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The Total Guide To All iTunes 4K HDR Content on Apple TV 4K

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 Stephan Jukic – January 22, 2018

iTunes for Apple TV 4K has only been offering ultra HD movie and content selections for barely a few months as of this update but as you can see below, its selection of content in 4K resolution (either native or upscaled) and high dynamic range with 4K resolution is already pretty big . Currently (and we’ll be updating this list at least once a month as new titles are added), there are nearly 260 different movies or pieces of content available via iTunes for 4K playback on your favorite ultra HD TV. That’s a quite a damn good haul of movies, especially when you compare it to the average selection of ultra HD movies & shows that was available through rival services like Netflix and others barely two years ago. Apple has indeed moved fast after so many years of delay on entering into the 4K content/devices landscape.

Best of all, a huger percentage of the following titles come not only with 4K resolution but also high dynamic range, and of those that have HDR, a surprisingly large number manage to deliver it in the more refined, generally superior Dolby Vision version, which definitely beats the more widely used HDR10 when it comes to scene-by-scene contrast and color enhancements for maximum picture quality. In other words, iTunes and its 4K HDR content are particularly worthwhile if you have a Dolby vision 4K TV in your home.

If you don’t own a 4K TV with Dolby Vision support, not to worry either, iTunes in Apple TV 4K will automatically play back any 4K HDR content you buy or rent from it in the HDR format your TV does support.

4kappletv iTunes 4K

How To Access iTunes 4K UHD Content

As for accessing this large library of 4K movies and other entertainment, you’ll need a few things to pull that off.

First and most basic, a 4K TV or display is going to be crucial. For the time being, iTunes massive trove of 4K HDR content doesn’t seem to be playable on nearly any other sort of device. Yes, you can open up iTunes on a 4K mac display like LG’s Apple-approved UltraFine monitors but to our knowledge, 4K streaming from iTunes won’t work on these. We also know that Apple’s newest iPad Pro models –running the latest version of iOS 11 or better—can also sort of play back HDR content from iTunes but because they lack a 4K UHD display, 4K itself is out.

So in other words, you’ll need a 4K TV and preferably one with HDR and Dolby Vision support for spectacular best results.

Also Read: Our complete Guide to today’s best 4K HDR TVs for any budget

Secondly, While iTunes 4K HDR content can be accessed on iTunes in almost any connected Apple device, the only gadget that’s truly built to play back and stream iTunes selections for you on a 4K TV is the Apple TV 4K HDR set-top box. This highly advanced beast of a set-top streaming media platform offers up full high dynamic range support and opens directly to iTunes 4K as well as a number of other third party streaming media apps. Basically, if you want access to a huge trove of 4K ultra HD entertainment below, Apple TV 4K is going to be a must-buy.

Also Read: Our complete guide to today’s best 4K HDR streaming media devices, see how the Apple TV compares

Third and also fundamental will be a strong broadband internet connection running to your 4K TV and Apple TV box. If you want to stream 4K video smoothly, this will mean at least 20Mbps of consistent connectivity but we’d recommend 25Mbps or more for guaranteed smooth streaming of both iTunes ultra HD movies and the content options of other apps like Amazon Prime or Netflix and so forth.

Apple recommends 25Mbps for its 4K video offerings and if your internet connection falls below the minimum necessary for streaming 4K video from iTunes, the content in question will automatically switch to the next highest resolution possible.

With the above in place, you’re pretty much good to go for getting your hands on any of the following movies and other pieces of content. We do warn you however that some of the following selections might not be available outside the U.S, so keep that in mind if you live overseas.

Prices of 4K content through iTunes

iTunes content isn’t free and the Apple TV 4K set-top box that you’ll almost invariably need for it for the time being is quite pricey by the standards of streaming media devices. The 32GB version of the set-top box costs about $179.00 on Amazon and the more robust 64GB version is selling for just under $200. Yes, you get Dolby Vision HDR support with that but these are still both pricey little set-top boxes.

As for the prices of the 4K movies and other content, well it depends on whether you want to rent or buy. To its credit, Apple has used its immense market clout to basically force studios into accepting lower prices for the ultra HD movies they’re licensing to the company and as a result, many competing streaming 4K video services have followed suite. At the time of this writing, those prices can range from as low as $10 to an upper level of around $20 for most 4K movies and shows on the iTunes eco-system. Rental options exist for most movies and they usually cost between a couple dollars and around $5.

We should also note here that Apple is constantly and automatically converting as much of its content to 4K as possible. Thus if any content in your existing (already paid for) iTunes library becomes available in 4K, you’ll get it in the higher resolution at no additional charge.

apple tv 4K set-top box

Check the Apple TV 4K HDR set-top box (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

The List: All the iTunes 4K HDR Content You Can Get

This list will be updated regularly but if you don’t see something specific that you’re interested in here, a search for the content in iTunes will let you know if it comes with 4K/HDR support that we haven’t included here yet. content with ultra HD and HDR support will be marked off as follows inside iTunes:

 

4K iconHDR icon, or Dolby Vision icon.

baby_driver_4k

Movie Title
HDR format (Only “4K” where no HDR Available)
Releasing Studio
2:22 HDR: Dolby Vision Magnolia Pictures
21 Jump Street HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
22 Jump Street HDR: Dolby Vision Original Film
A Bad Moms Christmas 4K STX Entertainment
About Last Night (2014) 4K Screen Gems
Across the Universe HDR: Dolby Vision Gross Entertainment
Alien: Covenant HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Allied HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Road Chip HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
American Assassin HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
American Made HDR: HDR10 Universal
American Sniper HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Angels and Demons HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Annabelle HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Annabelle: Creation HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
Apollo 13 HDR: HDR10 Universal
Argo HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Arrival HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Assassin’s Creed HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Atomic Blonde HDR: Dolby Vision Focus Features
Baby Driver HDR: Dolby Vision Big Talk Productions
Bad Boys HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Bad Boys II HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Bad Roomies 4K The Orchard
Bad Santa 2 4K Miramax
Batman Begins HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate) HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Battle of the Sexes 4K Fox Searchlight
Battleship HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Baywatch HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Ben-Hur (2016) 4K MGM
Beyond Skyline 4K Vertical
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk HDR: Dolby Vision TriStar
Black Mass HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Blade Runner 2049 HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Blade Runner (The Final Cut) HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Bond: A View to a Kill 4K MGM
Bond: Casino Royale 4K MGM
Bond: Diamonds are Forever 4K MGM
Bond: Die Another Day 4K MGM
Bond: Dr. No 4K MGM
Bond: For your Eyes Only 4K MGM
Bond: From Russia with Love 4K MGM
Bond: Goldeneye 4K MGM
Bond: Goldfinger 4K MGM
Bond: License to Kill 4K MGM
Bond: Live and Let Die 4K MGM
Bond: Moonraker 4K MGM
Bond: Octopussy 4K MGM
Bond: On her Majesty’s Secret Service 4K MGM
Bond: Quantum of Solace 4K MGM
Bond: Skyfall 4K MGM
Bond: Spectre 4K MGM
Bond: The Living Daylights 4K MGM
Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun 4K MGM
Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me 4K MGM
Bond: The World is not Enough 4K MGM
Bond: Thunderball 4K MGM
Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies 4K MGM
Bond: You Only Live Twice 4K MGM
Bram Stoker’s Dracula HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Brawl in a Cell Block 4K RLJ Entertaiment
Brooklyn HDR: HDR10 Fox Searchlight
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid 4K 20th Century Fox
Carry on 4K Shorts
Central Intelligence HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
Chappie HDR: Dolby Vision Alpha Core
Chips HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Collateral Beauty HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
Concussion HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Creed HDR: Dolby Vision MGM
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
DCU: Batman And Harley Quinn HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Daddy’s Home 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Deadpool HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Deepwater Horizon HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
Deliver Us from Evil 4K Screen Gems
Despicable Me HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Despicable Me 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Despicable Me 3 HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Detroit HDR: HDR10 Annapurna
Die Hard 4K 20th Century Fox
District 9 HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Dracula Untold HDR: HDR10 Universal
Dunkirk HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial HDR: HDR10 Universal
Earth: One Amazing Day HDR: Dolby Vision BBC Earth Films
Eddie The Eagle HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Edward Scissorhands 4K 20th Century Fox
Elysium HDR: Dolby Vision MRC II Distribution
Entourage The Movie HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Espionage Tonight 4K O.S.S.
Everest HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Evil Dead 4K Evil Dead
Ex Machina HDR: HDR10 A24
Exodus: Gods and Kings HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Fantastic Four (2015) HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Fast and Furious 6 HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Fast and Furious 6 (Extended) HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Fences HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Fifty Shades Darker HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Fifty Shades of Gray HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Finding Kim 4K Random Media
Flatliners HDR: Dolby Vision Cross Creek Pictures
Focus HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Furious 7 HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Furious 7 (Extended) HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Fury HDR: Dolby Vision Norman Productions
Geostorm HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Get Hard HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Get Out HDR: HDR10 Universal
Ghost In The Shell HDR: Dolby vision Paramount
Ghostbusters (2016) HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Ghostbusters (original) HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Ghostbusters II HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Gone Girl 4K 20th Century Fox
Goodbye Christopher Robin 4K Fox Searchlight
Goodfellas HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Goosebumps HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Hacksaw Ridge HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
Happy Death Day HDR: HDR10 Universal
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, part 1 HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, part 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Harry Potter & the Philosophers Stone HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Heat HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Hercules 4K MGM
Hickok 4K Cinedigm
Hidden Figures HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Hitman: Agent 47 HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Home Alone 4K 20th Century Fox
Hotel Transylvania 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
How To Be Single HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
How the Grinch Stole Christmas HDR: HDR10 Universal
I Am Legend HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Ice Age: Collision Course HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
If I Stay HDR: Dolby Vision MGM
In The Heart Of The Sea HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Inception HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Independence Day HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Independence Day: Resurgence HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Inferno HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Interstellar HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Into The Storm (2014) HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
It (2017) HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Jackie 4K Fox Searchlight
Jason Bourne HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Jeepers Creepers 3 4K Infinity Films
Jigsaw HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
Jingle all the Way 4K 20th Century Fox
John Wick HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
John Wick: Chapter 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
Joy HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Jumanji HDR: Dolby Vision Big Board Prods
Jupiter Ascending HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Justice League HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Keanu HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
Keeping Up With Joneses HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Killer Christmas 4K Shaker Productions
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
King Kong (2005 Extended) HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
King Kong (2005) HDR: HDR10 Universal
Kingsman: The Golden Circle HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Kingsman: The Secret Service HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Kong: Skull Island HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Kygo: Live at the Hollywood Bowl 4K Ultra Music
La La Land HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
Labyrinth HDR: Dolby Vision Labyrinth Enterprises
Let’s Be Cops 4K 20th Century Fox
Life HDR: Dolby Vision Skydance
Life of Pi HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Lights Out HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Live Die Repeat: Edge Of Tomorrow 4K+ Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Live by Night HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Logan HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Logan Lucky HDR: HDR10 Bleeker Street
Lone Survivor HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Loving Vincent 4K Cinedigm
Lucy HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Mad Max: Fury Road HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Magic Mike XXL HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Man of Steel HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Mayhem 4K RLJ Entertainment
Maze Runner HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Me & Earl & the Dying Girl HDR: HDR10 Fox Searchlight
Me Before You HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Minions HDR: HDR10 Universal
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Monster Trucks HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Moonlight HDR: HDR10 A24
Morgan HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Mother! HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Moto 6: The Movie 4K The Assignment Inc
Moto 7: The Movie 4K The Assignment Inc
Moto 8: The Movie 4K The Assignment Inc
Moto 9: The Movie 4K The Assignment Inc
Mrs. Doubtfire 4K 20th Century Fox
Murder on the Orient Express 4K 20th Century Fox
Nervous Laughter 4K Take Shelter Productions
Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb 4K 20th Century Fox
Not2Bad 4K Anthill Films
Numinous 4K Dendrite Studios
Oblivion HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Office Christmas Party HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Office Space 4K 20th Century Fox
On Any Sunday, The Next Chapter 4K Red Bull Media
On the Pipe 7: The Last Hit 4K Powerband Films
Our Brand Is Crisis HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Pacific Rim HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Pan HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Paper Towns HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Paradigm Lost 4K The Orchard
Passenger 4K Legs of Steel
Passengers HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Patchwork 4K The Orchard
Philadelphia 4K Sony Pictures
Pleasure 4K Level 1 Productions
Point Break (2015) HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Poltergeist (2015) HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Predator 4K 20th Century Fox
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies HDR: Dolby Vision Screen Gems
Prime Wake Movie 4K BFY Productions
Prometheus HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Resident Evil HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Resident Evil: Afterlife HDR: Dolby Vision Constantin
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter HDR: Dolby Vision Screen Gems
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Rogue Elements 4K Teton Gravity Research
Roman J. Isreal, Esq HDR: Dolby Vision Bron Studios
Rough Night HDR: Dolby Vision Paulilu
Ruin and Rose 4K Matchstick Productions
Run All Night HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Run Away with Me 4K Random Media
Saban’s Power Rangers HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
Same Difference 4K Legs of Steel
San Andreas HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
Sausage Party HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Say Anything 4K 20th Century Fox
Shades of Winter: Between 4K Sandra Lahnsteiner
Sherlock Holmes HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Shredtopia 4K The Orchard
Sing HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Skyline 4K Vertical
Smurfs: The Lost Village HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Snatched HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Snow White and the Huntsman HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
Snowsurf 4K My House Pictures
Song to Song 4K Broad Green Pictures
Spider-Man HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Spider-Man 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Spider-Man 3 HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Spider-Man: Homecoming HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
Split HDR: HDR10 Universal
Spy HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Star Trek HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Star Trek Beyond HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Star Trek II: The Watch of Khan HDR: HDR10 Paramount
Star Trek Into Darkness HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Starship Troopers (1998) HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Storks HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Sucker Punch (Extended 2011) HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Suicide Squad HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Sully HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Super Dark Times 4K The Orchard
Surburbicon HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
T2: Trainspotting HDR: Dolby Vision Cloud Eight
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: OotS HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Terminator 2: Judgment Day HDR: HDR10 Lionsgate
Terminator Genisys HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Thank You For Your Service HDR: HDR10 Universal
The 5th Wave HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
The Accountant HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Amazing Spider-Man HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
The Angry Birds Movie HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
The Birth of a Nation HDR: HDR10 Fox Searchlight
The Bourne Identity HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
The Bourne Legacy HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Bourne Supremacy HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
The Bourne Ultimatum HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
The Bridge on the River Kwai HDR: Dolby Vision Horizon Pictures
The Conjuring HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
The Da Vinci Code HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
The Dark Knight HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Dark Knight Rises HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Dark Towner HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) 4K 20th Century Fox
The Dressmaker 4K Amazon Studios
The Emoji Movie HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
The Fate Of The Furious HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
The Fault In Our Stars 4K 20th Century Fox
The Fifth Element HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
The Flat Earth 4K Ghost Digital Cinema
The Gallows HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Girl on the Train HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
The Great Gatsby HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Great Wall HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
The Hangover HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Hangover Part 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Hitman’s Bodyguard HDR: Dolby Vision Summit Entertainment
The Holiday 4K Sony Pictures
The House HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
The Hunger Games HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, part 1 HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, part 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
The Huntsman: Winter’s War HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Huntsman: Winter’s War (Extended) HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Intern HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The LEGO Batman Movie HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The LEGO Movie HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The LEGO Ninjago Movie HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Legend of Tarzan HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Longest Ride HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
The Lost City of Z 4K Amazon Studios
The Magnificent Seven HDR: Dolby Vision MGM
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Martian HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
The Mummy (1999) HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Mummy (2017) HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Mummy Returns HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Nice Guys HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Night Before HDR: Dolby Vision Good Universe
The Omen 4K 20th Century Fox
The Peanuts Movie HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
The Perfect Guy 4K Screen Gems
The Princess Pride HDR: Dolby Vision MGM
The Professional HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
The Purge HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Purge: Anarchy HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Purge: Election Year HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Revenant HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
The Secret Life Of Pets HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Shallows HDR: Dolby Vision Columbia
The Snowman HDR: HDR10 Universal
The Star HDR: Dolby Vision Affirm Films
The Town HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
The Tragically Hip: Long Time Running 4K Elevation Pictures
Transformers HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Transformers: Age of Extinction HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Transformers: Dark of the Moon HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Transformers: The Last Knight HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
TurboDojo 4K Absinthe Films
Underworld Blood Wars HDR: Dolby Vision Screen Gems
Underworld: Evolution HDR: Dolby Vision Sony Pictures
Unforgiven HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
Vacation HDR: Dolby Vision Newline
Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets HDR: Dolby Vision EuropaCorp
Valhalla 4K Sweetgrass Productions
Van Helsing HDR: HDR10 Universal
Victor Frankenstein HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Victoria and Abdul HDR: HDR10 Universal
Wall Street (1987) 4K 20th Century Fox
War Dogs HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
War for the Planet of the Apes HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Warcraft HDR: Dolby Vision Universal
We Are Your Friends HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
We are Blood: Bonus Edit 4K The Orchard
When the Bough Breaks HDR: Dolby Vision Screen Gems
Why Him? HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
Wild (2014) HDR: HDR10 Fox Searchlight
Wolf Warrior 2 HDR: Dolby Vision Well Go USA
Wonder HDR: Dolby Vision Lionsgate
Wonder Woman HDR: Dolby Vision Warner Bros
X2: X-Men United 4K 20th Century Fox
X-Men: Apocalypse HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
X-Men: Days of Future Past HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
X-Men: Days of Future Past (Rogue Cut) HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
X-Men: First Class HDR: HDR10 20th Century Fox
unReal 4K Teton Gravity Research
xXx: Return of Xander Cage HDR: Dolby Vision Paramount
Story by 4k.com

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Ranked: Your Guide To The Best And Worst OLED 4K HDR TVs Out There

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Stephan Jukic – February 10, 2018

OLED 4K TVs are consistently ranked as some of the best televisions in existence today. This is a point of view that we ourselves have taken after comparing overall performance in numerous 4K TVs for several years and it’s a point of view shared by many other professional and consumer TV reviewers. There’s simply no denying their excellent quality almost across the board and the fact that they outperform LCD 4K TVs in most ways (at least for now).

Also Read: How This New TV display technology could completely revolutionize televisions

Do OLED 4K televisions have their issues? Sure they do. No piece of technology is completely perfect, but in terms of specific raw performance metrics for handling motion, displaying content and satisfying consumers, just about nothing beats OLED flat out. Moreover, with the fairly recent establishment of high dynamic range in TV displays, OLED displays have been the ones to offer the single best rendering of HDR that we’ve ever seen.

They may not do this in the form of extreme peak brightness like that offered by some LCD TVs but their capacity to render perfect, total black levels makes them unbeatable at insanely good contrast. This contrast in turn creates an impression of much more vibrant colors and a perception of brighter highlights in viewers eyes. More interestingly still, the newest OLED 4K HDR TVs from LG now deliver peak luminosity that’s equal to that offered by most of today’s premium LCD TVs and even superior to the brightness levels that all mid-range 4K LCD HDR televisions can produce. So as you can see, OLED is king so far and it just keeps getting better.

All of that said, Among the different LG and Sony OLED TVs on the market today (we’re focusing here on the U.S market where virtually all sets are made by LG or Sony but using LG display panels) not everything is equal. Some models offer better value than others and for this reason, it’s worth seeing which you should get, especially if you want to save some money. Even if your budget is a “sky’s the limit” sort of affair, the following rankings are seriously worth reading because in them we explain a little known but crucial secret about the OLED television models you can find on sale today that’s worth paying attention to, especially if you don’t want to spend money you don’t need to for things you might not want.

First A little secret about Today’s OLED HDR 4K Televisions

Here’s the deal about all the OLED models offered by LG and Sony right now on the TV market (we’re including the 2018 models in this but we’re guessing that the same thing is going to apply to them too): Quite simply, for all the OLED’s produced in 2017 and for early 2018, picture performance is virtually identical across the board. LG’s flagship W7 OLED is insanely expensive while the brand’s B7 OLED costs almost as little as some mid-range LCD 4K HDR televisions but believe it or not, in terms of pure picture performance metrics like color delivery, contrast, motion handling and nearly anything else, they perform virtually 100% identically. In fact, the B7 is, oddly enough capable of slightly better peak brightness than the W7 or the also insanely pricey G7 model right below it.

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If we also factor in Sony’s A1E OLED 4K HDR TV, the same identical performance applies as well. Sony uses LG technology in its own OLED TV so we’d hardly expect it to be dramatically different but the internal picture processing engine and other aspects of the TV are all purely Sony components, so you’d expect at least some display performance difference. In comparative reviews between the A1E and similar LG models, we barely noticed any however.

Now of course, there are 77 inch W7 and G7 models while the B7 and C7 only go up to 65 inches and yes, the W7 is designed spectacularly in terms of sheer physical beauty and uniqueness. Furthermore, higher end LG OLED models come with additional speaker power and slightly more robust audio support. But if all you really care about is screen quality for your movies or TV shows, either one will perform the same. Furthermore, for the audio power aspect, you can always get yourself an external sound system anyhow, and it will pretty much equalize all of these TVs on audio performance.

This extremely high level of sameness among all of the LG OLED TVs is first of all rather unique among 4K TVs, because it’s something you don’t see in LCD 4K televisions. The differences in picture quality between one of Samsung or Sony’s mid-range LCD televisions and their premium LCD models are massive and visibly noticeable. They don’t only appear under precision calibrated testing. With the LG OLED’s the naked eye almost can’t tell between the screen performance of a $10,000 OLED 2017 model and a $2,000 OLED 2017 model. These differences are also extremely important when it comes to ranking these TVs for their value to you as a consumer. This little secret about the OLEDs plays a key role in the sequence of the rankings below and it’s worth bearing in mind if you decide to get any 2017 OLED 4K HDR TV.

We should also note here that the exact same thing applies to the 2016 OLED 4K HDR TVs from LG. They’re notably weaker performers than the 2017 OLED editions (mainly in how bright they get and how high their HDR DCI-P3 color gamut coverage is) but among themselves, all of the 2016 TVs follow the same tendency we just described.

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With the above in mind, here are our rankings of the best OLED 4K HDR TVs available right now. These don’t factor in LG or Sony’s 2018 models since none of them are available quite yet.

The OLED 4K TV Rankings, from best to worst
1. LG C7 OLED 4K HDR TV (Click here to read our in-depth review)

Taking the top spot as the single best OLED TV deal of 2017 and into the beginnings of 2018, we have the C7. This is LG’s best overall value per dollar and one fantastic performer. It’s limitations are that it doesn’t support as powerful an audio capability as its pricier cousins and that it doesn’t come with a truly unique physical design like the G7, W7 and E7 OLEDs above it but this last is purely an aesthetic factor. The C7 is still beautiful and most importantly, its display delivers as fine a picture as that of the LG flagship W7 or Sony’s also expensive A1E OLED TV and gets just as bright as either of these models. The C7 also handles motion almost perfectly while being a fantastic HDR TV.

We should note that this model maxes out at 65 inches, so if you want a larger 77 inch OLED TV then yes, you’ll have to spend some more money on something like the G7 if you still want to capture some savings on a 77 inch model.

LG-C7-Front

Check the LG OLED C7 4K ultra HD HDR Smart TV on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

2. LG E7 OLED 4K HDR TV (Click here to read our in-depth review)

LG’s E7 is by far the best deal among the company’s (or Sony’s) ultra-premium OLED models. While all OLED TVs could technically be considered premium 4K Televisions, the C7 and B7 are considered “budget” editions due to their ordinary 4K TV build. Not so for the E7. This is a picture-on-glass model with superb audio specs and one very striking physical appearance. More importantly, it’s the most affordable of the picture-on-glass OLED editions. This model performs the same as the C7 on all picture performance and motion handling specs but offers better audio specs. Prices for 55 and 65 inch E7 televisions have gone down a lot in recent months, so this is one of your best times so far to get one at a discount.

lg-e7-oled-tv-2017-ces-01

3. LG B7 OLED 4K HDR TV (Click here to read our in-depth review)

LG’s B7 is by far and away the company’s cheapest 2017 OLED television. This makes it all the more valuable since it delivers as good a picture as the C7 and the LG E7, and also comes in the same possible dimensions, 55 and 65 inches. The two things this particular model lacks are dolby Atmos audio support (though it does support Dolby Atmos passthrough), which the C7 does have and a particularly powerful native speaker. The Dolby issue is a slight problem but since the TV supports passthrough of the advanced audio format, buying an external speaker system with Dolby Atmos capability fixes both the problem of this TVs native sound and its absence of Dolby.

In terms of display specs, the B7 is virtually indistinguishable from the C7. And most interestingly of all, in testing of this model, we noted that it actually delivers the highest peak display brightness of all LG OLED TVs to-date. This technically makes it the best HDR performer of the bunch. LG’s G7 and W7 flagship TVs do support slightly better wide color gamut coverage but the difference is almost unnoticeable to the naked eye.

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4. Sony A1E OLED 4K HDR TV (Click here to read our in-depth review)

Sony’s A1E is a beautiful and powerful piece of home theater technology, with a 65 inch and a 77 inch model it’s expensive but does deliver a unique design and some of the most uniquely powerful audio performance we’ve ever seen. This TV’s speakers are inside the screen itself, creating a precision of sound delivery that’s wonderful. On the other hand, the A1E performs no better than the C7 or B7 TVs on any important metric of picture performance and costs a solid 25% more than the C7 does. We recommend its 77 inch version as the most affordable 2017 77 inch OLED TV you can find (affordable in a very loose sense of the word) but if you just want OLED, HDR and 4K resolution, and are fine with a 65 inch display, we’d definitely suggest one of LG’s two “budget” OLEDs over this model.

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5. LG W7 OLED 4K HDR TV (Click here to read our in-depth review)

LG’s W7 is the company’s single most expensive OLED television, by far. However, in exchange for this it delivers a physical design that’s unlike those of any other TV in existence on the consumer market at the time of this posting. The W7 consists of a single flexible and extremely thin sheet of display glass with an OLED panel built into it and a single cord running from this down to a combination soundbar/TV processing engine/connectivity device. In other words, it can only be mounted to flat vertical surfaces with the external bar being sustained beneath it. Some consumers might not like this but the W7 is without a doubt absolutely striking. That soundbar also happens to offer the best audio quality we’ve seen so far in any OLED TV.

On the other hand, the W7 is ridiculously expensive and unless you need to have a 77 inch OLED or absolutely want a TV that looks nothing like any other, we simply don’t recommend it. The price you pay for this model is absurd and in no way compensates for its physical attributes. In terms of important stuff like picture performance in every regard, the W7 does no better than the B7, which costs several times less than this flagship OLED TV.

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6. LG G7 OLED 4K HDR TV (Click here to read our in-depth review)

The LG G7 is the successor to what was the 2016 flagship OLED TV from LG, the G6. It looks almost identical to it and comes with a picture-on-glass design that very similar to that of the E7 but with a thinner display panel and a wide base. Basically, the TV looks more elegant than its cheaper picture-on-glass E7 cousin. That said, the G7 is priced too highly and offers no special benefit or unique features in exchange for its cost. In our books, it’s the least recommendable premium OLED TV of 2017 or 2018 and if you want to spend this much, just go for the W7 and really impress your friends when they come over.

LG G7 OLED 4K TV

Story by 4k.com

The post Ranked: Your Guide To The Best And Worst OLED 4K HDR TVs Out There appeared first on .

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

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Stephan Jukic – May 22, 2018

Overview

After a 2017 lineup of 4K HDR TVs that were good to great pretty much across the board, Sony has shown that it can keep things just as good or even better in some ways for 2018, at least with what we’ve seen from the excellent X900F 4K HDR LCD TV that we’re reviewing here. Released in early 2018, this model is sort of a successor to the 2017 X900E but with some notable differences and certain improvements in overall performance. In a very general sense we can say concretely that the X900E is excellent or at least very good pretty much across the board even if you’re used to seeing premium 4K TVs in action. For anyone who’s never before owned an ultra HD HDR television, this, TV will seem downright awesome.

Now let’s get down to the specific things we liked, and disliked, most about this particular Sony model.

Sony-X900F-and-X850F-TVs

Check the Sony XBRX900F 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Positives

  • Good value for its price
  • Excellent overall display brightness
  • fantastic HDR content delivery
  • high quality color performance across the board
  • Great 4K TV for gaming
  • Lots of content apps and Google Play
  • Google Assistant

Negatives

  • poor viewing angles
  • Peak brightness could have been higher
  • weak native audio performance

Bottom Line

The Sony X900F is one hell of a good 4K HDR TV with a reasonably high level of value for the price its sells at. We recommend it very much.

What We Liked

Overall TV and Movie Watching Performance

The X900F delivers some superb viewing performance for a very broad variety of content, from native 4K HDR movies or shows, which let it deliver its best possible performance, to regular upscaled non-4K content display, for which it also does a great job. This model not only delivers color and contrast spectacularly in almost every sense of the word, it also manages a very high contrast ratio and some truly great local dimming for nearly any kind of content you throw at it. Furthermore, with its extremely precise and refined motion handling specs, the X900F is a fine performer when it comes to fast-paced sports, action movie or console and PC gaming requirements. In other words. Whether you want to watch movies from external media devices, streaming media apps, regular cable TV or just have fun with console and PC games, the X900F will usually deliver fine performance and sometimes rise to downright stunning performance.

Motion handling

Motion handling quality in a 4K TV is measured by how well the display deals with motion blur, motion interpolation through picture frame rate handling and how well it plays media from assorted devices with lower or higher frame rates. The X900F is a fine performer on all of these fronts and manages this for nearly any kind of content from any content source. Further down in our Visual Performance Specs section (below General TV Specs) we go into the details of the X900F’s measurements for different motion handling metrics but sufficed to say right here that this television will give you some very smooth handling of your favorite movies, TV shows, sportscasts and other content regardless of their sources.

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HDR Delivery

High dynamic range has become one of the most important features in today’s 4K UHD TVs due to the way in which it enhances the realism and vibrancy of HDR-mastered content. For 4K video sources, that HDR mastering has become practically universal at this point and the best possible home theater experience you can get your hands on comes from ultra HD HDR video or games. With this in mind, a 4K TV that supports different high dynamic range standards support for color and contrast is becoming an increasingly essential part of really having your home theater up to date.

Fortunately, the X900F has no problem on this front. This TV offers spectacular color quality for both high dynamic range color delivery and for ordinary SDR color (delivering it very precisely), and because this television comes with some excellent local dimming backed by full-array LED backlighting (see below), it’s management of contrast ratios and variations is fantastic.

Here’s Why you should seriously consider buying an HDR 4K TV at this point

Local Dimming and Backlighting

Unlike all but Sony’s very priciest 2017 4K LCD televisions, the X900F comes with full array LED backlighting. This means that backlight LEDs are distributed throughout the area behind the display and as a result, they can be activated or deactivated in highly specific areas for delivery of what is called local dimming. This local dimming means a much better and darker contrast performance in the X900F and as a result, darks stay darker while bright areas are exceptionally bright. The X900F thus creates a much better viewing experience for HDR content and ordinary TV content of any kind. Local dimming is one of the most important features for delivery of both of these extremely crucial picture quality specs and the X900F is fantastic at delivering it.

Gaming Chops for consoles and PC use

The X900F is also a very good 4K TV for gaming connectivity via consoles or for use as a PC monitor. There are TVs out there that support superior levels of input lag across different resolutions, color settings an HDR adjustments. Examples of these include Samsung’s MU-Series models from 2017 and 2018, Vizio’s 4K TVs and even TCL’s excellent P or C-Series models but for most gamers and PC users, the X900F does wonderfully in these areas and offers the fantastic picture quality we described above to boot. Gaming from consoles such as the Xbox One X or from external devices of other types

Also Read:
Our review of the Samsung MU8000 4K HDR LCD TV
Our in-depth review of the Samsung Q7F 4K HDR LCD TV
Our Review of TCL’s fantastic P-Series 2017 4K LCD TV with Dolby Vision HDR

Smart TV platform and Google Assistant

On a final note regarding complex features we particularly like, the smart TV platform of Sony’s 2018 TVs is the latest version of Android TV and while it lacks a bit of the fluid, easy usability of rival smart TV platforms like WebOS from LG or the fantastic Roku TV, we still like it plenty. Android TV offers a tremendous selection of apps with many more available for download from the gigantic Google Play marketplace. All of the major streaming media apps such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Vevo, Spotify and even Sony’s own special 4K movie download service are present but most importantly of all direct access to Google Play means that you can download just about any TV-compatible app from what is one of the World’s largest app marketplaces. For this reason more than any other Android TV is a great smart interface for what is already a superb piece of hardware technology.

Furthermore, the X900F’s version of Android TV also includes the downright fantastic new Google Assistant voice command software, letting you speak to open numerous apps, check the weather, open access to connected devices and search for content across apps. Google is still refining its voice assistant technology but the version of Google Assistant in the X900F is pretty damn good already and stands out for its quality among similar technologies, which are becoming ever more popular in most of the 4K TVs of 2018.

Design

Finally, the design of the X900F is solid. This isn’t by any means the most physically beautiful 4K HDR TV we’ve seen among the 2017 or 2018 models currently filling the market but it’s well made and elegant in its own slightly utilitarian way. On the one hand, the X900F has a body that’s almost entirely plastic but despite this, it still feels very robust and its stand holds it in place firmly. The X900F is also easily mountable to a wall due to a VESA setup on the back of the television. We should also note that the X900F’s display space is very nicely spread across the front of the TV, with only extremely thin 0.35 inch borders all around. Another thing we like is that Sony never fell victim to the functionally pointless craze for curved TV displays, allowing the X900F to stay flat and thus deliver optimal viewing performance.

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

On the other hand, due to its full array LED backlighting array, the X900F is quite a thick TV, so you can forget about the ultra-thin aesthetics that you’d see in some edge-lit Sony or Samsung models or anything in an OLED 4K TV. This isn’t a problem in our book however even if it does mean a bit of extra body weight for this model. Full-array LED backlighting is definitely worth a couple extra inches of TV volume due to the sheer picture quality improvements it also delivers.

