4k...Okay, Now I Get It! (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I had not planned on getting into 4k anytime soon -- especially as a projector owner. Even though the format has been out for two years now, quality projector prices still remain somewhat unaffordable.

All that being said, my LG Plasma in my living room finally bit the bullet. Though this room was not set up or designed for home theater, it still remains the place where I do most of my everyday viewing. In fact, I generally do all my Home Theater posting while sitting in front of this display with a laptop on my knees.

So, what does one do when their 1080p plasma bites the dust? I am not going out and buying something cheap. That's just not what I do. When it comes to flat panels, I want pretty much the best that money can buy.

I was pretty much forced to get a 4k display. I also knew that OLED would provide even deeper black levels than my plasma ever could. After much research, I decided upon the LG 65" C8 OLED. Robert Zohn at Value Electronics had one shipped to my home.

It's been a good 6 years or more since I have seen anything upwards of 1080 plasma. Seeing the picture on this new OLED display was quite a revelation. I have never seen black levels like this before. There is such a richness to this display even with 1080p content.

The real treat came when I hooked up my new Panasonic UB820 and watched my very first 4k disc.

What did I pick? I thought THE GREATEST SHOWMAN would be the perfect demo disc.

I have to be completely honest. I have seen demos of 4k at the studios and was only slightly blown away by what I was seeing. It was that reason why I just never had the passion to upgrade from 1080p. However, when I began watching the image that was coming out of my display, I just couldn't take my eyes off of it.

The level of pinpoint sharpness is just off the charts. I always thought Blu-ray looked spectacular -- and it does. However, 4k combined with Dolby Vision (if my display and 4k player are putting out DV as promised), is delivering an image that is just mind-boggling. It's not just the improved sharpness or the detail. It's the abundant luminance and color gamut.

I had always thought that the upgrade from 1080p to 4k would be minimal. I was wrong. This is almost as night and day as DVD was to Blu-ray -- at least on this flat panel 65" display. I still have a fear that I am not going to see that kind of improvement on a projected display. And, if I want to, I have a feeling that once projectors are available that can handle all these specs, they are going to be priced out of reach. For that reason, my basement home theater will remain 1080p.

I am one of the last handfuls of members on this forum to finally get into 4k. As I noted, it wasn't really my intention. I completely sympathize with those members still holding on to their 1080p displays. It's an expensive upgrade when you want to do it right. However, sooner or later the rest of you will also be dealing with failing equipment. When that happens, don't be afraid to open your wallet and step up. As an initial naysayer, I am pretty damned impressed with what I watched this evening. The difference over 1080p is rather startling though maybe moreso for me because it is an OLED display and I believe it is pushing (as I did the updates) Dolby Vision.






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[Robert Crawford]

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I am one of the last handfuls of members on this forum to finally get into 4k. As I noted, it wasn't really my intention. I completely sympathize with those members still holding on to their 1080p displays. It's an expensive upgrade when you want to do it right. However, sooner or later the rest of you will also be dealing with failing equipment. When that happens, don't be afraid to open your wallet and step up. As an initial naysayer, I am pretty damned impressed with what I watched this evening. The difference over 1080p is rather startling though maybe moreso for me because it is an OLED display and I believe it is pushing (as I did the updates) Dolby Vision.






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Ron,

If you remember, I upgraded back in February, 2017 with the last 3-D OLED display that LG produced. I can never express how happy I've been with my display and the Dolby Atmos setup I have in my main HT setup. Like you, I was astounded by the huge difference between 1080p and 4K/UHD material. It's not quite as large of a difference as watching a DVD and then a Blu-ray, but it's much closer comparison than I initially believed. I'm happy for you and so glad you made the jump. By the way, I still think people such as us watching 4K/UHD material with 4K displays are in the minority of the membership. We're just a vocal minority!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

You are probably right about the fact that there are more members still without 4k and the vocal minority is ruling this forum.

I am just really torn at this point. I would rather watch 4k than 1080p. However, I have to decide whether that means watching 4k in my living room with no surround or Dolby Atmos or in the basement with less resolution.

 

[Robert Crawford]

You are probably right about the fact that there are more members still without 4k and the vocal minority is ruling this forum.

I am just really torn at this point. I would rather watch 4k than 1080p. However, I have to decide whether that means watching 4k in my living room with no surround or Dolby Atmos or in the basement with less resolution.

It depends on the movie, but for the most part I'm more of a visual person so the enhanced picture quality is more important to me.

 

[Sam Posten]

 

[Scott Merryfield]

You are one of us! You are one of us!

 

[Keith Cobby]

I have recently bought a Panny 65" OLED and it is the natural successor to plasma. However, good as it is, you don't get the same theatrical experience as when projecting a film and using a decent sound system. Obviously a 4k projector is the way to go but most of my favourite discs will remain 1080p so upgrading isn't a priority at present.

 

[Matt Hough]

Ron, I'm so glad you have experienced UHD and have come out of it with greater enthusiasm than you expected. I haven't regretted one penny that I've spent on my UHD set-up.

 

[DaveF]

Good to hear, Ron!

