HDR is crayons

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by stigdu

Appreciate your replies, fellas (apart from Geoff who says I've got a shit TV).

Don't feel bad. He thinks your shit TV is less shit than my shit TV.

[Geoff D]

nothing compares 2me

[CarlosMeat]

Reminds me of Ferris Bueller:

"It is a piece of shit! Don't worry about it, I don't even have a piece of shit! I have to envy yours"

[Hedji]

Originally Posted by stigdu

I've got a Sony XE90 and I copied my settings from an old AV Forums post.

I have the same shit TV and probably copied the same shit settings, and I just am not feeling the wow factor.

I thought it was me.

I wish someone could come over with a demo disc and show me what I'm doing wrong, but I just wanted to see a bigger difference between the upscaled blu ray and the uhd from the combo packs.

[stigdu]

Shit 4k TV owners stick together, boys!

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by stigdu

Shit 4k TV owners stick together, boys!

We need to come up with a password.

How about...?

-What kind of TV do you have?

-A shit one.

[nick4Knight]

The XE90/900E from Sony is by no means one of the lackluster ones out there...

Gladly in Australia TV's are no longer kosher to put "HDR" in the product title unless it's a 1000+ peak display. HDR 'capable' is no marketing loophole in 2018! How it should always been. My folks got jipped with theirs because of not understanding. And foolishly made their Panasonic X600A purchase before asking my input

Anyway, the Sony 900E is somewhere in the middle of the market

[Matt89]

I have a TCL 55C803, it's a mid-range 4K TV with Dolby Vision and HDR10 (I didn't wanna drop $2k for a TV) and I think movies look fantastic on it. Yeah the HDR could be a tad brighter, but I went from a 40" 1080p to a 55" 4K so for me the difference was pretty big. It also had slight issues with black uniformity but it was nothing that adjusting the backlighting and contrast couldn't fix.

I thought Blade Runner in UHD looked amazing. Popped my Blu-ray in to compare and I could notice a big difference.

~Matt

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by nick4amber

The XE90/900E from Sony is by no means one of the lackluster ones out there...

Gladly in Australia TV's are no longer kosher to put "HDR" in the product title unless it's a 1000+ peak display. HDR 'capable' is no marketing loophole in 2018! How it should always been. My folks got jipped with theirs because of not understanding. And foolishly made their Panasonic X600A purchase before asking my input

Anyway, the Sony 900E is somewhere in the middle of the market

Yeah, the 900E is not bad at all. IMO it is the absolute minimum of the entry Sony LCD range from last year, which still provides a decent and worthwhile HDR experience. Any of the lower models will not suffice.

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by Matt89

I thought Blade Runner in UHD looked amazing. Popped my Blu-ray in to compare and I could notice a big difference.

~Matt

That's not hard to do considering the blu ray is a 2007 dinosaur with a VC-1 codec and wicked low bitrate.

[Hedji]

Originally Posted by nick4amber

The XE90/900E from Sony is by no means one of the lackluster ones out there...


Anyway, the Sony 900E is somewhere in the middle of the market

It's so frustrating, because, well, I WANT to believe.

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by jess1581

That's not hard to do considering the blu ray is a 2007 dinosaur with a VC-1 codec and wicked low bitrate.

Haha yeah I was curious to see how much of a difference there was. I was impressed.

~Matt

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by jess1581

That's not hard to do considering the blu ray is a 2007 dinosaur with a VC-1 codec and wicked low bitrate.

imagine how much more of a leap UHD blu ray would be if HD DVD survived and all encodes stayed like that with low bitrate VC-1 encodes to accommodate the lowest common denominator, HD DVD.

And to think, there were people out there that actually supported HD DVD over blu ray.

[pottyaboutpotter1]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Yeah, the 900E is not bad at all. IMO it is the absolute minimum of the entry Sony LCD range from last year, which still provides a decent and worthwhile HDR experience. Any of the lower models will not suffice.

I've got the 900E and it's probably the best TV I've ever owned. Black levels are great, it's got good HDR brightness, has a wide colour gamut and has a full array backlight meaning there's none of that edge-lit nonsense.

[Bourne1886]

Originally Posted by Hedji

It's so frustrating, because, well, I WANT to believe.

I felt like that that when I first got my Samsung KS55inch 7000 series. But after trial and error and pestering people on the forums I’ve got my set up just as I want it. It took a while but I got there. I think maybe my expectations were all wrong because I didn’t fully understand HDR.

