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[Huntn]

This weekend spending time with relatives in San Antonio marveling at the picture quality of my nephew’s 77” 4K OLED TV by LG. Now I have to go back and take a critical look at my 65” Vizio. What I notice is resolution and details of textures on Drax the Destroyer’s body and facial details of other characters like Gamora really stand out.

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[Huntn]

Last night none of the remotes (3) would turn off the TV (Visio-65F). It was responsive to the remotes but not the power off command. In the past, unplug and replug worked, but when I did that, today it would not turn on. So I found the power-on/off button in the back, turned it on, then researched it, went to the System settings on the TV and told it to “reboot”. This seems to have fixed the issue.

Purchased the TV in 2019 from Costco + 3 year extended warranty. Have a year left to go on that.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I was embarrassed to have something like that happen with my 55” JVC TV from Costco. Unplugging fixed the problem, but it kept coming back. I had Costco’s concierge service, and they told me to reset the TV…and there it was, deep into the menu system where I hadn’t seen it before.

Of course I had to go back in and redo all my custom picture settings, but I haven’t had the problem since. And it’s been years.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

I am a big movie fan.

Still, I have only 1080p TV sets (Sony, JVC) and Blu-ray players (3 Pioneers, Sony). My son has a 4K LG TV in his room. (He has better eyes...)

With age my eyes are not the same. I had a chance to try 4K, but I saw no significant difference. So, in my case I will stay with 1080p and "simple" Blu-ray discs. Sometimes I buy DVDs, when the title is not available in BR, but with upscaling it does the job.

Advantages of aging.

 

[DT]

I am a big movie fan.

Still, I have only 1080p TV sets (Sony, JVC) and Blu-ray players (3 Pioneers, Sony). My son has a 4K LG TV in his room. (He has better eyes...)

With age my eyes are not the same. I had a chance to try 4K, but I saw no significant difference. So, in my case I will stay with 1080p and "simple" Blu-ray discs. Sometimes I buy DVDs, when the title is not available in BR, but with upscaling it does the job.

Advantages of aging.

Hahaha, my wife's Dad was convinced there was no difference in broadcast 480i and HD

FWIW, while 4K does obviously provide more resolution, it's often the additional color space and high-dynamic-range elements that create more of an impact with the video experience. You could technically have HDR HD, but it's kind of been "attached" to the 4K spec, but it's pretty stunning.

 

[DT]

BTW, did anyone else notice D+ is now doing IMAX as the display spec for Marvel stuff, not HD, not 4K, it's nearly full screen, i.e., this:

@Huntn

I'm not sure if it applies to your Vizio set, we have a PQ65X-H1 (that's the Quantum X Series), and we finally got the new firmware, and I can say is wow. The new color profiles are stunning, the few audio related bugs are fixed, it took a really great TV and made it even more impressive. We're on V5.41.29.10-1

 

[Yoused]

I read several years back that 4k, in general, is barely perceivable by the human eye.

I was over at my friend's house, the one who gave me his old 3D unit, while he happened to be streaming Indiana Jones and the Testing of Our Writers to See if They Can Generate More Revenue in 4K on his 50-something TV, and it was like looking in a window on the action. So, no, "barely perceptible" is not even close to what 4K is. On the other hand, forget about 8K. As far as I can tell, 4K is way more'n enough.

 

[Herdfan]

I am a big movie fan.

Still, I have only 1080p TV sets (Sony, JVC) and Blu-ray players (3 Pioneers, Sony). My son has a 4K LG TV in his room. (He has better eyes...)

With age my eyes are not the same. I had a chance to try 4K, but I saw no significant difference. So, in my case I will stay with 1080p and "simple" Blu-ray discs. Sometimes I buy DVDs, when the title is not available in BR, but with upscaling it does the job.

Advantages of aging.

I'm with you. Most 4K I have seen on display look fake. Almost like a Mexican soap opera. The best HD TV I ever had was a Pioneer 720p plasma. The picture was so great. Then in the media room I had a Sony 70
SXRD. It was sharp, but the screen had a bit of a matte look (similar to the new iMac screens) and I loved that look. Currently using a 6 year old cheap Epson 1080p projector. Bought it thinking prices on 4K's would come down because on a 110" screen, it would look good.

Prices really haven't come down for true 4K and it is still chugging along so no reason to upgrade.

 

[DT]

 

[DT]

View attachment 10936


View attachment 10937

Wooo .... !

 

[AG_PhamD]

View attachment 10936


View attachment 10937

The joys of the supply chain shortages.

I’m still using my trusty Bose 3-2-1 audio system. I love it. Bose products are often overrated and overpriced IMO but this thing has great sound, especially for a 2.1 system. Before the days of wireless speakers, it was much more manageable than dealing with all the wiring of a 5.1 or 7.1 surround system. Plus, living in a condo building I don’t want to disturb my neighbors too much with sound.

