Samsung 4K Calibration Help

[imsounoriginal]

Hey all,

So I recently set up my Samsung UN40KU6290 4K+HDR TV, and initially I was very impressed with the image quality. I connected my UBD-K8500 player directly to the TV via a Rocketfish 4K HDMI cable, and the resolution was phenomenal (though I didn't notice a huge difference in color/contrast/HDR, but more on that in a bit). Then when my receiver came in (a relatively basic Sony STRDH550), I passed the UHD player through that and into the TV, then realized I never had HDR mode activated (I had UHD color on, but not HDR, which I thought was the same thing ), so I turned it on and kept the same settings that I had calibrated via my Xbox One (which I know is not optimal, but it's served me well in the past and I dunno what else to use, frankly).

Now... I'm not loving what I'm seeing. I'm seeing some banding, a bit of a pasty/splotchy (for lack of a better word) look to the image when anything complex like smoke and dirt is happening, and overall not much (if any) of a difference over BD. I sampled some of Deadpool, ST Into Darkness, and Pacific Rim (which I had sampled the previous night, to phenomenal results), and they just don't look too great. I watched all of Jason Bourne last night, when the UHD player was hooked up directly to the TV, and it looked awesome; now, not so much.

I know there's no standard calibration for HDR, and I know that settings which work for one TV won't necessarily work on another, but what settings are others using to get the optimal picture results? Is my receiver doing something to downgrade the image quality? (It is supposedly a 4K-capable receiver, so I don't think that's an issue.)

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!