Samsung 4K UHD Blu-ray Player UBD-K8500

[Derb]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

That's what did the trick for me too. In Standard mode the UHD looks darker than the BD. But setting to Dynamic it makes the overall brightness level on par with the BD watched in Standard mode. Don't know if it's some quirk in the player or if UHD is meant to be played in Dynamic mode.

I messed around with Dynamic too. Didn't end up on it though as the transfer of The Martian is quite excellent.. A lesser quality transfer on Dynamic would look hideous unless you then went to alter your tv's own settings. Sure it brought out details but it definitely messed up all my Color settings.

I noted Enhanced RGB instead of Standard RGB brought out more detail without messed up colors & by comparison to 4:4:4, Ycbr looks like putty thrown on the screen.

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by Derb

I messed around with Dynamic too. Didn't end up on it though as the transfer of The Martian is quite excellent.. A lesser quality transfer on Dynamic would look hideous unless you then went to alter your tv's own settings. Sure it brought out details but it definitely messed up all my Color settings.

I noted Enhanced RGB instead of Standard RGB brought out more detail without messed up colors & by comparison to 4:4:4, Ycbr looks like putty thrown on the screen.

Yeah Dynamic probably won't work out too well on an SDR TV, but fortunately does make a big difference on HDR. I don't have the Sammy player connected anymore to my SDR TV and I don't remember what setting I had during that week I used the TV for UHD BD.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Yeah Dynamic probably won't work out too well on an SDR TV, but fortunately does make a big difference on HDR. I don't have the Sammy player connected anymore to my SDR TV and I don't remember what setting I had during that week I used the TV for UHD BD.

Everytime I load a disc I am reminded either by the disc or my Samsung player, I'm not watching the intended look because of my SDR.

This would normally set me on fire but I look at it as a better upscaling BD player than a UHD player for my set-up & I have slightly more titles to choose from with BD. So not a total loss, I still feel even if you do not have an HDR TV, this Sammy is worth the price tag for the upconversion alone.

[Falaskan]

Can someone confirm what the latest update number for this player is?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

Can someone confirm what the latest update number for this player is?

Unless Sasmung haven't updated their site, it should be:

Upgrade File (USB type) (Firmware) ver.1003.1 - All OS (MULTI LANGUAGE, 527.6 MB) Feb 29, 2016

[Minimejer05]

Amazon is finally shipping my player! It's only been 3 weeks of waiting. Should be getting it on Wednesday. Can't wait! Noticed they had a few more in stock if anyone else still needs to grab one.

[ramzy1]

I'd like to buy this, but its hard to find right now. Out of stock at the usual places. Other stores list it online as a pre-order.

[ramzy1]

Originally Posted by Minimejer05

Amazon is finally shipping my player! It's only been 3 weeks of waiting. Should be getting it on Wednesday. Can't wait! Noticed they had a few more in stock if anyone else still needs to grab one.

Out of at Amazon 25 minutes after your post.

[Minimejer05]

Originally Posted by ramzy1

Out of at Amazon 25 minutes after your post.

That's crazy! I got the email and decided to check to see what kind of stock they would have and noticed it said "5 in stock order soon" and just like that they're already gone?! Crazy.

I wonder when they're going to get a healthy stock?

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

I was at Best Buy today and they had one in stock. I really want one, because I enjoy being an early adopter for some strange reason. However I have a quick question... My TV doesn't have HDR (Vizio P series) so how good do the movies look without HDR? Worth getting or no?

[connect42]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

I was at Best Buy today and they had one in stock. I really want one, because I enjoy being an early adopter for some strange reason. However I have a quick question... My TV doesn't have HDR (Vizio P series) so how good do the movies look without HDR? Worth getting or no?

Yes, worth it. It is a great upscaler for regular blu-ray discs. I am using the Hdfury Integral to play UHD discs through my 10 bit port. Even without the Integral, UHD discs look great. Look up some of my older posts about this.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by connect42

Yes, worth it. It is a great upscaler for regular blu-ray discs. I am using the Hdfury Integral to play UHD discs through my 10 bit port. Even without the Integral, UHD discs look great. Look up some of my older posts about this.

Thanks. Hopefully I get to Best Buy and pick it up soon.

[movielover1069]

Has anyone tried playing the digital versions of any of these 4K movies from VuDu on the Samsung? They look fantastic!!

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by movielover1069

Has anyone tried playing the digital versions of any of these 4K movies from VuDu on the Samsung? They look fantastic!!

