Samsung 4K UHD Blu-ray Player UBD-K8500 - Page 76 - Blu-ray Forum

movielover1069 · 02-17-2016, 02:56 AM

[QUOTE=chip75;11875180]If you have a calibration disc, you can check your brightness and contrast settings, if you don't have a disc then it's worth checking out your Disney BDs (or THX ones) to see if there's a mini-guide on there, you want the screen like the example below:

If your player is clipping the blacks then you won't be able to see the shadow behind the THX logo (on the test, don't use the picture as a guide I'm not sure how accurate it is!). The guide will go into detail, but basically you want to be able to see the shadow and the 8 and 9 boxes (I think it's just the last two), then dial down the brightness until they're invisible. There'll be a similar thing with contrast settings.

It worth keeping an eye out for reviews of 4K calibrations discs to start you off (even if you plan to get a professional calibration later on). Don't worry about the settings to much, it's early days yet and a lot of people seem to be having niggles. In a couple of weeks I'd imagine everything will be a lot more clear.

Is there a particular calibration disc that you would recommend?

bbwiscfan · 02-17-2016, 03:37 AM

So here is my review on the Samsung BDP-K8500 along with the movie The Martian.

Last year in December I upgraded to a 65 inch Samsung JU7100 model. I had a basic Samsung BDP5700 player. I used to have a PS3 as my main player but that was moved upstairs to the living room for another television we have. I do have a full surround system; the receiver is a basic Pioneer I got way back in 2006 along with small Yamaha satelite speakers and powered subwoofer. Suffice it to say, I do not have HD audio capability so apologies for that.

I’ve had the K8500 since February 10th when it was delivered to me. I was impressed by the packaging of the unit itself, encassed in syrofoam with a box for the power cord and remote. The weight of the unit felt premium to me; some other posters online felt it was too light for $400. I personally like the curved design of the unit which I think looks great on top of my black glass finish TV stand below my mounted television. After connecting all applicable cables, the setup was a breeze, especially with being familiar with Samsung’s UI on the television and older player. I briefly played around with the apps on the player itself but, as most others would agree, the real desire was to test out some discs.

One thing to note, I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the remote. I may consider getting a universal remote but for the time being this will have to do. I do feel they went on the cheap side with the remote; its pretty strange when my older samsung player had a better remote with more button options when compared to a $400 player. I find that when I try to use the navigation buttons surrounding the enter button, I don’t quite hit enter when I want to causing me to glance down to look for it. The buttons are very flat and its hard to feel which is which. The lack of dedicated fast forward and rewind is felt here as the “long press” utilized doesn’t work as well and is not very convenient. I have larger hands so this remote feels way too small. It takes getting used to. As I stated earlier, use of this remote temporarily will get the job done but I am estimating that most people will be opting for universal remotes in the future. It may be the best option long term.

One ofther thing to mention is the speed of this player. It is very fast. About 8 seconds or less and the movie loads. The regular blu rays are lightning fast. The UHD blu ray didn’t lag far behind, which is very quick for a new format. After 10 years of having blu ray players out on the market with simliarly used technology we are now enjoying better performing machines. Its great to see this, especially since I remember the $1000.00 player Sony put out back in 2006 and that thing was slow and buggy.

I should note that for two days I had no 4k movies to try out so I played the movie Spectre on regular blu ray to test out the upscaling. To my eye, it was identical in terms of comparing the new player’s upscaling to the upscaling of my TV. I did change one setting, the “dynamic” setting under Picture Mode just to test out the difference and while it did make the image more vibrant, I shut it back off to standard again and remained with the standard settings. In short, upscaled 1080p looked as good as what I had seen before.

Then came February 12th, and I was able to purchase two 4k movies from Best Buy, one being The Martian and the other being Kingsman. While I have not yet watched Kingsman in full, I did see The Martian and will comment on that for this review. The first thing that struck my eye was the depth of field; the scenes where Matt Damon is walking on Mars is nothing short of a revelation. The best way I can describe it is it FELT like I was watching a 3D movie, it was that incredible. Every single detail emerges and creates insane realism, whether close to the camera or off in the distance. Everything is well rendered and defined. Another example is when Damon is doing a medical procedure on himself; every bead of sweat is noticed as he struggles with removing the piece of metal from his body. You can literally feel his pain while watching the scene, it just looks much more realistic. Other details, whether an actor’s skin, the nuts and bolts of the ships or all the computer screens displayed on the wall; you can see the increase in the detail. Blu Ray disc is still very good, but for me, 4K brings detail and depth of field to a whole other level.

