Samsung 4K UHD Blu-ray Player UBD-K8500

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

The settings are so display dependent, everyone will have different results. So far I haven't noticed any difference between YCbCr and RBG enhanced. I do use dynamic on the player for UHD though, that makes a difference. I still use the Oppo 95 for regular BDs but I may use the Samsung player if I discover that it upscales better than my TV (which I kinda doubt, but who knows). Would rather use my Oppo though, more options like showing bit rate info and adjusting subtitles to the black bar area.

I'm debating whether to stick with the Oppo 103 or go with the K8500 for Blu-rays too. One big factor in the Oppo's favor is the remote.

BTW, when I played some movies on VUDU on the K8500 last night, I noticed I couldn't go to the Tools menu and switch the Picture settings. Was the player acting up or is that feature disallowed on the apps(or at least VUDU)?

[mikesncc1701]

45 minutes into Fury Road with the same settings. RGB enhanced and Dynamic picture mode. Looks fantastic but one scene right after the sandstorm when it cuts to the slow movement of Max picking up his head out of the sand, there looks to be a ton of digital noise swirling about. Am I the only one that noticed that?

[thorthefifth]

I spent forever on the phone with Vizio and Samsung to try and find a resolution and so far no luck. They both want to blame the other with no actual information being given. I even argued with Vizio that there are actual 4K Blu-rays.

[mikesncc1701]

Whoa! Just did back to back comparisons of chapters 5 and 6 of Sicario (basically the entire transport/border confrontation) and those huge wide shots of Juarez really stand out on the UHD to an almost mind boggling extent. Can't report any problems about the afore mentioned "haziness" that some have had problems with. Everything looked aces to me.

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

I'm debating whether to stick with the Oppo 103 or go with the K8500 for Blu-rays too. One big factor in the Oppo's favor is the remote.

BTW, when I played some movies on VUDU on the K8500 last night, I noticed I couldn't go to the Tools menu and switch the Picture settings. Was the player acting up or is that feature disallowed on the apps(or at least VUDU)?

adam, i find that skin tones look much better on my oppo.

i cant wait til oppo releases their 4k player. i have a feeling alot of people are going to upgrade and pictures will be better with 4k players released later on, unfortunately they will probably be double the price. the k8500 works for now!

[djhitman303]

I got the Samsung K8500 from bestbuy last night, was last one. I compared it to my Oppo 103d and the picture was in my opinion better than Oppo. You could tell the difference. I compared 3:10 to Yuma and Dances with Wolves. Both movies looked great. Can't wait to try out Mad Max 4k today.

I did notice improved image while streaming Amazon & Vudu, although the audio sync seemed slightly off.
The remote sucks on the Samsung, and I will probably upgrade to Oppo 4k player when it is released as well.

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by djhitman303

I got the Samsung K8500 from bestbuy last night, was last one. I compared it to my Oppo 103d and the picture was in my opinion better than Oppo. You could tell the difference. I compared 3:10 to Yuma and Dances with Wolves. Both movies looked great. Can't wait to try out Mad Max 4k today.

I did notice improved image while streaming Amazon & Vudu, although the audio sync seemed slightly off.
The remote sucks on the Samsung, and I will probably upgrade to Oppo 4k player when it is released as well.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's having the lipsync issue with VUDU on the K8500. Amazon seemed to work ok with the titles I tried, but I still have problems with anything on VUDU that's DD 5.1 or less.

[INdetectableMAN]

I finally had the chance to test the new UltraHD format player Samsung and The Martian.

The experience could not be more positive. HDR is amazing and quickly makes the difference compared to conventional Bluray. Color, details, sharpness and contrast is exceptional.

HDR has far exceeded my most positive expectations.

[katiehlvr2]

Originally Posted by INdetectableMAN

I finally had the chance to test the new UltraHD format player Samsung and The Martian.

The experience could not be more positive. HDR is amazing and quickly makes the difference compared to conventional Bluray. Color, details, sharpness and contrast is exceptional.

HDR has far exceeded my most positive expectations.

What tv do you have?

