Samsung unveils Ultra HD Blu-ray player UBD-K8500

Any of ya'll running the 8500 with one HDMI to a D&M product? I know people have reported issues at AVS with active cables, passive cables, and different brands of AVR's.

When I set it all up today I went ahead and run two cables, but these passive BJC cables take up a lot of room and it's kinda annoying. Just curious as to everyone's results with single or dual HDMI.
 
Finally got to play around with The Martian UHD. Set the player for auto rez, auto on 3D, and ran one passive cable to my X4200W. Everything fired up without one hiccup, HDR notification came on and then I played the movie. Of course it was 4k/24 BT 2020 10bit, and I thought the dimesnion of the image looked great as well. In the beginning when they are all working outside, it looked almost 3D at that point. The highlights looked great and the image was razor sharp, pretty impressed so far.

I played with WCG on and off between ISF 1 and ISF 2, also have Ultra Deep Color turned on for all HDMI inputs. I think what Ill do is have Chad cal ISF1 for 1080p, and Ill leave WCG off. I'll then have him cal ISF 2 for UHD, where I can leave WCG on all the time. If it all works out according to plan.
 
Kingsman reviews have not been kind for the UHD version.

Watching some Flash on Amazon HD right now (Hopper screwed up my recording) and it ramped up to HD real fast. Set on auto the Samsung is sending it to the LG as 2160p of course, and the image is great. I think it ramps up faster and may even look better than the Amazon HD on my Roku 4.
 
The movie Kingsmen is actually just a 2K shot and 2K digital intermediate render then upscaled to 2160P for the UHD disk so you really will get a soft looking movie when compared to other titles.

Last evening I viewed Pan and while it is not true 4K it is close:
  • Shot in 3.4K and 5K
  • Special Effects Rendered at 2K
  • Digital Intermediate at 4K
So, when I watched this I could see the green screen backgrounds were quite soft compared to the key subjects ( actors) which had additional detail and sharpness.


If reading the AVS forum on the Samsung K8500, you probably have seen that there are some issues with certain TV's and the Samsung K8500 when using expanded color gamut of REC 2020 for the UHD disks. I have had to make quite a few color corrections on my Sony VPL VW665ES to get acceptable colors. I understand Samsung and Sony are aware of this problem and claim to be working on a fix that will be addressed in a Samsung firmware update ETA by end of May.

Have you experienced any problems on your LG Panel?


AVS posted this YT video where two guys discuss the problems in the industry with 4K UHD from the movie production industry. It's worth a listen just to know what is going on. ( Note- The gamer video runs but has nothing to do with the discussion. )

 
Has anyone found any calibration tables in UHD? Particularly for HDR?
I think my settings are slightly off, but I am new to 4K HDR and not quite sure how it all supposed to look. Hard to make any adjustments without a good reference point.
 
Don,

I just really got setup for UHD this week, and threw the Martian in to see what it looked like and confirm everything worked accordingly since my pro cal is tomorrow. Ill report back what we find for the LG. I think most owners of the 9500 are using WCG, but have seen some issues on certain discs. I think this stuff will sort it out in the next couple of months as well.

Chad just bought a signal generator that does HDR, so I lucked up on this trip and being able to do a more indepth cal to try and see what this thing does when you send it certain signals,
 
It will be very interesting to see what Chad finds. Keep us posted!
However, I am concerned that the signal generator is not the same thing as a 4K Blu-Ray. With all that new HDR metadata going over HDMI I suspect a lot depends on the player and the source media. I fear it's not enough to calibrate the TV input: you may have to take into account particular source equipment. Personally, I am holding off on any pro calibration until calibration disks become available and until all studios get that HDR and color space thing right. To me it looks like a mess right now. You can calibrate your TV set, but it doesn't mean the next disk will play correctly... Add to that all those firmware updates being released almost every month! I really hope this all settles down in the next few months!
 
The generators support HDR10 and patterns. I get the concern about DCIP3/BT2020, but the key is being able to adjust gamut with HDR activated, up until now people have not been able to do both together. I'm pretty confident now, where as I wasn't a few weeks ago with no HDR calibration methods. Chad has also attended all the Spectracal HDR webinars. I'm sure they will learn more, but I get my cal's done every 6 months, this should get me by until the next visit and it should be better than not having it done at all.

Seattle software developer SpectraCal, Inc. has partnered with Quantum Data, global leader in video test pattern generators and analyzers, to provide test pattern support for HDR-10 High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays.

“High Dynamic Range is the most important development in video since the high definition TV,” said SpectraCal’s Chief Color Scientist Stacey Spears. “With the rapid growth of HDR, objective measurements of video performance have never been more crucial,” Spears said.