We have a 50” 1080p Samsung in our living room- I always thought the picture was almost too good- things seemed kinda weirdly real but artificial. I also recently bought a 4k 43” Pioneer TV (aka Toshiba, aka Hisense- throwback to the old Pioneer Plasmas haha) to put in my home office. I frankly don’t really notice the difference with 4K, probably because it’s not a particularly large TV.

I don’t watch very much TV so maybe I’m biased, but it seems silly to buy the latest, greatest TV technology when in 2 years it’ll be half the price. In my bedroom at my parents house I have my 32” Sony 720p LCD TV… that thing was like $700-800 back in the day.

I also have a 1080p DLP projector and accompanying motorized projection screen. I don’t think that’ll ever be installed in this home… I should probably sell it or find some school or something to donate it to.

 

[Yoused]

My house is getting bored. What should I do to entertain it, before it gets into a fight with the garage?

 

[DT]

I’m still using my trusty Bose 3-2-1 audio system. I love it. Bose products are often overrated and overpriced IMO but this thing has great sound, especially for a 2.1 system. Before the days of wireless speakers, it was much more manageable than dealing with all the wiring of a 5.1 or 7.1 surround system. Plus, living in a condo building I don’t want to disturb my neighbors too much with sound.

We've got a solid AVR, some terrific ol' school speakers, just want to minimize the footprint, remove a huge sub, speakers on stands, wiring (even if it's decently neat, in tracks), etc. I don't need earth shattering audio with the TV, just decent spatiality, good quality dialog, in fact, I'm going to give this a shot without a sub as I understand it's very good if you're not looking to shake the room (and this is really only for TV vs. a music source). After a few months if I miss the very low end, I'll just snag one of their wireless subs.

We've gotten all about simplicity, big returns for minimum effort, less clutter, to put it franky: less shit. I'm even about ready to get this DAC, Amp, all the associated wiring off my desk and go full wireless.

Part of this - in addition to seeing my parents accumulation of nonsense - is being a little more agile if we decide to really change up our life

 

[DT]

Wooo .... !

View attachment 11026

WOO WOO!

 

[Cmaier]

I'm with you. Most 4K I have seen on display look fake. Almost like a Mexican soap opera.

It’s likely the motion smoothing and edge enhancement features in the set. When I got my new 4k 60” about 2 years ago to replace an old 1080p 52” that died, the picture definitely looked much sharper at 10’ viewing distance. The HDR was even more of a noticeable difference.

But the “soap opera effect“ took me 3 days to get rid of. I had to go through the menus for each source (where “source” is not just a port, but the type of signal coming through the port - it’s resolution, whether it has HDR, etc.), and disable a bunch of crap. Now everything looks properly cinematic, without that artificial look you are talking about. I heard the newer sets might have a simpler way to turn all that off.

 

[DT]

It’s likely the motion smoothing and edge enhancement features in the set. When I got my new 4k 60” about 2 years ago to replace an old 1080p 52” that died, the picture definitely looked much sharper at 10’ viewing distance. The HDR was even more of a noticeable difference.

But the “soap opera effect“ took me 3 days to get rid of. I had to go through the menus for each source (where “source” is not just a port, but the type of signal coming through the port - it’s resolution, whether it has HDR, etc.), and disable a bunch of crap. Now everything looks properly cinematic, without that artificial look you are talking about. I heard the newer sets might have a simpler way to turn all that off.

It's so funky, I can't believe people don't see it. Both BIL's had TVs with it still on (by default), I turned it off, they "Didn't notice any difference..."

Even newer sets it still seems to be per input source.

 

[Nycturne]

It's so funky, I can't believe people don't see it. Both BIL's had TVs with it still on (by default), I turned it off, they "Didn't notice any difference..."

The one thing I miss after switching to OLED is the strobing backlight (@ 480Hz) that my old 1080p Sony had that was a form of BFI. Good motion resolution, no soap opera effect. HDR wasn’t a thing yet, so the brightness loss wasn’t a big deal either. Newer models than mine have BFI, but since it has to run at the panel’s refresh rate (<= 120Hz), it’s more prone to producing visible flicker.

Right now I feel like I’m stuck either dealing with soap opera effect, or sample-and-hold related issues with motion resolution, and liking neither.

 

[DT]

Scored a new HDMI cable, eArc/48Gbps spec, from CableCreation (their products have been solid for me in the past). There's a lot of snake oil when it comes to cables, but for ~$10 why sweat having a potential choke in the system (all my better quality cables are in use, so kind of needed an extra anyway).

