- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,310
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
I believe it's safe to say that between Samsung, the studios, the entities that press UHD discs, the processor manufacturers, and the public, thus far, the introduction of the 4k UHD Blu-ray format has been a veritable cluster-f**k.
Samsung does not seem to have been transparent regarding their release dates, and delivery of hardware. The studios seem to be stuck in a product logjam, and are not receiving enough product to deliver to reviewers. And one must presume that Samsung has some sort of deal with Best Buy, which confuses matters even more.
That, and seemingly tweaks are necessary at different hardware levels.
Samsung was unable to deliver a player on schedule, so I ended up going to Best Buy, which could not be picked up, but had to be ordered and shipped. At least Best Buy handled everything perfectly. Of course, that's after visiting a few of their stores and being told by at least two of their tech gurus that virtually all high end Blu-ray players will up-rez to 4k, and that there are no true 4k players.
Here's what I know thus far.
Setup seemed to be going well, until my Krell Foundation, which has 4k passthrough, and is HDMI 2.2 compliant, would not handshake.
I ended up wiring directing from the Samsung (only a single HDMI #2, for image, the other for audio) to my Sony projector, and a second connection from HDMI 1 to the Krell. Strangely, the Sony projector, a 665, only has a single HMDI 2.2 input. That worked, but I'll be chatting with Krell in the morning. Hopefully, it's something simple that I've overlooked.
The image?
Superb.
HDR adds measurable impact, and a 4k feed, even uprezzed from a 2k source at the studio, looks better than a hardware uprez.
Overall resolution, color, blacks, shadow detail, compared to the Blu-rays of Kingsman, Wild and The Martian, were superb.
I only noted a single problem. Banding in a single shot in the pre-credit sequence of Kingsman. Not good, but there may be a surmountable cause.
I have to thank Blu-ray.com's Michael Reuben, who was gracious enough to share some of his setup miseries with me in advance of my tackling it myself.
So far, early adopting of 4k is not for the weak of spirit, nor for those who frustrate easily.
But as far as image, which I've only seen on Fox product. Superb, with the exception of that single problem.
What the studios are doing that I believe is smart, is releasing the UHD along with BD product, allowing consumers to pay a bit extra to buy the UHD, presuming they'll upgrade in the future, while giving them something they can play with immediacy.
More to come, which will include comments regarding the first true 4k releases, Sicario and The Expendables 3, as well as the up-rez of Mad Max, which I'm hearing is a mixed bag.
RAH
Samsung does not seem to have been transparent regarding their release dates, and delivery of hardware. The studios seem to be stuck in a product logjam, and are not receiving enough product to deliver to reviewers. And one must presume that Samsung has some sort of deal with Best Buy, which confuses matters even more.
That, and seemingly tweaks are necessary at different hardware levels.
Samsung was unable to deliver a player on schedule, so I ended up going to Best Buy, which could not be picked up, but had to be ordered and shipped. At least Best Buy handled everything perfectly. Of course, that's after visiting a few of their stores and being told by at least two of their tech gurus that virtually all high end Blu-ray players will up-rez to 4k, and that there are no true 4k players.
Here's what I know thus far.
Setup seemed to be going well, until my Krell Foundation, which has 4k passthrough, and is HDMI 2.2 compliant, would not handshake.
I ended up wiring directing from the Samsung (only a single HDMI #2, for image, the other for audio) to my Sony projector, and a second connection from HDMI 1 to the Krell. Strangely, the Sony projector, a 665, only has a single HMDI 2.2 input. That worked, but I'll be chatting with Krell in the morning. Hopefully, it's something simple that I've overlooked.
The image?
Superb.
HDR adds measurable impact, and a 4k feed, even uprezzed from a 2k source at the studio, looks better than a hardware uprez.
Overall resolution, color, blacks, shadow detail, compared to the Blu-rays of Kingsman, Wild and The Martian, were superb.
I only noted a single problem. Banding in a single shot in the pre-credit sequence of Kingsman. Not good, but there may be a surmountable cause.
I have to thank Blu-ray.com's Michael Reuben, who was gracious enough to share some of his setup miseries with me in advance of my tackling it myself.
So far, early adopting of 4k is not for the weak of spirit, nor for those who frustrate easily.
But as far as image, which I've only seen on Fox product. Superb, with the exception of that single problem.
What the studios are doing that I believe is smart, is releasing the UHD along with BD product, allowing consumers to pay a bit extra to buy the UHD, presuming they'll upgrade in the future, while giving them something they can play with immediacy.
More to come, which will include comments regarding the first true 4k releases, Sicario and The Expendables 3, as well as the up-rez of Mad Max, which I'm hearing is a mixed bag.
RAH