As for the remote control of the X900F, it’s robust, highly functional and loaded with buttons. So while it doesn’t have the fancy look of many smart remotes such as those you’d find in one of Samsung’s 4K TVs, the X900F remote delivers everything you need for all TV controls and is tough enough to handle being sat on or dropped.

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

What We Didn’t Like

Very little can be called bad in any way about the Sony X900F in any of its different models. This 4K TV even comes with a fairly reasonable price for the quality you’re going to get with it. Right off the bat we essentially need to clarify that by conventional television standards, this model is excellent almost across the board, and will especially seem so to anyone who doesn’t have previous experience with premium 4K HDR TVs. With that said, take the following criticisms with a grain of salt. They are stated in terms relative to the best in 4K TV’s we’ve seen, not as outright deal-breaker bad aspects of the X900F.

Peak Brightness Issues

The single most notable complaint we could claim to have with the X900F, and even this if we stretch our definition of a defect, is that it delivers surprisingly inferior peak brightness to that of some 2017 Sony and Samsung premium HDR 4K TVs which don’t even offer full-array LED backlighting. Make no mistake about it, the X900F offers one hell of a bright display, especially when offering HDR content highlights and peak brightness over smaller areas of the screen but it doesn’t come close to matching Samsung’s best 2017 models or even Sony’s own almost identically priced X930E model from last year. The funny thing on this is that both of these alternative models come with edge-lit displays and thus you’d expect the X900F to beat them on maximum brightness. It doesn’t, though it does offer superior local dimming, and this is a good tradeoff to have.

Also Read:
Our Review of the still fantastic 2017 Sony X930E 4K HDR TV
Our Review of Samsung’s Excellent Q9F LCD HDR 4K TV from 2017

Viewing Angles

The X900F comes with a type of display panel that uses what is called Vertical Alignment pixel layout technology. This essentially means that the onscreen pixels are aligned vertically and take up a narrower space from top to bottom. On the one hand, this design aspect means incredibly good contrast ratios and black levels (especially when combined with this TV’s local dimming capacity) but on the other hand, it also means that off-center viewing quality deteriorates rapidly after about 20 degrees to either side. The X900F will always deliver its best performance if watched from dead in front of the television.

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

Audio Weakness

Finally, we can’t say we love the native audio system of the X900F. It’s below average in its overall performance and that’s a bit disappointing to see in a premium TV like this from a company that we know to be capable of doing better (The Sony OLED TVs for 2017 and 2018 being an example of some very clever TV audio innovation). This isn’t to say that the X900F offers crappy audio, because it doesn’t but even a low-priced external speaker system or sound bar will improve this part of the TV’s performance enormously.

Value vs. Price & Bottom Line

In terms of value delivered per dollar spent, the X900F is one of Sony’s single best values for 2018. We said the same for last year’s excellent X900E 4K HDR model and Sony has managed to kick that trait into the X900F as well. This television is slightly pricier than the X900E was in 2017 and it costs about the same as the X930E still does but for that you get a notably better level of performance in certain key regards. The X900F is definitely a better value than any of Samsung’s ultra-premium 4K HDR LCD models. It offers nearly identical performance but costs a good chunk of change less.

Our bottom line for the X900F is that we highly recommend it for anyone looking to buy a premium 2018 ultra HD TV with the best in HDR specs from a name brand. Sony technology fans should particularly love this model.

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

 

Check the Sony XBRX900F 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Key X900F TV Specs

  • Screen sizes: 49 in XBR49X900F, 55 in XBR55X900F, 65 in XBR65X900F, 75 in XBR75X900F, 85 in XBR85X900F (TV being reviewed is 55 inches)
  • Smart TV: Android TV with Google Assistant voice assist
  • HEVC (H.265) Included: Yes
  • VP9 Included. Yes
  • HD to UHD upscaling: Yes
  • HDCP 2.2 Compliance: Yes
  • HDR Support: Yes, HDR10, Dolby Vision (coming in 2018 update), Hybrid Log Gamma
  • Refresh Rate: 120Hz native refresh rate
  • Screen Lighting: full-array LED backlighting with local dimming
  • Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160 pixels UHD
  • Wireless Connectivity: Yes, includes both built-in WiFi and Ethernet port
  • Remotes: Sony smart remote and Sony remote app for iOS, Android
  • Connectivity: 4 HDMI (all of them 2.0a and HDCP 2.2) ports, 3 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, 1 Digital Audio Out, all located in eternal One Connect box
  • Sound: 40W (WF: 20W) with ULTRA surround
  • Contrast Ratio: 5802:1 (native, real contrast with local dimming activated), 5092:1 without local dimming
  • Peak Brightness: 987 nits (cd/m2)
  • 3D Technology: N/A
  • TV dimensions without stand: (55 inch model): 48 3/8 x 27 7/8 x 2 3/4 in (1228 x 706 x 69 mm)
  • Dimensions with stand: 48 3/8 x 30 3/8 x 10 5/8 in (1228 x 771 x 268 mm)
  • TV weight (55 inch model): 42.1 lbs with Stand, 40.1 lbs without stand
  • Processor: 4K X-Reality™ PRO Dual database processing

Sony X900F Display Performance Metrics

The following are the several categories of key display metrics for picture performance in the Sony X900F HDR TV. They may vary slightly from unit to unit so they should not be taken as absolutes. However, they should maintain a generally high level of similarity in all units that makes them good enough to be reliable indicators of quality. Different sizes of TV display can change some of these metrics slightly (for example, larger edge-lit 4K TVs tend to have weaker local dimming and peak brightness) and though the X900F maintains identical display specs in all of its sizes, some TV models come with display panel variations for certain specific sizes.

The following metrics of display performance for contrast, black level, color performance, brightness and motion handling (all of which are the most important aspects of display performance) essentially bear out what we said above about the X900F: That this is one tremendously good LCD 4K HDR TV with some genuinely great performance almost across the board. The X900F is not perfect and in a couple of minor details it underperforms what we expected of it but overall, it definitely lives up to its categorization as a premium 4K TV; even though there are cheaper models available on the market with the same HDR support levels and color capabilities, the X900F still outperforms most televsions on metrics such as peak brightness and local dimming quality.

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

Check the Sony XBRX900F 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Black Level, Local Dimming and Contrast:

Black levels, local dimming and contrast are all entwined together in any 4K TV and thus deserve being covered together. A 4K display’s contrast ratio is affected by how dark the screen can be made and this maximum black level is in turn affected by the presence and quality of local dimming technology. For those of you who don’t clearly know how local dimming works, it’s basically a method by which the LEDs behind an LCD 4K TV display actually turn off in specific patterns to minimize how much light leaks through into the blacks that the screen is supposed to display. Not all TVs have local dimming though and in cheaper models, the LED backlight is always on, with blacks being created by light barriers inside the pixels on the screen itself. The X900F does indeed have local dimming and because it’s a full-array LED TV, the precision with which LEDs behind the display can be deactivated is very high.

As a result of this high quality local dimming, the black level of the X900F is capable of extremely high levels of darkness, reaching into the range of 0.002 nits (well within HDR10 requirements for ideal black levels) and contrast can also be very high, reaching 5090:1 without local dimming activated and 5802:1 when local dimming is on and doing its job for shadowy areas of the screen.

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

Black uniformity in the X900F is not perfect but it is generally very good. There is some clouding that you might notice if seeing a large area of the screen in uniform black but most of this goes away if local dimming is kept on. On the other hand, the presence of local dimming does create a bit of a hallow effect around black objects in a dark background, but we’re talking about some very minimal levels of these sorts of defects.

Brightness:

Peak brightness is the maximum possible spot HDR or SDR luminosity of a 4K TV display or a section of it as measured in units of brightness called nits (or cd/m2, which is the same thing) under different conditions. Sustained brightness is the highest possible sustained HDR or SDR brightness that the TV screen can manage over different conditions or areas of illuminated display.

In terms of both peak brightness and sustained brightness the X900F is a great performer. Its maximum absolute levels of peak brightness over small areas of the screen during HDR content reproduction (which is when HDR 4K TVs tend to work at a higher level of luminosity) aren’t quite as high as those we’ve seen in some other ultra-premium 4K HDR LCD TVs such as Samsung’s Q9F or Sony’s own X940E from last year but where the X900F really does deliver stunning results is in terms of peak brightness over a larger percentage of its display and during the delivery of sustained screen brightness across most of its screen during reproduction of both SDR and HDR content. For this reason more than any other, the X900F is a great 4K TV for viewing even in brightly lit rooms and we note that it offers some of the best overall SDR brightness metrics we’ve ever seen in 4K LCD TVs.

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

SDR Brightness

  • Overall SDR peak brightness for normal content: 643 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display SDR brightness: 733 nits
  • Peak 10% display area SDR brightness: 961 nits
  • Peak 100% display area SDR brightness: 629 nits
  • Sustained 10% SDR brightness: 940 nits
  • Sustained 100% SDR brightness: 631 nits

HDR Brightness

  • Overall HDR peak brightness for normal content: 898 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display HDR brightness: 832 nits
  • Peak 10% display area HDR brightness: 990 nits
  • Peak 100% display area HDR brightness: 654 nits
  • Sustained 10% HDR brightness: 969 nits
  • Sustained 100% HDR brightness: 647 nits

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Color Delivery:

The color delivery that the X900F can manage is downright great. We’ve seen better in some of Samsung’s 2017 4K HDR TVs that we’ve reviewed so far but we’re still more than impressed with the sorts of HDR and SDR color metrics that this model is capable of. For HDR content in particular, you can look forward to some excellent vibrancy and realism, with 10-bit color support smoothly blending color tones and values for onscreen content. Furthermore, support for DCI-P3 wide color gamut coverage is good, meaning that the total color space delivered by the X900F is very broad. The overall effect of both these HDR features is a rich, realistic and deeply virbrant capacity to render colors in the X900F’s screen.

Also Read: Our complete guide to 4K TV HDR color: Everything you need to know in one post

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

More specifically, this 4K TV manages to deliver a solid 93.7% of the DCI-P3 wide color gamut space (we’ve seen some Samsung 4K TVs’ go as high as 98% but the visible difference is pretty small between these two figures). The X900F also delivers great overall (for both regular and HDR content) color volume, great shadow quality and fine definition of detail in shadowy areas of the screen. The color volume capacity of this model is also very good, with the X900F’s wide color gamut capabilities letting it show even darker colors and color in shadowy content with high saturation.

Gaming and Motion Handling:

The overall performance of the X900F in terms of motion handling is simply superb. This TV delivers content with extremely low motion blur and this applies even for fast-paced content from a multitude of sources in both native 4K and upscaled resolutions. Furthermore, it can play back 24p video sources from both native apps and external media devices or cable TV judder-free. Finally, in terms of motion interpolation delivery, it’s a robust performer, with its native 120Hz panel handling low frame rate movement smoothly and with minimal soap opera effect if the settings are adjusted correctly.

The Sony X900F is furthermore one very good TV for gamers who want to hit 4K and HDR notes with their console gaming if they have the right kind of accessory technology. We’ve seen better performance on this front from most of Samsung’s 4K TVs and, surprisingly, even their cheapest models as well as those of Vizio or TCL but the X900F still performs really well on the whole and with the spectacular benefit of its HDR chops to boost things further. The following are the specific specs for its gaming chops in different console setups:

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

  • 4k @ 60Hz: 24.1 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz: 40 ms
  • 1080p @ 120Hz: 13 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz + HDR: 24.3 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz + HDR: 41 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode : 104 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4: 24.3 ms
  • 4K @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 + 8 bit HDR: 24.1 ms
  • 4K with interpolation activated: 81.1 ms (leave the interpolation off)

We should also note that Sony has built the X900F with some great functionality and compatibility with PC hardware for use as a giant sort of PC monitor. This TV offers up full 4:4:4 chroma subsampling support and 1080p @ 120 Hz support when coupled with PC rigs. Other supported resolutions include those mentioned above in our input lag listings.

Also Read:
Our In-depth review of the Xbox One X super console
Our detailed review of Microsoft’s Xbox One S HDR console
Our in-depth review of Samsung’s very console gamer-friendly MU7000 4K HDR TV

Connectivity

The Sony X900F, like all of Sony’s newer 4K TVs, offers up a full package of today’s now standard and essential advanced connectivity specs. For connecting it to pretty much any external media device in the most useful possible ways, no user should have any problems with this model. In other words, it comes equipped with multiple HDMI, USB ports and other crucial connectivity slots. The television however lacks full HDMI 2.0 HDR supported bandwidth in all four HDMI ports. Instead only ports 2 and 3 offer this.  The following are its ports and their specifications:

  • HDMI : 4 (2 and 3 come with HDCP 2.2 and full HDMI 2.0a capacity)
  • USB : 3 (USB 3.0)
  • Digital Optical Audio Out : 1
  • Analog Audio Out 3.5 mm : 1
  • Tuner (Cable/Ant) : 1
  • Ethernet : 1
  • HDR10 support: Yes
  • Hybrid Log Gamma HDR support: Yes
  • Dolby Vision HDR: No but coming later in 2018 firmware update

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

The Sony XBR-X900F TV models also offer audio connectivity in the following types.

  • 1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough ARC DTS
  • 1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough Optical DTS
Sony X900F Pricing

The Sony XBR-X900F’s several different size ranges are selling for the following prices found in the links below at the time of this writing. Bear in mind that these are subject to sometimes frequent downward change and it’s a good idea to click the following Amazon links for real-time pricing and all available discounts on this model.

Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F)

Check the Sony XBRX900F 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Check 49 Inch XBR49X900F Price

Check 55 Inch XBR55X900F Price

Check 65 inch XBR65X900F Price

Check 75 inch XBR75X900F Price

Check 85 inch XBR85X900F Price

 

Story by 4k.com

The post Sony XBR-X900F 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (XBR49X900F, XBR55X900F, XBR65X900F, XBR75X900F, XBR85X900F) appeared first on .

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

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Stephan Jukic – June 4, 2018

Overview

OLED oh OLED, the technology that builds some of today’s absolute highest performing 4K HDR TVs has found a comfortable home in Sony’s lineup of televisions and with the 2018 release of the A8F, successor to Sony’s mostly fantastic 2017 A1E, we can see that this company has decided on keeping OLED 4K displays around. We’re glad to see that because the A8F definitely delivers the goods on sheer quality and we’d go so far as to say that it’s a better performer than last year’s Sony OLED model was, in some ways by a major margin.

This isn’t to say that Sony’s A8F doesn’t have its issues, because it does, in terms of both price and minor issues with burn-in, but on the whole, this might just be the single best 4K HDR television that Sony creates in 2018.

Also Read. Our comprehensive rankings of the best 4K TVs of 2018 for all budgets

Positives

  • Excellent motion handling
  • Fine HDR and SDR color delivery
  • Perfect OLED contrast and dimming
  • Solid 4K TV for gamers and PC use
  • Very good OLED-delivered viewing angles
  • Fantastically bright for an OLED TV

Negatives

  • Some possible problems with burn-in
  • Expensive
  • LG alternatives cost a bit less

 

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

Bottom Line

In terms of raw display performance, we can’t recommend the Sony A8F enough. However, this is one expensive Sony television, even by OLED 4K HDR TV standards, and that is a problem for some budgets, especially since alternatives from LG exist which perform almost identically well but cost several hundred dollars less.

What We Liked

As can be expected when it comes to a review of a high-end 4K UHD OLED HDR TV like the A8F, there are plenty of things we liked a great deal about this model. This isn’t to say that the A8F isn’t without defects (no TV we’ve ever seen is perfect) but its quality traits are without a doubt numerous and several of them in particular are worth mentioning, especially for readers who aren’t familiar with what OLED TV display technology can generally do.

Some of the following qualities are ones that the A8F shares almost lock-step with its 2018 LG OLED competitors, and there are two fundamental reasons for this. First, because OLED TV displays tend to have certain absolute (and very favorable) specs that the fundamental nature of their technology produces, and second, because Sony uses LG’s own OLED panels for its A8F and 2017 A1E models. Weird as that might seem from a competitive point of view, the reasoning on LG’s part might just be that at least they win a portion of the profits no matter what in this way.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

Check the Sony XBRA8F 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Fantastic OLED contrast and black levels

One of the most fundamental characteristics of OLED display technology is the way in which it creates absolute perfect black levels when necessary. This is possible because unlike LCD/LED TV displays, those of OLED TVs are capable of turning off light completely in each individual pixel on their screens as needed for content. No backlight bleed, no halo effects around dimming zones and no washed out “blacks” to speak of for the right kinds of content. A consequence of this is that contrast ratios in OLED TVs like the A8F are basically infinite, since the black level sits at 0 nits. This also has the benefit of making what luminosity the TV puts out stand out much more sharply in both dark and well lit rooms. However, brightness isn’t a problem with the A8F due to what we cover in our next good point:

Incredible peak and sustained brightness

The Sony A8F is without a doubt the brightest OLED TV we’ve reviewed so far in 2018. Not only does it literally outshine any of LG’s 2017 4K OLED HDR TVs in terms of maximum peak brightness (particularly when set to display high dynamic range content), it also delivers superior performance in terms of sustained, broad area brightness, again particularly for HDR content but also when displaying ordinary SDR video. This by itself is impressive by the standards of OLED UHD TVs (which have been steadily getting brighter year over year), but it’s even more impressive due to the simple fact that the peak brightness this TV is capable of goes well above what even most premium LCD HDR 4K TVs can deliver. At its maximum, the A8F can shine at over 800 nits. Only a small few ultra-premium LCD HDR 4K TV models for 2017 or 2018 can pull that same feat off. That an OLED TV does this is fantastic.

Also Read.
Here’s everything you need to know about how high dynamic range, or HDR, works in 4K TVs 
Our in-depth review of Sony’s X900F 4K HDR LCD TV

These extraordinarily high levels of peak brightness further contribute to this model’s equally extraordinary contrast performance and OLED dimming capacity.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

Superb HDR color rendering

In addition to all of the superb contrast and brightness specs mentioned above, the A8F, like all OLED HDR TV’s we’ve reviewed for at least a couple years, delivers some truly fantastic color rendering. This model can create wonderfully vibrant and realistic color palettes in both SDR and HDR modes and it offers up some truly superb DCI-P3 and 10-bit color performance. In practical terms, these two last specs mean that any Dolby Vision HDR or HDR10+ HDR content you watch on this television will look downright fantastic. The deep perfect blacks and high levels of peak brightness that the A8F can also deliver only contribute to the visual perception of magnificently lively color reproduction.

Excellent motion handling

OLED TVs pretty much offer superb motion handling by default, due to the nature of their display technologies, but even this high level of performance has been tweaked for incremental improvements year over year as new OLED models emerge. The A8F embodies this beautifully, thanks to the combination of LG’s impressive display manufacturing chops and Sony’s extremely powerful picture processing engine, the 4K HDR Processor X1™ Extreme. All major metrics of motion performance, such as those for response time, flicker avoidance, motion blur levels, and motion interpolation for playback of content with different frame rates are excellent. Most importantly, because OLED TV displays like the A8F create their light and color right inside the screen’s pixels themselves, response times for changing content patterns on the screen are extremely fast. This means there’s virtually no motion blur to be seen for any type of reasonably high quality content.

The Sony A8F is in other words fantastic for fast-paced TV action of nearly any kind.

The design

We loved the A8F’s design too. This year’s Sony OLED completely abandons the highly unique form of the 2017 A1E in favor of something much more conventional but it still looks great. Though we do wish Sony had kept the in-screen sound system of the A1E for the 2018 model. That was a cool little gimmick that created some great audio realism when characters on the screen spoke. In essence, the A8F looks quite a bit like LG’s lower priced OLED TVs, in terms of its stand and overall look. The body is entirely plastic but sturdily built and nothing sits loose or feels truly weak. Furthermore, the extremely slim bezels along the display edges make for a nicely immersive viewing experience. Since this is an OLED TV, the display itself is extremely thin (since it requires no bulk for LED placement). However, the presence of the TV’s hardware along the back lower half of the display does still mean that the A8F will stick out a bit from your wall if that’s how you decide to mount it.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

Also Read:
Our review of the LG OLED C7 4K HDR TV
Our in-depth review of the awesomely designed Sony A1E OLED 4K HDR TV
Our Review of TCL’s fantastic P-Series 2017 4K LCD TV with Dolby Vision HDR

Smart TV platform and Google Assistant

On a final note regarding complex features we particularly like, the smart TV platform of Sony’s 2018 TVs is the latest version of Android TV and while it lacks a bit of the fluid, easy usability of rival smart TV platforms like WebOS from LG or the fantastic Roku TV, we still like it plenty. Android TV offers a tremendous selection of apps with many more available for download from the gigantic Google Play marketplace. All of the major streaming media apps such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Vevo, Spotify and even Sony’s own special 4K movie download service are present but most importantly of all direct access to Google Play means that you can download just about any TV-compatible app from what is one of the World’s largest app marketplaces. For this reason more than any other Android TV is a great smart interface for what is already a superb piece of hardware technology.

Furthermore, the A8F’s version of Android TV also includes the downright fantastic new Google Assistant voice command software, letting you speak to open numerous apps, check the weather, open access to connected devices and search for content across apps. Google is still refining its voice assistant technology but the version of Google Assistant in the A8F already stands out for its quality among similar technologies from rival brands like Amazon’s Alexa, which are becoming ever more popular in most of the 4K TVs of 2018.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

What We Didn’t Like

The A8F is one fantastic television but it’s also not without a flaw or two. OLED TVs are usually generally better performers than their LCD counterparts in terms of display and motion handling in particular, but they do come with their own unique issues. Here are this model’s biggest flaws, though only one of them comes close to being what we’d call a possible deal breaker.

It’s too expensive

First and foremost, the A8F is expensive for what it offers. This is the only flaw we could find for this television which might actually be something of a deal breaker for buyers who aren’t dedicated Sony fans. Yes, OLED 4K TVs do generally cost more than equally sized LCD counterparts but in this case, LG’s C8 OLED model for 2018 offers virtually identical display, motion and audio performance but costs several hundred dollars less than the A8F. This is almost inexcusable from our point of view.

Input lag for gaming

The gaming input lag settings of the A8F aren’t bad at all. For most casual gamers they’re actually perfectly good. However, if you’re one of those users who pays careful attention to shaving off every possible millisecond of input lag for your console gaming needs, the A8F is easily outperformed by numerous cheaper 4K TVs and even other premium LCD models from Sony. Almost across the board, its input lag levels are slightly higher than we’d like. Again, they’re not bad but they could be better. The Sony X900F for example, which we also reviewed recently, definitely does better on this front, so it’s a bit odd that the pricier and generally better-performing A8F wouldn’t at least perform equally.

 

Possible problems with burn-in

Burn-in is always a concern for OLED 4K TVs or OLED displays of any kind. LG has done a lot to reduce this possible problem since it started manufacturing its earliest OLED display panels for the TV market in 2014 but even now, OLED pixels remain delicate things and content that stays on the screen in a fixed spot for prolonged periods of time can indeed create a bit of a “stain” in the OLED panel itself. Since burn-in takes a while to develop in an OLED TV, it’s still a bit early to tell just how much of it the A8F will create but we’re guessing that there will be at least some for many users´ models.

Also Read:
Our Review of the still fantastic 2017 LG E7 OLED 4K HDR TV
Our in-depth review of LG’s excellent SJ8500 IPS RK LCD HDR TV
Our Review of Samsung’s Excellent Q9 LCD HDR 4K TV from 2017

Value vs. Price & Bottom Line

Sony’s XBRA8F OLED 4K HDR TV absolutely offers the sort of performance that most people will go crazy for. So for this reason, you should expect it to not be cheap. However, given the alternative options from LG’s own equally good OLED 4K HDR TVs for this year, we’d say that you’d get better value from one of them. If you want fantastic OLED quality with full HDR trimmings just like those of the A8F, the LG C8 will deliver the same specs while costing at least a couple hundred less. If however you’re insistent on Sony technology, then yes, the A8F is worth buying. It truly is a great performer.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

Check the Sony XBRA8F 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Key Sony XBRA8F TV Specs

  • Screen sizes: 55 in XBR55A8F, 65 in XBR55A8F (TV being reviewed is 55 inches)
  • Smart TV: Android TV with Google Assistant voice assist
  • HEVC (H.265) Included: Yes
  • VP9 Included. Yes
  • HD to UHD upscaling: Yes
  • HDCP 2.2 Compliance: Yes
  • HDR Support: Yes, HDR10, Hybrid Log Gamma, Dolby Vision
  • Refresh Rate: 120Hz native refresh rate
  • Screen Lighting: OLED Display
  • Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160 pixels UHD
  • Wireless Connectivity: Yes, includes both built-in WiFi and Ethernet port
  • Remotes: Sony smart remote and Sony remote app for iOS, Android
  • Connectivity: 4 HDMI (all of them 2.0a and HDCP 2.2) ports, 3 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, 1 Digital Audio Out, all located in eternal One Connect box
  • Sound: 10 W+10 W with Dolby™ Digital, Dolby™ Digital Plus, Dolby™ Pulse and DTS Surround Sound support
  • Contrast Ratio: infinite (native, real contrast)
  • Peak Brightness: 836 nits (cd/m2)
  • 3D Technology: N/A
  • Processor: 4K HDR Processor X1™ Extreme

 

Display Performance Metrics

The following are the several categories of key display metrics for picture performance in the Sony A8F HDR TV. They may vary slightly from unit to unit so they should not be taken as absolutes. However, they should maintain a generally high level of similarity in all units that makes them good enough to be reliable indicators of quality. Different sizes of TV display can change some of these metrics slightly (for example, larger edge-lit LCD 4K TVs tend to have weaker local dimming and peak brightness) and though the A8F maintains identical display specs in all of its sizes, some TV models come with specs variations for certain specific sizes.

The following metrics of display performance for contrast, black level, color performance, brightness and motion handling (all of which are the most important aspects of display performance) essentially bear out what we said above about the A8F: This model is one fantastic 4K TV in general and quite possibly the best OLED 4K HDR TV we’ve reviewed to-date (though we’re in the process of also reviewing LG’s OLED offerings for 2018, so this might change). The XBRA8F not only performs exceptionally well across the board, it also offers the best levels of display brightness we’ve ever seen in an OLED 4K TV; they even put to shame what most LCD TVs can do today.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

 

Black Level, Local Dimming and Contrast:

Black levels, local dimming and contrast are all entwined together in any 4K TV and thus deserve being covered together. However, a calrification needs to be made here. Specifically, OLED TVs don’t come with local dimming the way it works in an LCD TV. Unlike LCD TVs, in which local dimming is created by LEDs behind the screen being turned off individually or in clusters, OLED display brightness is created inside each individual pixel on the screen. In 4K TVs, this means that 8.29 million pixels can be made to shine or completely stop emitting light as needed for a virtually perfect control of dimming and brightness. This is essentially called OLED dimming and it far outdoes any local dimming technology in any LCD TV in terms of sheer precision. The A8F, as an OLED TV obviously comes with OLED dimming and yes, it’s as perfect as can be expected.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

 

Furthermore, because light in pixels can be completely shut off in this model, the TVs maximum black level can be total when needed, with no light at all coming from darkened sections of the screen. A further result of this is perfect infinite contrast ratios. All OLED TVs are capable of the above to pretty much the same degree. However what the A8F does is create a perception of even better contrast because its capacity for brightness is so damn high, as we cover in our next section.

Brightness:

Peak brightness is the maximum possible spot HDR or SDR luminosity of a 4K TV display or a section of it as measured in units of brightness called nits (or cd/m2, which is the same thing) under different conditions. Sustained brightness is the highest possible sustained HDR or SDR brightness that the TV screen can manage over different conditions or areas of illuminated display.

The A8F absolutely excels at delivering the above. OLED TVs used to be almost universally dimmer than their 4K LCD cousins but LG (the maker of this Sony model’s actual display panel) has been working to push the brightness of organic light emitting diodes up over the last few years. With the A8F they’ve succeeded to a level we’ve never seen before. This model can deliver spot levels of peak brightness that are HIGHER than those of most LCD 4K HDR TVs even, and that just makes everything else about this television’s picture performance look better. The numbers below demonstrate what we mean:

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

 

SDR Brightness

  • Overall SDR peak brightness for normal content: 324 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display SDR brightness: 441 nits
  • Peak 10% display area SDR brightness: 442 nits
  • Peak 100% display area SDR brightness: 161 nits
  • Sustained 10% SDR brightness: 349 nits
  • Sustained 100% SDR brightness: 155 nits

HDR Brightness

  • Overall HDR peak brightness for normal content: 643 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display HDR brightness: 836 nits
  • Peak 10% display area HDR brightness: 705 nits
  • Peak 100% display area HDR brightness: 186 nits
  • Sustained 10% HDR brightness: 384 nits
  • Sustained 100% HDR brightness: 180 nits

Color Delivery:

Sony’s A8F delivers some of the absolute best color performance we’ve ever seen in any 4K TV of any kind to-date. In terms of key metrics for high dynamic range color delivery, this television really knocks the ball into the outfield, with 99.30% DCI-P3 color space delivery and over 75% of the even larger and much more difficult to cover Rec 2020 space being covered. That’s downright impressive. In terms of 10-bit color support for smooth gradations between 1.07 billion colors, the A8F also performs admirably, with superb blending of values and tones. Additionally, even at very high levels of brightness or during extremely shadowy scenes, it rneders vibrant, remarkably accurate color reproduction that really makes a difference.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

 

All of these above specs make for a fantastic HDR content viewing experience (especially if you use the A8F to watch Dolby Vision movies and shows. However, even for reproduction of normal SDR TV and movie content, the Sony A8F is a fine performer, delivering excellent virbrancy, accuracy and realism for most reasonably well-produced content from cable TV, streaming sources, media players and external devices of any kind. Color volume at high levels of brightness and in shadowy scenes is also very good in SDR. White balance delta E, color delta E and Gamma in the A8F sit at excellent levels of 0.22, 1.51 and 2.09 respectively. We’ve seen better in cheaper 4K TVs but these aren’t bad values at all. Color temperature in this OLED TV is also highly impressive, being nearly perfect. Older OLED TVs tended towards cooler, rather distracting temperatures due to the bluish light of their organic light emitting diodes. The A8F avoids this little defect remarkably well.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

Motion Handling & Upscaling:

The motion handling specs of the Sony A8F are as excellent as you might expect them to be if you know a bit about how well OLED 4K TVs tend to perform on this front. Sony has in any case always been a great brand for high level motion handling even in its cheaper 4K TVs, so you can image just how well one of its flagship models with the power of OLED display responsiveness will work. Motion blur on the A8F is downright minimal. Since the pixels on the TV produce their own light and color, their response time for changing both as content shifts and moves across the screen is fantastic, with a specific response time of between 0.3 and 2 milliseconds. No LCD TV can compare to this because LED response times are naturally much slower as light passes through the entirely separate pixels of an LCD screen.

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

The A8F also offers excellent motion interpolation of content at all major typical frame rates (24p movies, 30fps TV content, high frame rate streamed video and games on its native 120Hz display panel. 24p Blu-ray discs, DVDs, cable TV and broadcast TV sources as well as streaming media from both native apps and apps inside external streaming media devices can all be played judder-free if they happen to be 24p formatted. Backlight flicker is also nonexistent in the A8F, since as an OLED TV, it has no flickering LED backlights to begin with.

Input Performance for Gaming and PC:

The Sony A8F is a reasonably good TV for gamers who want to hit 4K and HDR notes with their console gaming if they have the right kind of accessory technology. We’ve seen better performance on this front from most of Samsung’s 4K TVs and, surprisingly, even their cheapest models as well as those of Vizio or TCL but the A8F still delivers levels of input lag that are good enough for the vast majority of casual console gamers across several different color, HDR and resolution settings. Furthermore, because of its fantastically high-quality HDR color performance the visuals on any HDR or 4K games you play will be stunning. The following are the specific specs for its gaming performance in different console setups:

  • 4k @ 60Hz: 29 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz: 46 ms
  • 1080p @ 120Hz: 22 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz + HDR: 31 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz + HDR: 47.7 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode : 92.2 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4: 31.1 ms
  • 4K @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 + 8 bit HDR: 29.8 ms
  • 4K with interpolation activated: 93.2 ms (leave the interpolation off)

We should also note that Sony has built the A8F with some truly superb compatibility with PC hardware for use as a giant sort of PC monitor. This TV offers up full 4:4:4 chroma subsampling support and 1080p @ 120 Hz support when coupled with PC rigs. Other fully supported resolutions and color settings for PC connectivity include those mentioned above in our input lag listings.

Also Read:
Our Review of the insanely powerful Xbox One X HDR 4K gaming console

Connectivity

The Sony A8F, like all of Sony’s newer 4K TVs, offers up a full package of today’s now standard and essential advanced connectivity specs. For connecting it to pretty much any external media device in the most useful possible ways, no user should have any problems with this model. In other words, it comes equipped with multiple HDMI, USB ports and other crucial connectivity slots. The television however lacks full HDMI 2.0 HDR supported bandwidth in all four HDMI ports. Instead only ports 2 and 3 offer this.  The following are its ports and their specifications:

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

  • HDMI : 4 (2 and 3 come with HDCP 2.2 and full HDMI 2.0a capacity)
  • USB : 3 (USB 3.0)
  • Digital Optical Audio Out : 1
  • Analog Audio Out 3.5 mm : 1
  • Tuner (Cable/Ant) : 1
  • Ethernet : 1
  • HDR10 support: Yes
  • Hybrid Log Gamma HDR support: Yes
  • Dolby Vision HDR: No but coming later in 2018 firmware update

The Sony XBR-A8F TV models also offer audio connectivity in the following types.

  • 1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough ARC DTS
  • 1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough Optical DTS

Sony XBRA8F Pricing & Availability

The Sony XBR-A8F’s two currently available different size ranges are selling for the following prices found in the links below at the time of this writing. Bear in mind that these are subject to sometimes frequent downward change and it’s a good idea to click the following Amazon links for real-time pricing and all available discounts on this model.

Check 55 and 65 inch XBR65A8F Prices

Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F)

Check the Sony XBRA8F 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Story by 4k.com

The post Sony A8F 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (XBR55A8F, XBR65A8F) appeared first on .

