Amazon Prime Paramount 4K movies streaming from Prime? (1 Viewer)

[Bartman]

I streamed The Score in 4K this week from Prime. The picture quality was poor in the many dark scenes. The bars at the top & bottom of the screen were often grey not black. A year ago I streamed Vanilla Sky in 4K, with same underwhelming experience. I'm going to avoid Paramount 4K streams in the future. Any comments?

 

[JohnRice]

It has nothing to do with Paramount or 4K. It's all Amazon aka: Prime free streams. Though, the grey bars are most likely a TV calibration issue.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I have not streamed any Paramount films on Amazon, despite being a Prime member. However, I have streamed numerous ones on iTunes with good results.

 

[Bartman]

It has nothing to do with Paramount or 4K. It's all Amazon aka: Prime free streams. Though, the grey bars are most likely a TV calibration issue.

So the LG Prime app on my OLED TV is applying the wrong TV settings in 4K? Has anyone compared settings when streaming the same 4K movie from Prime/Netflix/Vudu/Apple?
I have not seen grey bars on any other source, that's why I noticed them, so I don't believe it's a TV cal issue.

 

[JohnRice]

So the LG Prime app on my OLED TV is applying the wrong TV settings in 4K? Has anyone compared settings when streaming the same 4K movie from Prime/Netflix/Vudu/Apple?
I have not seen grey bars on any other source, that's why I noticed them, so I don't believe it's a TV cal issue.

The grey bars could be Amazon's fault as well. The fact is, the only things I stream on Prime are ones that are exclusive to them. They aren't known for providing the highest quality streams.

 

[Bartman]

The grey bars could be Amazon's fault as well. The fact is, the only things I stream on Prime are ones that are exclusive to them. They aren't known for providing the highest quality streams.

Prime exclusives in 4K have looked good. So maybe there's a serious mismatch in settings between Prime exclusives and some outside studios, though The Silence Of The Lambs 4K looked great but The Town 4K looked so bad I bought the best Blu-ray. This is really too hit or miss and too much work. It would be nice if an expert got to the bottom of this?

 

[JohnRice]

I expect @Todd Erwin can provide more detailed info.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I expect @Todd Erwin can provide more detailed info.

I do not use the Prime Video app on my LG TV.

 

[Bartman]

I do not use the Prime Video app on my LG TV.

Why not, what have you observed?

 

[Todd Erwin]

I don't use any of the apps on my LG Tv for streaming, and instead use either a Roku, FireStick, or Apple TV device.

I also do not purchase any movies from Paramount on Prime Video as Paramount is not a member of Movies Anywhere. My first choice for Paramount, Lionsgate (and any other studio that is not MA) is iTunes/Apple TV.

I was unable to check The Score as it is not currently a Prime Video "free to me" title, nor do I own it.

Sorry.

 

[Bartman]

I don't use any of the apps on my LG Tv for streaming, and instead use either a Roku, FireStick, or Apple TV device.

I also do not purchase any movies from Paramount on Prime Video as Paramount is not a member of Movies Anywhere. My first choice for Paramount, Lionsgate (and any other studio that is not MA) is iTunes/Apple TV.

I was unable to check The Score as it is not currently a Prime Video "free to me" title, nor do I own it.

Sorry.

I went thru the app vs box exercise several years ago. The general concensus here at HTF was there was no difference in picture quality between the LG app, AppleTV or Roku Ultra (and I don't have a spare HDMI input). In fact, the app has the advantage of internal data paths with none of the (old) HDMI handshaking issues associated with boxes.
I rented The Score 4K ($4), if anyone else wants to try it be my guest. I watched The Score HD from Prime a year or so ago, it's picture quality was adequate (not stunning) but with 4K, one expects an improvement, not step backwards!

 

[Todd Erwin]

I went thru the app vs box exercise several years ago. The general concensus here at HTF was there was no difference in picture quality between the LG app, AppleTV or Roku Ultra (and I don't have a spare HDMI input). In fact, the app has the advantage of internal data paths with none of the (old) HDMI handshaking issues associated with boxes.

My main purpose for using an external device is that ARC has never worked for me, so I do not use any of the built-in apps on the TV.

 

[Bartman]

My main purpose for using an external device is that ARC has never worked for me, so I do not use any of the built-in apps on the TV.

ARC from my LG B8 to my Sony AVR works great. In fact the ARC cable solved an annoying static discharge problem I had with an optical connection. The discharges were so severe they'd blank the TV for a couple of seconds!!!!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

ARC from my LG B8 to my Sony AVR works great. In fact the ARC cable solved an annoying static discharge problem I had with an optical connection. The discharges were so severe they'd blank the TV for a couple of seconds!!!!

How could you get a static discharge from an optical connection? It's not electrical.

 

[Bartman]

How could you get a static discharge from an optical connection? It's not electrical.

The TV & AVR were 8ft apart. The TV & AVR were grounded at their respective AC outlets. The AC outlet grounds were checked for continuity to the house breaker box 50ft away. I believe the problem was caused by the inductance of the long ground wires. It caused the ground voltage to rise instantaneously at the TV. The TV must include monitoring of ground voltage and blanked itself. Static (like lightning) is a fast impulse of electrical energy. Inductance impedes (does not dissipate) fast impulses. The HDMI cable shield provided a good (and only) electrical connection between TV & AVR grounds and 'shorted out' the inductance, completely eliminating the problem.
Before trying the HDMI cable, I tried common mode chokes on every device's AC lead that were connected to the AC outlets, that did not help. I wonder how many other people out their are having similar problems?

 

[Bartman]

I've ordered The Score Blu-ray, hopefully, this will put my questions about Paramount streaming quality to rest. I'll report back here with my findings!

 

[Bartman]

I received the KL Blu-ray. Gone are grey bars and poor definition of the Prime 4K stream. I did have to set my LG B8 to ISF Bright though, ISF Dark was too dark. I assume the 4K UHD disc looks even better. Highly recommended.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

FWIW, I have The Score (in 4K) on iTunes. Haven't actually checked the actual 4K stream (via my AppleTV 4K and PJ), but just did a quick check on my PC using iTunes for Windoze, and the HD(?) stream via that looks very good (I'd say just about as good as a very good BD on brief check) -- can only do HD on PC... and of course, no gray bars.

Like most others here, I would never pay real $ to stream via Amazon -- and barely ever bother using Prime video even during the very sporadic times I do reactivate my Prime subscription... though I do plan on streaming the Lord of the Rings prequel series when I likely reactivate for the holiday shopping season in a week or two...

_Man_