Dark Picture on 4k Channels

I am probably a typical person when it comes to buying a TV.
I went to the store, looked at them and said "Wow, look at that, I want it".

 

And that is exactly what Sony, Samsung, LG, etc want you to do. That buying philosophy is why Samsung now offers QLED and why they offered LED TV's inferring it was a new technology. They know that the vast majority of buyers sucome to flashy advertising and generally buy what grabs their attention. In my case, my TV and DirecTV was a beautiful 4k marraige, until something new was added to the mix.

 

Even with research you can't predict the future so you might still choose wrong, but you can know when the merry go ground is going to slow down. That's why I'm still sticking with my Panasonic plasma. I'm very happy with the picture, and "better" isn't worth buying something that I know for sure will be obsolete in a couple years. Because every 4K TV on the market today will be obsolete in a couple years, since none of them support 4Kp120 input.

So I'm biding my time, watching prices continue to fall on the subset of 4K TVs that don't make picture actively worse in some ways compared to my plasma (i.e. everything except OLED) and waiting until there are OLED TVs have HDMI 2.1 ports that allow them to be capable of 4Kp120 input.

I'm not suggesting that TV makers will stop the merry go round when they hit that point, just that it won't matter. Their next step after 4Kp120 will be 8K TVs, but 8K broadcasts will never happen IMHO (and if they do I won't care) They will continue to widen the color space and get closer to the full BT.2020 gamut (which they can't even hit in the lab yet) and OLED will be replaced by inorganic micro LEDs, but those are incremental upgrades that happen every year to every product. I'm more concerned with true limitations, like not accepting 4Kp120 or not supporting the right kinds of HDR.

If unlike me you aren't willing to wait, and feel you have to buy when you know or should know the merry go round is still spinning quickly, you can't complain when you fall off and scrape your knee. If you don't even research to understand where things are going, then you should expect your choice will be obsolete within a few years - and consider yourself very very lucky if somehow that isn't the case (i.e. if you buy today and won't ever watch anything delivered in 4Kp120) Would you buy a new electric car without doing some research to see if you will need to have electrical work done in your garage to allow properly charging it, knowing where the charging stations are at work / around town, figuring out if it will work for family trips, etc. Of course not, so why does anyone think they should be able to go down to Best Buy, see a TV that looks impressive, and tell the salesman "box it up!" and not be in for a surprise later that it wasn't future proof?

 

Of course I can complain. There would not be any threads here or anywhere if it weren't for either complainers or information gatherers. The biggest difference between TV's and other electronic gear and electric cars is that the infrastructure requirements surrrounding electric cars is all over the news every day. You are aware of this regardless of your position in the market place.
As far as playing the waiting game and biding our time. How long would you bide your time and hang on to a plasma TV with 1080p limits if you were 70 years old now? Perspective is everything.

 

It's apparently a Samsung issue.

 

Not according to my Sony XBR75X850C

 

How is 1080p a "limit" for me when my cable provider has no 4K channels, I don't own (or plan to purchase) a 4K Blu Ray player and rarely stream? The only device I own capable of outputting 4K is my Tivo Bolt, and I've only had it five months.

All I'm missing out on is upscaling content to 4K, which to me isn't worth anywhere near the $2000 a new OLED TV costs. The main benefit of 4K (IMHO, everyone is entitled to their own opinion) is the wide color gamut. Without any 4K sources, I can't get that so it would be a waste of money for me to buy a 4K TV today that I'd have to replace in a few years when (hopefully...) ESPN and FS1K are broadcasting sports in 4Kp120. I only watch TV in one location, so I can't play the shell game some people do with moving TVs around and replacing the oldest in the house, where buying one every few years might make sense.

 

,I guess that you certainly have the right to respond to a question posed on a DirecTV site regarding 4k even though you apparently subscribe to a cable service that does not provide and 4k programming as does DirecTV. That being said HD would not be a limit to someone that only had SD so saying 1080p is no limit to you is quite true. However that is not the point. The point is that DirecTV made a technology change that drastically reduced the PQ on my and many other subscribers TV's. If it's our fault because we did not do the proper dillagence in researching the future of 4k and the effects of possible different versions of HDR coming into play then I guess I plead guilty.