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

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Stephan Jukic – July 23, 2018

Overview

LG’s OLED 4K HDR TV releases just keep getting better and better with each yearly cycle of them and one of these latest TVs, the C8 is a wonderful example of this on the whole. OLED technology is already famous for the sheer picture quality it can deliver and LG’s deep investment in it has taken this to peak levels as far as the specs and performance of this model and its 2018 cousins are concerned.

That’s right, the C8 tops what we saw in the 2017 C7 edition and last year’s TV was already one of the best televisions we’d reviewed then. In other words, the following review is going to be mostly positive, though we’ll also explain exactly why we like this TV so much. The C8 does of course have some flaws too, which we’ll describe as well, but it’s an unsurprisingly fantastic performer overall.

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

Check the LG OLEDC8PUA 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Positives

  • Excellent motion handling
  • Fine HDR and SDR color delivery
  • Perfect OLED contrast and dimming
  • Particularly good 4K TV for gamers and PC use
  • Typically good OLED viewing angles
  • Fantastically bright for an OLED TV

Negatives

  • Some possible problems with burn-in
  • Brightness shift
  • Cheaper alternatives (The LG B8)

Bottom Line

The LG C8 is a stunner and one of LG’s best 2018 4K TVs by virtue of its price to value ratio. There are pricier and cooler looking LG OLED TVs out for 2018 but they deliver nearly identical display specs. In other words, you’d only be paying extra for aesthetic qualities and slightly better native audio (which can easily be remedied with an external sound system in the C8). We highly recommend this model and consider it to be an even better deal than Sony’s A8F simply because it’s a bit cheaper even though the Sony competitor performs equally well.

Also Read.

Our comprehensive rankings of the best 4K TVs of 2018 for all budgets

Check out the Sony XBRA8F 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) in our in-depth review

Here’s everything you need to know about how high dynamic range, or HDR, works in 4K TVs 

Our in-depth review of Sony’s X900F 4K HDR LCD TV

What We Liked

There is a ton of stuff to like about the LG C8 OLED TV. We’ve already made clear just how well we think it performs so let’s get down to some very specific reasons. The measured specs metrics to back up many of the following observations can be found near the bottom of this review.

Fantastic OLED contrast and black levels

OLED has always delivered the same completely perfect block levels in LG’s TVs with the technology, so this particular feature of the C8 is the same in the C8 as it was in LG’s first-ever OLED 4K TVs back in 2014. The same goes for its contrast ratio. Since black levels are total with essentially no measurable light output at maximum black, the C8 delivers infinite contrast. No LCD TV can come close to beating this aspect of OLED technology simply because some light always bleeds from the LED arrays despite the filters and local dimming zones that LCD/LED TVs have to create their own black levels.

 

One notable thing about the C8 that does however make it stand out from what its LG predecessors could do on contrast is the sheer brightness this model is capable of. It creates a perception of higher contrast in the human eye even if the measured level hasn’t changed (you can’t get better than infinite contrast even if contrast “looks” deeper).

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

Incredible peak and sustained brightness

The brightness issue of the LG C8 bears mentioning in further detail, because it’s probably the single most important aspect of this TVs superior performance over what 2017 OLED models could pull off. Quite simply, the C8 and its 2018 cousins are the brightest OLED TVs we’ve ever seen (along with Sony’s A8F OLED for this year) and they can in fact deliver levels of both peak and sustained brightness that literally outshine what most LCD/LED 4K TVs are now capable of. That’s one seriously impressive development we’ve seen for 2018. Last year’s OLED editions could get remarkably bright but the 2018 models. Including the C8 visibly outperform them.

Superb color delivery

The LG C8 is of course and HDR TV with support for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision high dynamic range visuals. What makes it stand out however is just how well it handles all of the key HDR specs necessary for rendering of content that has been mastered in both formats. On this front the C8 performs well above average, with extremely rich, vibrant color delivery, extremely high realism and superbly high HDR Wide Color Gamut coverage that is breathtakingly good. The addition of the above-described perfect contrast and rich black levels only adds to the overall effect and means that on this television, you not only get superbly rich colors but the robust contrast that makes those colors stand out even more than normal.

Excellent motion handling

The motion handling delivered by the C8 is superb. All OLED 4K TVs as a general rule offer excellent motion handling because OLED technology manages to change colors inside its individual pixels much faster than is possible with any LCD TV. That said though, all other metrics of motion performance including motion interpolation and judder-free playback of content with lower frame rates on this television’s native 120Hz display panel are very high caliber. The C8 is in other words a perfect TV for playback of anything you can throw at it, from live sportscasts to action-packed streamed movies.

The design

We like the design of LG’s new OLED television almost across the board. For one thing, the company has largely dumped the pointless curved screen build we saw in some of its older OLED TVs and secondly, like all OLED TV’s the C8 is delicately thing and thus excellent for mounting on a wall. This TV’s supporting stand is very sturdy while offering a reasonably small footprint and both the stand and frame of the TV are made of aluminum. Cable management in the C8 is fairly basic but also built with a practical eye.

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

Smart TV platform

We’ve liked LG’s smart TV platform, WebOS, since we first met it in 2014 and it has only gotten better since then. In the 2018 LG models, the smart platform is at its best ever with a smooth and easy to use interface, access to plenty of apps (including all the important ones such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime etc. for 4K movies and shows). There’s also a new quick access button that’s added in the top right of the main interface for easy access to the search function.

WebOS 3.5 in the C8 also now comes with voice assistant software, which is the new fashion in the 4K TVs of 2018. We have to admit that it works quite well, with excellent responsiveness to basic search and navigation queries. The C8’s voice control feature is also compatible with other LG devices that come with ThinQ technology. LG has stated that compatibility with Amazon Alexa and Google Home will be coming as well later in 2018.

What We Didn’t Like

The C8 is not perfect so it does come with a couple of very minor flaws that are however worth mentioning. None of these come anywhere close to being deal breakers in our view but they are notable.

Possible problems with burn-in

Burn-in is always a concern for OLED 4K TVs or OLED displays of any kind. LG has done a lot to reduce this possible problem since it started manufacturing its earliest OLED display panels for the TV market in 2014 but even now, OLED pixels remain delicate things and content that stays on the screen in a fixed spot for prolonged periods of time can indeed create a bit of a “stain” in the OLED panel itself. Since burn-in takes a while to develop in an OLED TV, it’s still a bit early to tell just how much of it the C8 will create but we’re guessing that there will be at least some for many users´ models.

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)
LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

Check the LG OLEDC8PUA 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Value vs. Price & Bottom Line

For its somewhat steep price, the LG C8 offers excellent quality and overall value. Yes it’s more expensive than its 2017 C7 cousin and in many regards it performs identically to its predecessor but it does also come with improvements that are strong enough to warrant a higher price (which is more than we can say of some new 4K TV releases). In other words, if you want a brand new OLED 4K HDR TV with unsurpassed peak brightness and color performance, this model is a great choice.

Also Read:

Our review of the LG OLED C7 4K HDR TV

Our in-depth review of the awesomely designed Sony A1E OLED 4K HDR TV

Our Review of TCL’s fantastic P-Series 2017 4K LCD TV with Dolby Vision HDR

Key LG OLED C8 4K HDR TV Specs

  • Screen sizes: 55 inch OLED55C8PUA, 65 inch OLED65C8PUA, 77 inch OLED77C8PUA (TV being reviewed is 55 inches)
  • Smart TV: WebOS 3.5
  • HEVC (H.265) Included: Yes
  • VP9 Included. Yes
  • HD to UHD upscaling: Yes
  • HDCP 2.2 Compliance: Yes
  • HDR Support: Yes, HDR10, Hybrid Log Gamma, Dolby Vision
  • Refresh Rate: 120Hz native refresh rate
  • Screen Lighting: OLED Display
  • Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160 pixels UHD
  • Wireless Connectivity: Yes, includes both built-in WiFi and Ethernet port
  • Remotes: LG smart remote with Voice Assistant
  • Connectivity: 4 HDMI (all of them 2.0a and HDCP 2.2) ports, 3 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, 1 Digital Audio Out
  • Sound: 10 W+10 W with Dolby™ Digital, Dolby™ Digital Plus, Dolby™ Pulse and DTS Surround Sound support
  • Contrast Ratio: infinite (native, real contrast)
  • Peak Brightness: 941 nits (cd/m2)
  • 3D Technology: N/A
  • Processor: Alpha 9

Also Read:

Our Review of the still fantastic 2017 LG E7 OLED 4K HDR TV

Our in-depth review of LG’s excellent SJ8500 IPS RK LCD HDR TV

Our Review of Samsung’s Excellent Q9 LCD HDR 4K TV from 2017

Display Performance Metrics

The following are the several categories of key display metrics for picture performance in the LG OLED C8 4K HDR TV. They may vary slightly from unit to unit so they should not be taken as absolutes. However, they should maintain a generally high level of similarity in all units, making them good enough to be reliable indicators of quality. Different sizes of TV display can change some of these metrics slightly (for example, larger edge-lit LCD 4K TVs tend to have weaker local dimming and peak brightness) but this applies much less often to OLED TVs since each pixel creates its own brightness. The LG C8 maintains pretty much identical display specs in all of its sizes though some TV models come with specs variations for certain specific sizes.

The following metrics of display performance for contrast, black level, color performance, brightness and motion handling (all of which are the most important aspects of display performance) essentially bear out what we said above about the C8 OLED model: This is one fantastic 4K TV in general and quite possibly the best OLED 4K HDR TV we’ve reviewed to-date The OLEDC8PUA not only performs exceptionally well across the board, it also offers the best levels of display brightness we’ve ever seen in an OLED 4K TV. It even slightly beats Sony’s A8F on this specs, which is an impressive achievement.

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

Black Level, Local Dimming and Contrast:

These are some of the most crucial display specs in any 4K TV and they are all also entwined together in any 4K TV. Thus they deserve being covered together. However, a clarification needs to be made here. Specifically, OLED TVs don’t come with local dimming the way it works in an LCD TV. Unlike LCD TVs, in which local dimming is created by LEDs behind the screen being turned off individually or in clusters, OLED display brightness is created inside each individual pixel on the screen. In 4K TVs, this means that 8.29 million pixels can be made to shine or completely stop emitting light as needed for a virtually perfect control of dimming and brightness. This is essentially called OLED dimming and it far outdoes any local dimming technology in any LCD TV in terms of sheer precision. The LG C8, as an OLED TV obviously comes with OLED dimming and yep, it performs on delivering these key specs admirably with its version of the technology.

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

Most importantly for OLED technology, because light in pixels can be completely shut off in this model, the TV’s maximum black level can be total when needed, with no light at all coming from darkened sections of the screen. A further result of this is perfect infinite contrast ratios. All OLED TVs are capable of the above to pretty much the same degree. However what the LG C8 does is create a perception of even better contrast because its capacity for brightness is so damn high, as we detail with some numbers in our next section.

Brightness:

Peak brightness is the maximum possible spot HDR or SDR luminosity of a complete 4K TV display or differently sized sections of its screen as measured in units of brightness called nits (or cd/m2, which is the same thing). Sustained brightness is the highest possible sustained HDR or SDR brightness that the TV screen can manage across its entire screen or parts of it for a prolonged period of time (a few minutes or more). In other words, Peak brightness consists of how bright sudden illuminations can become and sustained brightness measures prolonged luminosity in content on the display.

In both of these measures, the LG C8 absolutely excels and it manages to do so to a degree that leaves even most LCD/LED 4K TVs in the dust. It’s superb at delivering both high SDR brightness and high HDR brightness. OLED TVs used to be almost universally dimmer than their 4K LCD cousins but LG has been steadily pushing the boundaries of what organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs9 can output with remarkable success. The C8 is pretty much the brightest OLED TV we’ve ever seen so far and it even beats the Sony A8F slightly on this front (we considered Sony’s TV to be the brightest OLED ever until this C8 review was completed).  This model can deliver spot levels of peak brightness that are HIGHER than those of most LCD 4K HDR TVs even, and that just makes everything else about this television’s picture performance look better. The numbers below demonstrate what we mean:

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

LG C8 OLED SDR Brightness

  • Overall SDR peak brightness for normal content: 391 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display SDR brightness: 430 nits
  • Peak 10% display area SDR brightness: 443 nits
  • Peak 100% display area SDR brightness: 161 nits
  • Sustained 10% SDR brightness: 412 nits
  • Sustained 100% SDR brightness: 156 nits

LG C8 OLED HDR Brightness

  • Overall HDR peak brightness for normal content: 683 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display HDR brightness: 941 nits
  • Peak 10% display area HDR brightness: 904 nits
  • Peak 100% display area HDR brightness: 162 nits
  • Sustained 10% HDR brightness: 873 nits
  • Sustained 100% HDR brightness: 162 nits

Color Delivery:

LG’s C8 OLED TV delivers superb HDR and SDR color performance though in terms of these specs, Sony’s otherwise slightly dimmer OLED TV outperforms it on performance. This is to be expected since Sony has traditionally been a king of color delivery with LG lagging behind slightly across the board. In any case, these differences are small ones and by any visible measure, the LG C8 is one stellar 4K OLED TV for sheer color quality, vibrancy and richness.  In terms of key metrics for high dynamic range color delivery, this television really does great, with 98.30% DCI-P3 color space delivery and over 73.94% of the even larger and much more difficult to cover Rec 2020 space being covered. That’s downright impressive. In terms of 10-bit color support for smooth gradations between 1.07 billion HDR color tones, the C8 does a fantastic job, creating smooth and exquisitely gradated color variations in content that has been formatted for 10-bit color delivery. Additionally, even at the maximum levels of this TV’s considerably powerful luminosity output, the C8 manages to conserve color quality and vibrancy. Many 4K TVs can’t pull this off at high levels of peak brightness. Color reproduction also stays very good during reproduction of low light scenes with lots of shadows. These crucial color specs make a huge difference for HDR and SDR video sources of any kind.

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

In other words, if you use the C8 to watch Dolby Vision movies and shows what you get on the screen looks downright spectacular. However, even for reproduction of normal SDR TV and movie content, LG’s most affordable 2018 4K HDR TV is a superb performer, delivering excellent vibrancy, accuracy and realism for most reasonably well-produced content from cable TV, streaming sources, media players and external devices of any kind. The C8 also upscales non-4K video sources very nicely for a smooth, extra-sharp level of picture quality that’s particularly great when this TV is used to view 1080p or 720p movies and shows from TV, cable, streaming or media device sources.

White balance delta E, color delta E and Gamma in the LG OLEDC8 sit at excellent levels of 0.12, 1.51 and 2.09 respectively. We’ve seen better in cheaper 4K TVs but these aren’t bad values at all. Color temperature in this OLED TV is also highly impressive, being nearly perfect. Older OLED TVs tended towards cooler, rather distracting temperatures due to the bluish light of their organic light emitting diodes. The A8F avoids this little defect remarkably well.

Motion Handling & Upscaling:

OLED 4K TVs almost universally offer fantastic levels of motion handling. This isn’t just because they’re expensive premium TVs, it’s a result of how their display technology works. Since each pixel contains its own light source and color filters, the shifts between colors in pixels that create the perception of fluid changes in content happen much more quickly than they do in even the best LCD TV (which has to rely on light from LEDs behind the pixel surface). As a result, motion blur on the LG C8 is downright minimal, with a specific response time of between 0.3 and 2 milliseconds. No LCD TV can compare to this and even the best LCD/LED models typically do no better than 9 milliseconds.

The LG C8 also delivers some truly excellent motion interpolation of content at all major typical frame rates (24p movies, 30fps TV content, high frame rate streamed video and games on its native 120Hz display panel. 24p Blu-ray discs, DVDs, cable TV and broadcast TV sources as well as streaming media from both native apps and apps inside external streaming media devices can all be played judder-free if they happen to be 24p formatted. Backlight flicker is also not something you’ll find with LG C8’s display, since as an OLED TV, it has no flickering LED backlights to begin with.

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

Input Performance for Gaming and PC:

LG’s 2018 OLED TVs, like the 2016 and the 2016 models before them all offer excellent input lag performance for console gaming and PC use at different resolution, color and HDR settings as well as at different refresh rates. Sony’s OLED TVs underperform slightly in these metrics but the C8 delivers them superbly almost across the board. This combined with its HDR support specs makes this particular LG OLED 4K HDR TV into one fantastic console gaming TV for 4K, HDR and normal 1080p Xbox or PS4 Pro gamers. The following are the specific specs for its gaming performance in different console setups:

  • 4k @ 60Hz: 21 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz: 20.7 ms
  • 1080p @ 120Hz: 22 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz + HDR: 21 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz + HDR: 29 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode : 50 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4: 22
  • 4K @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 + 8 bit HDR: N/A
  • 4K with interpolation activated: 100 ms (leave the interpolation off)

We should also note that LG has given the C8 some very good compatibility with PC hardware for use as a huge PC monitor. This TV offers up full 4:4:4 chroma subsampling support and 1080p @ 120 Hz support when coupled with PC rigs. Other fully supported resolutions and color settings for PC connectivity include 4K@60Hz, 4K@30Hz, 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4.

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

Connectivity

Like all newer 4K HDR TVs of any kind or price, or from any brand, the LG OLED C8 offers up a full package of today’s now standard and essential advanced connectivity specs. For connecting it to pretty much any external media device in the most useful possible ways, no user should have connectivity problems with this model as long as all hardware is in working order. In other words, it comes equipped with multiple HDMI, USB ports and other crucial connectivity slots. The television comes with full HDMI 2.0 HDR supported bandwidth in all four HDMI ports. Another thing we like about the C8 is that it offers full Dolby Vision support and pass-through. Few 4K TVs offer this, even in 2018 so far. The following are its ports and their specifications:

  • HDMI : 4 (all with HDCP 2.2 and full HDMI 2.0a capacity)
  • USB : 3 (USB 3.0)
  • Digital Optical Audio Out : 1
  • Analog Audio Out 3.5 mm : 1
  • Tuner (Cable/Ant) : 1
  • Ethernet : 1
  • HDR10 support: Yes
  • Hybrid Log Gamma HDR support: Yes
  • Dolby Vision HDR: Yes

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

The LG OLEDC8PUA TV models also offer audio connectivity in the following types.

  • 1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough ARC DTS
  • 1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough Optical DTS

Pricing

LG offers up the C8 in three different sizes, 55 inches, 65 inches and a giant 77 inch edition. They are all for the following prices found in the links below at the time of this writing. Bear in mind that these are subject to sometimes frequent downward change and it’s a good idea to click the following Amazon links for real-time pricing and all available discounts on this model.

LG C8 4K UHD HDR OLED TV Review (OLED55C8PUA, OLED65C8PUA, OLED77C8PUA)

Check the LG OLEDC8PUA 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Check 77 inch LG OLEDC8PUA Price

Story by 4k.com

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Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

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Stephan Jukic – July 26, 2018

Overview

Samsung’s 2018 Q9F comes with a similar name to the 2017 model but is also sometimes called the Q9FN edition. We’re not sure why Samsung decided to go with the confusing naming sequence but what we can say for sure is that the 2018 Q9FN (as we’ll be calling it from now on for this review) is very definitely a whole new TV in terms of performance and specs. It offers entirely new parameters for key metrics of both and while both aesthetically and physically this television looks very similar to the 2017 Q9F, it’s different in numerous extremely important way that make it a far better television overall.

The Q9FN is Samsung’s priciest and “best” 2018 4K HDR LCD TV in terms of specs, price and how well it does most things. Considering what we’re going to explain in this review, we can safely say that it really takes premium HDR 4K LCD TV technology to some new levels, though it also has its share of flaws, which we’ll be covering as well.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Positives

  • Superb motion handling
  • Fantastic levels of display brightness
  • Incredible color performance
  • incredibly precise LCD TV local dimming
  • Really, really good black levels and contrast

Negatives

  • Very expensive
  • Viewing angles are poor
  • Poor native audio quality for such an expensive TV
  • Still no Dolby Vision for Samsung TVs
  • Only two sizes

Bottom Line

If you don’t mind paying a rather steep price for a premium 2018 4K HDR, then the Samsung Q9FN is probably one your best choices for 2018. This model just blows so many other TVs out of the water with the sheer quality of some of its display specs and performance metrics for brightness, contrast, color and nearly everything else. It’s a fantastic 4K TV by any measure and aside from its high cost, we definitely recommend it though some of LG’s or Sony’s 2018 TVs offer somewhat better value and offer superior HDR support options.

Also Read:
Our review of the fantastically luminous LG OLED C8 4K HDR TV
Our in-depth review of the excellent Sony A8F OLED 4K HDR TV
Our in-depth review of the LG OLED C7 2017 4K HDR TV

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Check the Samsung Q9FN 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

What We Liked

There are many things to love about the Q9FN, from its overall design down to all sorts of specific details. However, there are several key characteristics of this TV that we think are the ones with the greatest importance and the best representatives of its overall high quality. These are the most fundamental things to like about this television:

The Design

Let’s start with the Q9FN’s design first. It’s what you’ll notice about this TV before anything else and as far as we’re concerned, it’s great. The Q9FN is wonderfully built. This TV comes with a utilitarian, minimalist build that actually works perfectly for making the television fit aesthetically into pretty much any space.

The entire body is rather ever so slightly thickset in comparison to last year’s Samsung QLED TVs and many competitor models because of the Q9’s full-array LED backlights but the tradeoff is that there’s no exceptionally bulky lower half to make this TV a bitch for wall-mounting. The entire body is the same narrow thickness in other words. The TV also comes with a very narrow but very sturdy stand for easy placement on even small surfaces and its cable management is superb, with just one line running from the TV to an external One-Connect box that can be placed where needed. The edge of the screen comes with very narrow bezels, which we also like.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Insanely Good peak and sustained brightness

The peak brightness and sustained brightness specs of the Q9FN are some of the best we’ve ever seen in any 4K LCD TV ever so far. Only a couple of other ultra-premium Samsung models and maybe Sony’s Z9D model come close to beating what this particular television can pull off. At its absolute peak levels of brightness, the Q9FN reaches for the sun with levels of nearly 1700 nits and even for sustained brightness during playback of both HDR content AND regular TV video sources or other SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) content, it performs incredibly well, creating an exceptionally bright, exceptionally vivid picture quality that amazingly enough, doesn’t ruin color representation or volume no matter how bright it goes.

Fantastic Black levels and contrast with local dimming

Without local dimming turned on, the Samsung Q9FN delivers very good but far from exceptional contrast ratios of over 6000:1. This is high normal contrast for a 4K TV with VA (Vertical Alignment, meaning vertically oriented pixels) display built into it but it’s far from incredible. However, what the Q9FN comes with that’s almost unique for Samsung 4K HDR TVs is a full-array LED backlight panel with full multi-zone local dimming, and when this local dimming is turned on, its contrast ratios shoot right through the roof to incredible levels of nearly 20,000:1, which is something we’ve seen in no other 4K HDR LCD TV to-date.

In other words, the local dimming in this TV is simply incredible in its quality and it affects everything else as a result: contrast can be made insanely deep, black levels can look nearly perfect (though they don’t match the literal total black perfection of OLED TVs like the LG C8 and B8 models, or Sony’s A8F) and thus shadowy tones in content look wonderful. Black uniformity is also incredibly good in the Q9FN as long as local dimming is active. Without it, there is some light clouding if the whole display is darkened.

Colors also stick out more vibrantly with high contrast and rich blacks, so these particular benefits of the Q9FN help the TV’s already great color performance as well. In simple terms, the black levels and contrast of the Q9FN deeply impressed us.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Superb QLED color delivery

The color delivery of the Q9FN isn’t quaite as good as it was in the 2017 Q9F and we’re not sure quite why this is the case, since this TV uses the same or possibly even slightly improved quantum dot color enhancement technology. However, this isn’t to say that color performance in the Q9FN is bad, far, far from it in fact, it’s downright superb. Because of its QLED technology and other color production mechanisms, the Q9FN delivers incredibly rich, vibrant and highly accurate color palettes for HDR video sources and for normal SDR content from nearly any source such as media players, cable TV or streaming devices. Badly formatted or older content may not look fantastic even when viewed on the Q9FN but based on what we saw, this TV will deliver the best possible results that are possible with any content source.

If you set the Q9FN to displaying HDR movies or shows with HDR10 and HDR10+ mastering in them, the TV’s performance becomes downright mind-blowing and its full powers of Wide Color Gamut reproduction for over 1 billion color variations come to the fore. The Q9FN also supports full 10-bit color reproduction via dithering.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Excellent motion handling and input lag

The Q9FN is an ultra-premium 4K HDR TV so you can expect some great motion handling across the board. However, even by the standards of many older and many current premium 4K TV models, this baby delivers the goods stunningly well. For one thing, it has one of the best response times we’ve ever seen in an LCD TV, sitting as it does at a little over 3 milliseconds. This alone means that the Q9FN offers very smooth sharp handling of fast movement on the screen. Beyond this, the Q9FN’s native 120Hz display panel interpolates all sorts of lower frame rate content for very smooth handling on the screen. The inclusion of Black Frame Insertion technology spreads this feature to games played on the TV as well for a more fluid gameplay experience. What we also love about the Q9FN is that it’s virtually flicker free due to the improved quality of Samsung’s LED backlight technology for their 2018 4K HDR TV models.

Also worth mentioning for all you gamers out there: The input lag times of this TV for console games at all sorts of different resolution, color, refresh rate and HDR settings are superb. The Q9FN is basically one fantastic gamer’s TV if you happen to own an Xbox console or a PS4 device. It’s an even better TV if you want to do 4K HDR gaming with an Xbox One X or a PS4 Pro console.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Smart TV and controls

On a final note, we like Samsung’s smart TV platform quite a bit. WebOS 3.5 from LG is more intuitive and faster, and Sony’s Android TV comes with Google Play Store, meaning access to a huge selection of apps but the Samsung Tizen OS is no slouch either. It’s easy to use, covers all the essential content options for streaming media apps and lets you rent or buy content directly from Samsung as well. Certain apps are also available only with Samsung’s 4K UHD TVs, which is cool too. The remote is also decent, with basic voice search functionality and the ability to open apps, ask questions about weather and so forth as needed via voice commands. On the other hand, unlike LG’s remote, the Samsung edition doesn’t let you search within apps for content, which is a bummer.

Also Read: Our complete Guide to today’s best streaming media devices and smart platforms

What We Didn’t Like

Despite all of its impressive-as-hell specs, the Samsung Q9FN isn’t entirely perfect for a number of reasons. One of these could almost be a deal breaker and one other is really annoying but none of them mean this is a bad TV in any normal sense of the word, they’re just particularly worth mentioning.

The price of this TV

First and foremost, the Q9FN is exceptionally expensive. Yes, this is to be expected for an ultra-premium 4K HDR TV with the characteristics of this model but there are several cheaper options out there that deliver virtually identical performance in all regards except for this TV’s truly exceptional brightness levels. If you like Samsung 4K TVs in particular, we recommend the Q9FN at the price it sells for but if you want most of the same picture quality, LG’s B8 is a better value overall and so is Sony’s X900F.

Still No Dolby Vision

The Q9FN would be absolutely awesome at delivering Dolby Vision HDR if Samsung wasn’t so fixed on hating it (it’s pretty much the only major 4K TV maker to still reject this HDR format). Yes, there’s only a small amount of Dolby Vision HDR content out there but damn would it be nice if this TV also supported it. This is a shame. HDR10 is great for HDR mastering of content and HDR10+ is promising to be even better but the Dolby Vision format beats both on quality and this TV is very much built to deliver it really well.

Viewing angles problems

All TVs with Vertical Alignment pixel orientation in their displays suffer from rather poor viewing angles. The Q9FN has a VA panel so it suffers from the same problem. This is unfortunate but at least it also helps deliver the excellent black levels that this TV is capable of. In other words, this is a minor issue but we thought it was worth mentioning.

Weak native audio

The native audio performance of the Q9FN is less than stellar. It’s not bad for conventional TV watching but you want a truly immersive sound experience with deep bass and clear sound even at extremely high volumes, we definitely recommend getting an external sound bar or speaker system. If you’re already going to spend $2500+ on a new 4K TV like this (or more for the 75 inch model), then you might as well make the extra investment. Overall we don’t consider the Q9FN to be anywhere close to a deal breaker since most 4K TVs don’t come with what we’d call superb built-in audio, but for a TV this expensive we’d have expected a little bit more performance in this area.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Smart platform issues

The Tizen smart platform of the Q9FN and all other 2018 Samsung 4K TVs isn’t bad at all for most essential smart TV needs but we’ve seen better in other brands. LG’s WebOS 3.5 offers better interface features, smoother performance and much better voice control features. Sony’s Android TV delivers much, much better access to media apps thanks to Google Play. We also think Roku TV (found in TCL and Hisense 4K TVs among others) is better than Tizen. Thus, Tizen ranks a bit low among the major brands in terms of its quality as a smart platform. On the other hand, if you really decide you don’t like the native Samsung smart TV platform, you can always just use an external streaming media device with its own native smart functionality.

Also Read: Our comprehensive guide to today’s absolute best streaming media platforms for 2018

Value vs. Price & Bottom Line

The bottom line for the Samsung Q9FN 4K HDR LCD TV is that it offers superb overall quality as a 4K TV and is possibly this year’s single best LCD TV we’ve reviewed so far. However, because it’s on the pricey side, we consider its value per dollar spent to be slightly low. We really recommend the Q9FN for buyers who aren’t too worried about their budgets. For others who want great performance but don’t mind a slightly dimmer display, alternatives like the Samsung Q8FN, LG’s B8 OLED or Sony’s X900F are all better priced, offer wider HDR format support and deliver nearly the same levels of color and contrast performance.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Check the Samsung Q9FN 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Key Samsung Q9FN 4K HDR TV Specs

  • Screen sizes: 65 inch QN65Q9FN, 75 inch QN75Q9FN, (TV being reviewed is 65 inches)
  • Smart TV: Tizen smart platform 2018
  • HEVC (H.265) Included: Yes
  • VP9 Included. Yes
  • HD to UHD upscaling: Yes
  • HDCP 2.2 Compliance: Yes
  • HDR Support: Yes, HDR10, Hybrid Log Gamma
  • Refresh Rate: 120Hz native refresh rate
  • Screen Lighting: LCD Display with full-array backlighting & local dimming
  • Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160 pixels UHD
  • Wireless Connectivity: Yes, includes both built-in WiFi and Ethernet port
  • Remotes: Samsung smart remote, voice control, remote app for iOS and Android
  • Connectivity: 4 HDMI (all of them 2.0a and HDCP 2.2) ports, 3 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, 1 Digital Audio Out, all located in eternal One Connect box
  • Contrast Ratio: 6000+:1 (native, real contrast), 19,000+:1 (with local dimming)
  • Maximum Peak Brightness: 1767 nits (cd/m2)
  • 3D Technology: N/A
  • Processor: Q Engine

Also Read.

Our comprehensive rankings of the best 4K TVs of 2018 for all budgets

Check out the Sony XBRA8F 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) in our in-depth review

Here’s everything you need to know about how high dynamic range, or HDR, works in 4K TVs 

Our in-depth review of Sony’s X900F 4K HDR LCD TV

Display Performance Metrics

The following are the several categories of key display metrics for picture performance in the Samsung Q9FN 4K HDR LCD TV. They may vary slightly from unit to unit so they should not be taken as absolutes. However, they should maintain a generally high level of similarity in all units, making them good enough to be reliable indicators of quality. Different sizes of TV display can change some of these metrics slightly (for example, larger edge-lit LCD 4K TVs tend to have weaker local dimming and peak brightness). As a Full-array LCD TV, the Q9FN maintains the same basic display metrics in both of its models, the 65 inch and the 75 inch model.

The following metrics of display performance for contrast, black level, color performance, brightness and motion handling (all of which are the most important aspects of display performance) clearly showcase the details behind what we said above, that the new 2018 Samsung Q9 is an absolute powerhouse of a 4K HDR TV with some fantastic specs that in some cases outshine anything we’ve previously seen in LCD TV technology for 4K HDR TVs.

Black Level, Local Dimming and Contrast:

These crucial display specs in any 4K TV are all also entwined together as far as display performance goes. Thus they deserve being covered together. In the Q9FN, black level, local dimming and contrast all perform at the absolute best we’ve ever seen of them in a 4K HDR TV of any kind with LCD/LED display technology. Samsung has finally gone back to installing full-array LED backlighting technology in its super-premium 4K TVs and the result has propagated through every performance spec for display in some superb ways. Firstly, this also means the inclusion of particularly precise local dimming capacity, which in turn means an extremely powerful capacity for deep black levels. This then ensures excellent contrast ratios and the overall result of all these features is a level of picture quality in which bright highlights and colors stand out beautifully.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

The Q9FN can deliver high-normal contrast ratios of about 6070:1 when local dimming is deactivated. This ratio by itself is excellent, but if the local dimming is turned on, the contrast ratio leaps upwards to a stunning 19,020:1, which is probably the best we’ve ever seen in a non-OLED 4K HDR TV. Black uniformity with local dimming turned on is also excellent all the way across the display of the Q9FN. There is virtually no clouding caused by light bleed and this TV creates very low halo effects around brightly lit objects in onscreen content.

Brightness:

Peak brightness is the maximum possible spot HDR or SDR luminosity of a complete 4K TV display or differently sized sections of its screen as measured in units of brightness called nits (or cd/m2, which is the same thing). Sustained brightness is the highest possible sustained HDR or SDR brightness that the TV screen can manage across its entire screen or parts of it for a prolonged period of time (a few minutes or more). In other words, Peak brightness consists of how luminous sudden bright spots can become and sustained brightness measures prolonged luminosity in content on the display.