I thought you could only stream 4K VUDU movies on the Roku 4 or certain Vizio TVs.

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

I thought you could only stream 4K VUDU movies on the Roku 4 or certain Vizio TVs.

That appears to be the case. But I'm not getting a Roku 4 just so I can stream UHD titles that I already own on disc. The player and TV apps are all I need and I don't streaming much anyway (only streaming is for the kids). I wonder if they have some kind of exclusivity agreement with Roku or something (regarding UHD SDR streaming. I know they have another one with Vizio regarding UHD DV).

[ChoppedUp]

Originally Posted by movielover1069

Has anyone tried playing the digital versions of any of these 4K movies from VuDu on the Samsung? They look fantastic!!

You must be using a Roku4 player.

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

That appears to be the case. But I'm not getting a Roku 4 just so I can stream UHD titles that I already own on disc. The player and TV apps are all I need and I don't streaming much anyway (only streaming is for the kids). I wonder if they have some kind of exclusivity agreement with Roku or something (regarding UHD SDR streaming. I know they have another one with Vizio regarding UHD DV).

This is what Jake in VUDU Engineering said on the VUDU Forums:

"The biggest reason UHD support is still limited is that studios have very strict security requirements for their 4K content - the device hardware and firmware must meet these requirements to stream UHD.

Sorry, we can't discuss unannounced devices in detail - but in general there will be a number of other TVs and STBs this year that support VUDU UHD, some with DolbyVision. It's also *possible* some 2015 TV models could get support, but this will depend on the device having adequate hardware security and manufacturer support in updating their firmware."

The way he makes it sound, this isn't an exclusivity issue(at least not at this point) and is about security. Either way, I ain't getting a Vizio TV and the Roku 4 was a waste of time as I could access everything on that device but VUDU UHD via the Samsung K8500 or JS9500.

And to be honest, the UHD streaming is not that impressive, at least sans Dolby Vision. I've sampled 3 titles thus far: Edge of Tomorrow and both Sherlock Holmes. EoT and Game of Shadows look slightly better than the Blu-ray and Sherlock Holmes honestly showed no noticeable improvement. I did watch the first 2 minutes of Magic Mike XXL and that looked really good, so maybe the only titles worth your time and money on VUDU UHD are the ones with true 4K transfers(which MM XXL reportedly has).

[bruceames]

Yeah I'd like to get UHD from Vudu more as a curiosity than anything else. I want to compare the quality and to confirm that I own the UHD version and not just the HDX.

[movielover1069]

Originally Posted by ChoppedUp

You must be using a Roku4 player.

Nope, but doesn't both the Samsung and the Sony 4K TV upscale content from VuDu anyway? Please correct me if I'm wrong! Can't see how much better the UHD version could look anyway. To me the picture looked better than the actual 4K disc itself which I'm still having trouble getting a decent picture with. The Blu-ray upscaling looks better as does the VuDu version. I'm very confused, if Vudu already has UHD content, why do you need either a Vizio TV or a Roku4 in order to view it? Sorry but I just don't get it. The picture I saw on the VuDu version looked pretty amazing. Is there a difference between 4K and UHD? Maybe someone could explain this whole thing to me. Also, Netflix already has programs in 4K which look pretty spectacular, so what's the deal with VuDu?

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by movielover1069

Nope, but doesn't both the Samsung and the Sony 4K TV upscale content from VuDu anyway? Please correct me if I'm wrong! Can't see how much better the UHD version could look anyway. To me the picture looked better than the actual 4K disc itself which I'm still having trouble getting a decent picture with. The Blu-ray upscaling looks better as does the VuDu version. I'm very confused, if Vudu already has UHD content, why do you need either a Vizio TV or a Roku4 in order to view it? Sorry but I just don't get it. The picture I saw on the VuDu version looked pretty amazing. Is there a difference between 4K and UHD? Maybe someone could explain this whole thing to me. Also, Netflix already has programs in 4K which look pretty spectacular, so what's the deal with VuDu?

http://www.vudu.com/movies/#featured...UHD-Collection

That's VUDU's UHD collection. Not much right now. Only 33 titles, all from WB. These are not the same as upscaled HDX streams or Blu-rays. Some actually do look noticeably better than their 1080p counterparts, such as Magic Mike XXL. But the catch is you can only stream UHD if you have a Roku 4 device or a specific model of Vizio 4KTV. And only the Vizios offer Dolby Vision.