Going to bust out the Sanus bracket I ordered several weeks ago, start mounting that, any maybe breaking down the old AV gear, geez, we could almost go without a rack in the main TV room now, AppleTV doesn't need LOS could stash that behind the TV, hahaha, the Dreamcast was a bust - the switch, power, etc., could all go on the mantle, maybe move the XBox into another room.

 

[DT]

Sonos arrived Friday, did a test run by sitting it on a barstool/the box, under the TV - everything worked about as simple as you could expect. I had the app already installed, so I just got the phone near the new speaker, it registered it on our WiFi, so control through the app, and AirPlay, and by simply connecting the devices like this: Apple TV >> TV >> Sonos, the ATV remote seamlessly handles volume control.

Sonos definitely has some Apple DNA, in the design, marketing, even the packaging, a locked/lift off box, the speaker itself was in a cloth bag, it actually came with what I'd assume is an eARC cable (so that was $10 I didn't need to spend ...). It has 11 speakers (pointing at different angles), 11 amps, microphone arrays - you can tune it to the room with your phone, it supports dozens of formats (DD, DD+, Atmost, etc.)

The really neat thing with Sonos, is you add speakers, and everything just works together, via WiFi, want some physical rear channels? Buy a pair, plug them in, register in the app, done.

Since our TV is on a wall mount, I went with the Sanus mount, specifically designed for the Arc, It bolts into the VESA mounts on the TV then supplies replacement hardware for your original mounting bracket, very clever design - it's adjustable vertically and horizontally, so you can get it perfectly under and in front of the TV, it almost looks like it's built in. I've got other Sanus products, they're always well engineered, and very high quality.

This is the mount FYI:

The sound is pretty stunning, especially the depth/soundstaging, dialogue is beautifully clear and isolated, there's additional modes to tweak the latter. Some of the effects from the side channels are crazy, I've had some reasonably decent surround setups, and this is excellent, with 1/10th the clutter.

Speaking of: removed multiple speakers, stands, meters of wiring - and the plan is to move the AVR as well (with the speaker, into a another room), since it kind of serves no purpose (for convenience, I will likely pick up a good switcher to handle a few HDMI sources).

The room seems so much less crowded, thrilled with the final result of audio + aesthetics

 

[Huntn]

Sonos arrived Friday, did a test run by sitting it on a barstool/the box, under the TV - everything worked about as simple as you could expect. I had the app already installed, so I just got the phone near the new speaker, it registered it on our WiFi, so control through the app, and AirPlay, and by simply connecting the devices like this: Apple TV >> TV >> Sonos, the ATV remote seamlessly handles volume control.

Sonos definitely has some Apple DNA, in the design, marketing, even the packaging, a locked/lift off box, the speaker itself was in a cloth bag, it actually came with what I'd assume is an eARC cable (so that was $10 I didn't need to spend ...). It has 11 speakers (pointing at different angles), 11 amps, microphone arrays - you can tune it to the room with your phone, it supports dozens of formats (DD, DD+, Atmost, etc.)

The really neat thing with Sonos, is you add speakers, and everything just works together, via WiFi, want some physical rear channels? Buy a pair, plug them in, register in the app, done.

Since our TV is on a wall mount, I went with the Sanus mount, specifically designed for the Arc, It bolts into the VESA mounts on the TV then supplies replacement hardware for your original mounting bracket, very clever design - it's adjustable vertically and horizontally, so you can get it perfectly under and in front of the TV, it almost looks like it's built in. I've got other Sanus products, they're always well engineered, and very high quality.

This is the mount FYI:

The sound is pretty stunning, especially the depth/soundstaging, dialogue is beautifully clear and isolated, there's additional modes to tweak the latter. Some of the effects from the side channels are crazy, I've had some reasonably decent surround setups, and this is excellent, with 1/10th the clutter.

Speaking of: removed multiple speakers, stands, meters of wiring - and the plan is to move the AVR as well (with the speaker, into a another room), since it kind of serves no purpose (for convenience, I will likely pick up a good switcher to handle a few HDMI sources).

The room seems so much less crowded, thrilled with the final result of audio + aesthetics

Did you mention the price on these? Are there wireless rear speakers? We were visiting our neohew who had spent $1200 or so on what I think were JBL. The rear speakers plugged into the ends of the main bar to charge them, and then he had metal stands behind the sofa to set them on for use. It was pretty immersive except I’m not yet ready to spend that much on a sound system.

https://smile.amazon.com/JBL-Bar-9-1-Soundbar-Surround/dp/B084KGSV4Q/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1XIV6S2QPM5N5&keywords=jbl+5.1+soundbar+with+wireless+speakers&qid=1642948070&refinements=p_36%3A1253507011&rnid=386442011&s=electronics&sprefix=Sounbar+with+wireless%2Caps%2C131&sr=1-6