Samsung 4K UHD Blu-ray Player UBD-K8500

[mikesncc1701]

Just curious, I know there's a way to sign into your Samsung account (which I don't have), is there any reason to sign up? Is there any extra content to be had?

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by mikesncc1701

Just curious, I know there's a way to sign into your Samsung account (which I don't have), is there any reason to sign up? Is there any extra content to be had?

Im not signed up. Good question though.

[simsini]

Now that the UK price has definitely been confirmed as £429, which quite frankly is an insult, I'm looking at the US model. Has anyone imported one to the UK so far, and if so, where did they get it from?

[adams1216]

I have Samsung js8500 and uhd player, I have been testing all different kinds of setting, but my picture quality is basically almost the same as Blu Ray, I cannot tell any differences even on color, is there anything I have done incorrectly or? I also try Rtings.com recommendation but it just does not work. Thank you all

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by adams1216

I have Samsung js8500 and uhd player, I have been testing all different kinds of setting, but my picture quality is basically almost the same as Blu Ray, I cannot tell any differences even on color, is there anything I have done incorrectly or? I also try Rtings.com recommendation but it just does not work. Thank you all

What tv do you have?

[adams1216]

65js8500. I really cannot see more details and vivid color 😓

[crazferret]

Originally Posted by adams1216

65js8500. I really cannot see more details and vivid color 😓

That's not cool. I have the same TV and just ordered the K8500. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Hopefully, I can figure out how to maximize the picture. I had hoped that Samsung player + Samsung TV = 4K Beauty. Sounds like there are some extra variables in this equation.

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by adams1216

65js8500. I really cannot see more details and vivid color ��

You do not want to use RTINGS settings for HDR, those settings are meant for SDR, which acts completely different with those settings.


give these a try, these are the common used settings with the K8500 and the samsung tvs.

ON THE TV:

MOVIE MODE:

UHD color OFF/ON: this varies, each person is different and some prefer on some prefer off. I personally prefer it OFF

brightness: 45
Sharpness 20
color: 50-55

ADVANCED SETTINGS:

Dynamic Contrast: medium/high, alot of us prefer high, i recommend you experiment. but it gives the image more color and pop and brightens up a dark HDR picture, this setting to alot of people is the "x factor:.

Color space: native

Gamma: +2/3 HDR requires you to bump up the gamma to correct it, profressional calibrators have told me this

PICTURE OPTIONS:

digital clean view: OFF, for 4k HDR discs, keep it off, it can really smear texture detail if turned on

SMart LED: HIGH


Now to the K8500 Player



for 4k discs, make sure resolution is either 4k or auto

BD WISE: off

HDMI color FORMAT: auto

HDMI DEEP COLOR: off


Alot of people have found that tweaking the USER picture mode can also bring out the picture better. while playing a movie, hit the "tools" button on the controller, scroll down to picture mode and pick user, this will now bring up additional settings.

Contrast: +5

Though some people just use the picture mode dynamic, but dont let that scare you away, it doesnt wreck the picture how it would with a regular BD or SDR content.


Give these tweaks a try and see how it looks and report back.

[adams1216]

Originally Posted by ray0414

You do not want to use RTINGS settings for HDR, those settings are meant for SDR, which acts completely different with those settings.


give these a try, these are the common used settings with the K8500 and the samsung tvs.

ON THE TV:

MOVIE MODE:

UHD color OFF/ON: this varies, each person is different and some prefer on some prefer off. I personally prefer it OFF

brightness: 45
Sharpness 20
color: 50-55

ADVANCED SETTINGS:

Dynamic Contrast: medium/high, alot of us prefer high, i recommend you experiment. but it gives the image more color and pop and brightens up a dark HDR picture, this setting to alot of people is the "x factor:.

