Topic: 4k TV Recommendations

@BAMozzy: Thanks very much, it did look like it largely comes down to aesthetics and sound quality. I've seen the KS7000 and I'm happy with the look of it and sound isn't an issue as I have a sound system that suits my needs.

I'm a bit worried about the input lag with HDR, given I suspect there will be huge improvements in a years time but if this is toward the top end of what is currently available I suspect it's okay. It's tough to imagine without actually trying.

Under a grand too, so I think it's a goer.

@BAMozzy: Doubt you'll know about the KS7000 but does the KS8000 have a headphone socket?

Edit: No, it doesnt, just optical out, which is a shame as I have 3.5mm headphones that I like to plug straight into the TV.

Input Lag in Game mode is around 21ms regardless of which KS series TV you go for and 4k HDR doesn't add anything either. This has been tested by many reputable sources - http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/ue55ks8000-201609174362.htm

That is better than most 1080p TV's so I doubt we will see anything much better than that in a few years. I expect the likes of Sony and LG will work on their modes and bring them down. Sony's are not the best considering a few years ago they were top of the input lag charts. The downside of such low input lag is that you have to manually turn the backlight up where as Movie mode automatically changes settings. The picture looks stunning and can confirm there is no noticeable difference in Lag

The KS8000 won the best overall TV of 2016 in What HiFis annual awards and the KS7000 won an award too.

As for Headphone sockets, I don't know. I haven't ever looked at the back but I don't think so though. There isn't one on the external One Connect Box (a genius idea - especially for wall mounters). The back has limited connections and mine is wall mounted so not easy to check. The connections are under a cover too.

Edit: never use headphones myself with a TV. I would hate the cables everywhere. I guess the Wireless gaming headsets that use optical though would work...

@BAMozzy: Okay ordered the KS7000, delivery on Saturday

Hope you are pleased with it

Thanks - I'm sure I will be! The legs are too far apart for my current TV stand though so will need to upgrade that too :/

I'm finally listening to some of the sterling advice offered up in this thread and taking the plunge on one of these new fangled 4K HDR monstrosities. 55 inch, KS7000 seems like a winner to me. I can't wait to get home and explain to my girlfriend - who I had a go at yesterday for ordering a takeaway because it cost too much - that I've just spent a bag of sand on a telly.

@johncalmc: I got this TV last weekend - I'm very happy with it in general. There are a few things that bug me about it, for example you need to manually raise the brightness to 20 when playing HDR content to get the best effect, but then afterwards put it back down to 10 or whatever otherwise it blinds you. I'm finding myself tweaking the settings between general TV, PS4 and Blueray where as on my old TV I wouldn't have to do that to get the optimum picture.. I guess I don't HAVE to do this but when the possibility of a better quality image is there it's tempting to mess around finding it!

Also, the legs are farrrr apart, I am having to get a new TV stand - make sure yours is big enough if you haven't already.

@kyleforrester87: These are things I'm going to have to consider before I pull the trigger on this.

@kyleforrester87: I have the same general setting for Bluray and TV. You can have 1 mode for 'night-time' (movie) and 1 for day-time (standard) and have the same setting for ALL HDMI inputs in one go (apply to all inputs) or a different movie/standard/game etc setting for each individual input. Watching a Bluray on a PS4/XB1 is as simple as turning off game mode as it will then go to the settings you have for Movie/standard or whatever 1 of the 4 you prefer. Like I said if you find the perfect setting for one TV source, you can apply this to all if you want.

I do agree that switching between a HDR game and an SDR one could be easier. Having to manually adjust the backlight to get the Peak brightness and contrast ratio is annoying - something that doesn't happen in Movie or Standard mode but I would rather do this than have a much higher Lag as the other HDR10 TV's do.

As discussed, the stand was one of the differences between the KS7000 and KS8000 - the 7000 suits a long narrow unit where as the 8000 needs a wider unit but can get away with not being as long. I don't know if its an option for you, but you could buy a wall mounting bracket as these are a LOT cheaper than a TV stand. The One Connect box makes wall mounting a lot easier for connectivity of devices. I think I paid around £10-15 for my brackets and the whole mounting process didn't take more than 30mins. My bracket has a tilt function so I can angle it up or down - mine is high up the wall so angled down for the perfect viewing angle. I have used the same bracket in 3 different houses and for 3-4 different TV's - only needing to buy new rawl plugs (obviously). Like I said this maybe a LOT easier and cheaper than a new TV unit and you can then use the top of your current unit for other things - soundbar, amp or just some ornaments. I know you have an analogue sound system but you could pick up a half decent soundbar for the price of some TV units and use that for 'casual' listening - less power drain than the analogue for example. Its not replacing the analogue (unless you want to) but providing an alternative (and example of an) option you could have by wall mounting.