 

Happens on my Sony XBR75W940E.

 

Welcome buddy. Enjoy the trip

 

Maybe you rarely stream but it's rapidly becoming the primary way that LOTS of Americans consume TV and there's quite a bit of 4K content available on Netflix, Amazon and YouTube. Hulu has some stuff in 4K too and I expect we'll see them expand their 4K initiative later this year. I can't see HBO and Showtime holding out too much longing in offering 4K either -- at least through their streaming apps -- since they're now both dedicated to direct-to-consumer OTT distribution channels, pitting them against Netflix et al.

There's nothing wrong with sticking with traditional linear pay TV (which, for the most part, currently tops out at 1080i) if that format holds the content you like. But for lots of us, we've jumped in the 4K (or 4K HDR) pool and the streaming water is more than fine.

 

That's fine, I'd rather not spend two grand on a TV that will already be obsolete for some formats in two years. The only things I'm missing are streaming only programs on Netflix etc. which hold little appeal to me - there's already way more stuff out there than I'd ever have the time or desire to watch, so paying more to subscribe to Netflix to have even more stuff to not watch isn't worth it.

 

I’m right there with you Slice. I’m still using a 2009 Panasonic plasma and an older AVR with no HDMI inputs. If it ain’t broke......

But I feel everyone’s pain. I was at my friends house last night and the Sharp 4KTV they bought at Christmas from Walmart for $298 was dark too. Even though the box said HDR I don’t think it supports HLG HDR. Unless they can do a software update I think everyone is SOL.

 

Probably Directv will need to provide a way to disable HDR in the client, so people who can't do HLG can turn it off. While that will remove what is IMHO the biggest advantage 4K brings, it is better than having everything looking dim.

At least I think turning off HDR would fix it, though I'm not really sure how HLG is represented in the broadcast's colorspace so maybe that's not gonna do it...

 

My Sony 75x850c just completed a rather long software upgrade. Unfortunately it had no effect on the dark 4K picture. Still terrible

 

My Sony XBR-55X900C received PKG5.381.0167NAB earlier today. The download/install time was normal but resetting took longer than usual.

 

I had previously reported that my tv, Samsung 9000 Series, their top of the line except for the QLED sets, which DOES support HLG (in fact when I first got it I could choose between HLG, HDR+ and bc.2020 before the firmware update) worked fine until the latest Directv upgrade. It is, in fact being caused by this auto HDR detection, but my tv should be able to handle it. I noticed that when HDR is detected I get the icon in my picture profile symbol, even though HDR is turned off in the settings.

I was at Costco yesterday and asked the Directv rep about it. He'd never heard of the problem, and their in store display looked perfectly fine. So it seems we're stuck in limbo here. There's no way to turn off HDR in the C61K, and that is definitely where the problem is, HDR. I get the HDR symbol whether Directv is broadcasting HDR or not. One other thing, when I watch 4K content on youtube, I don't get the HDR icon and the picture is great, but when I DO watch a video that's in HDR, I get the symbol, AND the picture is great as well.

21st Century technology. Grrrrrrrr......

 

I recently purchased a Samsung MU8000 82” and I have Directv 4K service via C61k and HS17. The 4K channels look good but they are not as bright as the other channels. I also noticed the guide gets dim when tuned to a 4K channel.

Do you guys with Samsungs have the UHD HDMI color setting set to ON or OFF? Not sure that makes a difference.

The 4K picture is really good, just not as bright as it could/should be. Very noticeable when 4K hockey is on.

 

I tried on and off, no difference.

I was on with a D* rep, she acknowledged that they have a problem with Samsung sets and are working together to fix it. You can take that with a grain of salt. Hopefully she wasn't shittin' me.

Oh, and Friday's Yankee game looked like ****, most likely because it was the YES feed, which isn't in 4K, not the Toronto feed, and Saturday's looked ok although those of you who watched last season's 4K baseball games said it was not so hot. I'm pretty sure Directv has been tweaking their software to their detriment. I see above that even Sony owners are having the same problem.

 

Does your TV support HLG HDR?