The peak brightness of the Q9FN in particular is among the highest we’ve ever seen in any 4K LCD TV that we’ve reviewed so far. At its very absolute maximum, it can reach up to over 1760 nits for HDR content (which requires higher TV display brightness settings) in smaller areas of the screen and even for wider areas of illuminated display space, the Q9FN delivers extremely high luminosity. The same goes for sustained brightness in HDR mode. Even more impressively, even when used for viewing ordinary non-HDR video content, the 2018 Q9 still delivers some of the best and brightest sustained and peak brightness levels we’ve ever seen so far. In fact, its SDR brightness settings are higher than even the HDR brightness capabilities of nearly any other 4K TV we’ve reviewed so far. That’s how good this model is at lighting up its screen for rich, vibrant content.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Another important thing to note is that despite these truly stunning levels of display luminosity, the Q9FN still manages to deliver very high levels of color fidelity for highly luminous content. Older Samsung TVs couldn’t do this and though they were capable of getting very bright, a consequence was color saturation loss. Samsung’s latest version of QLED quantum dot filter technology seems to have fixed this issue.

The numbers below demonstrate what we mean for this TV’s sheer luminosity:

Samsung Q9FN SDR Brightness

  • Overall SDR peak brightness for normal content: 675 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display SDR brightness: 1001 nits
  • Peak 10% display area SDR brightness: 1668 nits
  • Peak 100% display area SDR brightness: 684 nits
  • Sustained 10% SDR brightness: 1632 nits
  • Sustained 100% SDR brightness: 684 nits

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Samsung Q9FN HDR Brightness

  • Overall HDR peak brightness for normal content: 910 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display HDR brightness: 1689 nits
  • Peak 10% display area HDR brightness: 1765 nits
  • Peak 100% display area HDR brightness: 680 nits
  • Sustained 10% HDR brightness: 1720 nits
  • Sustained 100% HDR brightness: 680 nits

Color Delivery:

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

We’ve already covered the color performance of the Q9FN in some detail above so we’ll keep this a bit briefer by stating that it delivers nearly perfect color vibrancy, realism and saturation. There is full support for 10-bit color with virtually no banding of colors during reproduction of content with 10-bit (1.07 billion colors) color support and the wide color gamut spectrum coverage of this TV is excellent, with 97.8% of the DCI-P3 spectrum covered. Sony’s X900F, A8F and LG’s 2018 OLED TVs all do slightly better on this but the difference is so small that it’s likely to be invisible to the naked eye.

As for color volume reproduction, it’s excellent in this TV model and possibly even among the best we’ve ever seen. In both shadowy scenes and extremely bright content sequences, full color volume is maintained across the entire color gamut and that’s very impressive considering just how bright the Q9FN can get. On this front, the Q9FN visibly outperforms all of its major 2018 4K TV rivals.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

White balance delta E, color delta E and Gamma in the Q9FN sit at very good levels of 0.15, 1.69 and 2.1 respectively after calibration. Out of the box however, before calibration, these same levels are not so great, sitting at 3.4, 6.9 and 2.29 respectively. We’ve seen better in cheaper 4K TVs but these details can be calibrated away for much better performance.

Motion Handling & Upscaling:

The Q9FN offers up some of the best motion blur control we’ve ever seen in an LCD TV. With response times in onscreen pixels (the speed at which pixels shift colors to adjust for moving objects in content) being the lowest we’ve ever seen in an LCD TV at 3.5 milliseconds. The Q9FN also has some very good motion interpolation capacity in its screen but this can produce a slight soap opera effect when sued for movies that play at different frame rates. It’s usually better to turn it down a few notches by setting ‘Auto Motion Plus’ to ‘Custom’ in the TV’s picture controls and making that custom value no higher than mid-range.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Motion interpolation of content at all major typical frame rates (24p movies, 30fps TV content, high frame rate streamed video and games is something the Q9FN delivers wonderfully on its native 120Hz display panel. 24p Blu-ray discs, DVDs, cable TV and broadcast TV sources as well as streaming media from both native apps and apps inside external streaming media devices can all be played judder-free if they happen to be 24p formatted. Backlight flicker is essentially nonexistent due to some major improvements in how well Samsung manages its LED backlight design in the 2018 lineup of premium QLED TVs.

Input Performance for Gaming and PC:

Samsung’s 2018 4K HDR TVs, like the 2016 and the 2016 models before them all offer excellent input lag performance for console gaming and PC use at different resolution, color and HDR settings as well as at different refresh rates. In fact they have traditionally been some of the best performing 4K TVs we’ve reviewed in terms of low input lag for console games and wide support for resolution and color formats. The Q9FN excels at all of these. It even offers very low input lag with motion interpolation activated. This is something we’ve never before seen a 4K TV pull off to a level of less than 80 milliseconds or so. The above combined with its HDR support specs makes this particular Samsung 4K HDR television into one fantastic console gaming TV for 4K, HDR and normal 1080p Xbox or PS4 Pro gamers. The following are the specific specs for its gaming performance in different console setups:

  • 4k @ 60Hz: 21.2 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz: 22.9 ms
  • 1080p @ 120Hz: 11 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz + HDR: 21.2 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz + HDR: 21.2 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode : 50 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4: 18 ms
  • 4K @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 + 8 bit HDR: 19 ms
  • 4K with interpolation activated: 20 ms (leave the interpolation off)

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

We should also note that Samsung has given the 2018 Q9 some really broad compatibility with PC hardware for use as a huge PC monitor. This TV offers up full 4:4:4 chroma subsampling support and 1080p @ 120 Hz support when coupled with PC rigs. Other fully supported resolutions and color settings for PC connectivity include 4K@60Hz, 4K@30Hz, 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4. On the other hand, the Q9FN doesn’t offer 4K video at 120Hz, which is a disappointment but to be expected because it can only feed PC video sources via HDMI, which caps at 60Hz.

Also Read:

Our Review of the insanely powerful Xbox One X HDR 4K gaming console

Our Review of the still fantastic 2017 LG E7 OLED 4K HDR TV

Our in-depth review of LG’s excellent SJ8500 IPS RK LCD HDR TV

Our Review of Samsung’s Excellent Q9 LCD HDR 4K TV from 2017

Connectivity

Like virtually all newer 4K HDR TVs, the Samsung Q9FN comes with today’s now standard and essential advanced connectivity specs. No user should have connectivity problems with this model for connecting it to pretty much any external media device or hard drive as long as all hardware is in working order. In other words, the Q9 2018 edition comes equipped with multiple HDMI, USB ports and other crucial connectivity slots. Samsung gave the Q9FN full HDMI 2.0 HDR supported bandwidth in all four HDMI ports.

We should note that unlike many other 4K HDR TVs, Samsung’s advanced UHD TV models all offer their connectivity specs inside an included One Connect box. From the TV itself, a single cable snakes out to connect to this device, which itself can be replaced and updated as needed. The following are its ports and their specifications:

RXV05059-1024x683 samsung_Q9FN_review_02

  • HDMI : 4 (all with HDCP 2.2 and full HDMI 2.0a capacity)
  • USB : 3 (USB 3.0)
  • Digital Optical Audio Out : 1
  • Analog Audio Out 3.5 mm : 1
  • Tuner (Cable/Ant) : 1
  • Ethernet : 1
  • HDR10 support: Yes
  • Hybrid Log Gamma HDR support: Yes
  • Dolby Vision HDR: Yes

The Samsung Q9FN TV models also offer audio connectivity in the following types.

  • 1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough ARC DTS
  • 1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough Optical DTS

Pricing

Samsung only released the Q9F in two different sizes, 65 inches and 75 inches. Unlike the most other Samsung 4K UHD TVs for 2018, which come in at least three sizes. The two Q9FN television editions sell for the following prices, found in the links below at the time of this writing. Bear in mind that these are subject to sometimes frequent downward change and it’s a good idea to click the following Amazon links for real-time pricing and all available discounts on this model.

Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN)

Check the Samsung Q9FN 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

 

The post Samsung Q9FN / Q9F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q9FN, QN75Q9FN) appeared first on .

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

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Stephan Jukic – July 26, 2018

Overview

Samsung has clearly put itself on a major roll with its 2018 lineup of premium 4K HDR QLED TVs. The 2017 models were great in many ways but these new 2018 editions beat them conclusively on some very crucial performance specs. This is definitely what we’re noticing as we review more of the new Samsung QLED lineup and the Q8FN is where we started to notice it. This 4K HDR television model doesn’t quite perform as spectacularly well as its even pricier Q9FN cousin on a couple key display performance metrics but it does deliver some absolutely excellent peak brightness, superb color management and remarkably decent contrast and black level specs nonetheless.

Furthermore, unlike Samsung’s entire lineup of 2017 and 2016 4K TVs, this model along with other 2018 TVs come with full-array LED backlighting. Samsung finally got the ball rolling on including that in more of its television models (none of last year’s TVs from the brand had it despite their high prices and the fact that many cheaper competitor TVs did come with full-array LED panels behind their screens). In basic terms, the Q8FN is a great 4K HDR TV overall and offers a much better priced alternative to Samsung’s flagship model the Q9FN while conserving many the same premium features.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Also Read: Our in-depth review of Samsung’s 2018 Flagship QLED TV, the Q9FN 

 

Positives

  • Excellent display brightness
  • Full-array LED backlighting with local dimming
  • High performance on contrast and black level
  • Incredibly good color performance
  • Great motion handling
  • Beautiful design
  • Decent price

Negatives

  • Not nearly as high contrast as Q9FN
  • Poor native audio power
  • Weak on viewing angles
  • Local dimming could be better
  • Samsung won’t add Dolby Vision support

Bottom Line

We really like the Samsung Q8FN and consider it to be a slightly better overall value than the Q9FN because it comes so close on important performance metrics while costing a fair bit less. We highly recommend this model to anyone who wants top-shelf HDR TV display from a brand new 2018 model, so long as they don’t mind the absence of wider HDR support for other formats.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Check the Samsung Q8FN 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Our review of the fantastically luminous LG OLED C8 4K HDR TV
Our in-depth review of the excellent Sony A8F OLED 4K HDR TV

What We Liked

There is a lot to really like about the Q8FN and particularly if you take its more reasonable price into consideration. This TV has lots of premium characteristics and for the most part delivers them very well or even exceptionally while also delivering higher value per dollar spent than its cousin the Q9FN.

The Design

This TV comes with a utilitarian, minimalist build that actually works perfectly for making the television fit aesthetically into pretty much any space. The entire body is slightly on the thicker side due to the bulkier space necessary for full-array LED backlighting but it can still be easily mounted to a wall if necessary. On the other hand, the Q8FN doesn’t come with the simplified cable management system of the Q9FN, which consists of a single cable running from the TV itself down to an external and placement-flexible One Connect box. Instead, the main connectivity ports are built right into the side of this television. They are however easy to access even if the Q8FN is mounted instead of free-standing.

The body of the Q8FN is sturdy and build of strong black plastic with a metallic finish along the edges and on the stand legs. The bezels along the edge of the screen are also very thin, creating a great impression or roomy display space. One thing we don’t much like about the Q8FN’s build is the wide placement of the two stand legs. Yes they’re sturdy for keeping the TV up but their spacing means that this model can only be placed on top of an equally wide surface.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Fantastic QLED-augmented Color performance

The color performance of the Q8FN is surprising in that it’s just as good as what we saw in the pricier Q9FN. They’re both QLED 4K HDR TVs of course so obviously the Q8FN should perform well but we didn’t expect it to be exactly as good as the Q9FN on this spec. All colors look rich and vibrant in this model and with a bit of color calibration in the TV’s picture settings, color accuracy along with the quality of shadows, greys and brightly lit content can be made to look amazingly good. The Q8FN supports full HDR color display capability and it does so remarkably well.

The QLED part of its name refers to the quantum dot LED filter technology installed in all of the 2017 and 2018 Samsung QLED TV models. This is a mechanism for color improvement that Samsung is still refining further into something that will one day become far more advanced, but for now, what we do notice is that it seems to work amazingly well at maintaining great color volume even in extremely bright onscreen content. Given how bright the Q8FN can make its display, then QLED technology is an excellent feature and not just some gimmick.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

 

Local Dimming and Full-array LED backlighting brightness

These are a few things that we consider to be some of the absolute biggest improvements that the Q8FN improves on its counterpart from 2017. Specifically, unlike any of the 2017 TVs (even the most expensive) this model delivers full-array LED backlight technology. Samsung has finally started installing this into its premium TV models for the 2018 lineup and given how bright Samsung’s LED technology has always been, the result in terms of peak brightness is stunning. The pricier Q9FN delivers excellent, previously unseen levels of peak display luminance but even the Q8FN is definitely no slouch. In fact, so far it’s the second brightest 4K TV we’ve reviewed in both 2017 and 2018, trailing behind only the Q9FN flagship model.

Also Read: Our complete guide to 4K TV backlighting

This is the direct result of Samsung’s incredibly powerful LED technology now being spread behind the entire screen. A secondary aspect of this full-array backlighting is a much higher quality of local dimming, which the Q8FN also offers. Samsung’s 2017 QLED TVs also offered this but local dimming in an edge-lit 4K TV isn’t the same as local dimming in a full-array LED 4K TV and the difference is very large. The Q8FN thus offers local dimming of a much better caliber and this makes a difference when it comes to creating superior levels of black depth and contrast for onscreen content.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Excellent motion handling and input lag

The Q8FN offers up some truly excellent motion handling pretty much across the board. For one thing, it has a very good response time on its pixels for some truly great motion blur control. This alone means that the Q8FN offers very smooth sharp handling of fast movement on the screen. Beyond this, the Q8FN’s native 120Hz display panel interpolates all sorts of lower frame rate content for very smooth handling on the screen. The inclusion of Black Frame Insertion technology spreads this feature to games played on the TV as well for a more fluid gameplay experience. What we also love about the Q8FN is that it’s largely flicker free due to the improved quality of Samsung’s LED backlight technology for their 2018 4K HDR TV models.

As far as using the Q8FN for gaming goes, this TV performs in typically excellent Samsung fashion based on how we’ve seen input lag perform in nearly every Samsung TV we’ve reviewed for at least three years running. In other words, the input lag times of this TV for console games at all sorts of different resolution, color, refresh rate and HDR settings are superb. The Q8FN is basically one fantastic gamer’s TV if you happen to own an Xbox console or a PS4 device. It’s an even better TV if you want to do 4K HDR gaming with an Xbox One X or a PS4 Pro console.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Smart TV and controls

On a final note, we like Samsung’s smart TV platform quite a bit. WebOS 3.5 from LG is more intuitive and faster, and Sony’s Android TV comes with Google Play Store, meaning access to a huge selection of apps but the Samsung Tizen OS is no piece of crap either. It’s easy to use, covers all the essential content options for streaming media apps and lets you rent or buy content directly from Samsung as well. Certain apps are also available only with Samsung’s 4K UHD TVs, which is cool too. The remote is also decent, with basic voice search functionality and the ability to open apps, ask questions about weather and so forth as needed via voice commands. On the other hand, unlike LG’s remote, the Samsung edition doesn’t let you search within apps for content, which is a bummer.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

 

Also Read: Our complete Guide to today’s best streaming media devices and smart platforms

What We Didn’t Like

The Q8FN is one excellent 4K HDR TV by any measure of the technology but it isn’t without its small share of flaws, despite its premium specs. This model obviously won’t perform as well as Samsung’s even better Q9FN flagship 4K HDR LCD TV model but there are a couple of things it could have had improved in its build.

Still No Dolby Vision

How badly we wish Samsung would just get over its obsession with sticking to HDR10 (which they helped develop) to the exclusion of serious alternatives. Every other major TV brand has included Dolby Vision HDR support AND HDR10 in all of their premium 4K TVs at least but Samsung simply won’t go there. This is a shame because the Q8FN would be absolutely awesome at delivering Dolby Vision HDR if Samsung wasn’t so fixed on hating it. Yes, there’s only a small amount of Dolby Vision HDR content out there but damn would it be nice if this TV would let you see it as it’s formatted. This is a shame. HDR10 is great for HDR mastering of content and HDR10+ is promising to be even better but the Dolby Vision format beats both on quality and this TV is very much built to deliver it exceptionally well.

Display Details

Our entire section above waxes on about how great the display performance of the Samsung Q8FN is and we mean every word we said but there are a couple of details that are worth criticizing in this television. Let’s start with its local dimming and contrast ratio. Both of these are good in the 2018 Q8F and we certainly don’t expect this TV to deliver them as well as the Q9FN flagship TV does but Samsung could have still improved both metrics a bit further. The Q8FN is exceptionally bright and with the presence of full-array LED backlighting, it could have done an even better job at creating high contrast and making its local dimming work truly well. It doesn’t however and this leads us to believe that the number of dimming zones is fairly limited, much lower at least than the number of them found in the Q9FN or Sony’s X900F, which is similarly priced.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Viewing angle problems

This is a minor detail but it should be mentioned as well because some buyers might hate it if they have a particularly widely spaced living room/entertainment room. All of Samsung’s 4K TVs come with VA display panel technology (VA standing for vertical alignment, or pixels that are vertically longer on the screen). While on the one hand this guarantees generally better black levels and contrast ratio in a TV screen, it also means that color, contrast and brightness fade rapidly when the TV screen is viewed at angles too far off from dead center. This is a flaw found in all of Samsung’s 4K TVs, so the Q8FN isn’t special in this regard but if you’ve got a big family that likes to crown into couches well off from the front of your TV for a late night movie, you might want to skip a VA panel 4K TV like the Q8FN and go for either an OLED TV or an LCD TV model with IPS display (all of LG’s LCD 4K TVs and some of Sony’s LCD TV models offer IPS display technology instead of VA panels).

Weak native audio

The native audio of the Q8FN’s speakers is only decent. If you’re used to powerful surround-sound speaker systems, it won’t impress you at all and while you usually can’t expect much from the tiny and highly centered speakers of any stand-alone 4K TV, this model probably could have done a bit better on this metric. Either way, the problem is easily fixed with the addition of an external home theater sound system or a sound bar, and for things like casual TV news watching the speakers of the Q8FN itself function just fine.

Value vs. Price & Bottom Line

The bottom line for the Q8FN is that it’s a fantastic 4K HDR LCD TV at a very decent price. We think it actually offers even more value per dollar spent than the flagship Q9FN even if the latter model definitely outperforms it on key specs. Get this TV if you want a truly premium home theater experience with some wicked display brightness and color performance at a price that doesn’t completely shatter your budget.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Check the Samsung Q8FN 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Key Samsung Q8FN 4K HDR TV Specs

  • Screen sizes: 55 inch QN55Q8FN, 65 inch QN65Q8FN, 75 inch QN75Q8FN (TV being reviewed is 55 inches)
  • Smart TV: Tizen smart platform 2018
  • HEVC (H.265) Included: Yes
  • VP9 Included. Yes
  • HD to UHD upscaling: Yes
  • HDCP 2.2 Compliance: Yes
  • HDR Support: Yes, HDR10, Hybrid Log Gamma
  • Refresh Rate: 120Hz native refresh rate
  • Screen Lighting: LCD Display with full-array backlighting & local dimming
  • Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160 pixels UHD
  • Wireless Connectivity: Yes, includes both built-in WiFi and Ethernet port
  • Remotes: Samsung smart remote, voice control, remote app for iOS and Android
  • Connectivity: 4 HDMI (all of them 2.0a and HDCP 2.2) ports, 3 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, 1 Digital Audio Out, all located in eternal One Connect box
  • Contrast Ratio: 5556+:1 (native, real contrast), 7960+:1 (with local dimming)
  • Maximum Peak Brightness: 1435 nits (cd/m2)
  • 3D Technology: N/A
  • Processor: Q Engine

Our comprehensive rankings of the best 4K TVs of 2018 for all budgets

Check out the Sony XBRA8F 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) in our in-depth review

Here’s everything you need to know about how high dynamic range, or HDR, works in 4K TVs 

Our in-depth review of Sony’s X900F 4K HDR LCD TV

Display Performance Metrics

Here we cover the several most crucial performance metrics that decide user experience quality in the Samsung Q8FN 4K HDR LCD TV they all revolve around display output across several specs and motion handling as well. These specs may vary slightly from unit to unit so they should not be taken as absolutes. However, they should maintain a generally high level of similarity in all units, making them good enough to be reliable indicators of quality. Different sizes of TV display can change some of these metrics slightly (for example, larger edge-lit LCD 4K TVs tend to have weaker local dimming and peak brightness). As a Full-array LCD TV, the Q8FN maintains the same basic display metrics in all three of its models, the 55 inch, 65 inch and the 75 inch editions.

The following metrics of display performance for contrast, black level, color performance, brightness and motion handling (all of which are the most important aspects of display performance) clearly showcase the details behind what we said above, that the new 2018 Samsung Q8 is a very powerful 4K HDR TV with some fantastic specs that in some cases outshine the majority of what we’ve seen in LCD TV technology for 4K HDR TVs.

Black Level, Local Dimming and Contrast:

These crucial display specs in any 4K TV all interplay with each other as far as display performance goes. Thus they deserve being covered together. In the Q8FN, black level, local dimming and contrast all perform very well. Most importantly, Samsung has finally gone back to installing full-array LED backlighting technology in its super-premium 4K TVs and the result has seriously improved overall contrast, black level and general display performance. Firstly, in the Q8FN, this means the inclusion of a much better quality of local dimming capacity than the kind we saw in the 2017 Q8 QLED TV by Samsung. This in turn means the reproduction of high quality and deep black levels. As a result of this, contrast ratios in this television are also excellent and consequently the level of picture quality in the Q8FN QLED TV is one in which bright highlights and colors stand out beautifully.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

The Q8FN can deliver high-normal contrast ratios of about 5556:1 when local dimming is deactivated. This ratio by itself is excellent, but if the local dimming is turned on, the contrast ratio jumps up to a much more impressive and very respectable level of 7,996:1. This comes nowhere near the blockbuster 19,000+:1 contrast ratio that the Q9FN flagship TV is capable of but it’s still excellent by the standards of most current 4K HDR LCD TVs, even if we compare the Q8FN to the majority of all other premium 4K TVs by all brands. The much lower contrast ratio of the Q8FN relative to the Q9FN is one of the two main differences between these two TVs, so if you don’t mind a still very good contrast of nearly 8,000:1, then the Q8FN is a great deal.

Brightness:

Peak brightness is the maximum possible spot HDR or SDR luminosity of a complete 4K TV display or differently sized sections of its screen as measured in units of brightness called nits (or cd/m2, which is the same thing). Sustained brightness is the highest possible sustained HDR or SDR brightness that the TV screen can manage across its entire screen or parts of it for a prolonged period of time (a few minutes or more). In other words, Peak brightness consists of how luminous sudden bright spots can become and sustained brightness measures prolonged luminosity in content on the display.

The peak brightness of the Q8FN in particular is perhaps the second highest we’ve ever seen out of all the 4K TVs we’ve reviewed between 2017 and 2018. This is the second major spec in which the Q8FN’s pricier Q9FN cousin massively outperforms this model but like we said, the Q8FN still takes second place among ALL 4K TVs we’ve seen in the last couple years. At its very absolute maximum, this model can reach a peak brightness of up to over 1430 nits for HDR content (which requires higher TV display brightness settings) in smaller areas of the screen and even for wider areas of illuminated display space, the Q8FN delivers very, very high luminosity almost across the board; the same goes for sustained brightness in both SDR and HDR modes.

What impresses us in particular however is that, even when used for viewing ordinary non-HDR video content, the 2018 Q8 still renders extremely, exceptionally high levels of sustained and peak brightness very consistently. This will be something that almost any viewer will notice when comparing this model to any rival 4K TV and it’s a feature of the Q8FN that strongly improves just how high overall picture quality is. Even more so, the Q8FN manages to conserve very high color saturation regardless of how bright its screen gets and this is something that previous Samsung QLED TVs couldn’t pull off nearly as well. Samsung’s latest version of QLED quantum dot filter technology seems to have fixed this issue.

The display brightness measurement numbers below as measured in nits demonstrate what we’re talking about:

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Samsung Q8FN SDR Brightness

  • Overall SDR peak brightness for normal content: 531 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display SDR brightness: 779 nits
  • Peak 10% display area SDR brightness: 1425 nits
  • Peak 100% display area SDR brightness: 560 nits
  • Sustained 10% SDR brightness: 1384 nits
  • Sustained 100% SDR brightness: 561 nits

Samsung Q8FN HDR Brightness

  • Overall HDR peak brightness for normal content: 630 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display HDR brightness: 970 nits
  • Peak 10% display area HDR brightness: 1435 nits
  • Peak 100% display area HDR brightness: 499 nits
  • Sustained 10% HDR brightness: 1201 nits
  • Sustained 100% HDR brightness: 496 nits

Color Delivery:

The Samsung QLED Q8FN delivers nearly perfect color vibrancy, realism and saturation. More impressively still, it actually outperforms the considerably more expensive Q9FN flagship QLED TV by Samsung on these specs, which is sort of strange. First of all ,the TV offers the obvious essentials of premium HDR color delivery: full support for 10-bit color with virtually no banding of colors during reproduction of content with 10-bit (1.07 billion colors) color support also included for wide color gamut spectrum coverage. The WCG coverage of this TV is excellent, with 98.69% of the DCI-P3 spectrum covered. This is actually better than what the Q9FN can do though the difference is small enough that most viewers probably won’t notice it.

Color volume maintenance is excellent in this TV model and possibly even among the best we’ve ever seen. In both shadowy scenes and extremely bright content sequences, full color volume is maintained across the entire color gamut and that’s very impressive considering just how bright the Q8FN can get. On this front, the Q8FN visibly outperforms all of its major 2018 4K TV rivals and even delivers slightly better results than the Q9FN.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

White balance delta E, color delta E and Gamma in the Q8FN sit at very good levels of 0.14, 1.79 and 2.2 respectively after some moderate picture settings calibration. On the other hand, right out of the box and before any calibration, these same levels are mediocre, sitting at 3.9, 4.8 and 2.36 respectively. These details can however be calibrated away quite quickly for the much better settings we described for post-calibration.

Motion Handling & Upscaling:

The Q8FN delivers a very high level of motion handling performance and upscales virtually all well-formatted no 4K UHD content with high precision. With response times in onscreen pixels (the speed at which pixels shift colors to adjust for moving objects in content) being the lowest we’ve ever seen in an LCD TV at 3.5 milliseconds. The Q8FN also has some very good motion interpolation capacity in its screen but this can produce a slight soap opera effect when sued for movies that play at different frame rates. It’s usually better to turn it down a few notches by setting ‘Auto Motion Plus’ to ‘Custom’ in the TV’s picture controls and making that custom value no higher than mid-range. As for this model’s upscaling, it works well at sharpening almost any reasonably well formatted source of content but is particularly good at improving the visual quality of 1080p HD video and 720p programming of any kind.

The Q8FN delivers motion interpolation of content at all major typical frame rates (24p movies, 30fps TV content, high frame rate streamed video and games) exceptionally well on its native 120Hz display panel. 24p Blu-ray discs, DVDs, cable TV and broadcast TV sources as well as streaming media from both native apps and apps inside external streaming media devices can all be played judder-free as well and with minimal to no judder. The Q8FN QLED also suffers from virtually no backlight flicker due to some major improvements in how well Samsung manages its LED array design in the 2018 lineup of premium QLED TVs.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Input Performance for Gaming and PC:

Samsung’s 2018 4K HDR TVs, like the 2016 and the 2016 models before them all offer excellent input lag performance for console gaming and PC use at different resolution, color and HDR settings as well as at different refresh rates. In fact they have traditionally been some of the best performing 4K TVs we’ve reviewed in terms of low input lag for console games and wide support for resolution and color formats.

The Q8F 2018 model is no exception to the above and delivers some truly great game handling performance across the board when used with popular game consoles. Oddly, it very very slightly outperforms the Q9FN QLED on these metrics for console gaming.

This model (like the Q9FN) even offers very low input lag with motion interpolation activated. This is something we’ve never before seen a 4K TV pull off to a level of less than 80 milliseconds or so, until we reviewed this model and its cousin the Q9FN that is. The above combined with its HDR support specs makes this particular Samsung 4K HDR television into one fantastic console gaming TV for 4K, HDR and normal 1080p Xbox or PS4 Pro gamers.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

The following are the specific specs for its gaming performance in different console setups:

  • 4k @ 60Hz: 20 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz: 19.2 ms
  • 1080p @ 120Hz: 10 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz + HDR: 19 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz + HDR: 19.8 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode : 56 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4: 16.3 ms
  • 4K @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 + 8 bit HDR: 17 ms
  • 4K with interpolation activated: 25.3 ms

Samsung has also given the 2018 Q8 some really broad compatibility with PC hardware for use as a huge PC monitor. This TV offers up full 4:4:4 chroma subsampling support and 1080p @ 120 Hz support when coupled with PC rigs. Other fully supported resolutions and color settings for PC connectivity include 4K@60Hz, 4K@30Hz, 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4.

Connectivity

Unlike The flagship Q9FN, the Q8FN comes with all of its connectivity ports built right into the TV itself instead of having a single cable going down to a One Connect box with external ports. Whether this is good or bad, what we do know is that, like virtually all newer 4K HDR TVs, the Samsung Q8FN comes with today’s now standard and essential advanced connectivity specs. No user should have connectivity problems with this model for connecting it to pretty much any external media device or hard drive as long as all hardware is in working order. In other words, the Q8 2018 edition comes equipped with multiple HDMI, USB ports and other crucial connectivity slots. Samsung gave the Q8FN full HDMI 2.0 HDR supported bandwidth in all four HDMI ports.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

The following are its ports and their specifications:

  • HDMI : 4 (all with HDCP 2.2 and full HDMI 2.0a capacity)
  • USB : 3 (USB 3.0)
  • Digital Optical Audio Out : 1
  • Analog Audio Out 3.5 mm : 1
  • Tuner (Cable/Ant) : 1
  • Ethernet : 1
  • HDR10 support: Yes
  • Hybrid Log Gamma HDR support: Yes
  • Dolby Vision HDR: Yes

The Samsung Q8FN TV models also offer audio connectivity in the following types.

  • 1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough ARC DTS
  • 1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough Optical DTS

Pricing

Samsung only released the Q8F in three different sizes, 55 inches, 65 inches and 75 inches. These three Q8FN television editions sell for the following prices, found in the links below at the time of this writing. Bear in mind that these are subject to sometimes frequent downward change and it’s a good idea to click the following Amazon links for real-time pricing and all available discounts on this model.

Samsung Q8FN / Q8F 2018 4K HDR LCD TV Review (QN65Q8FN, QN75Q8FN)

Check the Samsung Q8FN 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

 

 

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Sony Unveils Master Series 4K HDR OLED/LCD TVs: Sneak Peak and First Impressions

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Stephan Jukic – August 01, 2018

At a press conference held in New York City July 21st, Sony Electronics unveiled its latest weapons in the war for consumer home entertainment preference and if what I saw demonstrated is any indication of how their consumer market quality will be, these new televisions will give competitors a run for their money.

The two new TVs shown off this July 31st by Sony are dual parts of the new “Master Series” LCD and OLED lineup and consist of the Z9F, the successor to last year’s Z9D super-premium LCD 4K HDR TV and Sony’s A9F OLED TV, the successor to the A8F OLED released in early 2018. Both new Televisions incorporate several key technologies designed to give them levels of picture, audio and motion handling quality that have never before been delivered in consumer ultra HD television models of any kind. These new developments are largely based off Sony’s also completely new X1 Ultimate Processor engine.

Also read: Our in-depth review of Sony’s stunning A8F OLED 4K HDR TV

The X1 Ultimate Processor is essentially the core technology for the display improvements in both televisions and while we’ll get to how it and other features beef up so many things in the Z9F and A9F models a bit further down, a couple of things about it are worth mentioning off the bat. For starters, the X1 Ultimate is at least twice as powerful as THE X1 Extreme processor, its predecessor in previous Sony ultra-premium 4K TVs. The X1 Ultimate shows itself capable of delivering incredibly precise picture quality enhancements across a spectrum of crucial specs and in ways we’ve never before seen in Sony’s television models. Examples of these included Object-based Super Resolution that’s designed to increase sharpness in objects on the screen from both 4K UHD and HD sources, and Super Bitmapping for color refinement of HDR and SDR content. The X1 Ultimate also includes an object-based HDR remaster feature for making all SDR content sources more closely resemble HDR in its quality.

Having seen demonstrations of all these capabilities at work (granted, under conditions controlled by Sony), I can say that they definitely impressed. The object-based HDR remaster made standard SDR sample content almost resonate with the sheer quality of color saturation it was able to show when set next to the visibly duller picture of a major premium competitor 4K HDR TV. The Super Bitmapping technology pulled off the same sort of visual magic, delivering video and app graphics in both SDR and HDR that showed virtually no visible banding at all at any point.

Sony Unveils Master Series 4K HDR OLED/LCD TVs: A Sneak Peak and First Impressions

For starters in general terms, Sony’s focus on accuracy –for colors, contrast, relative brightness and motion handling– has been taken to new extremes on both the Z9F and A9F. Sony claims that its new processor engine monitors all of these traits on a per-pixel basis in both the OLED and LCD models of the Master Series. These improvements are where most of the specific features that Sony has built into the TVs work and the visual result based on what I myself was able to see in several demonstrations is nothing short of remarkable in certain ways. Color saturation and accuracy in both the Z9F is simply fantastic and the refined shadow levels achieved by both TVs are incredibly subtle in their revelation of visual details in content. Furthermore, the Z9F delivers colors, contrast ratios and local dimming precision that were truly remarkable to see in an LCD television.

More importantly for the Z9F in particular, as an LCD TV with VA display panel technology, the television manages to conserve color vibrancy, contrast and brightness to a remarkable degree even at very wide viewing angles. This development was particularly impressive to behold and when comparing the Z9F to both a Sony Z940E model from 2017 and a rival Samsung Q9FN TV model from 2018, I was able to note a distinctly superior degree of picture fidelity in the Z9F despite viewing the screen from way off center.

Crucially, according to Sony, the Master Series models will incorporate the spectrum of picture technologies described above right out of the box when released, with no need to wait for firmware updates. Thus, right upon release they will come with the full power of the X1 Ultimate Processor’s capabilities, and with HDR10, Dolby Vision and the BBC’s HLG standard running and ready to go. This is in contrast to previous ultra-premium Sony releases which had to wait at least a few months for the Dolby Vision update and other features to reach them.