What does HDR bring to the table? Contrast is much improved. Colors are bolder, brighter and more realistic. For those who think the image is “torched” or “blown out”; not for me. I think the improved contrast never goes overboard and manages to bring even more realism to the image. It’s truly vivid and more lifelike to my eyes. In the Martian, again the scenes with outdoor Mars comes to mind; the gorgeous reds of the planet are bolder to me than on the blu ray. The computer screens at NASA display very vibrant and pronounced blues. The blacks, as far as I can tell, are indeed richer. I went back to the regular blu ray and could not believe how much darker the blacks could get. The scenes in space also provide evidence of this; you truly experience the black, dark void space actually is. For a TV that is not an OLED, I was pretty damn impressed with the achievements this disc made in terms of overall colors, contrast and black levels.

So far, the only faults I have seen is some video noise in a few scenes, mostly in darker scenes but nothing too rampant. I really can’t find anything else negative to say folks. This presentation alone has taken a huge step in convincing me that this format does have a viable future. I want to watch more movies in 4K before making a determination that I’m comfortable recommending this format 100 percent. But, at least initially, I am impressed with what this player has to offer folks. 4K UHD is here, and with future movies seeing more and more true, 4K masters, I’m excited for the future of Home theater. Just my two cents!

eddybe · 02-17-2016, 04:30 AM

For Samsung 55JS9000 users have you updated your firmware to version 1440? This was released on Jan 13 2016.

I was wondering what was updated? Did it do anything to picture quality with UBD-K8500?

ray0414 · 02-17-2016, 04:37 AM

samsung is pushing out firmware 1443, as has been confirmed tonight by at least 3 JS8500 owners. samsung chat told 1 member that the new firmware is to address HDMI port issues. so stand by for confirmation that the issue fixes the UHD blu ray problems.

eddybe · 02-17-2016, 04:38 AM

So I found the note when scrolling through the firmware page.

eddybe · 02-17-2016, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ray0414

samsung is pushing out firmware 1443, as has been confirmed tonight by at least 3 JS8500 owners. samsung chat told 1 member that the new firmware is to address HDMI port issues. so stand by for confirmation that the issue fixes the UHD blu ray problems.

I will wait to hear back before completing the update myself. I hate being the first person installing firmware not knowing if it will brick the hardware or result in worst performance.

carr857 · 02-17-2016, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ray0414

samsung is pushing out firmware 1443, as has been confirmed tonight by at least 3 JS8500 owners. samsung chat told 1 member that the new firmware is to address HDMI port issues. so stand by for confirmation that the issue fixes the UHD blu ray problems.

I checked for firmware update earlier tonight and there was no update, will check again before bed.

docmike · 02-17-2016, 04:54 AM

I have 1443 auto update on my 78 js9500 and hate what they did to the samsung extra screen now. It now places a border around the entire screen and is so annoyingly small when looking at stats during a sports game... Really annoyed that they did this...

Derb · 02-17-2016, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carr857

I checked for firmware update earlier tonight and there was no update, will check again before bed.

There is probably gonna be a ton of compatibility issues being reported as these eventually roll out to everyone so I expect Samsung to be on the ball.

I'd expect plenty more firmware updates to come. In other words, connect this thing to the Internet.

Pieter V · 02-17-2016, 01:11 PM

Here in the Netherlands, the Samsung player will be available in May. For 500 euros plus a "free" copy of The Martian.

bbwiscfan · 02-17-2016, 01:18 PM

Before Amazon or Fox Connect, for example, is because they seem to have a 2 week exclusive window, which has happened with Best Buy on other titles in the past. I was thinking that to myself when I read how people have not gotten any orders from Amazon yet....Makes sense.