Developers from SpectraCal and Quantum Data worked closely together to ensure that Quantum Data’s hardware and SpectraCal’s software would jointly support emerging standards in HDR.
284117_orig.jpg

“HDR-10 requires new signaling mechanisms to support HDR-10 metadata over HDMI,” remarked John Burt, Senior Applications Engineer, who led the HDR-10 development efforts for Quantum Data.

“The speed with which Quantum Data was able to accomplish the HDR solution, especially given the complex signaling requirements of HDR-10, underscores the strength of Quantum Data’s design,” said Spears.

Quantum Data’s VP of Sales and Marketing, Chuck Evans commenting on SpectraCal’s important role in the industry, remarked, “SpectraCal has been leading the way in video calibration software since the company was founded. Their effort in bringing HDR-10 support to the market is just the latest example of their leadership, and Quantum Data is delighted to have partnered with SpectraCal. ”

Support for HDR-10 patterns is available in Version 5.6.1 of SpectraCal’s CalMAN software, the most widely used video calibration software in the world.

“You can use a Quantum Data 780 to send HDR-10 metadata from CalMAN 5.6.1 today,” said Spears.

http://calman.spectracal.com/blog/spectracal-and-quantum-data-partner-to-provide-hdr-support
 
Be sure to ask Chad how any firmware updates that will modify the color balance will affect your professional calibration. I would think you'll be calling him back often. :(

FWIW- absent the special expensive test equipment and training, I did my calibration based on matching colors from the 2K Blu Ray same scene to that displayed on the UHD 4K. My system uses to HDMI feeds to the projector so switching back and forth is fast.

As to HDR content, some "experts" claim that no projector or present TV except possibly the OLED has enough light output to properly reproduce the HDR range.
 
I get the concern about DCIP3/BT2020, but the key is being able to adjust gamut with HDR activated, up until now people have not been able to do both together.

The Sony VPL VW665ES projector does allow complete color and luminance adjustments within the advanced user settings while HDR is on and the dynamic Iris is also on FULL range. I have two sets of calibrations memorized. One for BT709 and the other for BT2020. The one for BT2020 has HDR turned on 100% of the time. The downside is the 665ES only can reproduce about 85% of the P3 industry standard color range so some colors in the extreme greens, reds and blues are lost and will be seen as compromised from the original. Is that important? Only if the TV is not calibrated properly. Might make reds and greens glow like being radioactive effect.

This becomes a real problem for movies like The Martian that used lots of colored effect lighting. If you want to really see accurate colors, use a movie like the PeeWee Big Holiday that offers brilliant natural color of a D65 spectrum lighting.
 
Be sure to ask Chad how any firmware updates that will modify the color balance will affect your professional calibration. I would think you'll be calling him back often. :(

FWIW- absent the special expensive test equipment and training, I did my calibration based on matching colors from the 2K Blu Ray same scene to that displayed on the UHD 4K. My system uses to HDMI feeds to the projector so switching back and forth is fast.

As to HDR content, some "experts" claim that no projector or present TV except possibly the OLED has enough light output to properly reproduce the HDR range.

As with displays in the past, if it is working correctly, I will not be updating FW in between visits. I dont use display apps, so I will stay away from them ;).

I thought it was funny when the Ultra HD Premium Cert listed two different specs for HDR/DV approval. One is geared to OLED's because they can go infinite black and will be a lower on the max nit number, where as the LCD will not handle the blacks as well but have a higher nit output. I think it had to be done though.

IMO, Ill take black blacks and 100+ nits before not so black blacks and 300+ nits. This 9500 can get eye searing as it is, but Im an ex plasma guy. I guess the high nit stuff will be more important for DV.
 
I am watching UHD off Netflix, that is it so far. Plus I have a Roku 4 and the 8500 apps. I have no reason to use the display apps, which would/could be part of an update I do not need :)
 
I believe the latest update is 1.005 or something like that. It fixes some bugs that were in 1.004 that was supposed to fix other bugs in 1.003. I don't recall any new apps as part of these updates. The update rumored to be coming in May is to fix the problem with incorrect HDR implementation.

For Netflix, Amazon 4K, You Tube and Vudu, I have been using BT709.

This has been around for quite awhile.

Here is a test disk you can download, unpack to an iso file and burn to a BD-R.

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_146135242948610&key=0f4a86ba6db5fdb509f85ecacef1696f&libId=inathft50100s3dy000DA1l9i17xdspy4c&loc=http://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-display-calibration/948496-avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration.html&v=1&out=https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9FgjTtNzSy0a1dld3pucTk4UTQ/edit?usp=sharing&title=AVS HD 709 - Blu-ray & MP4 Calibration - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews&txt=<b>HDMV (.exe)</b>
 
I am running 1005 on the Samsung and everything seems well. I used Netflix last night in 2160p and Amazon HD (720p I guess). I also have been using standard color gamut for Netflix 2160p, but once their HDR versions are working with the Samsung app, may have to consider WCG.
 

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