I recently installed a Sony VPL-VW 385 ES home theater projector & I decided to give Dish Network's 4K receiver, the Hopper 3, a try. As our theater is located some distance away from where the H3 is located I wasn't sure how our 50' long older HDMI cable would work. We rarely watch Dish Net in the theater so this hasn't been a big concern until now. Our HDMI splitter is 4K compatible so I thought I'd gave it a try. The setup is to use the Oppo's 203 UHD Blu-ray player's HDMI Input, then switch input source accordingly.
I will admit that Dish has been lacking when it comes to 4K content but lately they have had a weekly 4K collage football game shown on their 4K channel 540 on Fridays or Saturdays. So, the window of opportunity to test Dish 4K on the Sony 385 is limited to just the hours the game is broadcast. Last week, before the 4K game was on, I tested a HD program. With the older HDMI cable it begrudgingly passed HD to the 385. The audio was in & out with no picture but finally the HD signal was accepted by the Sony projector as YCbCr 4,4,4, 1920x1080@30Hz. It failed with 4K. Zilch, nothing passed.
This week I ordered the 50' version of Monoprice Active HDMI to replace the older HDMI & waited for the next 4K game broadcast. This time there was no problem with the Sony 385 accepting Dish HD, passing it with the same YCbCr 4,4,4, 1920x1080@30Hz. With 4K, however, it took awhile as it did with HD & the older HDMI but eventually worked. The Sony 385's menu read the signal as YCbCr 4,4,4, 3840x2160@30Hz, RGB. The picture viewed as 102" diagonal was fantastic. Our 55" 4K Samsung reads that same signal as 3840x2160@60Hz. And, this time I recorded the 4K game on the H3's DVR. When playback of the recording the 385 reads YCbCr 4,4,4, 3840x2160@30Hz, BT.709. Why BT.709 for the recording & RGB for the live broadcast I haven't a clue.
If the Dish H3 were closer I'm sure there would be such hesitation to lock-in 4K. 50' of HDMI is borderline without going to fiber optics. But it is good enough for how little we watch Dish in the theater.
I will admit that Dish has been lacking when it comes to 4K content but lately they have had a weekly 4K collage football game shown on their 4K channel 540 on Fridays or Saturdays. So, the window of opportunity to test Dish 4K on the Sony 385 is limited to just the hours the game is broadcast. Last week, before the 4K game was on, I tested a HD program. With the older HDMI cable it begrudgingly passed HD to the 385. The audio was in & out with no picture but finally the HD signal was accepted by the Sony projector as YCbCr 4,4,4, 1920x1080@30Hz. It failed with 4K. Zilch, nothing passed.
This week I ordered the 50' version of Monoprice Active HDMI to replace the older HDMI & waited for the next 4K game broadcast. This time there was no problem with the Sony 385 accepting Dish HD, passing it with the same YCbCr 4,4,4, 1920x1080@30Hz. With 4K, however, it took awhile as it did with HD & the older HDMI but eventually worked. The Sony 385's menu read the signal as YCbCr 4,4,4, 3840x2160@30Hz, RGB. The picture viewed as 102" diagonal was fantastic. Our 55" 4K Samsung reads that same signal as 3840x2160@60Hz. And, this time I recorded the 4K game on the H3's DVR. When playback of the recording the 385 reads YCbCr 4,4,4, 3840x2160@30Hz, BT.709. Why BT.709 for the recording & RGB for the live broadcast I haven't a clue.
If the Dish H3 were closer I'm sure there would be such hesitation to lock-in 4K. 50' of HDMI is borderline without going to fiber optics. But it is good enough for how little we watch Dish in the theater.