Just, of course, not much communication on getting them early. Another thing to note, I talked with a manager at my closest store and he told me he has one on preorder but they have no display set up yet which is not surprising since the player is still sold out online.

elwaylite · 02-17-2016, 01:20 PM

It pisses me off that they were two weeks ahead of Fox Connect, but I can't complain because I had a great coupon and saved a lot of $$$. So here I wait...

And to be honest, exclusivity bullshit is not the way to launch an expensive format...

bbwiscfan · 02-17-2016, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elwaylite

It pisses me off that they were two weeks ahead of Fox Connect, but I can't complain because I had a great coupon and saved a lot of $$$. So here I wait...

And to be honest, exclusivity bullshit is not the way to launch an expensive format...

The Fox connect deal was very good. I had only one movie through them. I agree that this wasn't the way to go with exclusivity. Its one thing to do it on a format like blu ray that's been out a while now, quite another for a new category product. It still remains a mystery to me how this was handled. First players and movies were not going to be available until March 1st or after. Then the players showed up in California with limited quantities. Then Best Buy shipped out several orders and then sold out online; Amazon hasn't shipped any yet and Samsung direct is the same. Then the movies started trickling in at BB. You would think someone would have communicated this information down the pipeline when they decided to release the player earlier?

You would also think BB would communicate to its employees? I was in my store this past Monday and I still didn't see any displays out yet for the 4K UHD while other stores across the country had some out. Some stores got shipments and didn't want to sell them, others did and sold them right away, some didn't even know they had them!!! The whole launch has been a disappointment for many people leaving a lot of questions and very little answers.

MisterXDTV · 02-17-2016, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pieter V

Here in the Netherlands, the Samsung player will be available in May. For 500 euros plus a "free" copy of The Martian.

Do you have a link?

Mavrick · 02-17-2016, 02:27 PM

I love how we get a "free" copy of the Martian whilst we're paying a good deal more than other places to buy the player in the first place

At 500 euro I can see it being at least £400 which is a bit more than I'd like to pay.

Geoff D · 02-17-2016, 02:35 PM

For £300 I'd have a punt, misgivings and all. But for £400 up, forget it.

dvdmike · 02-17-2016, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geoff D

For £300 I'd have a punt, misgivings and all. But for £400 up, forget it.

£299.99 is my limit

Carlos2992 · 02-17-2016, 02:51 PM

Hello guys, is this player multivoltage, or only 110v?

Pieter V · 02-17-2016, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterXDTV

Do you have a link?

http://nl.hardware.info/nieuws/46952...i-verkrijgbaar

Viking61 · 02-17-2016, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pieter V

http://nl.hardware.info/nieuws/46952...i-verkrijgbaar

Also from Samsung Newsroom.

Quote:

The Samsung Ultra HD Blu-ray player will be available from March across Europe and each device will be sold with a copy of Fox Home Entertainment, The Martian, Starring Matt Damon in Ultra HD.

Samsung Electronics Showcases Meaningful Innovations for Smarter Living at 2016 European Forum

I have seen the date March 29 mentioned for France to concur with the release date of the Fox UHD titles.