In terms of how well their displays actually deliver HDR worthy of these standards, both the Z9F and the A9F incorporate several further developments that very definitely give anything we’ve reviewed or seen from any competitor brand a serious run for its money. Both TVs share a whole spectrum of display and picture processing developments between them despite the fact that one of them is an OLED TV and the other an LCD model with full-array LED backlighting.

In putting together these developments, Sony underscored a devotion to delivering visuals that match, as closely as possible, the original visual intent of their creators during production and post-production. This is another major theme that Sony representatives (along with a representative from Netflix and those of other companies present at the event) went back to again and again.

A key Sony partner in this drive for maximizing reproduction of creative intent is in fact Netflix, and its contribution to the development of the Master Series TVs is a new “Netflix Calibrated Mode” for the streaming media company’s content that will be completely exclusive to the Z9F and A9F televisions when they go on sale in the fall. The Netflix Calibrated Mode is designed to automatically adjust picture settings while you as a user watch content through the baked-in Netflix app on either TV These adjustments have been preset to match as closely as possible the finer details for color, contrast, brightness, shadow and motion that the creators of any piece of Netflix content being shown had aimed for during their creation of that video. This features even tries to match refresh rate in the content on your own Master Series TV with how it was mastered during production.

Sony Unveils Master Series 4K HDR OLED/LCD TVs

The Netflix Calibrated Mode can be switched off, yes, but Zack Estrin, executive producer of the Netflix series “Lost In Space” who was also present at the event, made it clear that in his view as a content developer, the Calibrated Mode feature is a powerful addition that will create a superb visual result for most viewers.

 

Beyond the Netflix Calibrated Mode and the other features above, both the Z9F and A9F come with full packages of color management systems. These are aimed at allowing for professional and easier user calibration. Sony has even partnered with another company, Portrait Displays/SpectraCal, that was present at the NYC event, to deliver a new range of calibration tools which can be used with these TVs.

So to summarize a bit here with regards to both of the new Master Series 4K HDR TVs for late 2018, they are the Z9F and A9F, replacements for the 2016 Z9D that was until now Sony’s single best LCD 4K TV, and Sony’s A8F, which is this year’s latest Sony OLED 4K HDR model. Both televisions come with the new Netflix Calibrated Mode and automated calibration tools, both come with a broad range of picture improvement technologies such as those described above through their X1 Ultimate Processor engine, and both models are built to offer superbly accurate picture quality right out of the box without need for further calibration. This last point is vital and notable in the sense that most 4K TVs (even premium models) often come with sub-par picture quality when unpacked and simply turned on. They have to usually be calibrated first and many consumers either don’t know this or lack the technical inclination to attempt it.

With the Master Series TVs Sony has tackled this issue head-on by giving them factory calibration that’s aimed for the best possible picture quality right when unpacked. Sony claimed that many of the demos we observed at their NYC event were with out-of-the-box calibration. If this is to be believed, what I saw was extremely impressive compared to the typical uncalibrated performance of rival 4K TVs.

Also Read: Our review of Samsung’s stunning flagship 2018 4K HDR LCD TV, the Q9FN

The Sony A9F OLED Edition

Now moving on to specifics and starting with the A9F OLED model, this TV goes back to the reclining design of the A1E, which was not present in the A8F. Some buyers might not like this but it does indeed look pretty good and barely affects display viewability. This OLED TV model’s single biggest load of improvements over its predecessor is found in its audio performance.

Sony Unveils Master Series 4K HDR OLED/LCD TVs

Thus the A9F, Just like its predecessors the A1E OLED and the A8F OLED, also comes with Acoustic Surface technology for sounds right from the screen itself. However, in this new model, the audio has become much more powerful with an expansion to three different actuators vibrating the display for far better sound accuracy relative to its origin within the content. The most important of these is a center channel speaker that delivers the most power of the array. A second subwoofer has also been added in to the A9F. The difference is major too: in comparisons shown by Sony between the TV’s speakers playing back audio from a movie clip and an external speaker doing the same thing, the realism of the A9F’s own actuators was far greater.

Of course, despite its remarkably high 98W of output (the A8F could only deliver 50W), even the A9F’s internal sound system can only pump out so much bass and volume and this television’s ideal setup is to use the center channel speaker in combination with an external surround sound system. This was also demonstrated with fairly spectacular auditory effects.

In visual terms, the A9F delivers a level of picture quality that’s similar to that of the A8F. However even here Sony has managed to boost this model’s color accuracy during both shadowy and very bright scenes. Furthermore, thanks to the company’s focus on delivering what content creators intended (as we explained above), finer details in shadowy content scenes are much more clearly visible than we’ve noted them in other, older OLED 4K HDR TVs. In a comparison with an LG OLED 4K HDR TV from the 2018 lineup, the A9F showed consistently better performance on both of these fronts, though we’re taking this with a grain of salt since we can’t be sure how Sony calibrated either model behind the scenes.

The A9F’s motion handling is also worth mentioning. OLED TVs generally deliver this much better than their LCD counterparts but the effects of the X1 Ultimate Processor were visible here; the A9F showed better motion handling than we’ve ever before seen in an OLED TV.

In a final note for the A9F, Sony’s representatives were absolutely cagey about in any way indicating how bright the new TV would become or if it would get higher peak brightness than the already very luminous A8F, but based on what I saw, it should perform more or less equally on this spcific performance metric.

The Sony Z9F

Where Sony’s new display technologies for the two Master Series TVs really shine is in the Z9F. This long anticipated successor to Sony’s ridiculously powerful 2016, 2017 and up to now 2018 flagship Z9D TV (which was so good that it managed to remain the best LCD television by Sony for nearly three years) is a real beast on display performance.

Sony refused to address how bright the Z9F would get or how many local dimming zones its full-array LED backlight would offer but even if both stay more or less the same as they did in the Z9D that still means almost 2000 nits of peak brightness and at least 700 local dimming zones. The Z9F is however an absolute improvement on its predecessor even if these specs stay the same. We already covered some of the reasons why above but a few further things we’d really like to mention include the following.

For starters, there are this television model’s incredibly good viewing angles. The technology behind this is called X-Wide Angle and in essence even when content on the Z9F is viewed way off to either angle remarkable levels of color, contrast and brightness fidelity are conserved. Sony wouldn’t explain just how it pulled this off but it works remarkably well despite this TV having a VA display panel just like the 2016 Z9D and other premium LCD 4K HDR TVs by Sony and other brands. In viewing angle comparisons between the Z9F and other Sony TVs (as well as the premium LCD TVs of rival brands with VA displays) the Z9F performed much better at viewability from different angles.

Sony Unveils Master Series 4K HDR OLED/LCD TVs

Sony has also repeated and further refined its technologies for contrast precision in the Z9F. Aside from the extremely large number of local dimming zones this model features, it will have an improved version of the backlight pinpointing we saw in the Z9D. The X1 Ultimate processor will help considerably here in ways Sony won’t go into detail on except to say that techniques like Pixel Control Booster have been used.

On a final note for the Z9F, I was able to observe the motion handling and motion blur improvements that this model delivers through X-Motion Clarity technology in conjunction with the X1 Ultimate Processor and the result is impressive as well. The Z9F reduces motion blur wonderfully while avoiding soap opera effects and other problems for the most part. This is what the demo model on display showed with its onscreen content at least. Sony is also being fairly quiet about the mechanics of this technology but a representative of the company did explain that the process involved the use of blinking backlight LEDs and localized dimming over moving content.

Sony Unveils Master Series 4K HDR OLED/LCD TVs

The two Master Series TVs are without a doubt impressive pieces of 4K TV technology by any measure. We’ll love seeing what Samsung, LG and other rivals cook up by late 2018 or 2019 to rival what these two ultra-premium Sony models can pull off. At the very least, Sony’s innovations for the Master Series should spur some serious competition in really stretching the current limits of 4K TV picture performance.

Sony is releasing the OLED A9F and LCD HDR Z9F TVs “in the fall” without having yet specified a date. We also don’t yet know what retail price they’ll go for but expect them to be fairly expensive.

Story by 4k.com

The post Sony Unveils Master Series 4K HDR OLED/LCD TVs: Sneak Peak and First Impressions appeared first on .


Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

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Stephan Jukic – August 29, 2018

Overview

Recently, 4K.com was invited by Sony to New York City for an extensive hands on demonstration their new Master Series 4K HDR TVs, which are being released for the U.S market “sometime in the fall” according to Sony representatives. The two models presented to us at the Sony event consist of the new 2018 A9F OLED 4K HDR TV and Sony’s (Finally unveiled) successor to the now old but still incredibly good Z9D 4K HDR LCD TV. This latter model is called the Z9F. Together, they make up what the company is calling their “Master Series” ultra-premium 4K UHD TVs for late 2018 and early 2019.

What we saw at the Sony unveiling with these Master Series TVs was, to say the least, quite impressive. Granted, the TVs were shown to us under highly controlled conditions and we were undoubtedly being given the best possible view of their capabilities but after a thorough run-through of different demonstrations for picture, audio and design qualities, we’d have to argue that it’s hard to fake quality of the kind we saw. Quite simply, both of the new televisions are fantastic performers and while their predecessors were excellent models as well, the new A9F and Z9F editions surpass them in some highly specific ways. In this review we’re focusing on the A9F OLED model in particular, and we’ll get right down to the concrete impressions its performance gave us while also explaining just how it outshines and outperforms its own A8F predecessor that we reviewed in much greater detail earlier this year.

Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

Also See: Our Review of the Sony A8F OLED 4K HDR TV, One of today’s best OLED televisions

Positives

  • Incredibly bright highlights by OLED and even LCD standards
  • Typically fantastic OLED black levels
  • Vivid-as-hell color performance
  • Perfect OLED dimming
  • Remarkably good native audio system

Negatives

  • It’s going to be expensive (Sony didn’t reveal a price but we’re sure of this)
  • Lean-back design isn’t to everyone’s taste

What We Liked

Once again, we need to stress here that this review isn’t absolutely hands-on because while we were given an extensive series of demonstrations of how well the A9F works, the TV in question was subject only to calibration by Sony and specific specs measurements of any kind were not allowed. Thus, what we’re describing here is based on what we could see, hear and touch under conditions controlled by a third party (Sony obviously enough). That said, even with these caveats in mind, we have little doubt that the A9F is going to be one hell of a performer when released for the consumer market. The A8F was fantastic and this model definitely and visibly/audibly outperforms its still very new predecessor in certain key ways, some of which we’re about to elaborate on in slightly more detail.

Improved Picture Performance and Picture Processing

First and foremost, Sony made a big issue about recreating as much of the professional-grade picture quality delivered by its own X300-Series production reference 4K monitors in the Master Series 4K TVs. This of course includes the A9F and one of the recurring themes about this television was that it comes a little closer to delivering the kinds of extremely precise, vibrant and accurate colors, contrast and shadows that the original creators of content would have wanted for their movies and shows. Obviously enough, the A9F doesn’t match the pro-level color, contrast and general calibration performance of Sony’s extremely expensive BVM-X300 4K V2 OLED Master Monitor but one thing that Sony claims is that this Master Series TV and the Z9F both come closer than anything the company has ever produced for the consumer market to achieving this goal. All of this of course motivated by the desire for Sony to create the best possible visual fidelity calibration they can.

For this same reason, Sony is promising out-of-the-box picture calibration that is better than it ever has been before so that consumers who don’t want to waste time tinkering with their own A9F’s picture settings can be pleased with how well the TV works the minute it’s unboxed and plugged in.

What we can say is that based on what we saw, the A9F does an admirable job of delivering on all of these things. The picture settings shown during the hands-on demos offered up stunningly good colors, superb contrast and shadow control and some excellent levels of detail in both bright and dark scenes. If those presentation settings are what Sony will be giving the A9F when its delivered to consumer households later in 2018, most people will probably love the quality they get even without manual calibration.

Underlying all this is Sony’s single most important innovation for creating such excellent display performance, the new X1 Ultimate Processor engine, which will be exclusive to the Master Series TVs for the time being. The X1 Ultimate really does some impressive stuff when it comes to rendering details even in complex content and in a demonstration in which we were able to watch the A9F deliver different types of movie scenes in comparison to one of LG’s 2018 OLED 4K HDR TVs sitting right next to it, the Sony model created notably better color fidelity and deeper levels of detail in shadowy scenes where specific things were visible that the LG rival didn’t show. In terms of brightness, the A9F didn’t look like it was doing better however.

Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

Also See:

Our detailed, hands-on review of LG’s fantastic LG C8 OLED 4K HDR TV

Our In-depth review of LG’s C8 OLED 4K HDR model

In addition to the X1 Ultimate Processor, Sony has given the A9F what it calls Pixel Booster technology, which participates in the same process of making the TV’s pixels stand out more sharply for their individual contrast and rendering of vibrant colors. The effect then translates out to the entire TV display itself across all 8.29 million pixels on the 4K screen. Again, given the level of color performance we could observe, the quality was impressive indeed.

We should also note that the A9F supports all three of the major HDR formats right out of the box. No more waiting for an eventual Dolby Vision update later on. On this baby the format comes along with HDR10 and HLG right away for the content that also supports any of these formats.

Superior Acoustics

Sony’s vibrating display sound innovation, first introduced in the company’s first 4K OLED TV, the A1E is again present in the A9F just as it also was in the A8F. However, in the case of the A9F, a major improvement is in place in the form of what the company calls Acoustic Audio+, which consists of a third on-screen actuator right in the middle of the display for a center channel between the spaces where the previous models’ stereo sound configuration was placed.

This center channel makes a serious difference in terms of both overall sound quality and the simple improvement created by it directing sound much more accurately from the very sources playing put on the screen. On top of this, a second bass driver has been installed so that the A9F delivers what functionally amounts to a 3.2 sound system.

In a live demo of the TV’s sound performance, we were quite impressed and decided that the A9F delivers enough audio quality so that the further detail of accurate sound origin even makes this model perform better than external sound systems for conventional Audio needs during conversations and lower-volume/bass sounds on the screen. We were in fact also shown the new central third actuator inside the screen and its design was more robust than that of Sony’s previous OLED 4K TV.

Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

The Design

The physical design of the A9F goes back to the lean-back build of the original A1E OLED and while some consumers might have preferred the more conventional vertical build found in Sony’s A8F TV, we’re happy enough with how the A9F looks. The display itself is extremely thin, as is typical of OLED 4K TVs but because all of the TV’s hardware is located in the inclined stand behind the TV, this thinness translates to all of the four outer parts of the TV’s screen instead of just its top half. From the front, the A9F actually looks almost indistinguishable from its 2017 A1E predecessor and it’s only when you get a look at the back of the TV that you notice how the supporting stand is different due to its wider, downward angled build.

Also See: Our review of the Sony A1E 4K HDR OLED TV, Sony’s first-ever and now very affordable OLED 4K HDR television

We also loved the way the TV’s cable management looked based on our examination of the back of the A9F and the bezel along the edge of the screen is so thin that it becomes invisible in a darkened room. We should also mention that the A9F will come in two sizes that we know of at this time, a 55 inch model and a 65 inch edition.

Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

 

OLED Blacks and Picture Brightness

The OLED black levels in the A9F are pretty much the same as they’ve ever been in any OLED 4K TV we’ve reviewed; since OLED technology delivers total, perfect black levels by default, there’s not much to improve on its maximum expression. However, due to the above-mentioned X1 Ultimate processing technology and Sony’s new Pixel Booster enhancements, the black levels in the A9F can vary with far better subtlety than we’ve ever before seen for shadowy scenes. As we described earlier in this review, this capability directly translates to much finer and more visible detail rendering in deeply shadowy onscreen content. In comparison to one of its LG OLED rivals, the A9F handled these finer details in dark content much better than we’ve seen done before in an OLED TV.

As for this model’s peak brightness and overall display luminosity, we weren’t able to do any comparative measuring to see how it compares to its own A8F predecessor or LG’s fantastically bright 2018 OLED 4K TVs but based on what our eyes could see, the A9F is at least as bright as any of its existing 2018 OLED rivals. Standing next to one of them and outputting the exact same content, it seemed to deliver identical brightness highlights. We’re suspecting that this particular OLED is going to reach 1000 nits with peak brightness during playback of HDR content.

Also See: Our review of Samsung’s insanely bright Q9FN 4K LCD HDR television

Netflix Calibrated Mode & Reference Settings

Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

Sony made a huge issue out of its efforts towards “creators intent” for its new Master Series 4K TVs. The phrase and variations of it were tossed around repeatedly by both representatives of the company and those of Netflix and other partners. This is because Sony has made a maximum effort in collaboration with these partners to deliver what they essentially claimed was a lens to screen level of quality for certain categories of high quality content.

On the one hand, this consists of bringing the Master Series TVs and the A9F among them closer than ever before to delivering the same raw picture quality that Sony’s professional X300 4K OLED production calibration monitor is capable of, and on the other hand this included a new “Netflix Calibrated” mode that’s exclusive to the Master Series TV models for the time being. For this latter feature, Netflix worked with Sony to create a range of settings that can be automatically activated to show the best and most production-accurate visuals for HDR content from Netflix’s growing library of original series and 4K HDR movies.

Both Zack Estrin, Executive Producer for the Netflix Original Series “Lost In Space” and Netflix VP for device partner ecosystems, Scott Mirer were on hand for the Master Series demo to explain how the new TVs and the A9F excelled at displaying their content at its absolute best. Sony partner Display Portraits has also had a hand in the refinement of picture quality for the A9F and Z9F Master Series TVs. Their CalMAN calibration software/hardware is designed to automatically calibrate these televisions to a professional degree –a useful feature for pro reviewers and home users who want to make their own A9F work at its absolute optimum settings.

Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

Most importantly of all for the vast majority of A9F owners, the TV comes with what Sony now calls “Reference Mode Settings” already enabled on this model. These are found under the TV’s Custom menu and replace the previous Cinema Pro Plus settings. They have been fine-tuned by Sony itself so that the A9F performs better than you’ve ever seen a 4K HDR TV perform right out of the box. At their demo of the A9F, Sony showed the TV performing under its reference Mode and what we saw looked superb by the standards of how most 4K TVs show color, contrast and brightness right out of the box.

What We Didn’t Like

Based on our somewhat limited viewing on the Sony A9F OLED, there was very, very little to really dislike about this TV. However, until we can do a more in-depth and more hands-on review of the latest OLED 4K HDR model from Sony, the following are a couple of things we think are worth mentioning:

For starters, the design of the A9F is something that at least some users might not like. For our part, we have no problem with it at all and even if the screen is leaning back slightly when in a stand-alone position, the incline is very small and shouldn’t really affect how well you see what’s being displayed. We mention this detail here only because some users might simply not like the easel build of this new model, and those of you who don’t might be happier with the structure of the more classical looking Sony A8F OLED from earlier this year. It’s almost as good but comes with a typical vertical stand. It will be cheaper too.

Release Date Issues

We don’t yet know what Sony will charge for its new A9F  4K HDR TV model but we’re willing to bet that it will be distinctly pricier than the A8F. This is to be expected but what’s slightly annoying here is that buyers who already forked over plenty of money for “the latest and best” in Sony OLED technology with the A8F can now be disappointed to know that they won’t actually be getting that, that it’s out of date after only a few months. It almost seems absurd and could be viewed as insulting to Sony fans.

The A9F is going to cost something more than the A8F and it’s definitely at least a slightly better performer, so if it’s any consolation, by failing to have waited until you got your hands on this truly best and newest of 4K OLED TV s from Sony, you’re not going to miss a tremendous amount. It will still be annoying though, knowing that certain features of the A9F are locked into it exclusively only months after the company’s most recent previous OLED release.

The Bottom Line & Price vs. Value

We can’t confirm any price specifics for the A9F but this TV model will probably cost a nice little chunk of change more than the A8F does. This is to be expected. What we can say is that in terms of overall quality it is also a better TV in terms of certain minor improvements in color, motion handling and contrast refinements. However, as for whether or not it’s going to be worth buying, we’d say go for it only if you haven’t already bought a Sony A8F or some other 2018 OLED 4K HDR model. On the other hand, you could also wait until the LG 2019 4K OLED TV models come out to see what they have to offer. This might actually be the best idea even if it means waiting several months for their releases.

Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

Key Sony XBRA9F OLED 4K HDR TV Specs

  • Screen sizes: 55 inch XBR-55A9F, 65 inch XBR-55A9F
  • Smart TV: Android TV smart platform 2018
  • HEVC (H.265) Included: Yes
  • VP9 Included. Yes
  • HD to UHD upscaling: Yes
  • HDCP 2.2 Compliance: Yes
  • HDR Support: Yes, HDR10, Hybrid Log Gamma, Dolby Vision
  • Refresh Rate: 120Hz native refresh rate
  • Screen Lighting: OLED display
  • Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160 pixels UHD
  • Wireless Connectivity: Yes, includes both built-in WiFi and Ethernet port
  • Remotes: Sony smart remote, voice control, remote app for iOS and Android
  • Connectivity: 4 HDMI (all of them 2.0a and HDCP 2.2) ports, 3 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, 1 Digital Audio Out, all located in eternal One Connect box
  • Contrast Ratio: infinite (OLED)
  • Audio: 13 W + 13 W + 13 W + 13 W + 13 W + 13 W + 10 W + 10 W via Acoustic Surface Audio with Actuator and subwoofer
  • Maximum Peak Brightness: measurements weren’t allowed but roughly 900 nits based on comparison to other OLED TVs we’ve reviewed
  • 3D Technology: N/A
  • Processor: X1 Ultimate Processor engine

Display Performance Specs

We’ll save the detailed performance metrics of this particular Sony 4K OLED TV for when we have a full hands-on review in our hands. For the time being, we can safely say that the A9F OLED model offers up a selection of very impressive color, contrast, black level and motion handling performance metrics that are unlike nearly anything we’ve seen before in one of this or any other brand’s OLED 4K HDR TVs. The color delivery of this model showed itself to be downright spectacular and with some extremely good color fidelity for the content we were able to see displayed on the A9F during Sony’s demo session. Furthermore, motion delivery with Sony’s new X- Motion Clarity system did really seem better than we’ve seen it before in other OLED 4K TVs, from Sony or any other brand.

The contrast of the A9F IS definitely better than we’ve seen it before in previous OLED 4K HDR TV models, at least when it’s being used to display HDR content and this was not only demonstrated to us but is something quite evident. This TV simply does a fantastic job of showing fine details even in very shadowy scenes on the screen. The color quality we observed on the screen was also distinctly vibrant but managed to conserve excellent accuracy at the same time.

Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

Connectivity

Sony’s ZBR-A9F OLED 4K HDR TVs maintain all of the latest and most commonly used connectivity ports and technologies, just like pretty much any other 4K TV released in 2018 so far. This model will not come with HDMI 2.1 unfortunately (as far as we know at this point) but it does come with the essentials for a great content viewing experience across the board and offers full HDR video support in all of its HDMI ports. The connectivity specs of the A9F are as follows:

  • HDMI : 4 (2 and 3 come with HDCP 2.2 and full HDMI 2.0a capacity)
  • USB : 3 (USB 3.0)
  • Digital Optical Audio Out : 1
  • Analog Audio Out 3.5 mm : 1
  • Tuner (Cable/Ant) : 1
  • Ethernet : 1
  • HDR10 support: Yes
  • Hybrid Log Gamma HDR support: Yes
  • Dolby Vision HDR: Yes

The Sony A9F TV models also offer audio connectivity in the following types.

  • 1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough ARC DTS
  • 1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough Optical DTS

 Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F)

Pricing and Availability

Sony hasn’t yet released pricing details for the A9F OLED 4K HDR TV but expect the 55 inch model to cost just a bit under $3000 and the 65 inch model to cost roughly around $4000. Both Televisions, along with the Sony Z9F Master Series LCD model, will be going on sale in the fall of 2018.

Story by 4k.com

The post Sony A9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F) appeared first on .

Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F)

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Stephan Jukic – Sept 11, 2018

Overview

Sony recently invited us to attend their unveiling of the new late 2018 Master Series 4K HDR LCD and OLED TVs. The models in this ultra-premium lineup consisted of the OLED A9F, the successor to Sony’s A8F released just a bit earlier this year, and the new LCD Z9F, Sony’s long-anticipated replacement to the Z9D flagship TV that Sony released in late 2016.

Both of the new televisions were absolute marvels of high technology and stellar picture performance almost across the board and now that we’ve done our hands-on overview of the A9F, it’s the Z9F’s turn, so we’re going to cover it here in as much detail as we were able to glean from our time with the new giant of a TV at the unveiling.

The Z9D was beyond all doubt Sony’s best ever 4K LCD TV when it was unveiled in late 2016 and we’d even argue that in terms of sheer raw quality, it was the single best LCD 4K HDR TV of 2016, 2017 and even part of 2018 from any brand. It simply excelled on virtually all fronts and provided levels of peak brightness, local dimming quality, black delivery and contrast that we had never before seen in any 4K LCD TV until Samsung unveiled the even better Q9FN in mid-2018. In other words, it was time to finally replace the Z9D, and while Sony was perfectly justified in calling it their best 4K TV right up to this year, a new edition was definitely overdue with the release of Samsung’s flagship models. This is the Z9F and based on what we saw at Sony’s NYC event, it very seriously promises to live up to the reputation the Z9D already established for nearly three years. This is one stunner of a TV and based on certain key visual specs we were able to examine, it looks like it might also be the best 4K LCD TV of any brand when it emerges in the fall of this year.

Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F)

Also See: Our Review of the Sony A9F OLED 4K HDR TV, One of today’s best OLED televisions

Positives

  • Stunningly high levels of peak brightness
  • Exceptionally good local dimming quality
  • Remarkably vibrant color delivery
  • Fantastic motion handling
  • Beautifully deep black rendering
Negatives
  • It’s expensive 
  • Not as bright as expected
  • No smaller sizes

What We Liked

Improved Picture Performance and Picture Processing

Both of the Master Series 4K HDR TVs come with Sony’s beefed up new X1 Ultimate Picture Processing engine and this little piece of technology ties into just about every other key ingredient in both of these TVs’ display performance. Due to the processing power of the X1 Ultimate engine and related technologies such as Object-based Super Resolution and Object-based HDR remaster, the new Z9F promises superior motion handling, better color delivery, higher-quality HDR mastery and generally better rendering of nearly any kind of content (whether it’s 4K video or not). Based on what we saw at Sony’s fairly recent unveiling of the Z9F, the company has largely pulled this off with this beast of a television.

One of the big selling points that Sony constantly referred to for both of the Master Series 4K TVs was the idea of “Creator’s Intent”, which is basically an attempt by the company to create a level of out-of-the-box picture quality in both the A9F OLED TV and the Z9F that’s so good, it comes professionally close to simulating how the creators of high quality content wanted it to look on the screen. The key step Sony took to achieve this process was making the Z9F match as closely as possible the display performance of Sony’s own extremely expensive but extremely precise BVM-X300 4K V2 OLED Master Monitor for movie production reference use. Now, the BVM-3000 is a pro production reference monitor with out-of-this-world color, contrast, and other visual specs and as such it costs tens of thousands of dollars. The Z9F can’t match what a piece of professional calibration display technology like that is capable of, but it comes remarkably close, and compared to rival ultra-premium 4K LCD HDR TVs we saw it compared to, the Z9F gives every other consumer market option on the market a serious run for its money.

In other words, the color delivery of the Z9F was simply stunning and particularly so for HDR content. The same applied for motion handling, black levels, the sheer quality of local dimming and, to a lesser extent, to the levels of peak brightness we were able to see. In all of these key areas of picture performance, this 4K HDR TV at least matches and in most ways exceeds what its predecessor the Z9D could do. It definitely gives even the best 2018 Samsung 4K HDR TVs on sale right now a run for their money on color, local dimming and motion performance.

Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F)

Also See: Our in-depth review of Samsung’s incredibly bright ultra-premium Q9FN 4K HDR TV

Contrast, Black Levels and Local Dimming

These are a subset of the overall picture performance improvements created in the Z9F by its new X1 Ultimate processor but they’re crucial aspects of picture quality. The Z9F, thankfully, delivers all three: contrast, black levels and local dimming, marvelously. The other Master Series 4K TV is the A9F OLED so obviously the Z9F is no match for THOSE types of black levels but by LCD standards, this model does some truly amazing things with its backlight control technology. Like its predecessor the Z9D, the Z9F also comes with an incredible number of local dimming zones across its full-array LED backlight setup.

Sony absolutely would not tell us exactly how many dimming zones this TV comes with despite several attempts by myself and others to push them on even a general number. However, based on what we were able to see, the quality of this TV’s local dimming definitely indicates at least as many and probably even more local dimming zones than was the case in the Z9D. The result of such a high level of local dimming quality is that the Z9F also delivers some truly incredible black levels and contrast ratios as needed for high quality content. Furthermore, while Sony didn’t go into details about the Z9F’s LED design, we suspect that this model comes with the same narrow focus technology that was found to make the Z9D’s LED’s illuminate so precisely for minimal halo effects in onscreen content.

The bottom line for this aspect of the Z9F is that what you get is a remarkably great handing of shadows, contrast and deep blacks that will make any content look particularly good when it’s being displayed.

Sony Z9F on right of picture

Sony Z9F on right of picture

Also See: our review of the stunning Sony Master Series A9F OLED 4K HDR TV for 2019

Color Performance and Motion Handling

The color performance and motion handling of the Z9F are both specifically worth mentioning because they were so evidently exceptional during our hands on demonstration of this model. Placed side by side next to one of Sony’s own older X940F 4K HDR TVs, the Z9F displayed the color palettes of various pieces of scenery with a much stronger level of vibrancy that has to be seen to really be appreciated. Furthermore, the specific brightness and shadows of these scenes helped along this color rendering for an overall effect that was decidedly superior. This is partly because, in addition to the X1 Ultimate processing engine, Sony has given the Z9F (and the A9F OLED) what it calls Pixel Booster technology, which participates in the same process of making the TV’s pixels stand out more sharply for their individual contrast and rendering of vibrant colors. The effect then translates out to the entire TV display itself across all 8.29 million pixels on the 4K screen. Again, given the level of color performance we could observe, the quality was visibly superior to what we’ve previously seen even in Samsung’s otherwise excellent QLED TVs, which are known for their own high quality of color performance.

There’s also another benefit that Sony has added to the Z9F thanks to a combination of the X1 Ultimate engine, the above-mentioned pixel booster technology and other design specifications (which the company wouldn’t reveal in detail at their demo). This is incredibly wide viewing angles of a broadness we’ve never before seen in a 4K LCD TV with VA display panel technology. Sony calls this feature X-Wide Angle and The Z9F delivers consistently better contrast, brightness and color accuracy at wide off-center viewing angles than any LCD VA panel TV we’ve ever before seen. Again, placed next to Sony’s own older premium 4K TVs and Samsung’s ultra-premium models –which also come with VA panel screens—the Z9F was the hands-down top performer at viewability at an angle. What we saw was almost comparable to the viewing angles of TVs with IPS display but with the much deeper, richer black levels of Vertically Aligned pixels.

http://4k.com/tv/samsung-q9fn-q9f-2018-4k-hdr-lcd-tv-review-qn65q9fn-qn75q9fn/

Sony Z9F on left of photo, note superior color rendering at wide angle

We should also note that the Z9F supports all three of the major HDR formats right out of the box. No more waiting for an eventual Dolby Vision update later on. On this baby the format comes along with HDR10 and HLG right away for the content that also supports any of these formats.

Netflix Calibrated Mode & Reference Settings

As we explained above, Sony made a huge issue out of its efforts towards “creator’s intent” for its new Master Series 4K TVs. The phrase and variations of it were tossed around repeatedly by both representatives of the company and those of Netflix and other Sony partners in the creation of these Master Series TVs. This is because Sony has made a strong effort to deliver out-of-the-box picture quality in the Z9F and A9F that’s so good, it comes closer than ever to matching the quality of color, contrast and other visual details that the creators of original 4K HDR content had in mind when developing it for TV playback.

On the one hand, this development consists of bringing the Master Series TVs and the Z9F among them closer than ever before to delivering the same raw picture quality that Sony’s professional X300 4K OLED production calibration monitor is capable of, and on the other hand this included a new “Netflix Calibrated” mode that’s exclusive to the Master Series TV models for the time being.

For this latter feature, Netflix worked with Sony to create a range of settings that can be automatically activated to show the best and most production-accurate visuals for HDR content from Netflix’s growing library of original series and 4K HDR movies.

Both Zack Estrin, Executive Producer for the Netflix Original Series “Lost In Space” and Netflix VP for device partner ecosystems, Scott Mirer were on hand for the Master Series demo to explain how both the Z9F and the A9F OLED excelled at displaying their content at its absolute best. Sony partner Display Portraits has also had a hand in the refinement of picture quality for the Z9F and A9F Master Series TVs. Their CalMAN calibration software/hardware is designed to automatically calibrate these televisions to a professional degree –a useful feature for pro reviewers and home users who want to make their own Z9F work at its absolute optimum settings.

Sony Z9F 4K HDR LCD TV review XBR65X9F, XBR75Z9F

Most importantly of all for the vast majority of Z9F owners, the TV comes with what Sony now calls “Reference Mode Settings” already enabled on this model. These are found under the TV’s Custom menu and replace the previous Cinema Pro Plus settings. They have been fine-tuned by Sony itself so that the Z9F supposedly performs better than you’ve ever seen a 4K HDR TV perform right out of the box. We can’t be 100% sure that Sony didn’t tweak things a bit further but at their demo of the Z9F, the TV was shown performing with its reference Mode enabled and what we saw looked superb by the standards of how most 4K TVs show color, contrast and brightness right out of the box.

What We Didn’t Like

Its numerous superlatives aside, the Sony Z9F Master Series model isn’t without its small share of what we could consider flaws or imperfections. None of these except maybe for its eventual and almost certainly very steep price tag are what we’d call deal breakers but they’re worth mentioning. Even as far as the surely high price of the Z9F is concerned, if you’re going to aim for home theater quality of this caliber, you can’t expect it to come cheap anyhow.

With that said, here are some less than ideal aspects of the new Z9F.

Peak Brightness

The 2016 Z9D was the absolute brightest 4K LCD HDR TV ever made for the mass consumer market right up until Samsung released the Q9FN 2018 edition earlier this year. This Samsung model outgunned the Z9D on maximum screen brightness and delivers almost twice the maximum contrast of its older Sony rival when local dimming in the Q9F 2018 model is activated. Naturally enough, we expected the Z9F to beat Samsung on this front just because it’s so good in every other major way.

