, aren’t bad at all, in fact the problem is pretty much non-existent. And that’s streaming from both my 4K player and just on the TV’s app.

So it seems to be mainly disc-related, especially 4K discs. Could it be the result of HDR mode? But that wouldn’t explain why it happens with non-HDR Blu-ray Discs too. I don’t know if this is a common issue or not, but any help would be much appreciated.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

I think “banding” is the word I want to use, I’m not entirely sure though lol.

It’s like a horizontal “block” that goes across my entire TV. It’s more or less noticeable depending on what I’m watching and what’s happening on screen. It definitely seems worse during dark scenes. And it’s also more noticeable during a camera-pan up / down.

Like right now I’m watching the first Captain America movie on 4K, and the opening scenes (when they’re digging in the ice, when Schmidt finds the Tesseract, etc.) and it was VERY noticeable, but during the outside scenes at the camp (when we first meet Peggy) the “banding” is barely noticeable. I’ve noticed this issue with other 4K discs too.

It also seems to be worse depending on what format I’m watching. Like, if I’m watching something like Curb Your Enthusiasm or The Simpsons on DVD, I can’t even tell if my TV has that “banding”. On some Blu-rays it’s very noticeable and on some it isn’t. Again, depending on if it’s a darker scene or not. .

The weird thing is, if I stream, then those problematic scenes in Captain America that I mentioned, aren’t bad at all, in fact the problem is pretty much non-existent. And that’s streaming from both my 4K player and just on the TV’s app.

So it seems to be mainly disc-related, especially 4K discs. Could it be the result of HDR mode? But that wouldn’t explain why it happens with non-HDR Blu-ray Discs too. I don’t know if this is a common issue or not, but any help would be much appreciated.

Why would it be 4K/HDR disc related as you say you see it in darker scenes on some blu-rays?

Please power off you gear and pull out then reseat your HDMI cables both ends and power up your HDMI chain (source then AVR then UDTV). Its might be just a stuck HDMI handshake issue or something else with HDMI cabling.

You could go though the additional step of pulling AC power from wall then replug it in to AC as a added measure on all effected gear in the chain.

[DisplayCalNoob]

Sounds like your color space setting may be off and or your HDMI input deep color or UHD color setting is off. It may be a combination of both.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by DisplayCalNoob

Sounds like your color space setting may be off and or your HDMI input deep color or UHD color setting is off. It may be a combination of both.

Deep Color would not be in play with BD playback would it? But as a suggestion it might entail resetting the UHD BD players settings to default then power cycle.

[Alister_M]

Could be some sort of light-bleed/blooming, try adjusting the Black Level setting if none of that resetting stuff works.

[rexcrk]

Ok, I'll give some of that a shot.

At first I thought maybe it was an issue with my player or the surround sound receiver I have (which IS compatible with 4K), but that wouldn't explain why something streamed from the player wouldn't have these issues.

[rexcrk]

I did a little more digging and it looks like the problem is gray uniformity (dirty screen effect), as seen here https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/pict...een-effect-dse

Which kind of sucks because I don’t think there’s a fix for it. And it’s not really enough to justify getting rid of this TV for a new one. (This one is way past warranty and I’m pretty sure they don’t make it anymore lol).

I still think it’s weird how inconsistent it is between formats and streaming
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[David M]

You haven’t mentioned which TV this is?

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

I did a little more digging and it looks like the problem is gray uniformity (dirty screen effect), as seen here https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/pict...een-effect-dse

Which kind of sucks because I don’t think there’s a fix for it. And it’s not really enough to justify getting rid of this TV for a new one. (This one is way past warranty and I’m pretty sure they don’t make it anymore lol).

I still think it’s weird how inconsistent it is between formats and streaming
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yes without mentioning the model we can't advise. If your CFL backlighting is going on a older LCD flat panel it will only get worse compared to LED backlighting which lasts a lot longer as a example.

[rexcrk]

Oh, true lol It’s a Sony XBR-55X930D

And the player I’m using is a Sony UBP-X800.

Annnd it’s going through this surround sound receiver (if that makes any difference) https://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-NR57...ve_ship_o0_img

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

Oh, true lol It’s a Sony XBR-55X930D

And the player I’m using is a Sony UBP-X800.

Annnd it’s going through this surround sound receiver (if that makes any difference) https://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-NR57...ve_ship_o0_img

Its this tidbit that I find questionable with grey uniformity issue.

It also seems to be worse depending on what format I’m watching. Like, if I’m watching something like Curb Your Enthusiasm or The Simpsons on DVD, I can’t even tell if my TV has that “banding”. On some Blu-rays it’s very noticeable and on some it isn’t. Again, depending on if it’s a darker scene or not.

The weird thing is, if I stream, then those problematic scenes in Captain America that I mentioned, aren’t bad at all, in fact the problem is pretty much non-existent. And that’s streaming from both my 4K player and just on the TV’s app.

I would use split A/V for testing, with x800 using HDMI-1 directly to the display and HDMI 2 to AVR to see if playing the same content looks different not going through the AVR. If it clears up then perhaps you have some video processing adding this effect when pass-thru the 4K capable Onkyo AVR.

[rexcrk]

I could give that a try, but if the problem might be the receiver, then how come I don’t have any issues when I stream it on my player’s Vudu app and only when I play the disc?

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

I could give that a try, but if the problem might be the receiver, then how come I don’t have any issues when I stream it on my player’s Vudu app and only when I play the disc?

Oh you're good.

Well your seeing this issue with very bright scenes and very dark scenes so still might be exactly as you suspect. Darn shame to have uniformity issues a few years into the life of a display.

[rexcrk]

Bleh.

It just seems so wasteful to get rid of a TV for something like that, but on the other hand it’s incredibly distracting and does hamper my enjoyment while watching it.

[rexcrk]

Bumping this up again because I’m still having issues with it.

I bought new 2.0 HDMI cables just in case that was the problem, but that didn’t help.

It just seems like there has to be something I’m missing because it only looks really awful when I’m playing a 4K disc. Streams (from both straight off of the TV and through the 4K player) look fine, even playing a Blu-ray Disc looks fine (tonight I’m trying out Incredibles 2, for reference).

So WHY is it only when I play a 4K disc that the dirty screen effect is so noticeable?

If anyone has ANY advice or knows how to fix this or anything, I’d love to hear it. I really shouldn’t spend money on a new TV, but if I can’t enjoy the one I have to its proper and full potential, then why even have it?

[Checkin]

Hello, I had the same issue. The new player I bought had a deep color setting that I changed to “10 bit priority” from “12 bit priority” and it solved the problem completely. I found this because the menu actually said “if the banding noise appears, please try 10 bit priority”. So as far as I can tell it’s entirely a deep color issue; if you can change the deep color settings on your player that might fix it.