On today ’s You ask : Can cyclosis and cable signal wait proficient than 4 K Blu - light beam discs ? When is the 65 - inch TCL QM8 review coming out ? Which is well on Apple or Amazon Music : lossless or Dolby Atmos ? And can the magnate of AI be used to produce a self - calibrating goggle box ?
A 4K Blu-ray picture fix?
Ed O’Brien writes : I ’m not getting the most out of watching movies on my Sony A95L with a Panasonic displaced person - UB820 4 kB Blu - ray player . With cable television or streaming , I am blow away by the picture quality , while 4 K Blu - rays just seem “ meh . ” I even taste direct comparisons with title likeThe FugitiveandThe Flash , and the cable and streaming versions have much better visual quality . Should I be using sure TV or histrion setting when watching a 4 K Blu - ray ? Any helper would be much appreciated .
This is the first time I ’ve heard anyone advert that the picture they get from their overseas telegram or streaming service looks better than the4 K Blu - ray . But I can guess a lot of other folks will also be odd about this .
I have two possibility about why the image caliber on the cable or streaming translation may look higher-ranking to your 4 KiB Blu - ray .
But first , see this : The 4 K Blu - ray magnetic disk has a high bit rate and scrap profoundness than just about any streaming servicing . ( Sony ’s Bravia Core offers something very close . ) That higher bit rate and scrap astuteness helps with more elusive optical quality prospect like reduce color banding and other compression artifacts . However , most folks find fault up on direct contrast and colouring material more pronto than other , more subtle cue .
Theory No . 1 : You may plainly like the look of SDR more than HDR . SDR has a lower dynamic chain , which mean that the double tends to be more uniformly bright . If you have the brightness setting on yourSony A95Lset somewhat gamy , the integral SDR characterization will be a bit brighter and perhaps more graphic , too .
Theory No . 2 : You might not be getting HDR on your Sony A95L. It could be that you are , in fact , watching in HDR on those streaming services or — less likely — cable loge , but you have n’t changed a scope in your Sony boob tube that unlocks HDR for the HDMI input that you have your Panasonic Blu - ray participant plug into .
On a Sony TV , go into theSettings menuand selectChannels and Inputs > External Inputs > HDMI Signal Format . From there , name the HDMI port your 4 K Blu - light beam player is plugged into and take one of the raise options . If you do n’t change this setting , you wo n’t get HDR from your disc player .
Your TV should have told you this was the case , but it only does that once . If you dawn out of it , then your Blu - ray player just remains on cruise ascendancy , deliver the SDR edition .
There is also a possibility that a place setting inside the Panasonic 4 thou player ask to be adjust — whether or not you have the Enhanced format scene turn on for the Sony TV .
TV reviews coming up
Brad Haggerty drop a line : When will you review the 65 - column inch TCL QM8 ?
I must let in that I ’m prioritizing three TVs over the 65 - column inch QM8 right now , and for a few reasons . One : Ireviewed the monstrous 115 - in QM851 gee already , although I understand that reappraisal is not an indication on how the standard QM8 — the QM851 G — will perform , which is why I will be doing that review before long . ”
The other reason : The Panasonic TVs have arrive and we have n’t seen those here in 10 old age , so some urgency is deserved . ( Also , not only did I get aSamsung QN90D , but it ’s a monumental 98 - in version that ’s taking up a ton of space and I need to get it out of here ) .
The next followup will be the Panasonic W95A , keep up by the Samsung QN90D , the Panasonic Z95A , and the TCL QM8 .
At a loss: Lossless or Atmos?
Jonathan Morales writes : What is your take on Ultra HD / lossless audio versus . Dolby Atmos for euphony services such as Amazon Music or Apple Music ? I understand that lossless audio has a higher morsel rate , and that Dolby Atmos is lossy by nature digitally , but with more and more music being released combine with Atmos in mind , is the difference negligible ? I have gone back and forth listening to the differences multiple times and ca n’t seem to make up my idea .
First , a fast clarification : While it is true thatDolby Atmoson Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music means a lossy euphony stream , it is not lawful that Dolby Atmos is , by its nature , lossy — or , not lossless . Dolby Atmos can be delivered lossless through Dolby True HD — the Atmos spatial audio coding does n’t have anything to do with the signal compression .
However , as you pointed out , on Apple Music or Amazon Prime Music , you could take heed in either Dolby Atmos Music , or in lossless or high - res lossless . I conceive the calibre of the sign itself — whether it is compressed or not — is the least important expression when it come to how vastly dissimilar the two - channel adaptation sounds compare to the Dolby Atmos version .
The Dolby Atmos mixing you get for a birdcall can be outstanding or it can sound like hot garbage . It really depend on who did the premix and what choices they made during the mixing physical process .
Sometimes the Atmos version has buried vocals or a bunch of reverb was put on the song . horn may be interracial to the back , which can sound great or terrible calculate on your system . There ’s already a public debate as to whether the difference between a high-pitched - tone MP3 versus a lossless codec can be hear by most folks . That debate notwithstanding , when they make medicine in Atmos , it ’s the Wild West : Sometimes it ’s awing and sometimes it ’s downright terrible .
AI calibration coming to TVs?
Cole writes : With the hike in AI capabilities , do you think there will ever be an AI characteristic added to idiot box that could perform a standardisation ? Maybe not to the grade of a professional calibrator , but a basic calibration ?
First , let ’s embark on by acknowledging that Samsung has a Smart Calibration app that allow you utilise a Samsung Galaxy phone or an iPhone to perform a canonic and a more advanced standardization . And while I ’ve not conducted a test on how well Samsung ’s professional calibration holds up to a calibration do by an existent professional , I try it does a somewhat respectable job .
On the more advanced level , some TVs have Calman AutoCal built in . This is something a professional or advance habitation substance abuser might practice , but it automates a bunch of the more manual work involve in calibration , namely making adjustments and then remeasuring . AI does have the potential to makecalibrationmore approachable to consumer , but TV manufacturing business and software developer would have to get on board .
Here ’s how I opine something like AI ego - standardization might work .
It ’s not likely that the computer software would get built into the TV — this seems like something to offload . Something like Calman standardization computer software would need to run in the swarm and , no matter what , the user is go to involve a meter — like the colorimeter we apply . Something not too expensive , but accurate enough to furnish a character calibration worthy for anyone but the most fervid master .
You ’d involve to get the TV to foregather the measurement data from the colorimeter or spectro , and send that information back to the cloud - based calibration software . That program would analyze the datum , send picture place setting adjustments to the TV , and then retest . And so on .
Honestly , I call back that could be done now and without AI . Where I think advanced AI — like ChatGPT or Bard — would come in : involve the exploiter a series of doubtfulness about their pauperization and wants .
The human factor involved in standardisation is the calibrator knowing how the tv set needs to be determine up base on the customer ’s needs and wants . AI would be needed for that discretion . AI would also be required for an ongoing feedback loop . For example , AI could require : Here ’s how that ’s going to bet — do you like it ? What would you require to be different ? AI could then interpret and follow out it .
I reckon it can be done … today . But it would necessitate cooperation by several entities to make it a reality . Will we see that happen ? Not for a couple of years at easily . I am not certain the need is corking enough . It ’s severely enough as it is to get the overwhelming majority of raw TV owners to conform the picture mood preset or turn off eco modal value . It ’s hard to see a big reappearance on investment for what I think would be a sizeable project .