Unfortunately, we aren’t quite sure it will pull that off. At Sony’s demo, our hands-on experience didn’t include being able to test specific calibration specs so we can’t be sure either way but based on a visual comparison with the best TV that Samsung has to offer, we’d say that the Z9F performs more or less the same, and might possibly be a bit dimmer in terms of peak performance. We’ll know better when we can do a detailed review with full measurement of specs. That said the Z9F is definitely extremely bright and even if it delivers performance that’s on par with what its predecessor or Samsung’s Q9FN can do, we’re still talking about over 1600 nits of peak brightness. What this model definitely seemed to show was a superior overall level of contrast and local dimming precision, so that works in its favor despite any peak brightness issues.

Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F)

Design

The design of the Z9F is pretty plain. So are the designs of many other ultra-premium 4K HDR TVs such as the Samsung Q9 2018 rival but we would have liked to see a bit more inventiveness here. This TV only really impresses when its turned on. Standing there, completely black, it looks fairly plain and is also quite thick through the display due to the bulk of its full-array LED backlight system behind the display. LG’s best 2018 OLED TVs and Sony’s own A9F OLED all look decidedly more elegant and as a result more impressive in a living room. In other words, the A9F impresses most with its picture quality.

Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F)

Weak Audio

The Sony Z9F may be an absolute beast of a 4K TV as far as its display prowess is concerned, but when it comes to this model’s audio specs, it’s strictly weak sauce, unlike the much, much more robust A9F OLED TV. The speaker system of the Z9F tops out at just two 10W speakers and some additional audio gimmicks from Dolby that don’t compensate for the TV’s fundamentally weak sound system. In other words, get an external sound system, if you can afford a TV like this, then you can surely afford one of those as well.

Release Date Issues

The Sony Z9F is definitely expensive. The 65 inch model starts out at $3500 and the 75 inch edition retails for a whopping $6000. This is fine as far as it goes, since premium 4K TVs of this caliber are obviously going to be expensive and everyone knows that. What is however still be annoying is knowing that certain features of the Z9F are locked into it and its Master Series cousin the A9F exclusively only months after the company’s most recent previous premium TV releases the A8F OLED and the X900F 4K LCD HDR TV.

Also See: Our detailed, measured review of the Sony X900F 4K HDR LCD TV

The Bottom Line & Price vs. Value

Sony has now released the prices of its Master Series 4K HDR TVs and we can confirm that the Z9F costs a nice little chunk of change more than any other 2018 Sony TV except the A9F Master Series cousin that’s coming out with the Z9F (at least for the 65 inch editions, which are priced equally at $3500 for both models). This is to be expected. What we can say is that in terms of overall quality the Z9F is probably going to be the best 4K TV released in 2018 and into early 2019, so if you want top-notch performance and don’t feel like waiting until the 2019 releases show up on the market in the spring of next year, go for the Z9F. Its predecessor the Z9D kept top spot as one of the best 4K TVs in existence for nearly three years. We don’t think the Z9F will last quite that long but it will be an absolutely great piece of home theater technology for at least as long even if other models supersede it sooner or later.

Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F)

Key Sony XBR-Z9F Specs

  • Screen sizes: 65 inch XBR-65Z9F, 75 inch XBR-75Z9F
  • Smart TV: Android TV smart platform 2018
  • HEVC (H.265) Included: Yes
  • VP9 Included. Yes
  • HD to UHD upscaling: Yes
  • HDCP 2.2 Compliance: Yes
  • HDR Support: Yes, HDR10, Hybrid Log Gamma, Dolby Vision
  • Refresh Rate: 120Hz native refresh rate
  • Screen Lighting: LCD/LED display with full-array LED backlighting
  • Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160 pixels UHD
  • Wireless Connectivity: Yes, includes both built-in WiFi and Ethernet port
  • Remotes: Sony smart remote, voice control, remote app for iOS and Android
  • Connectivity: 4 HDMI (all of them 2.0a and HDCP 2.2) ports, 3 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, 1 Digital Audio Out, all located in eternal One Connect box
  • Contrast Ratio: at least 9,000:1 with local dimming activated
  • Audio: 10 W+10 W with Dolby® Digital, Dolby® Digital Plus, Dolby® Pulse, Dolby® AC-4 DTS Digital Surround
  • Maximum Peak Brightness: measurements weren’t allowed but almost certainly at least 1600 nits nits based on comparison to other high-end 2018 TVs we’ve reviewed
  • 3D Technology: N/A
  • Processor: X1 Ultimate Processor engine

Sony Z9F Display Performance Specs

We’ll save the detailed performance metrics of this particular Sony 4K OLED TV for when we have a full hands-on review in our hands. For the time being, we can safely say that the Z9F model offers up a selection of very impressive color, contrast, black level and motion handling performance metrics that are unlike nearly anything we’ve seen before in one of this or any other brand’s 4K HDR TVs. The color delivery of this model showed itself to be downright spectacular and with some extremely good color fidelity for the content we were able to see displayed on the Z9F during Sony’s demo session. Furthermore, motion delivery with Sony’s new X- Motion Clarity system did really seem better than we’ve seen it before in other LCD 4K TVs, from Sony or any other brand.

The contrast of the Z9F IS definitely better than we’ve seen it before in previous HDR LCD 4K TV models, at least when it’s being used to display HDR content and this was not only demonstrated to us but is something quite evident. This TV simply does a fantastic job of showing fine details even in very shadowy scenes on the screen. The color quality we observed on the screen was also distinctly vibrant but managed to conserve excellent accuracy at the same time. These superior features apply in comparisons that we were able to see between the Z9F and any other older Sony 4K TV except the A9F OLED model (which has many of the same technologies but applied to OLED display) and they even apply when the Z9F is compared with the best premium LCD TV of rival brands, based on what we saw without being able to measure concrete specs.

Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F)

Connectivity

Sony’s ZBR-Z9F OLED 4K HDR TVs maintain all of the latest and most commonly used connectivity ports and technologies, just like pretty much any other 4K TV released in 2018 so far. This model will not come with HDMI 2.1 unfortunately (as far as we know at this point) but it does come with the essentials for a great content viewing experience across the board and offers full HDR video support in all of its HDMI ports. The connectivity specs of the Z9F are as follows:

  • HDMI : 4 (2 and 3 come with HDCP 2.2 and full HDMI 2.0a capacity)
  • USB : 3 (USB 3.0)
  • Digital Optical Audio Out : 1
  • Analog Audio Out 3.5 mm : 1
  • Tuner (Cable/Ant) : 1
  • Ethernet : 1
  • HDR10 support: Yes
  • Hybrid Log Gamma HDR support: Yes
  • Dolby Vision HDR: Yes

The Sony Z9F TV models also offer audio connectivity in the following types.

  • 1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough ARC DTS
  • 1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough Optical DTS

 Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F)

Sony Z9F Pricing and Availability

Currently, Sony is selling the Z9F 65 inch and 75 inch models at prices of $3500 and $5,999 respectively. This is to be expected for new release TVs of this level of quality. We expect this price to drop at least a bit moving into 2019 so if you feel like waiting to get your hands on what is arguable the single best LCD 4K HDR TV of 2018 and early 2019, wait a bit longer if you like.

Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F)

Story by 4k.com

The post Sony Z9F 4K HDR Master Series TV First Look Review (XBR-65Z9F, XBR-75Z9F) appeared first on .

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

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Stephan Jukic – October 26, 2018

Overview

TCL’s 2017 P-Series 4K HDR TVs were some of the best deals of last year in terms of value per dollar spent. They weren’t the best performers on the market by any means, but they were the absolute best performers for their amazingly low price when you considered the features they offered. The 2018 6-Series tries to pull off the same thing but with one more size range other than just 55 inches. It comes very close to doing so. This 4K HDR TV isn’t as good as the premium offerings of any of the other major brands in absolute terms but due to its own relatively low price, it has a lot to offer. Most importantly, the 6-Series models deliver excellent HDR performance, broad HDR support, very high brightness and some really good local dimming technology for high contrast. They’re also however weakened by a few aspects that we’ll cover below.

Also Read: Our in-depth review of Samsung’s Q7FN 4K HDR LCD TV, superb brightness at a reasonable price
Our Comprehensive Buying Guide to today’s best 4K UHD TVs

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Positives

• High peak and sustained display brightness
• Very good color rendering for normal and HDR content
• Great motion handling, especially for gaming
• strong local dimming and full-array LED backlighting
• Very robust contrast ratios and black levels

Negatives

• Not nearly as bright as premium 2018 LED TVs
• Cheap physical design
• Typical narrow viewing angles due to VA display technology
• Rather crappy native audio

Bottom Line

The TCL 6 Series is definitely worth its very reasonable and budget-friendly price tag and for this reason we absolutely recommend it to buyers who want some premium performance and features without spending over 1000 dollars on similarly sized premium 4K TVs from Samsung, Sony, LG or other premium brands. And the TCL 6 Series does indeed offer several high-level specs. On the other hand, if you truly do want a fully ultra-premium 4K TV design and performance, you’re better off going the extra mile (or dollars) and buying yourself a high-end model from any of the other brands mentioned above.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Check the TCL R617 6-Series 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

What We Liked

There are plenty of things to really like about the 6 Series 4K HDR TVs. These revolve mostly around their display performance and motion handling but also include these televisions’ combination of the above and one truly superb price tag. The HDR display and format support of these televisions is also really good when you consider what you pay for them. Here are the main benefits of the TCL 6 Series models. Most of these revolve around visual specs and qualities.

Display brightness and full-array LED backlighting

Full-array LED backlighting has traditionally been a “luxury” feature among the major brands behind today’s ultra HD TVs. In other words, it was something that these companies only gave to ther best and most expensive 4K TVs and often even for those models, Full-Array backlighting would be absent (as we saw in the 2017 premium QLED TVs from Samsung, for example). TCL apparently decided to take a page from rival budget 4K TV maker Vizio and say “screw that” with its own flagship TVs by giving them both low prices AND truly stunning backlight design with full-array lighting and plenty of local dimming zones as a result. This is what the 6-Series offers and it’s probably this 4K TV model’s single best feature. The full backlight of the 6-Series allows this television to offer high levels of peak brightness, but most importantly, it gives all of the 6-Series models some truly decent full-array local dimming (also called FALD) as well, by which the backlights can be shut off in specific zones for much better onscreen contrast.

In basic terms, with the 6-Series and its full-array backlight, you get a display lighting feature and FALD technology that would normally be found in today’s priciest 4K TVs but at a fairly modest price in this TV’s case.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Display Brightness

The TCL 6-Series doesn’t reach anywhere near the peak display brightness of its competitors among the flagship 4K HDR TVs of Samsung, Sony or maybe even quite LG (LG’s OLEDs are now fantastically bright compared to older models) but it still gets incredibly bright for a television that’s as affordable as this model. Combined with the local dimming we mentioned above and the extremely strong black levels thanks to that dimming technology, this means that the 6-Series delivers superb luminosity across the board, even when viewed in brightly lit rooms. Overall, it performs about as well as much pricier models such as Samsung’s Q6FN or Sony’s X900F and outperforms a majority of 2017 4K HDR TVs. Compared to many 2018 models, the 6-Series is brighter than just about any similarly priced 4K TV for this year and that’s a major point in its favor.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Black Levels and Contrast

The contrast ratio and black delivery levels of any 4K HDR TV are exceptionally important components of display performance because they decide how rich and realistic shadowy scenes or dark content with contrasting bright content looks. On these fronts, the 6-Series is a very good performer in most ways. It could have done a bit better at how well it isolates backlight brightness to avoid a “halo effect” around bright objects against a dark background considering that it has local dimming but on the whole, what the 6-Series does deliver very robustly is a powerful level of deep black uniformity when needed while also creating very strong, high contrast ratios if the screen needs to display both bright video and dark segments simultaneously. We saw better performance at contrast with Samsung’s flagship 4K TVs but the 6-Series does a remarkably good job when you consider how much less it costs than these televisions. Overall, its performance is roughly comparable to that of the more expensive Sony X900F.

Support for Multiple HDR Standards

One thing that the TCL 6-Series also offers in terms of HDR performance is support for Dolby Vision HDR as well as HDR10 and Hybrid Log Gamma standards capability. This is something that not all name brand 4K HDR TVs offer (Samsung’s entire lineup of televisions being a good example), so if you want maximum possible HDR settings coverage in your own home theater system, the TCL 6-Series models won’t let you down on their support specs.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Also See: Everything you need to know about HDR color in 4K TVs in this guide

Motion handling and Gaming Excellence

Motion handling was one of the few serious weaknesses of the 2017 TCL P-Series (which we also considered to be one very great 4K HDR televsion for its price). For the 2018 successor, the S-Series, this problem is no more. The 6-Series handles motion blur and frame rate interpolation exceptionally well or at least reasonably well and its display response time is excellent. Motion interpolation of content that plays more slowly than the TVs native 60Hz display panel refresh is also very good and this is an entirely new feature for the 2018 model. As we said, the 2017 P-Series that is this model’s predecessor completely lacked this feature.

And, as we said above, as a TV for gaming use with consoles or PC rigs, the 6 SERIES is simply superb. TCL’s TVs are almost always great in this regard so this was no surprise to us. In basic terms, for use with consoles playing games in 4K or 1080p and with or without HDR and other color/contrast formats, the 6 SERIES delivers wonderfully low input lag pretty much across all settings. The one exception to this is the 6-Series performance when it comes to gaming with the TV’s game Mode disabled or trying to play console games if the motion interpolation feature we mentioned above is turned on. In both of these cases, the 6-Series switches over to a far-too-high input lag of over 100ms.

The bottom line for this television is that for both handling of fast-paced action content motion from almost any content sources and for playing console games in an assortment of HDR, color, resolution and frame rate settings, the TCL 6-Series is a very strong performer.

Smart TV Platform

All of TCL’s TVs come with the Roku TV smart platform that’s pretty much identical to the version of it found in Roku’s own streaming media devices. We’ve reviewed these before and absolutely love them partly due to the sheer quantity of content options they offer and partly because of how user-friendly Roku TV is (even grandma will get the hang of it in no time). Since the 6-Series offers the same exact platform, you’ll get one of today’s best smart entertainment platforms for the consumer market built right into your TV right out of the box. We consider this a great bonus feature of the 6-Series.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Also Read:
Our In-depth review of Samsung’s ultra-bright flagship 2018 Q9FN 4K HDR TV
Our detailed review of Samsung’s excellent 2018 Q8FN 4K HDR LCD TV

What We Didn’t Like

The Samsung 6 SERIES TV also isn’t without some minor to moderate flaws. None of the unlikeable things that we found about this TV are in any way real deal-breakers in our opinion, especially with the 6 SERIES’s very reasonable price tag being considered, but they are worth mentioning just in case some consumers hate the following:

Some Color Weakness

The TCL 6-Series 4K HDR TV does indeed offer full-blown high dynamic range support and even includes both HDR10 and Dolby Vision dynamic range support for color and contrast top the best of its ability for these standards. However, despite its display functionality for these technologies, how well the television actually lives up to their specs is a bit weak as far as color is concerned. The 6-Series does indeed offer up 10-bit color and wide color gamut DCI-P3 color spectrum coverage (both of which are crucial specs of HDR color delivery) but its delivery of wide color gamut in particular isn’t the best on today’s market. Pretty much any mid-range or better Samsung, LG or Sony HDR 4K TV beats the 6-Series on how well it delivers rich, dynamic color for HDR or even SDR content in our opinion. The difference is small but many viewers will probably notice it.

Problematic Local Dimming

Yes the 6-Series does offer local dimming backed by the power of full-array LED backlighting, as we explained above, but the quality of this local dimming isn’t quite as good as we expected it to be considering the FALD it delivers. In other words, while multiple local dimming zones and a full array of LED backlights should offer extremely crisp contrast, they don’t quite pull it off in the 6-Series. This model delivers high contrast and gets very nice levels of peak and sustained display brightness but a noticeable halo effect is created around the edges of contrasting pieces of content. The halo effect is small but somewhat visible.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Viewing angle problems

Vertical Alignment, or VA for short, is the technology used in the organization of pixels on many of today’s TV screens, including all of TCL’s models. It means that the pixels in the screen are vertically aligned from top to bottom lengthwise in a more narrow formation that on the one hand allows for extremely good blocking of backlight bleed but which on the other hand also reduces color, contrast and overall picture quality at wide off-center viewing angles. The 6 Series suffers from this problem to a certain extent and if you’ve got a big living room in which people might scatter around a bit to watch the TV from far off to either side, it will spoil the entertainment experience a bit. We prefer VA TVs to their IPS rivals (which have much better viewing angles but also weaker contrast and black levels) but they’re not for everyone. Good alternatives to VA TVs are Sony or LG’s OLED 4K TVs, which offer excellent viewing angles and keep their deep perfect blacks.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Crappy native audio

The TCL R617 delivers only mediocre native audio power. If you’re used to powerful surround-sound speaker systems, they’ll be particularly unimpressive and while you usually can’t expect much from the small and highly centered speakers of any stand-alone 4K TV, this model probably could maybe have done a bit better on this metric even with its cheap price tag. You can however easily fix this problem by splurging on even a modestly good external sound system.

value for Price & Bottom Line

Overall, we think the 6 Series is a good deal. It’s not as good a 4K TV as any of the flagship 4K HDR TVs of the other major brands but it is damn good compared to any 4K TV that you could buy at this model’s price from among all 2018 and even most 2017 4K ultra HD HDR televisions. For buyers on a somewhat tight budget who still want plenty of premium features, we really recommend the TCL R617 6-Series.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Check the TCL R617 6-Series 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Also Read
Our review of the excellent and surprisingly affordable Sony X900F 4K HDR TV
Our review of LG’s best value in 2018 OLED 4K HDR TV technology, the C8 television

Key Samsung 6 SERIES Specs

• Screen sizes: 55 inch 55R617, 65 inch 65R617 (TV being reviewed is 55 inches)
• Smart TV: Roku TV smart platform 2018
• HEVC (H.265) Included: Yes
• VP9 Included. Yes
• HD to UHD upscaling: Yes
• HDCP 2.2 Compliance: Yes
• HDR Support: Yes, HDR10, Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log Gamma
• Refresh Rate: 60Hz native refresh
• Screen Lighting: LCD Display with full-array backlighting & local dimming
• Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160 pixels UHD
• Wireless Connectivity: Yes, includes both built-in WiFi and Ethernet port
• Remotes: Samsung smart remote, voice control, remote app for iOS and Android
• Connectivity: 4 HDMI (all of them 2.0a and HDCP 2.2) ports, 3 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, 1 Digital Audio Out, all located in eternal One Connect box
• Contrast Ratio: 5195+:1 (native, real contrast), 6100+:1 (with local dimming)
• Maximum Peak Brightness: 1180 nits (cd/m2)
• 3D Technology: N/A
• Processor: IPQ Engine

Display Performance Metrics

Here we’re going to cover the most crucial performance specs and their measurements in the TCL 6 Series 4K HDR LCD TV. They all revolve around color reproduction, brightness, black levels, contrast, local dimming and motion handling. These specs may vary slightly from unit to unit so they should not be taken as absolutes. However, they should maintain a generally high level of similarity in all units on the market, making them good enough to be reliable indicators of quality.

Different sizes of TV display can change some of these metrics slightly (for example, larger edge-lit LCD 4K TVs tend to have weaker local dimming and peak brightness). As an edge-lit LCD TV, the 6 Series can have some slight variations to how its backlight affects local dimming, contrast and black uniformity depending on the size of screen being considered.

The following specs are basically what really decides if a 4K TV is worth buying or not. They’re its most important indicators of real performance and they disregard all the marketing and labeling fluff that manufacturers like to slather their TVs with for the sake of making them seem more exceptional than they really might be. Here we ignore fake color brilliance labels and disingenuous terminology about inflated motion handling or visual prowess. In other words, we focus on concrete, measured relative performance qualifications.

Black Level, Local Dimming and Contrast:

These crucial display specs in any 4K TV all interplay with each other as far as display performance goes. Thus they deserve to be covered together.

TCL’s 6-Series TVs deliver all of the above either really well or superbly. The black levels of the 6-Series R617 models are generally very good and become particularly outstanding if you activate this television’s local dimming feature. Overall black uniformity is also exceptional when local dimming is turned on, though there is some clouding along the outer parts of the display in particular for full display black uniformity when local dimming is kept off in the R617.

Despite this, the TV performs well at delivering rich deep black levels and though the local dimming technology of this TV does create some halo effects long the edges of bright objects against dark backgrounds, the effect is relatively minor. The 6-Series local dimming is full-array so it generally offers high contrast quality.

This of course brings us to the contrast ratio of the R617. It’s very high and with FALD (full-array local dimming) activated, goes even higher to a level that’s excellent and comparable to what you’d get with most Sony or Samsung 4K HDR TVs. On the other hand, the R617 doesn’t come even close to matching the insane 10,000:1+ contrast ratios of Samsung’s best QLED TVs or Sony’s best LCD TVs such as the X900F and new Z9F Master Series models

Also Read: Our In-depth Hands-on review of Sony’s newest Master Series Z9F 4K LCD HDR TV

Where the 6 Series falls slightly short is on the overall quality of its local dimming. As we said above, the TV performs well in how nicely it delivers contrast performance for content and how well it maintains deep black levels where needed even in mostly bright content. However, its local dimming doesn’t perform quite as well as we expected considering that this is a model with FALD technology. This could be due to a small number of less-than-precise dimming zones or it could be because the R617 doesn’t block light bleed through its pixels as well as the TVs of rival brands like Samsung do.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Brightness:

The maximum possible spot HDR or SDR luminosity of a complete 4K TV display or differently sized sections of its screen is how peak brightness gets measured in units of brightness called nits (or cd/m2, which is the same thing). Sustained brightness is the highest possible sustained HDR or SDR brightness that the TV screen can manage across its entire screen or parts of it for a prolonged period of time (a few minutes or more). In other words, Peak brightness consists of how luminous sudden bright spots can become and sustained brightness measures prolonged luminosity in content on the display.

The TCL R617 6-Series is one very bright 4K HDR LCD TV by any conventional measure. It performs strongly on delivering both peak brightness and overall sustained brightness under almost all conditions. It only looks weak when compared to premium TVs from Samsung, LG or if it’s compared to Sony’s absolute best 4K LCD TVs. In comparison to the majority of mid-range and similarly priced “budget” name brand 4K TVs of all types, this TV performs above average almost across the board. Its absolute peak luminance reaches up to over 1150 nits, and is also high when the R617 is being used to play SDR content without its high dynamic range turned on. In basic terms, this means that the 6 SERIES displays movie content of all types wonderfully, with excellent brightness and vibrancy and is thus a great TV for viewing even in brightly lit rooms without worrying about weak visibility of what’s on the screen.

The R617 does however manage to deliver very decent color volume and vibrancy even during playback of content at high levels of peak brightness or during shadowy scenes. It doesn’t do this as well as some televisions we’ve previously reviewed but its overall capability under extremes of darkness and brightness is reasonably good.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Moving on to the The R617’s brightness specs themselves, the display brightness numbers below as measured in nits for different areas of display space, under both HDR and SDR settings and under both peak and sustained conditions demonstrate the 6 Series’s overall capacity for screen luminosity:

TCL 6 SERIES SDR Brightness

  • Overall SDR peak brightness for normal content: 721 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display SDR brightness: 900 nits
  • Peak 10% display area SDR brightness: 1005 nits
  • Peak 25% display area SDR brightness: 1150 nits
  • Peak 100% display area SDR brightness: 687 nits
  • Sustained 10% SDR brightness: 995 nits
  • Sustained 100% SDR brightness: 673 nits

TCL 6 SERIES HDR Brightness

  • Overall HDR peak brightness for normal content: 729 nits
  • Peak 2% display area display HDR brightness: 920 nits
  • Peak 10% display area HDR brightness: 1030 nits
  • Peak 25% display area SDR brightness: 1180 nits
  • Peak 100% display area HDR brightness: 710 nits
  • Sustained 10% HDR brightness: 999 nits
  • Sustained 100% HDR brightness: 679 nits

Color Delivery:

TCL’s 6 Series doesn’t quite manage the exceptionally high levels of color delivery that most of 2018’s premium HDR 4K TVs can manage but it comes very close. The difference is small enough that it probably won’t even really be noticeable unless you were to compare this model with something like the QLED Samsung Q6FN side-by-side. However, it is worth noting.

First of all, the 6 Series offers the obvious essentials of premium HDR color delivery: full support for 10-bit color with very little banding of colors during reproduction of content with 10-bit (1.07 billion colors) color support also included for wide color gamut spectrum coverage. The WCG coverage of this TV is reasonably good, with 90.69% of the DCI-P3 spectrum covered. This isn’t bad but it’s also not exceptional by the standards of premium HDR ultra HD televisions. The bottom line is that in terms of color vibrancy and realism for both HDR and SDR content, the 6 SERIES does a very good job even if it isn’t an absolute top performer.

Color volume maintenance is decent in this TV model (as we mentioned above in our brightness section) and it’s definitely superior to what we saw in most similarly priced name brand HDR ultra HD TVs. In both shadowy scenes and extremely bright content sequences, decent color volume is maintained across the entire color gamut and that’s very impressive considering just how tricky it used to be for a TV display to pull this off in older 4K HDR TVs. All of Samsung’s and Sony’s premium 4K HDR ultra HD TVs outperform the TCL 6-Series on this spec though.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

However, and this is a crucial point worth mentioning, Users who are used to watching TVs without 4K resolution, expended color capacity or HDR color support (and obviously without being able to view HDR content with the dynamic range activated) will probably be VERY impressed with the TCL 6-Series models. These TVs only look a bit weaker when compared with something like Samsung or Sony’s best and latest 4K HDR TVs.

White balance delta E, color delta E and Gamma in the 6 Series sit at wonderful levels of 0.32, 0.63 and 2.19 respectively after some moderate picture settings calibration. On the other hand, right out of the box and before any calibration, these same levels are only decent, sitting at 3.4, 2.2 and 2.4 respectively for the model we reviewed. These details can however be improved away quite quickly for the much better settings we described for post-calibration. To get these post-calibration settings, it’s also a good idea to put the 6-series into its “Movie” mode.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Motion Handling & Upscaling:

The 6 Series offers excellent motion handling performance across the board and its motion blur control is exceptionally good at 6.2 milliseconds. The 6 Series also has some very good motion interpolation capacity in its screen but this can produce a slight soap opera effect when used for movies that play at different frame rates. It’s usually better to turn it down a few notches by setting Action Smoothing’ to “Low” or “Medium” in the TV’s Advanced picture settings.

As for the 6 Series’s upscaling, it works well at sharpening almost any reasonably well formatted source of content but is particularly good at improving the visual quality of 1080p HD video and 720p programming of any kind.

The TCL R617 delivers motion interpolation of content at all major typical frame rates (24p movies, 30fps TV content, high frame rate streamed video and games) exceptionally well on its native 60Hz display panel. 24p Blu-ray discs, DVDs, cable TV and broadcast TV sources as well as streaming media from both native apps and apps inside external streaming media devices can all be played judder-free as well and with minimal to no judder.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Input Performance for Gaming and PC:

TCL’s’s entire 2018 4K HDR TV lineup, from cheapest to priciest models, pretty much offers excellent performance for console gaming and PC use at different resolution, color and HDR settings. However, the 6 Series unfortunately doesn’t offer native 120Hz refresh rate, but for most users this won’t be a problem for the absolute majority of content. Gamers might want their support for 1080P gaming at 120Hz but even if the lacks this, it makes up for the deficiency by being one generally excellent TV for gaming display due to its exceptionally low input lag. The 6-Series 2018 television thus delivers some really outstanding game handling capacity across the board when used with popular game consoles.

The following are the specific specs for its gaming performance in different console setups:

  • 4k @ 60Hz: 18.4 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz: 16.9 ms
  • 1080p @ 120Hz: NA
  • 4k @ 60Hz + HDR: 18.9 ms
  • 1080p @ 60Hz + HDR: 16.9 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode : 130.6 ms
  • 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4: 19.2 ms
  • 4K @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 + 8 bit HDR: 18.4 ms
  • 4K with interpolation activated: NA

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

The TCL 6-Series television is also great for use as a PC monitor if you want to do most gaming on it. It’s compatible with multiple resolution and color formats and offers smooth frame rate handling between PC GPUs and what the screen delivers. However, due to a lack of support for native 120Hz refresh on the TV’s display, gaming in 1080P or any other resolution isn’t possible at more than 60Hz. This might be a problem for gamers who want some high frame rate performance. We should also note that for the TCL 6-Series models, PC mode needs to be enabled if you want to use these models as PC displays or for PC gaming. Normally the television itself will do this automatically by detecting a PC input but if it doesn’t you can change the input label to Computer. The TV also has to be in PC mode for chroma 4:4:4 to work.

Connectivity

The 6 Series comes with all of its connectivity ports built right into the TV body inside a recessed panel on the back left side (right side if you’re facing the TV display. Like virtually all newer 4K HDR TVs, this particular TCL 4K ultra HD TV comes with today’s now standard and essential advanced connectivity specs. No user should have connectivity problems with this model for hooking it up to pretty much any external media device or hard drive as long as all hardware is in working order. In other words, the 2018 6-Series comes equipped with multiple HDMI, USB ports and other crucial connectivity slots. TCL also gave the 6 Series full HDMI 2.0 HDR supported bandwidth in all three of its HDMI ports. This is a nice touch considering that similarly priced rival TVs from Sony only offer this through one or two of their HDMI ports. On the other hand, the 6-Series R617 TVs only come with 3 HDMI ports instead of the four that most ultra HD TVs from the other major brands include. Even more unfortunately, these televisions include only one USB port. The more common number in most name brand 4K TVs is 3 ports for USB. This is a major weakness but not a deal breaker.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

The following are the 6 Series ports and their specifications:

  • HDMI : 3 (all with HDCP 2.2 and full HDMI 2.0a capacity)
  • USB : 1 (USB 3.0)
  • Digital Optical Audio Out : 1
  • Analog Audio Out 3.5 mm : 0
  • Tuner (Cable/Ant) : 1
  • Ethernet : 1
  • HDR10 support: Yes
  • Hybrid Log Gamma HDR support: Yes
  • Dolby Vision HDR: Yes

The TCL 6-Series TV models also offer audio connectivity in the following types.

  • 1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
  • 1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital

Pricing

TCL has released the R617 6-Series television models in two different sizes. Thus, a 55 inch budget model is being sold as well as a 65 inch model. These two editions are otherwise identical in pretty much all regards (though we think the 65 inch model might have a larger amount of backlight LEDs and local dimming zones) and sell for the following prices, found in the links below at the time of this writing. Bear in mind that these are subject to sometimes frequent downward change and it’s a good idea to click the following Amazon links for real-time pricing and all available discounts on this model.

TCL 6 Series 4K UHD HDR LCD TV Review (55R617, 65R617)

Check the TCL R617 6-Series 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Story by 4k.com

 

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Please Read This Before Buying A 4K TV For Black Friday Or Any Sale Event

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Stephan Jukic – November 23, 2018

There are plenty of genuinely good 4K TV deals available before, during and even for several days right after this year’s Black Friday sales event. Here on 4K.com we’ve curated the ones we think offer what are honestly strong discount prices for what we professionally consider to be authentically good televisions. Many of these are listed right at the bottom of this post. However, this curation and filtering doesn’t apply to every 4K TV discount out there and for many of the products you’re going to see being put on sale, either the discount prices aren’t quite as real as they’re made out to be or, worse still, the TVs being offered aren’t nearly as good as they’re hyped to be despite their lower prices. Then of course there are also technical issues that need to be considered in picking the right TV for your needs.

In order to clear some of the potential buyer’s traps around these issues and help you make sure that you spend every dollar of your UHD TV budget on something that you’re really going to appreciate for a long time, we’ve put together these key tips that you really need to know if you’re not entirely familiar with what to look for when buying your own 4K TV. Let’s get started.

Count connectivity ports

Most of today’s name brand 4K TVs from this year or any recent year come with highly standardized numbers and types of connectivity ports and those are more than enough for virtually any normal external device your connection needs you could throw at them. The usual pattern in the majority of these TVs consists of the following:

  • 4 HDMI ports
  • 3 USB ports
  • 1 Digital Optical Audio Out port
  • 1 Analog Audio Out 3.5 mm jack
  • 1 Tuner (Cable/Ant) port
  • 1 Ethernet connectivity port

Please Read This Before Buying A 4K TV For Black Friday Cyber Week

These can vary slightly, with some TVs having only two USB ports or having three of them but with those being of the 2.0 type instead of the more powerful 3.0 kind. Other TVs might lack a tuner or an analog audio connection. Others (quite a few) lack a tuner. Another major issue might be the nature of the HDMI ports. The best-connected 4K TVs will have full 4K HDR pass-through capability in all four of theirs while some only offer the feature in a couple of their HDMI sockets. The bottom line here is that this is something you really should check before buying any specific TV, because if you do need that extra USB port or full 4K HDR pass-through in all four HDMI ports, not having them will be a bummer after you’ve already dragged your new TV home and unpacked it.

Go for HDR

HDR, or high dynamic range, still isn’t mastered into a majority of today’s digital content but it’s presence is constantly growing and you can be 100% sure that it will become nearly universal in most 4K video sources and console games sooner rather than later. We’ll even likely start seeing a lot of HDR formatting for ordinary HD broadcast TV programming in a couple years. For this reason and because HDR really does look damn good when displayed on a TV that’s capable of rendering it, you should really get yourself a TV that is indeed capable of rendering it.

Fortunately, most of today’s newer 4K TVs come with at least some type of HDR display capability, and this even applies to virtually all budget TV models since 2017. The feature will only become better and more common in all ultra HD TV models down the road, so might as well go for it right now. Premium and ultra-premium 4K HDR TVs offer superior high dynamic range via better peak brightness, stronger contrasting capability and much richer color performance but like we said, even cheaper models deliver these key aspects of HDR to some degree.

