UHD and HDR in General

[EddieLarkin]

HDR Display Type is in the Panasonic 420 settings menu. So head there first (it may even have you do it as part of the first start up settings, I can't quite remember), select Basic Luminance, and then you're ready to turn it on.

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks again, EddieLarkin! Just out of curiosity, what should one look for in the ideal TVs for the format, and are any Rokus?

[mfunk9786]

Don't want to be the person coming into the thread to say "you should buy something expensive and that'll solve your problem" - but you should avoid any TVs that aren't OLED, with the LG C1 series being the top of the top.

Yes, TCL has a QLED (believe it's the 6-Series), and yes it comes with a Roku interface for SmartTV, but due to the quality level of the manufacturer (middling at best) it's just not going to be able to get as bright per pixel as the LG or something comparable to it (Sony is another titan in this space). So you are just not going to be as dazzled by the result, but that TV is going to give you a much better picture than a non-OLED set no matter what.

For example, we watched the UHD disc of The Green Knight on our LG B1 (close enough for something purchased a few years ago now) model OLED last night, and it's essential to the presentation of that film that both very bright natural light and dark, inky blacks can coexist on the same screen. The more you step down, the less bright the light can get and the less dark (more of a dark grey) the black will appear. That said, any OLED television is going to be a major improvement over a display that doesn't individually control brightness by the pixel and instead uses a backlight technique to simulate the creation of an image, because any time that television is powered on, blacks are going to be some shade of grey (and max brightness often doesn't even come close).

Hope this helps a little bit!

[therewillbeblus]

Very helpful, mfunk, thanks!

[nitin]

I dont necessarily agree with 'avoid tvs that aren't OLED' as some of Sony's FALD LEDs offer up a fantastic HDR picture (they go much brighter than OLEDs and have noticeably better processing than LG does too, particularly for parts of the image coming out of near black) and are also probably better if you are likely to be watching in a bright environment.

I have the 2020 model Sony 75x6500h and it's a super TV for HDR and SDR, even though it is not OLED (and I am watching in a dark environment).

But mfunk's starting sentiment is right IMHO. With 4K and HDR, it is a bit of a truism that you are generally going to get what you pay for because only the higher priced sets do proper HDR tone mapping and other processing well.

[EddieLarkin]

Image processing and tone mapping is definitely superior on Sony and Panasonic OLEDs, but you also pay a premium for that compared to something from LG. There are also the "evo" OLED panels that are used in the LG G1, Sony AJ90, Panasonic HZ2000 (I have the latter), that are around 200-250 nits brighter than something like the C1 OLED.

[swo17]

Does "nits brighter" equate to better?

[EddieLarkin]

Does "nits brighter" equate to better?

See my earlier comment:

The HDR format uses a brightness range that no TV can reproduce completely, though each individual title only uses a certain percentage of this range, with some using very little and some using a lot. So the more range your TV can reproduce the more titles you can play either 1:1, or with a moderate amount of HDR mapping (where the TV will try and crush the range down to fit your TV).

How bright the TV is isn't the only aspect to consider, again image processing and tone mapping capabilities can be just as important, but the brighter the TV is the more titles you'll be able to see 1:1, and the ones you can't will need less mapping.

With OLEDs it's pretty straightforward, as there are only two flavours: the standard LG panel that is found in all manufacturer's standard OLEDs (Sony, Panny, LG, Phillips, everyone), that hits around 550-700 nits, and their brighter evo panel found in certain high end models (G1, AJ90, HZ/JZ2000), which hits around 800-950 nits.

[senseabove]

Image processing and tone mapping is definitely superior on Sony and Panasonic OLEDs, but you also pay a premium for that compared to something from LG. There are also the "evo" OLED panels that are used in the LG G1, Sony AJ90, Panasonic HZ2000 (I have the latter), that are around 200-250 nits brighter than something like the C1 OLED.

FWIW, from what I read a few months ago, the evo panel is in the A80J now, at least those manufactured after July or August of this year. It’s software limited and doesn’t have the heat sync that the A90J has, but IIRC, you could “make it” a full evo panel in the maintenance menu (with the possible risk of shortened longevity due to greater sustained heat, since it lacks the heat sync). I had stopped reading about the LG by the time that news was coming out, so not sure if it’s the same situation with the C1.

[ianthemovie]

Quick question re refresh rate on HD LED TVs: how much does this affect the experience of watching movies on Blu-ray or 4K? I'm comparing two 50" LED TVs at the moment and from what I can tell the price differential comes down solely to refresh rate (60 Hz vs. 120 Hz). I don't watch sports or films with a lot of fast action, and I have no interest in utilizing any smooth-motion or game mode settings or whatever "MotionFlow" is. Do I still need to spring for the higher refresh rate?

