Denster presents: The 4K/8K HDR HDTV Thread

My last update (Android Nougat 7.0, v5.381) was released back in March, and there hasn't been anything since. Every set of Bravia's is different though.

But then this is the type of company that will give you Hybrid Log-Gamma support faster than any other TV manufacturer & fix YouTube casting when set to Hebrew, but leave something as fundamental as a TV Guide broken for 2 YEARS. I know Sony's official line is that satellite is not advertised in the marketing of their TVs for the UK market, but I can't comprehend why you wouldn't fix it when it's so easy to do.

The lack of cohesion between apps generally is really annoying though - if you enable YouView the HDD recording stops working and it slows the TV down. Disable that and you regain recording but have to use a less sophisticated (though perfectly adequate) EPG and ITV Hub and 5 are instead disabled. Use satellite meanwhile and you get access to loads more channels, vastly better picture quality, and Ultra HD...but the TV guide doesn't work properly, nullifying the dual record (ala Sky+). BBC iPlayer's restart function however does still work, as does interactive (which is much faster than on Sky). One of the most prominent options on the Home screen is the ability to watch streaming TV channels over the internet (a bit like Freeview HD). You select it though and the only thing showing is Google Play movie trailers. But on the flipside, channels that may require the internet on Freeview/YouView (such as Motorsport TV) are broadcast over the air on satellite. If you like your international stuff that's all there as well (on Freesat it's either not present on the EPG or you have to manually input the frequency). Nothing from Poland or Germany though. And America's obviously too far away. I've noticed some people have massive motorised dishes on the side of their homes. You're limited to what you can pick up with a regular Sky dish.

That really is gooseberry fool. I would be livid if I had paid out thousands of pounds for a product and ended up with such a crappy customer experience.

I can't think of another industry/area that gets away with selling products at a high price yet can't even get the basics correct? TVR maybe?

Really wish there was a comprehensive comparison of the main Smart TV OSs out there.

I really like how Android TV has a universal search allowing you to enter the name of a show/movie and have the system search through all your apps to find it.

I find it really tedious having to go through Amazon, Netflix and NowTV to find a particular movie. It's even more tedious when you pay for a movie on Amazon only to find it's free on Netflix and NowTV days later.

Tizen and WebOS seem to run smoother on most TVs, but they don't seem to be as sophisticated as Android.

I think Apple are equally frustrated and aware of what a poor user experience TV currently is, thus the creation of the TV app, but even that is very limited.

I know what I want: one box or service that from top top bottom is all integrated - the menus, design, graphics, everything. But it doesn't exist.

And it's like Sony know how poor the usability of the TV menus are because they launched the Sony Channel Editor recently and it's excellent. It's very basic (looks like something from Windows 1995) but it works. When you scan satellite it throws everything at you - every region, feed and scrambled channel you can think of, and you're left with a jumbled up mess, with many channels repeating on the guide (for example one feed of Dave was scrambled, the other further down not).



There is something strangely addictive to trawling through the entire list and seeing what works and what doesn't and setting up your own custom-made listings, but as a user experience it's a pile of gooseberry fool. So it's like on the one hand it gives you more than any of the branded free services in the UK, but on the other because it's half finished you've got to put up with features that the TV is capable of doing simply not working as they should.

NickSCFC wrote:It's even more tedious when you pay for a movie on Amazon only to find it's free on Netflix and NowTV days later.

Sky have a list of movies due in the next month or so.

http://www.sky.com/tv/channel/skycinema ... a-premiere

You can find stuff due on Netflix but for some reason they dont seem to list this themselves, usually a quick Google for 'UK Netflix July 2018' will do the job.

Here's the problem with the TV guide that Sony refuses to fix for UK owners. When you first turn the TV on it looks like this:



The listings only populating for the current and next programmes when you switch onto that channel. Other channel listings will then sporadically fill up and then vanish seemingly at random. Selecting a programme or channel that hasn't populated brings up:



Therefore you've got absolutely no idea what is airing on that particular station until you select View (just like the 90s!), and it removes the recording functions (the TV unable to know when to start and stop the HDD). Once downloaded however, it looks like this:



This issue has existed for every single owner of a Sony TV in the UK for at least 3 years. It works absolutely fine for everyone in Europe. Sony's response of 'well just pretend it doesn't exist' is...bullshit.

more heat than light wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:It's even more tedious when you pay for a movie on Amazon only to find it's free on Netflix and NowTV days later.