Color space: native

Gamma: +2/3 HDR requires you to bump up the gamma to correct it, profressional calibrators have told me this

PICTURE OPTIONS:

digital clean view: OFF, for 4k HDR discs, keep it off, it can really smear texture detail if turned on

SMart LED: HIGH


Now to the K8500 Player



for 4k discs, make sure resolution is either 4k or auto

BD WISE: off

HDMI color FORMAT: auto

HDMI DEEP COLOR: off


Alot of people have found that tweaking the USER picture mode can also bring out the picture better. while playing a movie, hit the "tools" button on the controller, scroll down to picture mode and pick user, this will now bring up additional settings.

Contrast: +5

Though some people just use the picture mode dynamic, but dont let that scare you away, it doesnt wreck the picture how it would with a regular BD or SDR content.


Give these tweaks a try and see how it looks and report back.

Thank you very much I try it tonight, hopefully it will work out perfectly!!

[movielover1069]

Originally Posted by adams1216

I have Samsung js8500 and uhd player, I have been testing all different kinds of setting, but my picture quality is basically almost the same as Blu Ray, I cannot tell any differences even on color, is there anything I have done incorrectly or? I also try Rtings.com recommendation but it just does not work. Thank you all

Glad to know that I'm not the only one having problems with this! I don't have a Samsung TV but I'm experiencing the same exact thing with my Sony TV. When I play a 4K movie on the Samsung, it automatically switches the Picture Mode on my TV to HDR Video and the picture is just not good at all, no matter what I do to adjust it. On the other hand, when I play a regular Blu-ray, the picture is great! For some reason the HDR setting just messes up the pq on my Sony TV, even though it is 100% HDR compatible. I read somewhere online that HDR compatible is not the same thing as HDR capable so that's probably what's causing the problem. I just wish there was an option on the Samsung to turn the HDR off but I don't see one. I definitely get a better picture when the TV is set to Custom.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by movielover1069

Glad to know that I'm not the only one having problems with this! I don't have a Samsung TV but I'm experiencing the same exact thing with my Sony TV. When I play a 4K movie on the Samsung, it automatically switches the Picture Mode on my TV to HDR Video and the picture is just not good at all, no matter what I do to adjust it. On the other hand, when I play a regular Blu-ray, the picture is great! For some reason the HDR setting just messes up the pq on my Sony TV, even though it is 100% HDR compatible. I read somewhere online that HDR compatible is not the same thing as HDR capable so that's probably what's causing the problem. I just wish there was an option on the Samsung to turn the HDR off but I don't see one. I definitely get a better picture when the TV is set to Custom.

The Panasonic player will allow for HDR to be turned off. It's possible it really is the better player. It better be for the higher cost.

But... you didn't say which Sony UHD TV you have.

[adams1216]

Originally Posted by ray0414

You do not want to use RTINGS settings for HDR, those settings are meant for SDR, which acts completely different with those settings.


give these a try, these are the common used settings with the K8500 and the samsung tvs.

ON THE TV:

MOVIE MODE:

UHD color OFF/ON: this varies, each person is different and some prefer on some prefer off. I personally prefer it OFF

brightness: 45
Sharpness 20
color: 50-55

ADVANCED SETTINGS:

Dynamic Contrast: medium/high, alot of us prefer high, i recommend you experiment. but it gives the image more color and pop and brightens up a dark HDR picture, this setting to alot of people is the "x factor:.

Color space: native

Gamma: +2/3 HDR requires you to bump up the gamma to correct it, profressional calibrators have told me this

PICTURE OPTIONS:

digital clean view: OFF, for 4k HDR discs, keep it off, it can really smear texture detail if turned on

SMart LED: HIGH


Now to the K8500 Player



for 4k discs, make sure resolution is either 4k or auto

BD WISE: off

HDMI color FORMAT: auto

HDMI DEEP COLOR: off


Alot of people have found that tweaking the USER picture mode can also bring out the picture better. while playing a movie, hit the "tools" button on the controller, scroll down to picture mode and pick user, this will now bring up additional settings.

Contrast: +5

Though some people just use the picture mode dynamic, but dont let that scare you away, it doesnt wreck the picture how it would with a regular BD or SDR content.


Give these tweaks a try and see how it looks and report back.

Wanna ask might be a stupid question, when I play store demo, I can right away tell the difference in richer color and improved picture quality. But when I play uhd, it looks the same Blu Ray quality to me.
Btw I do try your setting, but it does look the same to me....