02-17-2016, 03:37 AM	#1502
bbwiscfan Blu-ray Guru Member since:Jun 2011 Location:Minnesota, USA 4K collection:630 Blu-ray collection:1176	My full review: So here is my review on the Samsung BDP-K8500 along with the movie The Martian. Last year in December I upgraded to a 65 inch Samsung JU7100 model. I had a basic Samsung BDP5700 player. I used to have a PS3 as my main player but that was moved upstairs to the living room for another television we have. I do have a full surround system; the receiver is a basic Pioneer I got way back in 2006 along with small Yamaha satelite speakers and powered subwoofer. Suffice it to say, I do not have HD audio capability so apologies for that. I’ve had the K8500 since February 10th when it was delivered to me. I was impressed by the packaging of the unit itself, encassed in syrofoam with a box for the power cord and remote. The weight of the unit felt premium to me; some other posters online felt it was too light for $400. I personally like the curved design of the unit which I think looks great on top of my black glass finish TV stand below my mounted television. After connecting all applicable cables, the setup was a breeze, especially with being familiar with Samsung’s UI on the television and older player. I briefly played around with the apps on the player itself but, as most others would agree, the real desire was to test out some discs. One thing to note, I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the remote. I may consider getting a universal remote but for the time being this will have to do. I do feel they went on the cheap side with the remote; its pretty strange when my older samsung player had a better remote with more button options when compared to a $400 player. I find that when I try to use the navigation buttons surrounding the enter button, I don’t quite hit enter when I want to causing me to glance down to look for it. The buttons are very flat and its hard to feel which is which. The lack of dedicated fast forward and rewind is felt here as the “long press” utilized doesn’t work as well and is not very convenient. I have larger hands so this remote feels way too small. It takes getting used to. As I stated earlier, use of this remote temporarily will get the job done but I am estimating that most people will be opting for universal remotes in the future. It may be the best option long term. One ofther thing to mention is the speed of this player. It is very fast. About 8 seconds or less and the movie loads. The regular blu rays are lightning fast. The UHD blu ray didn’t lag far behind, which is very quick for a new format. After 10 years of having blu ray players out on the market with simliarly used technology we are now enjoying better performing machines. Its great to see this, especially since I remember the $1000.00 player Sony put out back in 2006 and that thing was slow and buggy. I should note that for two days I had no 4k movies to try out so I played the movie Spectre on regular blu ray to test out the upscaling. To my eye, it was identical in terms of comparing the new player’s upscaling to the upscaling of my TV. I did change one setting, the “dynamic” setting under Picture Mode just to test out the difference and while it did make the image more vibrant, I shut it back off to standard again and remained with the standard settings. In short, upscaled 1080p looked as good as what I had seen before. Then came February 12th, and I was able to purchase two 4k movies from Best Buy, one being The Martian and the other being Kingsman. While I have not yet watched Kingsman in full, I did see The Martian and will comment on that for this review. The first thing that struck my eye was the depth of field; the scenes where Matt Damon is walking on Mars is nothing short of a revelation. The best way I can describe it is it FELT like I was watching a 3D movie, it was that incredible. Every single detail emerges and creates insane realism, whether close to the camera or off in the distance. Everything is well rendered and defined. Another example is when Damon is doing a medical procedure on himself; every bead of sweat is noticed as he struggles with removing the piece of metal from his body. You can literally feel his pain while watching the scene, it just looks much more realistic. Other details, whether an actor’s skin, the nuts and bolts of the ships or all the computer screens displayed on the wall; you can see the increase in the detail. Blu Ray disc is still very good, but for me, 4K brings detail and depth of field to a whole other level. What does HDR bring to the table? Contrast is much improved. Colors are bolder, brighter and more realistic. For those who think the image is “torched” or “blown out”; not for me. I think the improved contrast never goes overboard and manages to bring even more realism to the image. It’s truly vivid and more lifelike to my eyes. In the Martian, again the scenes with outdoor Mars comes to mind; the gorgeous reds of the planet are bolder to me than on the blu ray. The computer screens at NASA display very vibrant and pronounced blues. The blacks, as far as I can tell, are indeed richer. I went back to the regular blu ray and could not believe how much darker the blacks could get. The scenes in space also provide evidence of this; you truly experience the black, dark void space actually is. For a TV that is not an OLED, I was pretty damn impressed with the achievements this disc made in terms of overall colors, contrast and black levels. So far, the only faults I have seen is some video noise in a few scenes, mostly in darker scenes but nothing too rampant. I really can’t find anything else negative to say folks. This presentation alone has taken a huge step in convincing me that this format does have a viable future. I want to watch more movies in 4K before making a determination that I’m comfortable recommending this format 100 percent. But, at least initially, I am impressed with what this player has to offer folks. 4K UHD is here, and with future movies seeing more and more true, 4K masters, I’m excited for the future of Home theater. Just my two cents!

02-17-2016, 01:18 PM	#1511
bbwiscfan Blu-ray Guru Member since:Jun 2011 Location:Minnesota, USA 4K collection:630 Blu-ray collection:1176	So I read the reason why Best Buy is selling 4k UHD Discs Before Amazon or Fox Connect, for example, is because they seem to have a 2 week exclusive window, which has happened with Best Buy on other titles in the past. I was thinking that to myself when I read how people have not gotten any orders from Amazon yet....Makes sense. Just, of course, not much communication on getting them early. Another thing to note, I talked with a manager at my closest store and he told me he has one on preorder but they have no display set up yet which is not surprising since the player is still sold out online.