Sky have a list of movies due in the next month or so.

http://www.sky.com/tv/channel/skycinema ... a-premiere

You can find stuff due on Netflix but for some reason they dont seem to list this themselves, usually a quick Google for 'UK Netflix July 2018' will do the job.

That's not really the point.

With Android TV you can start typing the name of a movie, and it brings up all the info about it including links to watch it on Netflix, YouTube, Google Play or whatever.

You can also select an actor's profile pic and see what else they've been in, again with links to multiple streaming services.



Notice how searching by title bring up multiple streaming options rather than having to search through both apps individually?

Well yeah, I know that, I was giving you a solution for buying a film on Amazon when it could be out on another service in a few days time. You said that was a problem.

more heat than light wrote:Well yeah, I know that, I was giving you a solution for buying a film on Amazon when it could be out on another service in a few days time. You said that was a problem.

Thanks

I was being idealist though, the ultimate TV interface should allow you to bypass the app's interface and watch directly from the main menu, similar to how apps on modern smartphones can send data to each other and the main OS.

Android TV comes close to this, but it's slow on modern TVs and (for whatever reason) doesn't have a NowTV app.

KK wrote:And it's like Sony know how poor the usability of the TV menus are because they launched the Sony Channel Editor recently and it's excellent. It's very basic (looks like something from Windows 1995) but it works. When you scan satellite it throws everything at you - every region, feed and scrambled channel you can think of, and you're left with a jumbled up mess, with many channels repeating on the guide (for example one feed of Dave was scrambled, the other further down not).

Does this work as intended when using an aerial only?

Does it record ok from there?

I'm happy to forgo using YouView if this works fine.

Also, is there a NowTV app yet? I've looked on the Google Play store on the web, but it's not clear whether it works with TV too.

Not specifically a TV question but has anyone bought 4K content from Amazon? Spiderman Homecoming is currently £7.99 which seems quite a bargain compared to other movies.

NickSCFC wrote:Does this work as intended when using an aerial only?

Does it record ok from there?

I'm happy to forgo using YouView if this works fine.

Also, is there a NowTV app yet? I've looked on the Google Play store on the web, but it's not clear whether it works with TV too.

Yes, with an aerial it works fine. Recording with a HDD is available as well (though not dual record). Sony TVs don’t allow you to pause and rewind Live programming either like Samsung (the programme has to be recording first).

Didn’t see anything from NowTV when I was looking on the Play Store yesterday. I wanted UltraFlix for 4K but that was absent as well (or at least I couldn’t find it in the menus and search brought up nothing).

Sony have bucked the norm and announced a new range of flagship TVs in the summer, which means they're going to be more expensive at a time the competition will be able to discount:

The AF9 Master Series OLED and Z9F LCD



Sony has announced a new premium line of TVs for Autumn 2018, with the Z9F LCD and A9F OLED Master Series. The Sony Bravia Z9F is the sequel to the Z9D that came out in 2016, the A9F the follow up to the A1E. Both will have full colour management systems in order to support professional end-user calibration using CalMAN software from Portrait Displays. Sony has also included a new special “Custom” mode already calibrated for consumer use which brings near reference monitor color to its screens.

Also announced was a Netflix Calibrated Mode which will only work using the Netflix App in Master Series TVs. This Mode optimizes movies and shows being streamed from the service to give a more accurate image to what was initially mastered by content creators, but can be turned off.

Both TV series will include the new X1 Ultimate processor. The new processor will help to improve image quality with “object-based HDR remaster” and “object-based super resolution,” up-converting SDR material and enhancing sharpness, respectively.

Sony hopes their X-Motion Clarity technology will completely eliminate blur on its LCD panel. X-Wide Angle technology meanwhile has almost totally eliminated the loss of contrast and colour.

Acoustic Surface Audio+ in the A9F will feature a 3.2 channel sound system including an additional center actuator and 2 side-facing subwoofers. Sony also demonstrated the Center Speaker Model, which will allow the Acoustic Surface Audio+ to be paired to a home audio system, the TV acting as the central speaker.

