Underwhelmed by KD55XD9305 - need advice

[2percenttiger]

I have a few observations and queries and hope the wisdom of the board can help.

First of all I have to say I can't get the picture to be anything like in the shop.

i have followed the YOUTUBE advice given by a professional reviewer on settings and whilst that has improved things it's still not that great. I also found out that to get the best out of it I need to set up settings fir day and night use for each HDMI port.

can these settings be copied across each port or do I have to manually input them? That's 8 sets of settings! Can they be programmed to the coloured buttons on the remote?

Upscaling. I really can't see that it makes much difference between blue ray and upscaled to 4K. So I am not sure if it is even happening? How can I check? I have a PS3 and a Sony Upscaling blue player. The blue ray player certainly improves DVD picture quality but now to sure about the Blue Ray side of things. same with the PS3. When watching a blue ray I get the "1080P/24" text in the top left hand corner. So that suggests it's not been upscale do, either by the player or the TV. I can understand why the cable MAY be holding back the Upscaling from the blue ray but surely not from the to itself. I have been through all the settings options and can only assume it's automatically done.

lastly, there is scope contradictory info on the web about HDMI 1.4 and HDMI 2.0. My cables are good quality but will be HDMI 1.4. Do I need new cables to get the full 10bit colour palette performance out of the panel?

[royabrown]

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@2percenttiger wrote:

I have a few observations and queries and hope the wisdom of the board can help.

First of all I have to say I can't get the picture to be anything like in the shop.

i have followed the YOUTUBE advice given by a professional reviewer on settings and whilst that has improved things it's still not that great. I also found out that to get the best out of it I need to set up settings fir day and night use for each HDMI port.

can these settings be copied across each port or do I have to manually input them? That's 8 sets of settings! Can they be programmed to the coloured buttons on the remote?

Upscaling. I really can't see that it makes much difference between blue ray and upscaled to 4K. So I am not sure if it is even happening? How can I check? I have a PS3 and a Sony Upscaling blue player. The blue ray player certainly improves DVD picture quality but now to sure about the Blue Ray side of things. same with the PS3. When watching a blue ray I get the "1080P/24" text in the top left hand corner. So that suggests it's not been upscale do, either by the player or the TV. I can understand why the cable MAY be holding back the Upscaling from the blue ray but surely not from the to itself. I have been through all the settings options and can only assume it's automatically done.

lastly, there is scope contradictory info on the web about HDMI 1.4 and HDMI 2.0. My cables are good quality but will be HDMI 1.4. Do I need new cables to get the full 10bit colour palette performance out of the panel?

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Shops use a Shop mode, which punches up the colours. If you have a hunt around, you can probably find the Shop/Retail/Showroom Display mode, whichever it is called, and turn it on.

However, it may then start doing an auto demo; but you can at least see what the 'shop' colours look like in your environment.

Generally, you will find these very like the Vivid setting you have for the Picture, which calibrated screens will tone down. But the choice between 'accurate' and 'dynamic' is yours to make 🙂

Re upscaling, As you have a Sony Bluray player that can upscale, you will find a Screen setting called 4K Output, probably defaulted to Auto 1. This means that when the Bluray player detects a Sony 4K set, it will output. HD, and leave the upscaling to the Sony TV.

This, I think, is what you are seeing. If you change this setting to Auto 2, then the Bluray player will do the upscaling, and you should see this reflected in the text you referred to.

But whichever device is upscaling, you may be sure that upscaling is going on, or the picture you get would only fill one quarter of the screen 🙂

Re cables, there are no such things as 1.4 and 2.0 cables, only 1.4 and 2.0 (or 2.1, or 2.2) devices.

HDMI cables com in four flavours;Standard Speed/High Speed permed with With Ethernet/ Without Ethrenet.

You can ignore the latter, and just check your cable to see if it says Standard or High Speed on the sheathing.

if it says Standard, yes replace it with a High Speed cable. But if it already says High Speed, it is doing all that is required of it, as long as it can pass 4K from the Bluray Player in Auto 2 mode,

Do let us know how you get on with the above, won't you?

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Let me see if I can answer your questions in addition to Royabrowns above:

Question 1 - Picture like the Shops:

The TVs setup in the shops are setup specifically to be un-naturally bright an vivid.  On the TVs there is a special "Shop" mode (or Retail mode) which will do this.  But it is not useful/handy or nice to view in a home situation. 

Question 2 - Picture Setup via Reviewers.

Picture settings are personal.  This means that the settings that one person recommends can be different to what another recommends.  This is because of two reasons - environmental factors and personal taste.  Your room where the TV is located might be brighter or darker than someone elses (i.e. more sunlight etc) and you may like more vivid colours than someone else. 

Suggestion is to read Sony's FAQ - HERE

Question 3 - Day/Night Picture Settings

I personally cannot be bothered with this.  The idea behind it is that the room is brighter in the day time and darker at night and hence use different settings.

My advice is to get the settings on the TV you are happy with and then leave it.  Tweak the setttings slightly in the day time, and then a little at night and then come to a happy medium.  I also advise you writing them down to - especially once you are happy with them.  Factory resetting a TV is all to common these days.