You're not the last. I'm helping anchor down the late-upgraders. My delay is simple: projection. If I hadn't spent big on my movie room in 2017, I'd be upgrading to 4K probably right now. But I'm not switching my now-secondary living room display to a brand new 4K set with a HD projector in a new movie room. So I'm waiting for when I can do everything at once. I know from a demo this Spring, that the PJ won't be as bright and HDR as the direct display, but that will be ok for me. Current UHD projectors are good enough.

The other thing slowing me down is lack of 4K content...because I mostly watch "TV" (be it traditional network, cable, or streaming). Most of what I watch like "The Good Place", "The Expanse", "Stranger Things" is all HD. My movie-watching, what is readily available in UHD, is a much much smaller percent of time spent in front of my "big screen".

I'm happy to hear you like 4K. It's another data point that it's a worthwhile upgrade when it's practical for my home budget.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

“Welcome to the party, Pal”

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Ron, I upgraded to an OLED in early summer and completely echo your sentiments. While there's next to zero UHD content that interests me, I absolutely love how it upscales my Blu-rays. I don't watch films at home much in the summer, so I'm looking forward to getting a lot of use out of it this autumn and winter. I'm so pleased with my purchase.

 

[JediFonger]

how far away are you all sitting? i’ve got 100” projector and the large screen is always better but even sitting super close to the hdr 50” no matter how good hdr is it still pales in comparison to the size

 

[Josh Steinberg]

My delay is simple: projection. If I hadn't spent big on my movie room in 2017, I'd be upgrading to 4K probably right now. But I'm not switching my now-secondary living room display to a brand new 4K set with a HD projector in a new movie room.

Same here.

My primary display device for movies is an HD projector. My secondary display, a plasma HD TV, just died, so I'm currently in that limbo of seeing if it can be repaired. If I have to replace it with a UHD set, I just don't see myself upgrading the entire infrastructure just to support that, so those capabilities may go unused for a while. There's just no way that a 50" TV (which is the size of the set that died and what I'd be looking to replace it with) could win over a 100" projection screen for me, even if the smaller TV had better resolution. So then the question is, does it make sense for me to upgrade my receiver and input components (buy a UHD player and upgrade to the AppleTV 4K version) when I won't be watching any of that UHD content on a device that can display UHD resolution. And I keep coming to the same conclusion - it's not.

I just have zero interest in watching movies on a TV screen after becoming a projector owner. I'll take the larger screen size and lower resolution of an HD projector over a smaller UHD TV.

If I have to get a UHD TV now, my best hope is just that regular SD and HD content looks okay on it, so that I can continue using it as if it were a regular HD screen.

In a perfect world, I would like my HD projector to hold out for another few years.

(I would probably be more enthused about a piecemeal upgrade if the UHD HDMI standards didn't require me to upgrade my receiver.)

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I can definitely understand projection owners being reluctant to enter into the 4K market right now. If I have a large projection screen, I would probably be in the same boat.

My case was similar to Ron's -- back in December 2016 my Samsung 67-inch DLP set developed a dead pixel issue. I didn't want anything smaller than that screen size, and OLED sets larger than 65 inches were prohibitively expensive. So I ended up with a 70 inch Vizio 4K LED display, and have been quite happy with the setup. Even my wife, who rarely notices anything related to picture or sound quality, commented that the picture quality of UHD discs looked better than BD films. It did lead to spending additional money on a UHD disc player, a new receiver, and a couple of 4K streaming boxes, though.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It did lead to spending additional money on a UHD disc player, a new receiver, and a couple of 4K streaming boxes, though.

The combined weight of that is what scares me. Each one of those things on their own might be absorbable into the budget, but not all of them at once. I just set up my home theater in 2014, so four years is much too short a time to replace everything on the budget I have for this. And I went into my home theater setup in 2014 knowing that UHD was around the corner, and that all of this could happen...

...but at the same time, what else was I gonna do? Delaying the purchase of home theater equipment until the UHD rollout occurred in 2016, more than two years after my home theater purchasing opportunity first arose, was not a reasonable or realistic option either.

I am, at the very least, very happy and relieved to hear that Ron is enjoying his UHD setup as much as he is, because I know that means that whenever I do make the plunge, whether it's in a couple months or a couple years, that I'll enjoy it.

 

[Tino]

Welcome to the OLED club Ron!

 

[Mike Frezon]

I can't wait for the day that I get to come back to this thread and make a report something similar to Ron's.

But I've got my Panasonic 55" ST50 Plasma and think it's the bees knees.

I'm not upgrading yet (even though I've got a 4k player and 4k receiver) because:

1.) Budget

2.) It is in perfect working order

3.) I love it.

Would I love the 65" OLED set (that is dancing in my dreams) even more?? For sure, most likely. But I just can't justify it until forced financially to do it.

A post like Ron's just whet's my appetite even further (GREATLY!) for when that day comes. In the meantime, I hope this time of waiting allows prices to drop some.

So I continue to buy new releases in 4k so that when that day comes, I'll be ready to jump right in...feet first!

EDIT: I forgot to include that I already have an Apple 4kTV box, too.

 

[dpippel]

Welcome to the Collective Ron!!

 

[JediFonger]

by the time i can afford one 128k full xyz color spectrums will be old and direct matrix plugs into our brain will the norm that way we can be in the quantum realms for $20/pop

 

[Mike2001]

Welcome to the club.