The Z9F LCD will be available in 65-inch and 75-inches, A9F OLED in 55 and 65-inch screen sizes. Both sets will continue to employ Google's Android TV OS.

No pricing has yet been given, though will likely start at £2000.

More information can be found at: https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/tele ... R_A9F_3383

I like the idea of the center speaker feature in the OLED for those with additional audio equipment.

Hey folks

I know my budget is bit gooseberry fool but looking for 55" 4k tv . Mainly for gaming/tv.

Not sure what to look for. Any tv's you could point me to?

KK wrote:

The 2018 League Tables - Rtings.com wrote:

BEST OVERALL 4K TELEVISION 2018 (Samsung, Sony and LG tested)

- Sony's flagship OLED for 2018, the A1, is the same as 2017.

LG C8 OLED: 8.8/10
Sony A1 OLED: 8.7/10
Sony X900F/F9005 LED: 8.3/10
Samsung NU8000 LED: 7.9/10
LG SK9000/SK8500 LED: 7.9/10
Sony X850F/XF85 and XF87 LED: 7.6/10

BEST RESPONSE TIMES FOR GAMING (4K takes precedence in this table)

Samsung NU8000 LED: 1080p @ 60Hz: 18.1ms; 4k @ 60Hz + HDR: 18.4ms
LG SK9000/SK8500 LED: 1080p @ 60Hz: 15.7ms; 4K @ 60Hz + HDR (High Dynamic Range): 23.6ms
Sony X900F/F9005 LED: 1080p @ 60Hz: 40ms; 4K @ 60Hz + HDR: 24.2ms
LG C8 OLED: 1080p @ 60Hz: 21.1ms; 4K @ 60Hz + HDR: 29.4ms
Sony X850F LED: 1080p @ 60Hz: 27.9ms; 4K @ 60Hz + HDR: 30.1ms
Sony A1 OLED: 1080p @ 60Hz: 47.4ms; 4K @ 60Hz + HDR: 30.7ms

Also on the front page and will be updated as and when new sets are released and reviewed.

For gaming it's Samsung but overall LG is the one ?

If your budget is 'a bit gooseberry fool' then you don't want to be looking at that table, those TV's are among the most expensive around. The LG C8 and Sony A1 are around £2000. You can ignore the second table as differences in lag times at those levels are basically imperceptible.

What is your actual budget? Do you need OLED? Are you bothered by sticking to the big four brands? (Hisense are a reputable TV maker at reduced prices).

more heat than light wrote:If your budget is 'a bit gooseberry fool' then you don't want to be looking at that table, those TV's are among the most expensive around. The LG C8 and Sony A1 are around £2000. You can ignore the second table as differences in lag times at those levels are basically imperceptible.

What is your actual budget? Do you need OLED? Are you bothered by sticking to the big four brands? (Hisense are a reputable TV maker at reduced prices).

Oops thought i put the budget in my initial post. It's £800 . Oled are unfortunately out of my budget range .

I heard of hisense and tcl but unsure what their services would be if something goes wrong.

Dblock wrote:

more heat than light wrote:If your budget is 'a bit gooseberry fool' then you don't want to be looking at that table, those TV's are among the most expensive around. The LG C8 and Sony A1 are around £2000. You can ignore the second table as differences in lag times at those levels are basically imperceptible.

What is your actual budget? Do you need OLED? Are you bothered by sticking to the big four brands? (Hisense are a reputable TV maker at reduced prices).

Oops thought i put the budget in my initial post. It's £800 . Oled are unfortunately out of my budget range .

I heard of hisense and tcl but unsure what their services would be if something goes wrong.

I have no experience in that department I'm afraid, but for that money you don't need to worry too much. All four of the main manufacturers will do you a decent TV for that money, it's pretty much a matter of preference. Just find out the latest range and pick the most expensive in your budget and you won't go wrong. I'm a Panasonic fanboy so I'd recommend the FX700B

http://www.cramptonandmoore.co.uk/samsu ... 4k-tv.html

Thanks light. What you think of this one ?

Great reviews so far

Yeah that's decent.