Samsung-NU8000-SmartTV-9

Check the refresh rate

Virtually all 4K TVs sold in North America will have either a native 120Hz refresh rate or a native 60Hz refresh rate built into their displays. Any other numbers you see are just hype for motion interpolation gimmicks that artificially “enhance” these native refresh rates. But even with these enhanced numbers, things only go so far, so for a 4K TV that claims to do motion enhancement at 240Hz, it’s actually offering a native 120Hz panel and for TVs that offer 120Hz enhancement, what you’re actually getting is 60Hz of refresh.

Now, TVs with both native 60Hz and 120Hz display refresh rates will perform perfectly well with most TV content but a TV wityh a native refresh of 120Hz will deliver notably superior motion handling and motion blur control for streamed, beamed, broadcast or hard disc content. The difference isn’t huge but it’s important if you’re a big fan of sportscasts and lots of action movies. If this is the case and you want that smooth motion to make these types of content really flow crisply, we’d definitely recommend a 120Hz 4K TV, though these tend to be more expensive.

Don’t worry about smart TV

Smart TV platforms are now found in pretty much all 4K TVs. This wasn’t strictly the case back in the olden days of 2014 when the earliest mainstream models were coming out but it’s now a standard thing. However, not all smart platforms are created equal and some brands, like Samsung, offer decidedly weaker smart functionality and content app access than others.

However, this isn’t in the least bit important simply because whatever your 4K TV’s smart platform, you can always buy an external streaming media stick or set-top box to be used over the native platform in the television itself. Today, a whole bunch of these exist and some like Those made by Roku, with the Roku TV platform inside them, come with their own absolutely excellent app/smart TV content layout to play with. They’re also fairly cheap, with the Amazon Fire 4K TV stick costing less than $50 bucks and a really good streaming media box like the Roku Ultra selling right now (for Black Friday only as far as we know) for only $49.99.

145346-tv-review-samsung-nu8000-tv-review-image8-kowdcdfxfa

In other words, never let a 4K TV’s native smart functionality decide if you buy that TV. If the TV is great but has a crappy platform, get it, and if it’s a crappy TV with a great platform, forget it and buy yourself a better TV if it fits your budget, the smart functionality can be fixed up later.

Also read: Our complete guide to all of today’s different streaming media and set-top box devices

Avoid anything that’s too cheap on price

There are some really good, really affordable 4K TVs out there and they can be incredibly cheap. In fact some of the excellent Black Friday deals at the bottom of this post cover several of these models at honestly fantastic prices. However, there is a bit of a limit to this and brand reputation has a role to play in it.

In basic terms, there are good TVs that happen to be cheaply priced and then there are TVs that are just cheap because they’re really cheaply made. Avoid these even if you think you’re saving lots of money because the dollars sheared off your purchase price will cost you plenty when the TV croaks on you in a few months or makes you suffer through picture quality so bad that even 4K resolution can’t save it.

A good basic rule to follow here (even if it seems a bit snotty) is to stick with name brand TVs from brands with a reputation for quality at a budget price. Our TV reviews on this site and our main TV ranking page provide some good guidelines on this. Another good rule is to not buy 4K TVs that cost less than $300. Almost all of these are either used or two old for more recent standards if they’re name brand models, or they just come from brands that don’t deliver reasonable performance nearly as well as they promise.

Black Friday Deals Samsung NU6900 2018 4K HDR TV

Watch out for used/refurbished 4K TVs

As a corollary of the tip right above this one, we also recommend that you watch out for seemingly amazing deals on 4K TVs that are in fact being sold that cheaply because they’re used models that have been refurbished. Now, this rule is one that needs a bit of quick qualification. If a given TV comes with a solid warranty of at least 1 year from the dealer itself, then it could still be a great deal even as a refurbished model. It is covered for problems after all. However, make sure this is the case before buying because without a warranty, a used 4K TV is a bad idea no matter how much of a discount you’re getting for it. A good example of reliable refurbished models would be the ones you often see being offered on Amazon and backed by the retail giant itself with a 1 year warranty. They’re often cheaper than their brand new versions and they’re also a fairly safe bet.

Now that you’ve gone through these crucial tips,, here are some of our curated and genuinely excellent Black Friday deals on major 4K TVs and electronics. All of the following offer high quality TVs and other electronics at prices that mean truly high value for your money.

Huge Black Friday discounts on several Samsung NU7100 models and sizes
The powerful Roku Ultra 4K HDR streaming media box is selling at 50% off today
LG’s Single most affordable OLED TV gets even cheaper this Black Friday
LG’s Best ever OLED 4K HDR TV Is Selling at a $500 discount
Amazon’s Latest Fire 4K TV Stick now selling for just $34.99
One of this Black Friday’s best Premium Samsung 4K TV deals
Samsung’s NU6900 On Sale Right Now For An Absurdly Low $329.50
Three Huge Sony 4K HDR TVs that are selling for $400 or more off previous prices!
A 4K HDR 4K Home theater projector for only $1,099? That’s right
A huge Discount for LG’s Best ever Super UHD LCD 4K HDR TV 
Samsung’s NU8500 Premium HDR TV is selling for 40% off in this deal
A Massive $1500 discount on a Huge 82 inch QLED 4K HDR TV? This deal has it
One of 2018’s best starter 4K HDR TVs gets ridiculously affordable with this limited-time Amazon deal
TCL’s Best 2018 4K HDR TV On Sale Right Now
One Hell of a Deal on Samsung NU-Series 4K HDR models
Some Great Discounts on Samsung’s powerful QLED Q7FN 4K HDR TV
One of Sony’s Best 4K HDR LCD TVs of 2018 Is On Sale Right Now
An Absolutely Unbeatable Deal These TCL 4K HDR TVs
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Apple TV 4K Vs. Roku Ultra: Which Is The Winner?

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Stephan Jukic – December 4, 2018

Both the Apple TV 4K box and the Roku Ultra offer many of the same essential features: Both are set-top boxes that connect to your 4K TV (they can of course also both be connected to any HDTV but doing this means losing out on their strongest content benefits in terms of ultra HD and HDR content delivery). Both devices offer internal storage, access to thousands of streaming internet-delivered media apps and also access to wider internet browsing capabilities. Both also come with things like voice search functionality and support for Dolby Atmos sound. Fundamentally though, both offer their own distinct pros and cons at very different price points. This variation on both price and specific feature details is what makes things tricky.

In other words, while Apple absolutely excels at some things it does, its Apple TV set-top box does really get some stiff competition for 4K TV entertainment in many ways from the Roku Ultra, particularly when price and content options are taken into account. Let’s see which has more to offer and which delivers more value for price.

Also Read:

Our definitive guide to 4K streaming media devices and set-top boxes of every kind
Our 4K TV page where we break down what’s what and rank the best ultra HD HDR TVs for every budget
Apple TV 4K

Pros

If you’re already an Apple lover and your home is crowded with enough Apple products to make your own little ecosystem, then the Apple TV 4K Box is something you’ll love. It offers access to all of Apple’s own proprietary content goodies for both movies and music (iTunes) and it’s overall specs are simply superb. Full HDR support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10 content along with access to Apple’s own growing library of ultra HD HDR movies and shows from the iTunes 4K library come included with the device and the Apple TV 4K is the only set-top box that actually even comes with access to all that iTunes offers in 4K. This is a major bonus in its favor since Roku Ultra doesn’t offer that particular feature while Apple TV does.

In terms of specs, the Apple TV 4K also offer a very robust RAM and processor combo for speedier functionality (it beats the Roku Ultra on both) and it display user interface is simply great (though the Siri remote for controlling this user interface is flwed, as we cover below). The box is generally just better built with mostly superior technology and plenty more power packed into it.

apple-tv-28

Cons

On the other hand, while the Apple TV 4K delivers a hefty 32 to 64GB of storage (depending on which model you go for, and yes the 64GB version is more expensive), it comes with no external storage connectivity, which pretty much locks you into what you get with it, and this can quickly become problematic if you want to store lots of ultra HD content for playback at your convenience. Additionally, despite the unique access to iTunes content that it offers, the Apple TV 4K box doesn’t quite deliver the same range of streaming media apps for movies, shows and music as the Roku Ultra comes with through its over 5,000 different “channels”. This might or might not be important depending on just much esoteric your home entertainment tastes are.

Then there’s the issue of its Siri remote, which essentially sucks in some key ways. It’s clumsily designed, with more focus on minimalism instead of comfortable handling and it’s not nearly as versatile when it comes to navigating the Apple TV interface. The Siri voice control functions do work well though.

apple-tv-4

Check out the Apple TV 4K HDR streaming media device (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Also Read:
Our in-depth review of the Apple TV 4K set-top box
Roku Ultra

Pros

The Roku Ultra contains what is arguably one of the best (if not the best) smart TV home entertainment platforms in existence today. Not only is Roku TV extremely user-friendly and versatile, it’s also absolutely loaded with just about all the content you could possibly want or need even if your entertainment tastes are exceptionally broad. On this front it even beats the Apple TV 4K by outclassing it with many more app content options despite the latter’s inclusion of iTunes. Furthermore, the Roku remote control is an absolute joy. It’s ergonomic, great for smart platform/TV navigation and even comes with a 3.5mm phone jack that you won’t find in Apple’s Siri remote. This little extra feature is perfect for listening to movies late at night without bothering anyone else.

The Roku ultra also allows for connectivity of external drives, so even though it natively offers a meagre 512MB of storage in comparison to the Apple TV’s 32 or 64GB options, you can plug in an outside device for as much content storage capacity as you want.  Overall, it will absolutely deliver just about the same quality and quantity of 4K UHD and HDR content playback as the Apple TV but at a much lower cost, which also happens to be this little powerhouse streamer’s single biggest selling point: it costs roughly half of what the Apple TV 4K set-top box goes for (and that’s if we compare it to the “cheaper” 32GB version.

Roku-Ultra-4k-Package

Cons

On the negative side, the Roku Ultra is much weaker than the Apple TV 4K on processing power and RAM. These aren’t major issues since these are just set-top boxes and not streamed gaming platforms, but you will notice a little bit of lag here and there when using the Ultra and some users might not like this. Furthermore, while we mentioned above that the Roku Ultra delivers just as much 4K content quantity and quality, it’s worth noting that it does not include Dolby Vision HDR support, which means no access to the finer quality high dynamic range of that format via this particular device, and if you even happen to own a Dolby Vision-capable 4K TV.

roku-ultra

Check the Roku Ultra 4K HDR set-top streaming box (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Apple TV 4K vs. Roku Ultra: Key Comparison Points
          Apple TV 4K  Roku Ultra
Price $179 for 32GB model/$199 for 64GB model $90
Resolution 2160p (4K UHD) 2160p (4K UHD)
Operating system tvOS 12 Roku OS
Processor Apple A10X Fusion ARM Coretex A53
Storage 32GB/64GB 512MB
RAM 3GB 1GB
External storage Nope USB-A/microSD
HDR Yes, Dolby Vision & HDR10 Yes only HDR10
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Voice Remote Yes Yes
Headphone Jack Nope Yes

 

Verdict

Overall, despite its superior processing specs and physical design, we consider the Apple TV to be the better purchase only for people who are already fully invested in the Apple ecosystem and have plenty of existing purchased content in their iTunes libraries. It might also be a good idea if you really love Dolby Vision HDR movies and shows for a Dolby Vision-capable 4K TV and want a set-top box that offers the same technology for a seamless level of accessibility to this content. Many of Apple’s own 4K HDR iTunes content options themselves come with Dolby Vision, which is nice.

For anyone else, the Roku Ultra is the much better choice in our view. It offers almost all of the same crucial visual features as the Apple TV 4K but with access to many more content apps at just half the price, and that’s a major win in its favor when you consider sheer value per dollar spent.

Both set-top boxes are without a doubt awesome in many qualities that they share and in their own individual ways but the better value for non-Apple fans is the Roku Ultra.

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These Are The 5 Best 2018 4K HDR TVs For Less Than $1000

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Stephan Jukic – December 13, 2018

4K TVs are now a long ways away from being the insanely expensive ultra-premium show-off technologies they were just a few short years ago. Yes, you can still find insanely expensive giant versions of the absolute best flagship models from each of the major brands selling for several thousand dollars each but the basic fact is that a whole wide market now exists for highly affordable ultra HD televisions going for the same prices that HDTVs sold for only a couple years ago. Even models with full display HDR for color, contrast and brightness/black levels can now be found at excellent budget prices.

This proliferation of highly affordable models does however create its own problem, which is simply that of figuring out which is the best TV you could go for to get the absolute most value for each dollar you spend on a budget. That’s where this list comes into play. It gives you our sequential ranking of what we consider to be the 5 absolute best 4K UHD TVs available today for under $1000 in order of quality from best on downwards. We’ll cover the particular pros and cons of each TV and give you a quick rundown of why we like each model so much for its ranking.

Let’s get started.

Sony XBR49X900F $998.00
Also Check out our in-depth review of the Sony X900F 4K HDR LCD TV

Pros:

By far the best rounded 4K HDR TV on this list in terms of performance, build, display support features and overall quality is the Sony X900F 4K HDR LCD TV. It scrapes by onto our list at just a smidge under $1000 but this model is after all Sony’s “second best” 2018 LCD TV after the ultra-premium Master Series Z9F. And despite coming close to the $1000 mark, it still manages to sell for an amazingly low price considering all that it offers. Coming in with full-array LED backlighting, superb peak brightness, some fantastically good color support and excellent motion handling, the X900F also comes with a brilliantly efficient connectivity package for console or PC gaming. As an added bonus it offers up fantastic local dimming quality for its price. We love this TV and there are plenty of reasons why most other people should too.

Cons:

The only edition under $1000 is a bit small at 49 inches but if you don’t mind this screen size, it’s so worth it. We also don’t like the weak viewing angles but these are inevitable with 4K TVs that come with VA (vertical alignment) display panel design.

Best 4K HDR TV Sony X900F

Check the Sony X900F 49 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Vizio P55-F1 $699.99

Pros:

Vizio did it again in 2018 by releasing yet another highly affordable and extremely high quality 4K TV that’s nearly as well rounded as they get. The 55 inch P-Series 2018 edition  delivers excellent picture quality, very good peak brightness and some excellent deep black levels that make it a wonderful 4K TV for display of HDR content in both Dolby Vision and HDR10 formats. Its contrast ratio is also very high and made even better by the inclusion of normally-premium full-array LED backlighting and local dimming technologies. Furthermore, the P-Series offers up some great motion handling, strong gaming connectivity specs and as a final bonus, it’s very nicely built, with an elegant looking design that’s easy on the eyes and very sturdy on any surface. The P-Series is also a very, very good 4K TV for gaming due to its excellent input lag specs.

Cons:

On the other hand, the P-Series doesn’t deliver the best grey uniformity we’ve ever seen and because it also comes with VA display panel technology, like all such 4K TVs (even HDR models) it suffers from image quality deterioration when viewed at an angle. The P-Series also doesn’t offer what we’d call stellar audio performance but this can be fixed easily enough with an external sound bar.

Vizio P-Series 4K HDR TV best 2018 TV

Check the Vizio P-Series 55 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
TCL 6 Series 55R617: $629.99
Also Check out our in-depth review of the TCL 6-Series 4K HDR LCD TV

Pros:

TCL’s 6-Series is almost as good as the Vizio P-Series and the two can easily be confused even though they’re by entirely different brands. Either way, this model delivers nearly the same high level of HDR performance, some excellent display brightness, high contrast ratios, superb black levels and is also another budget-priced 4K HDR TV with Dolby Vision HDR support, full-array LED backlighting and local dimming. These display technologies and specs are all crucial to high levels of picture quality and the 6-series delivers these in spades for its price. Other things we love about this model are its excellent gaming connectivity specs (due to low input lag and multiple resolution/color/frame rate support features) and its much improved motion handling.

Cons:

The TCL 6-Series biggest defect is its build. This 4K TV doesn’t look particularly great and its body is slightly on the flimsy side. That said, it’s certainly not going to fall apart and far from an ugly 4K TV. Furthermore, though it comes with full-array LED backlighting and local dimming, this combination of technologies doesn’t work quite as well as it does in either the Vizio P-Series or Sony X900F above.

Best 4K HDR TV TCL 6-series

Check the TCL 6-SERIES 55 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Samsung QN49Q6F Flat 49” QLED 4K UHD TV: $797.99
Also Check out our in-depth review of the Samsung Q6FN QLED 4K HDR LCD TV

Pros:

QLED TVs really are awesome in how well they deliver high level picture performance and the Q6FN is the only Samsung ultra-premium QLED model that you can get your hands on for well below $1000. That by itself means quite a lot because if there’s one thing we noticed about Samsung’s Q6F and other 2018 QLED TVs in general it’s that they deliver some of the most eye popping color and contrast delivery we’ve ever seen in any 4K UHD TVs so far except maybe for some OLED HDR models from LG and Sony. In other words, as an HDR 4K TV, the Q6FN is a fantastic performer that will stun most people with the quality of its display of both HDR and conventional content. In addition to these premium specs, the Q6F offers up excellent motion handling, really, really good gaming connectivity and comes with one fantastically bright display.

Cons:

On the negative side of things, just like the X900F above, this model is only available in the 49 inch range for less than $1000. For some people this might be a problem but if you don’t mind the screen dimensions, the 49 inch Q6FN 2018 inch model is a great choice. Another con of this TV is that it doesn’t support Dolby Vision HDR, which is a shame considering how good it is at rendering wide color gamut.

Best 4K HDR TV Samsung Q6FN

Check the Samsung QLED Q6F 49 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Samsung UN55NU8000: $847.99
Also Check out our in-depth review of the Samsung NU8000 4K HDR LCD TV

Pros:

Samsung’s NU8000 is easily the best of the brand’s non-QLED 2018 4K HDR TVs. It offers display specs that make it almost as good as the very best Samsung QLED TVs of last year and as a result it delivers some truly fantastic display brightness, excellent motion handling, black levels, contrast and extremely vibrant color performance. Additionally, we love just how well this particular 4K TV handles gaming input from PCs or game consoles. In other words, the NU8000 is one extremely well-rounded 4K HDR TV and it just happens to be remarkably affordably priced for its qualities and the roomy 55 inches of display space that you get if you buy it. On a further note, this is one wonderfully built 4K TV, with an elegant, sleek look and one very sturdy support structure for keeping it from toppling over. Out of all of Samsung’s 2018 4K TVs, this is the model we most recommend after the Q6F if both price affordability and overall quality are taken into account.

Cons:

Like all Samsung 4K HDR TVs, the NU8000 does not support the Dolby Vision high dynamic range standard and while it does come with local dimming technology, the quality of it is only mediocre. Fortunately though, because it produces great black levels and contrast despite this, the weak local dimming is a minor issue. These are pretty much the only notable cons this TV model suffers from.

Best 4K HDR TV Samsung NU8000

Check the Samsung NU8000 55 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
LG 65SK8000PUA: $896.99

Pros:

LG’s LCD 4K TVs may take a distant second place to the extremely popular brand’s OLED masterpieces, but they’ve gotten much better in 2018 that they deserve quite a bit more attention. Among the 2018 LCD models from LG, one of the best in terms of overall performance and price is without a doubt the SK8000. Unlike many older LG LCD TVs we’ve reviewed on 4k.com, this model delivers some very good black levels despite its IPS display panel technology and in terms of HDR and SDR color rendering, it’s a solid display performer. Additionally, the SK8000 comes with local dimming technology that further boosts its black level and contrast performance. One other benefit of this model is the IPS screen itself: while this display technology means weaker contrast and black levels on the one hand, it also offers much better viewing angles, making the SK8000 an ideal budget 4K TV for a living room or den in which some of the seats are way off to one side. We should also mention that this LG LCD TV model supports Dolby Vision HDR specs and offers very good gaming connectivity. Finally –and this is the biggest reason why we include the SK8000 here in this list—what you get here may not be the best 4K TV of the bunch for less than $1000, but it’s certainly the biggest at 65 inches. That makes it a very decent deal.

Cons:

Despite being a much better performer than the LCD 4K HDR TVs that LG put out in previous years, the SK8000 is still much weaker than any other 4K TV on this whole list at delivering rich, deep black levels. This is its single biggest weakness. Additionally, while it does support wide color gamut for HDR content, the coverage percentage of those 1 billion extra color values isn’t as good as that of any other model ranked here. In other words, expect a slightly subpar HDR color rendering experience with the SK8000.

LG 4K HDR TV Sale Cyber Monday, LG SK8000 HDR TV 3

Check the LG SK8000 65 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
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These Are The 5 Best 2018 4K HDR TVs For Under $500

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Stephan Jukic – December 13, 2018

As we explained in our recent guide to the best 2018 4K HDR TVs for under $1000, the prices of these televisions have steadily been dropping to incredible new levels for years and this trend only continues. Thus, while it’s still possible to spend thousands of dollars on an ultra-premium 4K TV with blasting high dynamic range and all the best possible TV display technology you can imagine, it’s also still possible to spend very little money on some amazingly good pieces of 4K HDR TV technology that even has one or two premium features packed into it.

That’s what we’re going to cover here. We’re taking the idea of 4K on a budget even further down from $1000 dollar limits and right into a demonstration of the best possible picture quality and decent display size you can get even if your budget is less than half that amount. All of the following 4K ultra HD TVs offer high dynamic range, solid overall display performance and several other important features while costing less than $500. We’ve ranked them top to bottom from best down to least valuable for $500 or less.

Let’s get started.

TCL 55-inch 5-Series 4K HDR TV: $429.99

Pros

By far the best of the bunch on this ultra-lean budget listing of best 4K HDR TVs is TCL’s 5-Series S517 4K HDR LCD TV. In terms of display size and general overall quality, the 5-Series is a remarkably good performer for its price and not only does it pull this off, it also manages to throw in some premium technology. For one thing, what you get with the 430 dollars you’ll spend on the 55 inch model is a respectably large screen that’s good enough even for most living rooms. Along with that, the S517 also throws in full HDR support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10, beautiful wide color gamut coverage, superb console gaming performance (due to extremely low input lag) and some very good black levels and contrast ratio. Overall, it’s almost amazing for the price it sells at. Yes, TCL’s pricier and better built 6-Series, which we covered in our “Best 4K HDR TVs for Under $1000” guide is an even better choice but the 55 inch 5-Series is as good as things get at this even lower budget price.

We should also definitely mention this model’s Roku TV smart platform. It’s one of the best in existence today in terms of usability and sheer vast selection of apps and content, and even more importantly, it makes the TV come with a Roku remote that includes the normally premium technology of voice control.

Cons

On the negative side, the 5-Series is certainly not HDR powerhouse. Its peak brightness isn’t nearly as high as that of the 6-Series and unlike its pricier sister TV, this model lacks local dimming technology, which leaves more than a bit to be desired. Then again though, even with these defects, the sheer value for price of this model is excellent.

TCL 55-inch 5-Series 4K HDR TV

Check the superbly priced TCL 55-inch 5-Series 4K HDR TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Samsung 40-inch, 43-inch & 49-inch NU7100 4K HDR TV: $377.99/ $489.00/ $499.99

Pros

By far the best Samsung 4K HDR TV at this price is the NU7100, That said, for its 40, 43 or 49 inch screens (all three cost less than $500, though the 49 incher manages it on a technicality by only a penny) the NU7100 is a very good 4K HDR LCD TV that covers all the essentials of high quality advanced picture performance. It offers some key HDR display technologies in the form of HDR10 support and 10-bit color and also manages to deliver some very good black levels and contrast ratio.

In addition to these things, this model delivers a decent level of motion handling for its price and status in the Samsung 2018 4K TV hierarchy. The single best feature of the NU7100 though is its capability when it comes to gaming connectivity; the TV offers fantastically good input lag levels and support all sorts of resolution and color settings for advanced gameplay in 4K resolution, HDR or in combinations of the two and different color settings.

Cons

In terms of notable negative qualities, the NU7100 has a few even for its low price. For one thing, we wish that Samsung sold the 55 inch version at the price that the 49 inch model goes for and most unfortunately of all, think that this TV doesn’t get nearly as bright as it should for its status as an HDR 4K TV. At its best it underperforms even some of the mid-range Samsung TVs of 2016, such as the KU6300, which is downright unfortunate. One further negative quality of the NU7100 is that it lacks wide color gamut, which the TCL S517 ranked above it DOES come with (along with a notably brighter display).

Samsung NU7100 4K TV Edition

Check the Samsung NU7100 4K HDR LCD TV in all sizes (2018 Models) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Samsung 43 inch, 50-inch NU6900 4K HDR LCD TV: $323.23/ $427.99

Pros

The Samsung NU6900 is extremely similar to the NU7100 but lacks some of the superior motion handling that its slightly pricier cousin is capable of offering. In most other regards though it performs equally well. This means that it also delivers great overall color performance, excellent contrast ratio, deep, rich black levels and most importantly of all, it comes with a great capacity for handling gaming via consoles or PCs, in both 4K HDR settings and in other resolution and color support formats. The NU6900 is also a nice, lightly designed 4K TV that’s solidly built with a sturdy supporting stand and fairly narrow bezels along its screen edges. Most of all, this model makes for a very decent starter or bedroom/studio 4K TV and as a PC display or gaming screen, it’s nearly perfect for its price.

Cons

In terms of negative aspects, the NU6900 is an even dimmer 4K HDR model than the NU7100 and this takes a good deal of the quality out of its high dynamic range display specs. Additionally, because it lacks wide color gamut, the overall color vibrancy that it can create for high dynamic range content is somewhat limited. On a final note, the NU6900 doesn’t throw out the best motion handling performance we’ve seen among budget 4K TVs. In this characteristic it’s fairly weak for fast-paced action content, particularly in 4K resolution.

Samsung NU6900 4K HDR TV 2

Check the Samsung NU6900 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Toshiba 55LF621U19 55-inch 4K HDR Amazon Fire TV: $399.99

Pros

The Toshiba 55LF621U19 is one of Amazon’s Fire 4K TVs and for this reason more than any other, it deserves a spot here. The Amazon Fire 4K “HDR” TVs are famous for offering basic but decent picture quality, great ultra HD content app access and a very, very good user control interface for extremely low prices. In other words, as long as you don’t mind less than excellent picture quality that is nonetheless fairly decent, this model and other Fire 4K TVs like it will deliver some of the best raw smart platform entertainment value for your money.

Best of all, they are dirt cheap for coming with such a large 55 inch screen while also featuring the normally premium feature of Amazon’s truly superb Alexa remote and smart TV platform, which offer excellent access to content apps along with some of today’s most sophisticated voice control technology for smart TVs. Overall, this Toshiba Fire 4K TV is a great value for its sheer low price of just under $400 mainly because of all the smart functionality it comes with. It also offers very decent if basic picture performance and true, full 4K resolution, which is more than we can say for the last under-$500 4K TV on our list.

Cons

The Toshiba 55LF621U19 suffers from the simple flaw of being a completely mediocre performer across all key metrics of picture quality. Yes it offers full, crystal clear 4K UHD resolution and this makes it a great TV in comparison to almost any 1080P HD model you could buy but the HDR on this model is extremely weak, its color performance is ordinary and its motion handling capability is only moderately decent. As long as you mind these deficiencies (and many people won’t at all), the Toshiba 55LF621U19 offers robustly good value for its price as a starter 4K TV with a remarkably good smart platform/remote control combo.

Toshiba 50-inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV with HDR - Fire TV Edition

Check the Toshiba 55LF621U19 55 Inch 4K HDR Amazon Fire TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
LG 49-INCH UK6300PUE 4K HDR TV: $396.02

Pros

LG’s 49 inch UK6300 is just about as affordably priced as a 4K HDR TV can get and in exchange for that low, low cost, it delivers a fairly functional but decent package of display performance specs, some limited HDR rendering capability and sharp, clear pseudo-4K resolution. Most of all though it offers excellent viewing angles due to its IPS display panel design and makes for a great 4K TV if you want to use it for gaming through consoles or as a PC monitor. It’s connectivity package is also robust and fully modern with all of the same essential ports and standards that you’d find in some of LG’s best 4K HDR TVs. The same goes for the inclusion of its excellent ThnkQ engine and Dolby Vision HDR support (though it won’t do you much good on this TV due to the weak display specs it delivers) In basic terms, the UK6300 makes for a bare-bones but fairly decent budget 4K TV and a very good starter model if you’re a student who’s just moving out and wants decent-sized home theater display at a nearly rock bottom price.

Cons

There are two major reasons why we ranked the LG UK6300 at the very bottom of our list and they both badly affect some aspects of its picture quality. First and foremost, this 4K UHD TV offers mediocre contrast ratios, terrible black levels and mediocre peak brightness. LG’s LCD 4K TVs used to commonly suffer these three highly related problems but some of the higher-priced 2018 and 2017 LCD editions have finally surmounted such issues. Not so for the UK6300: though it’s still a much better performer than comparably priced 2016 or older LG LCD cousins we’ve reviewed.

Secondly and almost as damaging to picture quality, this model is one of LG’s now famous RGBW “4K” TVs, which technically come with full ultra HD resolution in terms of pixel count but which in practice offset some of that native pixel-generated sharpness by substituting every certain number of color pixels with white ones that reduce overall clarity and worsen contrast ratio and black levels even more. You can read in much greater detail about the whole RGBW issue here about some of LG’s cheaper 2017 “4K” TV models and here for certain 2016 editions, We explain the finer details of this major design deficiency completely in both of these older posts on previous RGBW LG TV editions.

LG Super UHD UK6300 On sale cyber week

Check the LG UK6300PUE 49 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Story by 4k.com

The post These Are The 5 Best 2018 4K HDR TVs For Under $500 appeared first on .


These Are Five Perfect Pre-Christmas 4K Ultra HD TV Deals

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Stephan Jukic – December 18, 2018

4K TV deals are a year-end tradition for most retailers in the weeks leading up to New Year’s Day and right now is no exception. The big problem is finding the right TV for your budget and making sure that it deliver the maximum amount of quality for the money you spend. This is what we’re going to be covering intensely in the following days through a series of posts and new content to our main device pages and the following list is a sample of it.

The deals listed below cover five of the best standing 4K UHD TV deals that are going right now on Amazon.com, and take you right to the certified, Amazon-shipped sale pages of several excellent ultra HD TVs that are going for decent to downright excellent discounts. We also note that each of these TVs offers excellent display specs and represent among the best models available for their specific prices and TV types.

Also Read: Our Guide to the 5 absolute best 2018 4K HDR TVs out there for under $1000
Our Guide to the absolute best 2018 4K HDR TVs for under $500

Here’s the breakdown for these deals during week of December:

TCL 55S517 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Roku Smart LED TV (2018 Model) $429.99

Easily one of the best deals available anywhere from anyone for a 4K TV in the 55 inch range with a price of less than $500, this 55 inch 2018 5-Series model offers what is simply the best overall picture quality you’ll find from a new 2018 4K HDR UHD TV for well below $500 and that’s that. The 5-Series lacks the more intense premium specs of its also fantastically good 6-Series cousin from TCL but it still supports HDR color, high contrast, deep. Rich black levels and some very decent motion handling. Furthermore it comes with full HDR support for both HDR10 and Dolby Vision while being a superbly high performance console or PC gaming 4K TV. We ranked the 5-Series as the single best 4K TV for under $500 for 2018 and we stand by that ranking based on our own professional reviews.

 TCL 5-SERIES 4K HDR TV

Check the superbly priced TCL 55-inch 5-Series 4K HDR TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Sony XBR55X900F 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2018 Model) $1,198.00
Also Check out our in-depth review of the Sony X900F 4K HDR LCD TV

Here’s the same 4K TV that we ranked as number one in our post on the 5 best 2018 4K HDR TVs for under $1000 only in this case, what you get is the 55 inch model instead of the 49 incher. Yes, it costs a couple hundred bucks more but all the same fantastic specs are the case and the X900F is in a general sense one of the best ultra HD TVs made in 2018 if both price and quality are taken into consideration. Offering up both full-array LED backlighting, high quality contrast and black level performance, and some of the best motion handling you’ll find in an LCD TV today, this model really delivers across the board. Its price tag on this deal doesn’t come with a huge discount off list pricing but it’s still absolutely worth it as a New Year’s purchase and will remain excellent for years to come.

 These Are Five Perfect Pre-Christmas 4K Ultra HD TV Deals

Check the Sony X900F 55 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Samsung UN55NU8000FXZA Flat 55″ 4K UHD 8 Series Smart LED TV (2018) $847.99
Also Check out our in-depth review of the Samsung NU8000 4K HDR LCD TV

Samsung’s NU8000 is the best non-QLED 4K HDR TV made by the brand in 2018 and its specs really show off the quality this means. This model’s color performance is simply superb and its HDR-capable contrast and peak brightness specs are on par with those of many pricier premium 4K HDR TVs. The NU8000 also offers up superbly good motion handling and is one of the best console gaming 4K LCD TVs in existence today. Best of all, with this deal, the 55 inch model is selling for a major discount of just under 30% that brings its price down to well below $1000. That’s a superb deal and also one of the reasons why we also ranked the NU8000 among our best 4K TVs of 2018 for less than $1000.

 Samsung NU8000 4K HDR TV

Check the Samsung NU8000 55 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Samsung QN55Q6F Flat 55” QLED 4K UHD 6 Series Smart TV 2018 $1,097.99
Also Check out our in-depth review of the Samsung Q6FN QLED 4K HDR LCD TV

Speaking of Samsung QLED technology, it doesn’t get better than this with the 55 inch Q6FN. It may be the cheapest of Samsung’s ultra-premium QLED HDR TVs of 2018 but in contrast to its pricier cousins the Q7, Q8 and Q9, it offers better overall value simply because it’s so affordable while delivering the same essential out-of-this-world color performance levels. The Q6FN is too good to ignore and with a price that’s only slightly above $1000 for the large 55 inch model. The value and sheer picture quality you’d get out of it are absolutely worth what you’d pay with this deal in which 27% of its original retail price has been chopped off.