02-17-2016, 02:56 AM	#1501
movielover1069 Expert Member Member since:Jul 2010 4K collection:72 Blu-ray collection:364 DVD collection:13 MA collection:24 Digital collection:190 iTunes collection:104 Prime collection:39	[QUOTE=chip75;11875180]If you have a calibration disc, you can check your brightness and contrast settings, if you don't have a disc then it's worth checking out your Disney BDs (or THX ones) to see if there's a mini-guide on there, you want the screen like the example below: If your player is clipping the blacks then you won't be able to see the shadow behind the THX logo (on the test, don't use the picture as a guide I'm not sure how accurate it is!). The guide will go into detail, but basically you want to be able to see the shadow and the 8 and 9 boxes (I think it's just the last two), then dial down the brightness until they're invisible. There'll be a similar thing with contrast settings. It worth keeping an eye out for reviews of 4K calibrations discs to start you off (even if you plan to get a professional calibration later on). Don't worry about the settings to much, it's early days yet and a lot of people seem to be having niggles. In a couple of weeks I'd imagine everything will be a lot more clear. Is there a particular calibration disc that you would recommend?

02-17-2016, 04:30 AM	#1503
eddybe Member Member since:Dec 2015 Location:Los Angeles, CA Blu-ray collection:146	For Samsung 55JS9000 users have you updated your firmware to version 1440? This was released on Jan 13 2016. I was wondering what was updated? Did it do anything to picture quality with UBD-K8500?

02-17-2016, 04:37 AM	#1504
ray0414 Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Oct 2015 Location:Michigan, USA, 35yo Trading Score:9	samsung is pushing out firmware 1443, as has been confirmed tonight by at least 3 JS8500 owners. samsung chat told 1 member that the new firmware is to address HDMI port issues. so stand by for confirmation that the issue fixes the UHD blu ray problems.

02-17-2016, 04:38 AM	#1505
eddybe Member Member since:Dec 2015 Location:Los Angeles, CA Blu-ray collection:146	So I found the note when scrolling through the firmware page.

02-17-2016, 04:54 AM	#1508
docmike Member Member since:Feb 2016	I have 1443 auto update on my 78 js9500 and hate what they did to the samsung extra screen now. It now places a border around the entire screen and is so annoyingly small when looking at stats during a sports game... Really annoyed that they did this...

02-17-2016, 01:11 PM	#1510
Pieter V Blu-ray Prince Top contributor Member since:Oct 2010 Location:The Netherlands Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:14	Here in the Netherlands, the Samsung player will be available in May. For 500 euros plus a "free" copy of The Martian.

02-17-2016, 01:20 PM	#1512
elwaylite Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Mar 2007	It pisses me off that they were two weeks ahead of Fox Connect, but I can't complain because I had a great coupon and saved a lot of $$$. So here I wait... And to be honest, exclusivity bullshit is not the way to launch an expensive format...

02-17-2016, 02:27 PM	#1515
Mavrick Gaming Moderator Top contributor Member since:Dec 2008 Location:Wales Home Theater Gallery:121 4K collection:62 Blu-ray collection:813 iTunes collection:1 Blu-ray reviews:5 Trading Score:1	I love how we get a "free" copy of the Martian whilst we're paying a good deal more than other places to buy the player in the first place At 500 euro I can see it being at least £400 which is a bit more than I'd like to pay.

02-17-2016, 02:35 PM	#1516
Geoff D Blu-ray Emperor Top contributor Member since:Feb 2009 Location:Swanage, Engerland 4K collection:1348 Blu-ray collection:2525 Blu-ray reviews: 6 Trading Score:33	For £300 I'd have a punt, misgivings and all. But for £400 up, forget it.

02-17-2016, 02:51 PM	#1518
Carlos2992 Expert Member Member since:Oct 2008 Location:Lanus, Argentina Blu-ray collection:911 Trading Score:1	Hello guys, is this player multivoltage, or only 110v?

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