4 k Recommendations please

[andy b]

hey all

moving up to 4k now, any one recommend a brand or make?

Also are there such things as all region 4k machines, I get a lot of films from Australia & out of Europe & my Oppo takes care of them all, but are there the equivalent in 4k machines.

Any help appreciated.

regards

Andy b

[John Johnson]

hey all

moving up to 4k now, any one recommend a brand or make?

Also are there such things as all region 4k machines, I get a lot of films from Australia & out of Europe & my Oppo takes care of them all, but are there the equivalent in 4k machines.

Any help appreciated.

regards

Andy b

I opted for an all region 4k player, as most of buying is from the UK, along with France, Germany and Australia. Speaking of Australia, Amazon now have an Australian outlet, but at the moment, they don't offer International Shipping. Hopefully, that will change in the near future.

[AndyDursin]

Remember there is no region locking on 4k discs worldwide! That is not an issue anymore so that neednt be a factor in where and what you buy as far as 4k UHD is concerned.

If you want a 4k player thats also region free for Blu-Ray your options are extremely limited, especially with Oppo getting out of the game. There really is no equivalent. The 203 might still be available and you could pull the Blu region mod out of your current Oppo and use it in the 203 (which is what I did) but Im not sure they are still on the market.

Easiest and most inexpensive solution is to get a dedicated 4k UHD player and keep your current Oppo for Blu-Ray.

For 4k players most seem to like the Panasonics and their build quality (though they are pricier). Keep in mind they are all going to output the same image quality at 4k. If you are just going to use the 4k player for 4k UHDs, just get the cheapest thats out there. The Samsung and LG players have been as low as $50 in assorted sales over the last few months, and surely will be again as we head into the holidays.

[andy b]

Thank you for the information.

John a good place for Australian blu rays is Sanity, great sales & their service to Canada is 100% superb. Link below


https://www.sanity.com.au

Did not know 4K were region free that makes it much easier to make a choice on players.

thanks again

regards
Andy b

[KevinEK]

I would just recommend that you have the largest HDTV possible.
If the set is smaller, other than some moderate improvement in color, I don't believe you'd see a difference.
I'm at a 65" HDTV and I'm fine with that. It's possible that someday, I'll move to a place where a 90" or a 100" makes more sense, and at that point, I could probably upgrade. But I also remember going to screenings in a 20-seat theater/screening room with a Blu-ray being shown, and the quality was great. 4K would be better, but Blu-ray still works fine for me.

That being said, I've heard comments from other quarters about the quality of Blu-rays deliberately being downgraded to make the 4K option more attractive, but I haven't honestly seen any proof of that in the releases I've picked up.

[John Johnson]

Thank you for the information.

John a good place for Australian blu rays is Sanity, great sales & their service to Canada is 100% superb. Link below


https://www.sanity.com.au

Did not know 4K were region free that makes it much easier to make a choice on players.

thanks again

regards
Andy b

Thanks Andy,

I'll give them a go. Most of my Australian orders of late, has been through JB Hi-Fi. I have tried to use EzyDVD, but they have introduced some stricter fraud checks which has impacted international orders so at the moment, they are restricting orders to just Australia and New Zealand.

John.

[Monterey Jack]

I would just recommend that you have the largest HDTV possible.
If the set is smaller, other than some moderate improvement in color, I don't believe you'd see a difference.

This is why I'm leery of upgrading to 4K (along with the frustrating implication of re-building my collection for the FIFTH goddamn time )...I have neither the space nor the money for a 4K set large enough to make it worthwhile. While there are some 4K releases I'd like to have because the Blu releases are ancient, decade-old transfers often with lossy sound (like the Mission: Impossible and Die Hard movies), I can't blow over a thousand dollars on a new set and a 4K player just for a handful of titles.

[John Johnson]

I bought my machine from world-import.com. It's not too far away from me, so it was just a quick drive. I opted for the Samsung UBD-K8500, which has also been modified.