[INdetectableMAN]

OLED LG 55EG920 4K-HDR European model

A family has brought me the player and movies directly from the United States

It has only been possible to test me The Martian

[vincentric]

I had a chance to do a little more in depth testing with UHDs in dynamic picture mode. By in-depth I mean really nitpicking the picture by pausing certain scenes, switching back and forth between user and dynamic, with my face only a few inches away from the tv.. so yeah, not normal viewing conditions.

In Martian, dynamic mode makes those pesky compression blocking issues slightly more apparent in the Martian sky at the start of the movie. It looks very clean when in user 0 mode.

In Kingsman, the whites are clipped. I went back to the parachute training scene, the clouds and sunrays are absent of some of their white details when using dynamic. Also at the start of chapter 4, the sky in the background is almost a pure white with dynamic but more cloud detail can be seen with user default. Last but not least towards the end where roxy, eggsy and merlin are on the plane, the windows on the plane are mostly pure white while in dynamic, but a bit more detail can be seen when switching to user.

Lastly, aliasing. This is the one where I had to look for it really, really closely. Long story short, I noticed it mostly in long shots that contain high contrast edges. In Maze Runner, during the scene when Teresa wakes up, the white shirt that one of the boys is weaing looks more aliased when in dynamic and in Kingsman, at the start of chapter 4, one of the pedestrians wearing black pants also looks more aliased during dynamic.

In the end, I think I may switch back to using default user 0 settings.

Edit: Forgot to mention, results may definitely vary depending on the TV being used. Just sharing some of my own personal experiences.

[bruceames]

I thought user mode in the player disables HDR?

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

I thought user mode in the player disables HDR?

I've heard conflicting reports on this.

Regardless, the HDR releases, to date, do not contain an SDR grade option so, even if you can turn it off, it doesn't mean you get an accurate SDR image, it means you get an HDR image that's being processed and displayed incorrectly or incompletely.

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

I thought user mode in the player disables HDR?

Very interesting, was not aware of that. For what it's worth, the default user 0, and standard picture mode look very similar, if not exactly the same, on my end. I'll have to do more ab comparisons and some more research on the matter though.

[matty746]

User mode most definitely does not turn HDR off. Where did that come from?

[joe52]

Hi people...glad to see so many good reviews on the new 4K player..I have to get one..I was going to wait for Sony to come out with one but I don't see anything coming out on Sony website plus I think $400 is a good price..Panasonic is almost $1000

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Regardless, the HDR releases, to date, do not contain an SDR grade option so, even if you can turn it off, it doesn't mean you get an accurate SDR image, it means you get an HDR image that's being processed and displayed incorrectly or incompletely.

I can possibly shed some more light on this. I previously had a sony 55x810c that was not hdr capable, the Kingsman UHD looked very blown out and overeposed on it, and stayed that way no matter what setting I changed in both the tv and player. When I upgraded to the 850c, the problem went away. I went into a little more detail here and here.

[vincentric]

Originally Posted by matty746

User mode most definitely does not turn HDR off. Where did that come from?

That's what am thinking as well, dynamic seems to greatly boost brightness and color, and slightly boost sharpness making it look as if HDR is turned off when using 0 user values.

[montyb]

Originally Posted by ray0414

adam, i find that skin tones look much better on my oppo.

i cant wait til oppo releases their 4k player. i have a feeling alot of people are going to upgrade and pictures will be better with 4k players released later on, unfortunately they will probably be double the price. the k8500 works for now!

I admit that I do prefer the K8500 when it comes to 3D blu rays but I still love my Oppo 103 (plus its region free). This Samsung UHD blu ray player will hold us Oppo fans over until Oppo releases their own UHD blu ray player in the future. Because once you have gone Oppo, there is no other!

[montyb]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

I thought user mode in the player disables HDR?

I was told by Samsung that you cannot turn off the HDR function on the player. Because I was thinking my UHD TV was non-HDR when in fact Samsung says it is (the contrast and backlight setting changes it is proof that HDR adjusting the TV). Does not make sense to me but if Samsung says its true...