Not all discs are made equal unfortunately so there will be the odd bummer here and there. HDR isn’t always wow it’s more like clouds or the sun not being clipped out and pictures looking more natural etc than blurays.

Good luck on your 4k hdr journey hope you get it just the way you want it.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by kwr212

According to rtngs.com, the problem shouldn’t be your tv. You may want to double check your settings against their recommended calibration. https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/x900e what player are you using? Have you done all the firmware updates? I’m not familiar with your tv, so without setting eyes on it, I can’t say if what you’re seeing is similar to what I’m seeing on my tv. But what I see on mine (Samsung Q8FN) is definitely a noticeable improvement with UHD discs vs Blu-ray.

I also looked at your 4K collection and there were some that I found very impressive in your collection. Not every disc has the same wow factor, but sometimes when I get curious if there’s been a real upgrade to 4K I’ll compare the 4K to blu on different players and swap between them on inputs. There has always been a difference when I’ve done this, sometimes a major difference even when I thought at first the 4K looked like a well authored blu.

Some people won’t see it as a worthwhile upgrade, even with the best equipment, just like some people don’t think Blu-ray is worth the upgrade from DVD. I’m personally an enthusiastic 4K supporter. I can see the difference and for me it’s a much richer, more filmic experience. And sometimes it’s like seeing an entirely new film. After seeing the 4K of catalog titles like E.T., I can’t imagine ever watching them in a lower format again. It would be like going back to VHS.

People hold rtings a lot higher than they should. Without getting into details, I'll just say that they posted some less-than-accurate info on my TV, and didn't change their facts even after I contacted them.

And I don't trust any site's "calibration" settings. I use test disc patterns and my own eyes.

[ack_bak]

Originally Posted by stigdu

I've either got a shit telly or my settings are all wrong then, as there isn't a huge WOW difference to me when watching 4k discs with HDR, and watching a film on blu-ray. There is a difference, otherwise I'd just sell my 4k kit and stick with blu-ray, but for the most part, it's minimal.

I've only watched a few films where I can hand on heart say that the picture wowed me and was much better than the blu-ray.

The experience can vary based on the source. Not all 4K/UHD/HDR movies on Blu-Ray are the same. I have had some UHD discs that look gorgeous and HDR really makes scenes pop. I have had other 4K/UUHD discs where there was minimal upgrade vs the 1080p Blu-Ray.

Same with audio. Some movies have a really good Atmos mix that sounds fantastic vs the 5.1 mix while others have a weak track and there is little difference.

I would try out a few reference discs and A/B scenes (UHD vs 1080p). If you are not seeing a difference then it is likely your configuration.

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by ack_bak

The experience can vary based on the source. Not all 4K/UHD/HDR movies on Blu-Ray are the same. I have had some UHD discs that look gorgeous and HDR really makes scenes pop. I have had other 4K/UUHD discs where there was minimal upgrade vs the 1080p Blu-Ray.

Well that is precisely why HDR is like crayons.

Just cause you got a 64 pack now, sometimes you just want to use the red and blue and green that come in the 8 pack. other times you may want to use some of the crayons only found in the 64 pack.

[ack_bak]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

Well that is precisely why HDR is like crayons.

Just cause you got a 64 pack now, sometimes you just want to use the red and blue and green that come in the 8 pack. other times you may want to use some of the crayons only found in the 64 pack.

HDR is not perfect. No format to date is perfect, there were plenty of bad Blu-Ray releases. Same with DVD. There have been some "restored/remastered" Blu-Ray's that were horribly done (example excessive DNR).

I am with Geoff on this one in that I almost always prefer the UHD transfer to the normal Blu-Ray. I have no problem buying some of my favorite movies on HDR if there is a noticeable upgrade (resolution/HDR) from the standard Blu-Ray. If the studio screws it up, I pass and keep what I have.

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by ack_bak

HDR is not perfect. No format to date is perfect, there were plenty of bad Blu-Ray releases. Same with DVD. There have been some "restored/remastered" Blu-Ray's that were horribly done (example excessive DNR).

I am with Geoff on this one in that I almost always prefer the UHD transfer to the normal Blu-Ray. I have no problem buying some of my favorite movies on HDR if there is a noticeable upgrade (resolution/HDR) from the standard Blu-Ray. If the studio screws it up, I pass and keep what I have.

sure of course, but there's a huge difference between a UHD transfer that offers little over the blu ray counterpart because the studio screwed up and the UHD transfer that offers little over the blu ray counterpart because the DP just didn't want to use the additional crayons at his/her disposal. sometimes it's hard to tell.