For those of you with a KS series TV, the new firmware (1154) update has added HDR playback to the youtube app videos. Whilst I can't see any HDR game video's yet, its nice to have another opportunity to watch HDR material. Also watch Uncharted: the Lost Legacy in 4k - it looks almost HDR in some scenes.

Hopefully this addition though will give developers etc the opportunity to showcase their HDR in gaming...

That's cool

@kyleforrester87: You have a KS so I recommend using the youtube app. Watch some of the PSX video's in 4k - Uncharted was impressive - especially when Chloe reaches the rooftop and looks out at the cityscape. The pink neon glow also looks impressive and can see how HDR will look...

As for non-gaming, there is a great 2-3min HDR video of little clips - like natural history, a scateboarder etc that looks incredible. Its really good quality. There is a HDR Playlist but the other 3 video's in it aren't as impressive and look a bit flat to me though. It would be nice to see a HDR logo (like the 4k, HD logos) to show that they are actually HDR as a lot just have HDR in the title but are not actually HDR quality.

If you haven't yet received the update pushed to the TV, it can be updated manually via the website and USB stick...

@BAMozzy: Hmmm no update for me yet, will do it via USB if it doesn't come through in a few days. Try watching some FF15 video if you can, the HDR looks awesome

@kyleforrester87: I downloaded my update as I couldn't wait to try the HDR on youtube. The World in HDR - only a 3min demo - looked great although it does look good in just 4k too. It works as expected as well - i.e automatically switches to HDR mode.

There doesn't appear to be a lot of HDR content and its not easy to find either. Searching for HDR throws up all the videos that are not necessary HDR - some you would expect are at most just 4k. Hopefully though the amount of content will grow rapidly and we will see gaming HDR videos too. I haven't seen any FFxv HDR video's on there yet but I must admit I wasn't really looking for them.

Just opening up this thread again. I've got the Pro - very beefy and we are looking to upgrade our TV. I'm looking at a few but I really want one with HDR, however I'm going to hit the issue with the PSVR in that I use it regularly but the PSVR processer doesn't support HDR.

I don't want to be swapping cables around too much because I am worried about wear and tear, plus being a pain the A.

I am going to sound very naive and tech stupid so please bear with me. Am I right in thinking that, apart from the HDR feature, the PSVR box can still run everything 4k? If so, how much does HDR enhance PS4 Pro patched games?

As I tend to focus on one game, if HDR isn't much utilised except on flagship titles (at the moment), I'm happy to swap cables in the short term for games that are really going to be totes amaze. I saw Horizon Zero dawn demo running on a PS4 Pro on an amazing 4k HDR tv back in October and it has sold me on it. That said, if it is something that makes the majority of games that little bit better I am going to have to rethink maybe.

I've done some reader about splitters etc. but what is out there is expensive, needs a seperate power outlet and many seem to cause issues or have drop outs. Massive ball drop from Sony, I am hoping that in the future they release an update processing box or something for Pro and PSVR users (if the tech is adopted). Any advice would be awesome.

@Rudy_Manchego HDR is currently available in a number of released games:-

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Final Fantasy XV
Hustle Kings
Hitman (coming soon)
Infamous First Light
Infamous Second Son
The Last of Us: Remastered (and Left Behind DLC)
Last Guardian
Mantis Burn Racing (HDR support coming soon)
NBA 2K17
Resident Evil 7
Ratchet & Clank
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
The Witness (HDR support coming soon)
World of Tanks

These are upcoming releases confirmed to support HDR (no doubt we will see more but these are the confirmed releases that I know of)
Gran Turismo Sport
Horizon Zero Dawn
Gravity Rush 2
Days Gone
Death Stranding
Mass Effect: Andromeda

I can't help you with the PSVR issue myself as I don't have the headset. I would however recommend getting a HDR TV if you can afford to do so. Its at a similar stage to HD and 4k was after they launched in that there isn't a great range of content just yet. Netflix and Amazon have a few HDR programmes and some aren't that great - although the Grand Tour is apparently stunning. No broadcaster can yet offer HDR either but that is likely to change in the very near future with HLG (a form of broadcastable HDR) and no doubt the 4k HDR Blurays will no doubt increase in number too - not that the Pro can play them. Judging by CES, HDR is definitely the future of TV and I can only see gaming going that way too. Point I am making is that its worth getting a HDR TV. The worst case scenario is that you will end up having to connect the PS4 Pro directly to the TV - either by using the HDMI cable connecting the Pro to the PSVR or the PSVR to the TV - whichever is easier and whichever cable is 'High Speed'.