[AndyDursin]

I wrote up a 4k buyers guide last Christmas and would still adhere to it...many questions answered as they say!

http://andyfilm.com/2017/11/29/12-5-17- ... ift-guide/

[jkholm]

I bought a new TV last week and since it seems ridiculous NOT to get a 4K set, that's just what I did: a 55" Vizio Smart TV. That may be small for 4K but it looks huge in our small living room and so far works great. I used the rtings.com guide to adjust the settings. I definitely want to avoid the "soap opera effect." There is a Film Mode setting but it doesn't appear to do much. The brightness and backlight settings contribute more to the SOE than anything else if they're turned up too high. I had a brief scare when my Xbox told me my TV wasn't HDR compatible until I realized you actually have to turn HDR on for whichever input you're using.

The only HDR content I own at the moment is the game Forza Horizon 4, which is mostly played by my ten year old. When we started the game it recognized that we now had HDR and took us through a calibration mode. I haven't done any before and after comparisons yet but the game looks terrific. Now I need to get at least one or two movies. I'm thinking either 2001, Superman or the Mission Impossible box set.

The only other issue I've had is how to connect my headphones. The TV does not have a headphone jack, just RCA audio out and digital audio out. I tried plugging in my headphones to the Xbox controller which did not work. After lots of resets and Google searches I finally figured out the controller's audio port was bad. I dug out an old controller with some broken knobs but the headphone jack on this one worked. That's OK for now, but I need something better.

Is it just a simple matter of buying an adapter with male RCA connections and a female 3.5mm connection? Or get wireless headphones that come with a charger that has RCA connections? Or use the digital audio output? Thanks.

[AndyDursin]

Not sure how HDR works in the Vizio but follow the rtings settings to a tee and you should be good. On my Samsung TV, HDR requires the set to have Backlight turned up to maximum, whereas with SDR content I have it set less than halfway. Every TV behaves differently but there are usually very specific, and different settings, for HDR and SDR in terms of how backlight is set -- so different that you might think "that can't be right!" But then, when you put on a 4K UHD and its so dark, you'll realize you need Backlight set precisely where they recommend it.

On the headphones -- if there's no Bluetooth connectivity in the set, I think your best bet is wireless headphones of some kind. You can use Bluetooth headphones and then buy this kind of device to transmit (it does more than just that too) --



Since the set has both RCA and digital Toslink optical, your options are flexible. You could find some wireless headphones that operate with an RCA output base hook-up and go from there.

[jkholm]

Andy, thanks for the options on headphones. The transmitter might work for us since my son already has a pair of wireless headphones.

Does your set recognize HD vs. SD content and adjust backlight to your specifications? Or do you have two different settings that you have to select manually depending on what you're watching?

[AndyDursin]

John, my Samsung remembers the specific HDR and SDR settings so I don't need to manually make any adjustments, and I'd imagine all of these TVs function the same at this point. They are usually very different in terms of how the backlight is used.

[Paul MacLean]

Any thoughts on this?



I had a superb 55" 1080 Panasonic plasma (which Andy gave me actually!) but it's breathed its last.

My parents' 720p Toshiba is at least 14 years old and still going strong. I can't really go above $550, so this seems like a good solution.

[AndyDursin]

Paul if you can scratch a few extra pennies together it's worth it to go a little outside the range of entry level sets. At least when it comes to 65 inches.

The lowest priced 4K sets like that Toshiba and some others from LG and Sony that are in that $600ish range (for 65") are probably not worth it. They have cut rate HDR and brightness levels so while they are probably functional, they are not by any means going to give you the best 4K experience as they don't get bright enough and/or have poor/limited viewing angles.

I would definitely invest a little more for a better TV that produces premium brightness and HDR.

On that end you have several options from Hisense, Vizio and TCL, plus the Sony I have (the x900h).

This Hisense is $998 ($899 if you use the Prime credit card as you get 10% back in rewards points) and gets really good reviews. It has high brightness levels (nits) and apparently a great picture and quality for the price.

Honestly I would go with this if I needed a new set and didn't want to pay a ton. Realize though it's $300 over your budget but the difference between that set and the others in that $500-$600 range is likely profound. (Your other option would be to get a premium set in the 55 inch range instead)



Here's the Rtings review which is hugely positive:

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/hisense/u8g

Sorry for the plasma TV I hoped it had more life left in it than that!!