 Samsung QLED Q6FN

Check the Samsung QLED Q6F 55 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
LG Electronics OLED55B8PUA 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV (2018 Model) $1,596.99
Check out our in-depth review of the LG BG OLED HDR 4K TV

The B8 has been called the single best OLED 4K HDR TV choice of 2018 simply because it’s by far the most affordable. On the other hand, because all of a given year’s OLED TVs tend to have such uniformly even specs between all models, the B8 delivers virtually the exact same essential picture quality as its much more expensive 2018 cousins the C8, E8, G8 and even the ridiculously pricey W8. That’s right, as far as picture quality goes, it’s almost exactly as good. The B8 only lacks the more advanced processor technology of its cousins.

You basically can’t find any other 2018OLED 4K HDR TV deal that’s better than this one and what you get in exchange across this model’s sizeable 55 inch screen is the usual blend of perfect OLED black levels, infinite contrast (neither of which any LCD TV can match) and wickedly good color delivery. Then of course there’s also the motion handling, which is as amazing as you’d expect from OLED technology. In basic terms, the B8 manifests the most important high qualities of all 2018 OLED TVs but at the lowest price among them. It’s worth it.

LG OLED 4K HDR TV B8

Check the LG OLEDB8PUA 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
LG Electronics 55SK8000PUA 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2018 Model) $696.99

LG’s LCD 4K TVs don’t normally get nearly as much attention as their OLED models but the 2017 and 2018 premium LCD editions such as the SK8000 have become much, much better than LG LCD 4K editions used to be. Thus, the SK8000 is wonderfully priced at just under $700 for the large 55 inch edition. This TV delivers some great color, decent contrast (by the standards of 4K TVs with IPS screen technology) and good motion handling performance. We consider most of the other TVs above to be better than the SK8000 but we still definitely recommend this model at its current discount price of $696.99

LG Super UHD SK8000 4K HDR TV 2

Check the LG SK8000 65 Inch 4K HDR LCD TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Story by 4k.com

The post These Are Five Perfect Pre-Christmas 4K Ultra HD TV Deals appeared first on .

So You Got A 4K UHD TV? Our 5 Step Guide To Getting The Most From It

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Stephan Jukic – January 04, 2019

The Holidays are over, some of the best electronics deals of the year have also passed with them and maybe if you were a bit lucky, you’ve now got yourself a brand new 4K HDR TV that somebody gifted or you bought. This is great! If you use the TV right and it’s one of the better models (budget or premium because both exist) you can keep it for years and get awesome home theater performance even as new technologies come out.

However, before you sit everyone down before the new set in the living room and kick off your next Netflix binge in 4K with HDR, there are a few extra things you can easily do first to make that new television function at its absolute possible best for any kind of content you can throw at it (and especially ultra HD programming with high dynamic range built into it).

So here are some essential steps to take, though they’re all purely optional and best of all, some of them are also completely free. You can of course also just watch the TV right out of the box and it might be okay that way too, but we really do recommend following through with at least a couple of these.

Also:
Our main TVs Page offers our 2018/2019 rankings of the absolute best 4K UHD HDR options, categorized by budget.

LG_C8_large_9

Placing Your 4K TV

This sort of seems like a no-brainer, one of those things nobody needs any advice on, but there is actually a funny bit of detail to it. Placing a new 4K TV, and especially one that’s going to be the home entertainment centerpiece of your entire home instead of just a new studio or bedroom TV, is a crucial task. You have to take into account viewing angles, distances, lighting and though this is all simple stuff, it has a major effect on viewing experience.

The basics here are that first of all, your new TV should be placed so that the maximum number of seats (sofas, love seats etc) are as close as possible to the front of the TV instead of off to one angle. Even if these sears have to be a bit further away than recommended, in-front placement is ideal. The reason for this is that most LCD 4K TVs today come with Vertical Alignment screen technology, meaning that their rectangular pixels align vertically. This is superb for deep blacks and strong contrast but it also means poor picture quality when such a TV is viewed from off center. IPS 4K TVs (mainly made by LG, for their LCD TVs, and Sony for some of its XBR-Series models) and OLED 4K TVs don’t have this problem and conserve high picture quality even at extreme angles.

 

Also Read: Our review of 2018’s absolute best OLED 4K HDR TV, the LG C8 model.

LG C8 4K HDR OLED TV review

Check the LG OLEDC8PUA 4K HDR OLED TV (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

Secondly, your 4K TV should compete as little as possible with sources of external lighting and sunlight in particular. Today’s HDR 4K TVs and especially any premium UHD TV from 2018 or 2017 offer such high picture brightness that they hold their own quite well against indirect sunlight or nearby windows and lamps but not even the best TV will deliver ideal picture clarity if its screen is being hit by or competing against direct sunlight.

4k TV viewing distance chart

As for viewing distances, a good rule of thumb is  that a 50-55 inch 4K TV can be comfortably viewed from roughly 8 to 10 feet away, while each additional 10 inches of display size let you place it a further 3 or 4 feet away without feeling like it’s too far removed from your viewing area.

On a final note for this section, bear in mind that pretty much all 4K TVs sold today can also be wall-mounted with VESA brackets, so if there’s no space along your furniture tops in the living room for the TV, you can just plant it against the wall. This is a particularly good idea for 4K TVs with slightly wobbly integrated stands (and there are some like this, particularly cheaper models).

Setup and Connectivity Details

Aside from considerations of lighting, viewing angle and viewing distance affecting how well your 4K TV displays content, you should also take into account connectivity logistics. In other words, TV placement should also be ideal for the sake of direct access to WiFi signal strength and connectivity to TV antennas or Ethernet cables. If this means adjusting where you place yur modem in your house, that’s probably better than having to shift the TV to a crappy position in your living room, studio or den but the key thing to keep in mind is that WiFi signals should reach the television as directly and with as few physical obstructions as possible and for maximally consistent connectivity, you should simply hook the 4K HDR TV up to your router or modem’s Ethernet connection with a short distance between the two if possible. This is particularly crucial if your home internet connection is only just above the 20 to 25 consistent Mbps necessary for streaming of 4K UHD HDR content. In this case, WiFi might deliver a signal that sometimes drops too much while Ethernet connectivity will do this much less.

Remember that modern smart TVs of all kinds live and die by access to internet-streamed content from all the numerous apps they have on them. This applies especially to 4K UHD and HDR content, which is much more common on streaming service sources than any broadcast TV provider. Thus if you want to enjoy the best of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu or Vudu in ultra HD, you need to keep those 20 to 25 or more Mbps flowing to your TV consistently.

External media sources like 4K Blu-ray players and VOD movie boxes deliver content to your TV via HDMI so they should be okay even with weak internet connectivity but if these external devices get their own 4K content from streaming media apps, the same internet access considerations for WiFi and Ethernet apply to them just as they would to your television. This of course means that if for some reason your TV can’t easily be placed for maximal internet access, a work-around option is to use an external streaming media platform for as your smart TV app interface and place that external device closer to better WiFi or Ethernet connectivity, then run an HDMI cable to your TV itself for a consistent signal strength. (We’ll cover media device options even more a bit further down in this post).

As for the HDMI cables themselves, we cover these in complete detail here in this post but to summarize here, almost any HDMI cable labeled “High Speed” and if possible with a “Premium Certified” logo plastered to its packaging will be perfectly fine for all 4K UHD HDR content of any kind from any media source. These can be bought generically from brands like Amazon Basic or Monoprice without costing more than a few bucks for at least 6 feet of cable (more than enough for most TVs). You DO NOT need to spend a fortune on HDMI cables that promise any additional “special” 4K features besides those with the above labels. Some manufacturers sell these for much higher prices but their hype is completely irrelevant for 4K HDR picture quality.

4K HDR HDMI cables

Finally, bear in mind as well that while all 4K TVs now come with 4K HDR-capable HDMI connection ports (HDMI 2.0a standard), some TVs don’t have this feature in all of their 3 or 4 HDMI ports. In many models only a couple of the connectivity slots for HDMI will offer this kind of support. The others will be of the older HDMI 1.4 variety, which does not support HDR or 4K at more than 30fps. Make sure you’re connecting your external HDMI-linked media devices for 4K video to one of your TVs more advanced HDMI ports.

Internet Speed and Entertainment Options

The above of course also means we have to mention an obvious related point for actually getting 4K resolution in video on your new 4K TV: You will absolutely need at least 20 to 25 consistent Mbps of broadband speed to make it work from any streaming source like Netflix, Amazon and etc. So upgrade your internet if it’s not up to par and if for some reason you can’t in your area, well there are always VOD (downloaded movie) set-top box options or 4K Blu-ray players as options for 4K home entertainment, as we mentioned above.

4K Ultra HD Blue-ray Mad Max

All 4K Blu-ray movies come with HDR formatting as well and the selection of available titles available from retailers like Best Buy and Amazon is now remarkably extensive, with well over 250 different movies, show series box sets and documentaries and so forth to choose from. Streaming media without enough internet speed for 4K resolution will also automatically upscale on your 4K TV so that it looks sharper than it would on a normal HDTV. This feature of 4K TVs isn’t simple hype either by the way. It really does work and the difference in quality is visible to the naked eye.

Calibration and Settings

Now that you’ve got your TV fully installed, ideally placed and hokked up to the internet or external media devices for the best you can get in 4K HDR entertainment options, you need to make sure that it’s outputting picture quality at its best possible levels. This will probably mean doing a bit of manual TV calibration depending on your preferences. Sony’s new Master Sereis A9F and Z9F 4K HDR TVs  come with pre-calibrated picture settings that are designed to be as close to “production ideal” as possible but that cool little manufacturer feature doesn’t apply to most other 4K TV units from any major brand. Thus:

You can do things quickly by going into your TVs menu settings for  picture modes (different models and smart TV platform will have these labeled differently) and changing around color temperature, contrast, peak brightness, motion handling and other specs until the content you view most often looks as good as it can to you. This is something that you can do manually or you can also go online and see the “ideal” calibration settings for your specific 4K TV. Another, even more precise calibration option is to get a disk like the “Disney WOW: World of Wonder” DVD. No, we’re not kidding, it consists of numerous specific images and color/contrast test patterns designed to let you calibrate your TV professionally based on how your adjustments affect them.

4K TV motion handling calibration

We should also mention motion handling and interpolation here: Almost all 4K TVs come with some sort of motion interpolation technology that speeds up the speed and smoothness of content. This is technology might be called “Motionflow” (Sony) or “AutoMotion Plus” (Samsung) or “TruMotion” (LG) depending on your TV brand but in all cases, one thing it does create is a strange sort of overly clear movement handling that’s called the “soap opera effect” due to its distortions of normal cinematic frame rate flow. Some people don’t mind or even love how this looks, others hate it. You decide and know that it can be turned off or on by reducing or increasing your motion interpolation setting in your TV, respectively.

Also Read:

Our in-depth hands-on review of Sony’s A9F OLED Master Series 4K HDR TV

Our in-depth hands-on review of Sony’s Z9F LCD Master Series 4K HDR TV

Media Device Options

Moving back to media devices, we mention them because not all native smart TV platforms are equal in their access to content or the quality of their user interface. If this is the case with your particular new 4K ultra HD TV, it’s no problem at all since you can just plug in an external streaming media player like the Amazon Fire, the Roku Premium, Ultra or other Roku 4K HDR devices, or something a bit pricier and fancier like Apple TV 4K, with its access to the giant iTunes ultra HD movie library. All of these cost money but they offer a whole new level of smart functionality and app access that can be used on top of what your TV offers by itself. They all connect via HDMI so bear in mind our points above on HDMI connectivity.

roku stick plus 4k

Check out the Roku Streaming Stick Plus (2017 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews

In our comprehensive Devices page, we cover the whole range of today’s diverse media streaming devices, from cheap little 4K streaming sticks like the Roku Streaming Stick + to the pricey Apple TV 4K or even satellite 4K broadcast set-top DVRs.

Making Your Audio Awesome

Finally, we need to mention audio. Your 4K HDR TV will likely have modestly decent native sound power for really basic casual TV watching and late night movies but some budget models don’t even quite deliver what we’d call decent audio. Furthermore, though claims that no 4K TV ever delivers good audio are badly exaggerated, the internal audio of any 4K TV (even expensive ultra-premium models) is never truly excellent in our experience. Thus if you do really need some more serious auditory kick for your favorite action movies, music or sportscasts, we’d recommend getting an external sound bar or speaker system. Lots of options are available and even very affordable ones will really move the quality of your audio up several notches.

If you are going for a sound bar, one of our most absolutely highly recommended options is the  VIZIO SB3621n-F8M 36″ 2.1 Channel sound bar system linked to below. It’s by far the cheapest really excellent 4K TV audio package we know of right now.

Vizio 4K TV sound bar

Check the VIZIO SB3621n-F8M 36″ 2.1 Channel sound bar system (2018 Model) on Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Story by 4k.com

The post So You Got A 4K UHD TV? Our 5 Step Guide To Getting The Most From It appeared first on .

8K TVs Are More Awesome Than 4K Models, But Don’t Buy One. Here’s Why

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Stephan Jukic – March 1, 2019

Both the idea and physical examples of 8K TVs have been around for more than a couple years so far. Even when the first mass market 4K televisions started to pick up some serious traction, major brands like Sony and others soon started showcasing concept models with stunning 8K resolution, offering 4 times the pixels of their 4K UHD cousins.

Now, in 2019, these televisions have gone from a strictly conceptual existence to actual mass market availability like never before. This was the case even in 2018 as well, as we saw from Samsung at IFA last year but when CES 2019 rolled around, the 8K display trend was taken to new heights. Thus, right now, you can buy an 8K TV in several different sizes from Samsung with prices starting at about $5000 and other options are even available from Sony, LG and so forth.

We think that buying any of them is a really bad idea and all the extra visual quality these TVs deliver is wasted along with the extra money you’d spend on them. Let’s explain why.

samsung-8k-tv-ifa-2018-920x691

Without a doubt 8K TVs are incredible creations. 33 million pixels crammed into a screen makes for picture sharpness and clarity that comes closer than anything ever has before to life-like digital representation of visuals. Combine this with high dynamic range color and contrast performance and what you get is a television that performs like nothing you’ve ever seen before, in which even staring at a giant 88 inch screen from just inches away still makes it hard to distinguish individual pixels.

In other words, the technology itself is awesome, and it leaves 4K in the dust as far as sheer specs go. This is not the problem. No, the major problem is content, and pricing just as they were for 4K when they first emerged. Today’s 8K TVs are expensive and usable only for upscaling available 4K content or performing the even more ridiculous task of making 1080p or 720p and lower resolution video display smoothly across their 33 million pixels, and that’s it.

Before we move onto the major content issues, there’s the size and price problems with any 8K TV. For you to even really distinguish a visual difference between 4K resolution and 8K resolution, you need to start looking at TV screens of at least 75 inches or more, and serious appreciation of the difference between the two only really fleshes out at around the 85 inch plus mark. This means buying from among some really damn expensive televisions, at least for now.

Sony’s 98 inch 8K television from CES 2019 and LG’s own 88 inch 8K model with OLED display to make things even more absurdly premium are both going to cost well over $10,000 (to pick the absolute most conservatively low figure we can imagine) and Samsung’s own largest 8K QLED TV now available, the 82 inch Q900, is retailing for $10,000.

Of course, these prices will shrink. 4K TVs once cost a fortune and now models with better display performance than anything available just four years ago can be bought for less than $1000 with screens as large as 65 inches. Spending just a bit more than $1000 can get you 75 inches of display space in 4K and with high quality HDR from some brands.

Also Read:
Our guide to the absolute best 55 Inch 4K HDR TVs of 2018 and 2019
Our guide to the best performing 65 inch 4K HDR TVs of 2019

The same will eventually be the case with 8K as the new resolution establishes itself more (and it will, just like 4K did). Even the TV size issue isn’t going to be a problem. As 8K TV market share expands, smaller and smaller models will be available at that resolution and the fact that it’s indistinguishable from 4K to the naked eye won’t matter at all. After all, tiny little laptop and even smartphone screens now come with 4K resolution despite this being completely indistinguishable from 1080p or 1440p in such small displays.

All of these factors will change in favor of 8K TVs and their affordability to consumers within two or three years.

Samsung 8K TV 2

This of course brings us back to the really pressing problem with 8K TVs: Content. Currently, not a single bit of commercial movie, TV show or even documentary video from any streaming, disk or broadcast source exists in 8K resolution and this isn’t going to change any time soon for some obvious reasons. Yes, you can find YouTube links to light and pretty boring scenic videos filmed in 8K on YouTube, and if you can even get your TV and the app to work together well enough for that video to play back at native resolution, great but this certainly doesn’t amount to much, and definitely not when it comes to thinking about the price of an 8K TV as it stands right now.

When it comes to actual commercial content from Netflix, Amazon, Vudu or anyone else (and forget 8K Blu-ray for now, considering how long it took for them to even start releasing 4K Blu-ray discs), no company even has serious plans for 8K content any time soon and they’re not likely to. The reason why is fairly simple: it takes a hell of a lot of storage space, computing power and special recording equipment to even film and master 4K movies. The same goes for compressing and transmitting them over the internet or other digital transmission mediums to streaming media apps or VOD services. Lots of money has been invested over the last few years to make this reasonably profitable and thus we now have a decent range of 4K UHD content choices for the global consumer market.

However, doing the same thing for 8K means a whole new level of  hardware investment and that’s going to take a lot of time. Partly because its expensive by itself but also partly because for there to even be any incentive for it, enough people have to own 8K TVs and have the correct broadband connectivity for receiving 8K content in them. Both of these things are going to move quite slowly for at least a few more years. And when it comes to broadcast TV sources of 8K content, expect even more delays. The ATSC 3.0 standard is only now being sort of pushed for eventual widespread delivery of 4K video through broadcast TV channels, so you can imagine just how much longer it will take for that to upgrade still further for 8K content.

Also Read:
Our Guide to today’s absolute best streaming media set-top boxes for all the 4K ultra HD content you can handle

What does this leave for the time being? Upscaling stretched to new levels:

Samsung, LG, Sony and other 4K TV makers all have internal upscaling engines in their televisions that work superbly at making 1080p content and even 720p broadcast video sources or well-formatted SD movies look sharper than normal on a 4K TV. These technologies work remarkably well (particularly for well-mastered 1080p and 720p video sources) but they’re not the same as true native 4K resolution. This however isn’t a big problem because the difference is usually small and native 4K entertainment does at least also exist to justify buying a 4K TV.

In 8K televisions, there is first of all no native commercial 8K entertainment content to speak of as a basic justification, and the upscaling that all other content gets has to be stretched out much more. All 8K TV makers claim or would claim that their TVs can make native 4K video look a lot like 8K video on their new TVs using technologies similar to Samsung’s 8K processor in the video below). This may indeed be true but 4K content is by itself fairly scarce and upscaling of lower resolutions across the much vaster pixel space of an 8K TV can create dubious video quality.

Where does this leave you, the consumer right now? In a situation where buying an 8K TV means spending a ton of extra money for no concrete gain at all. This is why 8K TVs are awesome technology, but for now nearly useless in practical terms. In our sincere recommendation, if you’ve got enough money to even seriously consider buying one of these televisions, instead just go for a gigantic 4K model with all the best in HDR and backlighting technology, or even OLED! You’ll still save a ton and get much better value from what you bought. It’s too early for spending home entertainment money on 8K.

Also see:
Our complete guide to today’s best 4K HDR TVs for every budget and home size
Ranking the best 4K TVs of 2019 for less than $1000
Story by 4k.com

The post 8K TVs Are More Awesome Than 4K Models, But Don’t Buy One. Here’s Why appeared first on .

Sony & Samsung Fight For 8K TV Dominance, But Here’s Why It Doesn’t Matter

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Stephan Jukic – April 27, 2019

Maybe it’s a bit soon to say that 4K TVs are going the way of the HDTV in terms of new premium releases, because the 4K UHD market is still alive and well and growing almost exponentially.  However, what we can definitely say is that 8K has arrived for real, it’s become a consumer market thing and that we’ll see more of these TVs in the coming months and years because of brand competition alone, even if consumer demand doesn’t quite skyrocket.

Also see:
Our complete guide to today’s best 4K HDR TVs for every budget and home size
Ranking the best 4K TVs of 2019 for less than $1000

Right now, the big contenders in this still tiny market are Sony and Samsung. Both have invested heavily in 8K display technology and both are or have already launched their own ultra-premium 8K HDR televisions for 2019. Samsung’s model, which we reviewed very recently, is already available for anyone willing to spend the money on one of its 65 inch, 75 inch or 82 inch editions and Sony’s own 8K TV is coming later in the year. Interestingly, the Sony edition will feature 8K display panels from LG instead of Sony’s own native technology. This of course strongly suggests that we can soon look forward to some serious 8K TV display presence from LG as well.

The Samsung Q900 QLED 8K TV we recently reviewed impressed us deeply. It came with its share of defects, largest of which was the fact that it costs much more than any average 4K TV despite there being no native commercial 8K content to justify buying it just for this reason. Despite this though, the Q900 performs superbly in almost every way and, especially in how well it upscales lower resolutions to smoothly, sharply fit across the whopping 16+ million pixels that fill its screen. This is something we loved and we hope to see more of the same with Sony’s 8K models as they arrive.

Also Read:
Our in-depth review of Sony’s X950G 4K UHD HDR LCD TV
Our detailed hands-on review of Samsung’s incredible new 8K HDR TV, the Q900

Moving back to the Sony release, it’s called the Z9G and it’s expected for June of 2019. The Z9G will include all the usual trimmings that go into Sony’s latest and best ultra-premium 4K UHD TVs. These include Picture Processor X1 Ultimate processing technology, Pixel Contrast Booster for more color and contrast in bright areas, Netflix Calibrated Mode and IMAX Enhanced with DTS audio.

What makes the Sony 8K television most impressive though is that it will be one gargantuan OLED TV, and not an LCD model like the Samsung 8K edition. This is particularly interesting because (as we noted in our review of the Q900), the Samsung edition’s deepest flaw was its surprisingly low native contrast ratio. The presence of Samsung’s new Wide Viewing Angle technology gives the Q900 excellent viewing angles but in doing so, it takes away from some of its brightness, color rendering and its contrast delivery in particular.

Sony’s version of an 8K TV will suffer none of these problems specifically because of its OLED panel, which offers perfect, total black levels, infinite contrast and doesn’t need to reduce display performance in the process. OLED also naturally offers wide viewing angles by default. In other words, The Z9G looks like it might offer something even better than what Samsung’s 8K innovation has already delivered. We’re excited to see just how much of an improvement the Z9G delivers.

That said, while the Samsung Q900 is definitely expensive by any normal consumer market measure, the Z9G takes price to a whole new stratospheric level. The 98 inch monster is going to be retailing for a truly whopping $70,000. Even by OLED TV standards, this is insane. Yes, OLED TVs have traditionally always been especially pricey things, and Sony’s in particular are known for their high post-release price tags but with the Z9G Sony has really pushed the envelope on consumer market ultra-luxury home theater. For more budget-minded consumers (and in order to more effectively compete with Samsung or any other potential rival outside the market for ultra-rich buyers) Sony is also releasing a smaller 85 inch Z9G 8K OLED edition for a mere $12,999. This is still crazily expensive but brings the Z9G closer to the prices of its Samsung rival and in fact makes it cheaper than Samsung’s 82 inch edition of the Q900, which currently sells for just over $14,000. That said, Samsung still manages to outdo Sony on the 8K TV front with further size and price options in the form of both 75 inch and 65 inch Q900 editions that are much more accessibly priced.

Despite all of these competitive games, Sony’s effort at 8K resolution definitely looks like the winner of the bunch in terms of overall performance. We haven’t reviewed it yet but with both 8K resolution and OLED display packed into a single monster television, we can almost certainly expect a level of picture performance that puts Samsung’s LCD Q900 to shame in certain crucial metrics of picture quality. OLED technology tends to do this and in an 8K TV with cutting edge processing technologies, we expect even more from it.

Ultimately, we’ll have to see what happens when Sony actually releases its Z9G for sale. Price aside, it will almost certainly be spectacular across the board. We don’t say this to cheer for Sony technology; it has simply consistently been the case in their 4K OLED TVs to-date. We can only assume that the product engineers at Sony will put a particular effort into making their first consumer 8K OLED TV even more incredible.

For now, those of you who might be interested in Sony’s 8K OLED Z9G edition as your preferred choice for just finally having to have an 8K TV in your homes, you’ll have to wait until June of 2019. Right now, if you don’t mind the somewhat inferior LCD technology (which still produces incredible picture quality), the Samsung Q900 8K HDR LCD TV is already available and its smallest edition, the 65 inch model costs less than $5,000 –making it an outright bargain compared to the smaller of the two upcoming Sony Z9G models.

With all of these things said, we do have to note that going for an 8K TV right now is not the best value per dollar spent choice you could make for your home theater budget.

Sure, these two TVs are stunning as hell but like we mentioned above and in our review of the Samsung Q900, there is essentially no consumer 8K content available anywhere yet. Even if you look on YouTube, the one place where someone’s uploaded 8K scene videos might be available, you’re out of luck because at least for now, on the Samsung Q900, the YouTube app doesn’t yet support 8K video playback!

In other words, anyone who buys an 8K TV right now would just be throwing away extra cash for the thrill of showing something off. Their content viewing would meanwhile consist of 4K or lower resolution entertainment that they could have viewed with exactly the same quality on a 4K HDR TV with a much lower price tag. Samsung’s Q90R is a great example of a better alternative: except in its display resolution, it offers even better ultra-premium performance than the Q900 8K QLED from the same brand but costs quite a bit less.

samsung 8k-4k-q900

Check out the Samsung QNQ900 LCD HDR 8K UHD Smart TV 2019 on sale at Amazon

4.7 – 4 Reviews
Story by 4k.com

The post Sony & Samsung Fight For 8K TV Dominance, But Here’s Why It Doesn’t Matter appeared first on .

A Closer Look At Vizio’s Impressive Line Of Newly Released 2019 4K HDR TVs

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Stephan Jukic – May 23, 2019

One of the major (and surprising) innovators of 4K HDR TV technology since several years ago has been Vizio. The company holds its own firmly against even the biggest TV market name brand competitors and its premium 4K TVs are also some of the best available on the market. In 2018 especially, the flagship P-Series Quantum 4K HDR LCD TV models were easily among the absolute best LCD performers we’d seen for that year, by almost every measure. To top off these performance chops, Vizio has also firmly established a tradition of delivering its high-quality 4K TV technology at very reasonable prices that offer lots of value per dollar spent.

Now the 2019 models are finally going to the retail market and after what we saw with the 2018 editions from Vizio, we’re pretty excited to see what the company delivers this year.

Also see:
Our complete guide to today’s best 4K HDR TVs for every budget and home size
Ranking the best 4K TVs of 2019 for less than $1000

Vizio has made the announcement that all of its 2019 4K HDR TVs are now available from major retailers and according to the company, most of them will come with a number of improvements including more local dimming zones, improved brightness performance and superior color delivery. Additional features will include AirPlay 3 and HomeKit, both of which are coming a bit later in the year for both the new 2019 releases and select older models as well.

The 2019 P-Series Quantum X

The very top of the Vizio 4K HDR TV lineup for 2019 is the new P-Series Quantum X. This is Vizio’s flagship TV and if the outstanding performance of the 2018 Quantum edition is anything to guess by, the 2019 Quantum X will be downright incredible. That said, the Quantum X editions aren’t going to be exceptionally cheap; the 65 inch edition is retailing for $2,199.99 and the 75 inch model will go for $3,499.99.

Also Read:
Our guide to the absolute best 55 Inch 4K HDR TVs of 2018 and 2019
Our guide to the best performing 65 inch 4K HDR TVs of 2019

Vizio Quantum X

These prices aren’t exactly in budget territory but they’re still better than what you’d pay for similarly sized Sony or Samsung flagship 4K TVs for 2019. And more importantly, in exchange for charging a higher price for them, Vizio has made the Quantum X models even better than their already incredibly good 2018 predecessors. Just as the 2018 P-Series Quantum TVs pulled off superior performance to that of most of their 2018 flagship LCD TV rivals, the specs of the 2019 models make them powerful competitors to any possible rival 2019 4K TV. We include OLED TVs in this analysis, and that’s saying a lot.

The P-Series Quantum X TVs are going to boast between 384 and a whopping 480 local dimming zones behind their full-array LED backlit LCD panels. This means almost unparalleled levels of black level and contrast precision, to the point where the Quantum X TVs can nearly rival the capabilities of an OLED 4K TV on how well they manage blacks. This is pretty spectacular by itself but it gets an even further boost with peak brightness levels that are out of this world. The Quantum X models reportedly reach maximum display luminosity of 3000 nits or so. We can already say that no other 2019 4K HDR LCD TV we’ve reviewed so far comes close to matching this level and that alone puts the Quantum X TVs in a category of their own on performance.

Something similar was the case with the 2018 P-Series Quantum TVs, which were basically the brightest LCD TVs we saw last year but what the 2019 editions pull off is far more spectacular. Comparatively, Samsung’s best yet flagship 2019 ultra HD 4K HDR TV, the Q90, barely reaches a level of peak brightness that exceeds 1500 nits, and its contrast ratio is only moderately good.

Also Read:
Our in-depth review of Sony’s X950G 4K UHD HDR LCD TV
Our Comprehensive review of Samsung’s most affordable 2019 QLED TV, the Q60R
Our in-depth review of Samsung’s Best Performing 2019 QLED HDR TV, the Q90R

Even on the additional crucial specs of color performance, motion handling and gaming connectivity we expect the P-Series Quantum X TVs to be outstanding performers. Why? Because the 2018 models were and we haven’t yet seen Vizio create premium TVs that underperform their predecessors. We’ll verify this during a review of these televisions as soon as possible but we’d bet money on it being the result of testing.

The 2019 P-Series Quantum

Moving on to other 2019 Vizio TV releases, we have the next models down the performance chain. These are the “conventional” 2019 P-Series Quantum (no ‘X’) 4K HDR TVs and they too offer plenty of performance quality. With some 240 local dimming zones and a level of peak brightness that reaches 1200 nits, the 2019 P-Series Quantum TVs are still not exactly cheap but for levels of quality that still rival some of the best we’ve seen from Sony and Samsung, these new replacements for the 2018 non-Quantum P-Series TVs are nothing to sneeze at. They come in the same sizes as the Quantum X TVs and a 65 inch model will set you back by $1,399 while the 75 inch monster edition will go for a more or less reasonable $2,499.

Vizio Quantum X 2019

Again, these new P-Series TV models also have performance specs that are definitely on the high premium level in terms of backlighting, local dimming, HDR capacity and peak brightness. Thus, even though their prices aren’t low in more historical Vizio-style, they’re very reasonable when compared to what name brand competitors offer for similar prices.

We should note also that all of the above TVs come with Vizio’s Quantum Dot color technology and are thus expected to be exceptionally brilliant at rendering vibrant, highly accurate and broad color palettes for superb high dynamic range color quality. The 2018 P-Series Quantum TV had the same technology and its color performance was among the best we’ve ever seen in terms of wide color gamut coverage and color accuracy.

Now that we’ve covered the premium and flagship Vizio TV releases for 2019, we come down to the mid-range and budget models. These too have lots to offer despite much lower prices that finally go below $1000.

Two Versions of the M-Series for 2019

Starting off, there is the new Vizio M-Series TV. This model also comes with Quantum Dot color technology for broad HDR color, and full-array LED backlighting but in the case of the 65 inch M-Series, there are only 90 local dimming zones, as opposed to the 240 and 300+ of the P-Series Quantum and Quantum X editions. 90 local dimming zones is still insanely awesome for a price tag of just $999.99 for a 65 inch model (no Samsung or Sony 4K TV of any size has this many for a price of less than $1000), and so is the M-Series peak brightness, which is rated at a very respectable 600+ nits. The 55 inch edition of this M-Series model comes with a price of just $799.99 and the same number of local dimming zones.

Vizio M-Series

In an odd twist, Vizio is also offering a secondary, even more budget-friendly variant of the M-Series TVs with just 20 local dimming zones and a peak brightness of only 400 nits (still pretty good) which nonetheless retains Vizio’s vibrant Quantum Dot color technology. Because of these more economical specs, the lower-line M-Series goes for $899.99 for the 65 inch edition and $699.99 for the 55 inch edition. There are also 50 and 43 inch versions of the cheaper versions of the M-Series. These offer some of the best value that Vizio offers because they have the above technologies while costing only $549.99 and $399.99 respectively.

The 2019 Vizio V-Series: weak but still very decent

Finally we get down to Vizio’s ultra-budget 4K HDR TV offering, the V-Series. This TV is basically a successor to Vizio’s older D-Series models from previous years and with this edition what you don’t get is local dimming and Quantum Dot HDR color technology. The V-Series models are also pretty dim by the standards of their cousins above. That said, that Vizio only removes local dimming in its absolute cheapest 4K TV edition is impressive by the standards of what most of this brand’s competitors offer. The V-Series starts at a ridiculously low $259.99 for the 40 inch edition and from there goes up to $1,199.99 for the giant 77 inch version. One thing we’re almost sure about for even the V-Series is that it will offer excellent gaming performance and thus make for a wonderfully cheap console or PC gamer’s 4K TV.

vizio-quantum-2019-tvs

All of Vizio’s 2019 4K HDR TVs come with the SmartCast 3.0 smart platform update and users will be able to adjust onscreen app navigation for maximally easy access to their favorite content sources. Options for these include dozens of built-in apps like Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, Hulu and so forth but because there’s also a Chromecast option in the Vizio smart platform, you can cast content from any app or device that supports Chromecast right to your TV screen. Apple’s AirPlay 2 and Homekit are both also coming to all of the 2019 Vizio televisions at some point in the summer. These technologies will let users control their Vizio TVs with either Apple Siri, Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.

In summary, all of the 2019 Vizio 4K TV releases have something to offer and in our professional opinion the value and sheer performance you can look forward to from each category of TV is incredibly, extremely competitively good for the prices these TVs retail for. Yes, the Quantum X series is expensive but no other TV (not even ultra-premium models from Samsung or LG or Sony) we’ve yet seen in 2019 offers a whopping 3000 nits of brightness, quantum dot color AND so many local dimming zones. These specs make the Quantum X TVs in particular incredible.

Story by 4k.com

The post A Closer Look At Vizio’s Impressive Line Of Newly Released 2019 4K HDR TVs appeared first on .

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