The Samsung KS series (and its 2017 range) are 'easier' if you have to swap cables - especially if you wall mount too. They come with a 'One Connect Box' which has all the HDMI connections (as well as others) so you don't have to keep going behind the TV to swap connections. I guess if you do buy a HDR TV, you would have to decide whether to keep the PSVR plugged in or just plug it in when you want to play. I don't know if a 'splitter' would work. It would need to handle 4k HDR (at least one of the latest HDMI 2.0 versions) but in theory it should. I know people that pass through 4K HDR through their Amps so I don't see why a Splitter won't work in this case. The Splitter though would need to be between the PS4 Pro and PSVR box and would therefore lead to 2 HDMI ports on the TV - the one that bypasses the PSVR for HDR and the one that passes through PSVR too. Of course it would be far better if Sony can and do update their PSVR HDMI controllers to allow HDR pass through...

@BAMozzy Hey, thanks for response and the advice, much appreciated. The list is really helpful as I think it means, in the short term, I'll just play the 4k and swap round on particular games, like Horizon or other games for HDR until the point where content starts to increase. Hopefully by then there will be a solution for the PSVR problem. I would guess that it is hardware rather than software related on the PSVR box but I think they should offer a replacement at some point. I do use VR a fair bit, it was one of the reasons I got the Pro because it does make a noticable different on patched games (Battlezone, for example, has a far better defined cockpit and runs that little bit smoother).

There aren't that many splitters out there (as far as I can see) that support HDMI 2.0 for HDR and from a few threads I've read, results are mixed with those there are. You are right that it would need to sit between to the two which still makes it next to inaccessible. Cable length is also an issue apparently if you are splitting and increasing cable size. I saw one thread that mentioned having an adapter rather than splitter so that you are just unplugging the adapter rather than the console. Needs more HDMI 2.0 cables though and I haven't verified if that solution is viable since it will increase cable length. I've heard more than 2 metres can cause issues.

You are 100% right on HDR - right now there might not be much content but part of the purchase is improving the picture quality for my wife and not upgrading for another few years. From what I can see, almost all TV's will incorporate and within a few years, nearly all new 4k models will have it.

I want the TV in place for Horizon Zero dawn though - it is going to look amazing!!

@Rudy_Manchego It really depends on the HDMI controllers that Sony used inside of the PSVR box. These are the bits on the motherboard that the ports on the outside are connected to and these 'connectors' are not that important in reality. They only function to allow the cable to connect to the HDMI controller. I assume that the controllers themselves may not be upgradeable otherwise I would imagine Sony would have done so. Not all HDMI controllers can be upgraded to later versions.

As far as Cable length goes, anything upto 5m is considered OK for HDMI. Problems can occur though if you have other devices in between that length. Every time you 'split' the cable, there is more risk of losing some of that data. A 5m long cable is less likely to have issues than a 1m cable into a splitter, then a 1m cable to an amp and 1m cable to the TV even though the data is travelling further in the 5m cable. I don't know your set-up, but I would imagine its easier to unplug the cable from a PS4 to PSVR and plug in a cable from TV to PS4 - only connecting the PSVR when needed - at least until Sony offer a solution (like a new PSVR box or upgrade to the existing one). Of course that would depend on you and usage of PSVR. If its not the primary used item, it would make more sense to keep the Pro and TV linked most often - I think - certainly if more and more games offer HDR.

With my set-up, a wall-mounted KS8000 4k HDR TV and the PS4 Pro in a AV unit, it would actually be easier to unplug the HDMI at the TV instead of the the back of the PS4. The KS has an external box which is far more accessible than reaching behind the Pro or as some TV's have, behind the screen to switch connections - not easy when they are mounted a few CM's from the Wall.

4k alone on TV pictures isn't that much of an upgrade overall. Yes its got more finer detail certain areas but overall if you have the same TV side by side one playing a HD film and the other a 4k film, its not easy to see a great difference at average viewing distances. You will notice some differences in certain scenes but overall its not big. Games on the other hand are far more noticeable as they tend to be 'sharper' than films in general anyway. HDR though is a much bigger change.

I am really looking forward to Horizon in 4k HDR. The game looks stunning in 4k (and 1080p too) but I can't wait to play it in HDR. Days Gone is another I think that will showcase HDR and Mass Effect: Andromeda looks like it has a lot of potential for HDR knowing what that can do.

What TV's were you considering?

I'm hoping the Q7000 this year will be a lot cheaper than the ks models from last year. While I'm not sure about resolution, I do want hdr . *. holds breath. *