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by adams1216

Wanna ask might be a stupid question, when I play store demo, I can right away tell the difference in richer color and improved picture quality. But when I play uhd, it looks the same Blu Ray quality to me.
Btw I do try your setting, but it does look the same to me....

Its definitely not the same. Your settings automatically change right?

What movies do u have?

[movielover1069]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

The Panasonic player will allow for HDR to be turned off. It's possible it really is the better player. It better be for the higher cost.

But... you didn't say which Sony UHD TV you have.

Sorry, I have the Sony XBR55X850C.

[adams1216]

Originally Posted by ray0414

Its definitely not the same. Your settings automatically change right?

What movies do u have?

I am using the amazing Spider-Man 2, maybe it's different, but I just don't see the wow factor like s lot of people reviewed when they watch uhd on this TV, my gf keeps telling me it's the same quality why waste it to upgrade to UHD. I might need to do side by side comparison to show her..,

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by movielover1069

Sorry, I have the Sony XBR55X850C.

From the owners thread on AVS Forum, it appears that there is a panel lottery much like Samsung's of the past. Some owners are getting 8 bit panels, some are getting 10 bit panels. Sony service splits the difference and says it's an 8 bit panel with a kind of dithering feature.

8 bit panels will give you banding even with 10 bit video sources such as UHD Blu-ray. There isn't enough fine gradation to smooth transitions in color data.

With Samsung 8500 and 9500 displays (which are 10 bit) some were getting banding on UHD titles until a new firmware dropped allowing the UHD HDMI Color mode to work properly.

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by adams1216

I am using the amazing Spider-Man 2, maybe it's different, but I just don't see the wow factor like s lot of people reviewed when they watch uhd on this TV, my gf keeps telling me it's the same quality why waste it to upgrade to UHD. I might need to do side by side comparison to show her..,

That one looks decent, but it's also grainy at times and some scenes don't look 4k at all.

I'd try some other movies, Sicario, kingsman, life of pi

I'm gonna go out on a limb, but im guessing your girlfriend is just one of those people who don't care and can't tell the difference because of her attitude lol

Smurfs 2 will definitely wow you, but the movie isn't great.

[matth22]

Originally Posted by adams1216

I am using the amazing Spider-Man 2, maybe it's different, but I just don't see the wow factor like s lot of people reviewed when they watch uhd on this TV, my gf keeps telling me it's the same quality why waste it to upgrade to UHD. I might need to do side by side comparison to show her..,

I wouldn't base the picture solely on Spider-Man 2. Try Sicario or Mad Max. I expect you may see a bigger difference with these. I wasn't overly impressed with Spider-Man 2 either. Sicario, Chappie, Mad Max - definitely.

[movielover1069]

Originally Posted by FilmFreakosaurus

From the owners thread on AVS Forum, it appears that there is a panel lottery much like Samsung's of the past. Some owners are getting 8 bit panels, some are getting 10 bit panels. Sony service splits the difference and says it's an 8 bit panel with a kind of dithering feature.

8 bit panels will give you banding even with 10 bit video sources such as UHD Blu-ray. There isn't enough fine gradation to smooth transitions in color data.

With Samsung 8500 and 9500 displays (which are 10 bit) some were getting banding on UHD titles until a new firmware dropped allowing the UHD HDMI Color mode to work properly.

Well that explains a lot! Thanks!!

[adams1216]

Originally Posted by ray0414

That one looks decent, but it's also grainy at times and some scenes don't look 4k at all.

I'd try some other movies, Sicario, kingsman, life of pi

I'm gonna go out on a limb, but im guessing your girlfriend is just one of those people who don't care and can't tell the difference because of her attitude lol

Smurfs 2 will definitely wow you, but the movie isn't great.

I doubt if I will upgrade Smurfs 2 to UHD XD, I do have Sicario but have not had a chance to watch it. Just out of curiosity, do u guys change the color setting every time when switching from uhd to Blu Ray?
And thanks for showing me the setting you have!