[senseabove]

AFAIK, refresh rate should only be a factor if you play video games and want to play at 120hz.

[senseabove]

So I hooked up a Mac Mini that's 4k HDR capable to my TV to use as a media server, and that got me wondering: why aren't we seeing HDR screencaps on comparison sites? Is it just that no one's bothering yet? Is there a format standard problem? Are capture tools not capable of handling HDR?

At this point, displays that can handle HDR are becoming the standard, even if adoption will lag a few years, e.g. I think every currently in production Apple product has native support for HDR, from the Mac Pro to the iPad mini. It seem like people having to repeatedly explain that HDR caps are down-graded to SDR and so the comparison will not do the difference justice is much more confusing than explaining that an HDR image viewed on an SDR display will look bad.

[andyli]

I researched and planned to upgrade my PC monitor to 4K HDR capability a while back but eventually gave up on the idea for now, because I found most products on the market did not use true 10-bit panels, did not support Dolby Vision, had low peak nits and barely covered the DCI-P3 color space. What's the point of using such a monitor to capture or assess a 4K blu-ray frame? I don't know all the details about Apple products but I guess most of them are no better in this regard.

[yoloswegmaster]

A French site has the following titles listed as forthcoming in 2022:

SpoilerShow

Stillwater
The Adams Family 2: A Spree From Hell
House of Gucci
Duel
8 Mile
Bride of Frankenstein's
The Creature from the Black Lagoon
The Phantom of the Opera
The Mummy (1932)
Rope
Fifth Column (Saboteur)
Shadow of a Doubt
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (40th Anniversary Edition)
Monty Python: The Meaning of Life
Das Boot (40th Anniversary Edition)
Kill Bill 1 & 2
Jackie Brown
Pulp Fiction
Monthy Python: Holy Grail
Monthy Python: Life of Brian
Aviator
West Side Story
The King's Man: First Mission
First Reformed
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Night House
Man Bites Dog
Rollerball
Brotherhood of the Wolf

If this list is true, I hope that they would release most of these in the U.S.

[Finch]

Roger Rabbit 4k down to $16 on Amazon.

[A Tempted Christ]

Not sure if it's the right thread but James Cameron finally found that 28 hours to approve the 4k transfer of The Abyss so we can expect a 4k UHD release soon. He doesn't mention True Lies which is a shame. One question though, is this the first movie to skip Blu-Ray altogether and directly debut on 4k UHD?

[dwk]

Unless there was some foreign release I do not know about, Alligator was never released on Blu-ray.

[tenia]

Unless there was some foreign release I do not know about, Alligator was never released on Blu-ray.

There seems to be one in Germany released in 2013.

[FlickeringWindow]

Not sure if it's the right thread but James Cameron finally found that 28 hours to approve the 4k transfer of The Abyss so we can expect a 4k UHD release soon. He doesn't mention True Lies which is a shame. One question though, is this the first movie to skip Blu-Ray altogether and directly debut on 4k UHD?

Blood for Dracula and Flesh for Frankenstein are two that come to mind.

[therewillbeblus]

I feel like Blue Underground also did some upgrades from DVD straight to UHD or UHD/Blu-ray combos, when they made the decision to release UHD(?)

[dwk]

No, everything BU has released on UHD had previous Blu-rays.

[RitrovataBlue]

Not sure if it's the right thread but James Cameron finally found that 28 hours to approve the 4k transfer of The Abyss so we can expect a 4k UHD release soon. He doesn't mention True Lies which is a shame. One question though, is this the first movie to skip Blu-Ray altogether and directly debut on 4k UHD?

Blood for Dracula and Flesh for Frankenstein are two that come to mind.

Crash, Bayan ko, and Ebola Syndrome too.

[MichaelB]

Blood for Dracula and Flesh for Frankenstein are two that come to mind.

Both of those got Australian BDs, although I gather the presentation was far from impressive.

[James43]

Has anybody some advice regarding the best frame rate setting when playing UHD discs? So far I have come out best with setting my OPPO UDP-203 to 60 Hz. But when things are moving within the frame it still strikes me as odd.

[EddieLarkin]

Well that's certainly not a good idea. Set the output to UHD Auto so that your UHDs are played back at their proper 24fps. You also may need to engage a setting on the TV to ensure it isn't converting to 60hz either, on LGs it's Real Cinema for example (I think it's maybe Cinemotion on Sonys?).