Question 4 - HDMI Cables

A high-speed HDMI cable should be fine for most things, however it will only support 4K@30hz so if you have a device that is 4K@50 or 60hz and/or a device that uses HDR then you need a premium high speed cable this is capable of 18Gbps throughput.  This chart below is a great comparision on HDMI specs.

Cheers

[royabrown]

Sorry Quinnicus, but you have been drinking the HDMI cable KoolAid.

While there is now a Premium cable certification, any cable that honestly bears the legend High Speed should be able to pass that certification,

Only the wriggle room room in the words 'honestly' and 'should' lends any credence or merit to that certification programme.

[Anonymous]

@royabrown

KoolAid?  Do we even get that in the UK.  I have better class than that - Pffft.  Only the turps is suitable for moi

To be frank, this is the industry's fault for firstly confusing issues with HDMI version numbers and Hi-Speed.  For quite some time on these forums, I have stuck with versions numbers - this has made things easier for people to understand. 

In the initial days of 3D and HDMI-ARC features it was easier to say on the forums that you need a "HDMI cable version 1.4a" - as this was what all the sellers on Amazon and E-bay were using.  It was also easier to explain why their HDMI cable that worked before ARC/3D days, no longer works on those features.

Now we are in an era where all cables are rated Hi-Speed due to a more correct terminology.  However not all Hi-Speed cables are the same.  There are Hi-Speed cables that are 10.2Gbps/15.2Gbps which does transmit 4K resolution at 30fps and another Hi-Speed cables that support 4K@50/60fps with "HDR" at 18Gbps

I would also recommend that people not just buy any old cheap cable either - there is a difference in build quality and shielding which ultimately makes a huge difference in regards to potential problems later on (EM interference etc).

So for PS4 Pro, Sky Q Silver and the likes that are capable of 4K@50/60p (and HDR), I am mainly using the 'speed throughput' rating of 18Gbps (also recommended by Sony and other tech manufacturers). And everything else as 'Hi-Speed". And the premium lable also adds to the shielding and build quality.

In terms on these forums, I would like to separate these two "Hi-Speed" cables so it is easier for people to understand and the ability to use the same terminology as the sellers on Amazon and Ebay (as that were ultimately many people go). Even if not 'technically' correct.

Does that make sense??

[royabrown]

Alas not 😞

Every properly made HDMI cable, no matter how old, should support ARC, as this is just a use of existing connections inside the HDMI cable that were previously designated as 'reserved for future use'. There is no such thing as a pre-ARC HDMI cable; only pre-ARC HDMI devices.

But yes 3D needs High Speed cables; this is not in dispute. What is in dispute is whether any currently existing technology needs a cable faster than any properly made High Speed cable.

Yes, people used to describe cables by the HDMI standard they supported; this was more confusing than it was helpful, and in fact so confusing that the HDMI standards organisation actually outlawed such cable designations, requiring the use of only the designations I outlined - Standard/High Speed, without or without Ethernet.

Now they have introduced the Premium designation, but it does not describe a different cable; just a High Speed cable, samples of which have been tested to ensure that this High Speed cable really does what any High Speed cable ought to do, plus one or two other tests on EMI, a good thing to minimise, but a little outside the High Speed spec.

Read this link to the Premium HDMI Cable Certification Program details. Don't you think they would just love to call these Ultra High Speed cables? But they can't, because they aren't.

And yes, cables can be made to different physical standards of quality, like anything can. But Premium certification does not address build quality in any way, beyond that necessary for the cable to work, which any High Speed cable should do anyway.

If Sony, or anybody, wants to peddle what I think is snake oil, let them prove me wrong by demonstrating an observable difference on a device to device HDMI link with a Premium HDMI cable over a (decent) non-Premium High Speed cable. Doesn't have to be go/no go; sparkles will suffice.

This should be easy to set up if what you/Sony say is true.

[2percenttiger]

Hi guys

thank you for the responses. I think I will buy one high speed cable and experiment with it across the various sources. I managed to,stream some 4K content over the weekend and that certainly made a bog difference to my impression of the set.

cheers

[royabrown]

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@2percenttiger wrote:

Hi guys

thank you for the responses. I think I will buy one high speed cable and experiment with it across the various sources. I managed to,stream some 4K content over the weekend and that certainly made a bog difference to my impression of the set.

cheers

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Look at the writing on the sheathing of the HDMI cable(s) you have now. What does it say?

Set your Bluray player to Screen/4K Output/Auto 2, as I describe above. Can you see the output on your TV? Is it flagged up as 4K if so?

[2percenttiger]

The most recent cable says high speed cable on it. It's about 6 months old. The others are 7 or 8 years old and just give the brand name. Van den Hul and Pure AV. These are connected to my blue ray player and BT tv box.

on Auto 2 out the blue ray player the tv recognises is as 4K.

i had a couple of cheap high speed cables arrive today and they do make a difference out the blue ray playerover the Van Den Hul cable.