4kHD TV too good for my current setup?

noisefreq

noisefreq

Super Member
Been thinking about getting a bigger television.
My son found one for sale that is 4k ultra high definition, OK, price was right, seems like great reviews, I like Samsung's picture.

Get it all hooked up and... the lettering is fuzzy, the image is blurry and the picture looks washed out.
What gives?
I tried 3 different sources, satellite dish through coaxial, DVD player through RCAs, and wifi.

Nothing looks as good as the TV I'm trying to replace.
Actually looks MUCH worse.

I'm thinking my non HD sources are the problem.
Another example of technology outgrowing it's usefulness.

I cart it back to the store and buy the last HD 1080p they had in my price range.
I really miss analog television.
 
It might be a problem with the TV. Try using a source via HDMI.

But, a few questions. When you say "I tried 3 different sources, satellite dish through coaxial, DVD player through RCAs, and wifi."

What do you mean by "satellite dish through coaxial"? 75 ohm to the antenna connector on the TV? That will definitely suck.

How about "DVD player through RCAs"? Red/Green/Blue comoponent or composite via yellow jacks? The RGB component connection should provide a 480i DVD quality picture. A composite yellow jack connection will suck,

I have no idea what you mean by "wifi"? Are you using one of the apps in a smart TV? They should be fine.
 
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One man's suck is another man's setup.
Yeah, my source inputs suck but that's what I have to work with.

I'm not letting the television dictate what I can hook up to it.
For one reason, I'm a cheapskate.
For another, I refuse to let the cable company continuously bend me over.
Lastly, I'm really not a fan of the super high definition clarity.
I don't feel the need to count the winkles hidden under the makeup on the newscaster's tanning booth-face as she reads from the teleprompter.

Less is more for me.
 
Sorry if I offended you. That was not my intent. I just offered what would be the better connection options given a choice. I find it odd that both a satellite box and a DVD player only offer the lowest common denominator for connections. But, it's your system and your choice. I'm outta here.
 
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What are your other satellite box connection options? What about the DVD player? Do either of them have HDMI or optical outputs? Those would be a better choice than analog into a digital TV.

Good luck!
 
Do you mean that the input devices were connected via composite video (one RCA for video) or RF? It wouldn't surprise me if those inputs were poorly implemented on a new 4K TV. I've found that even 1080p TVs differ quite a lot in how well they handle standard definition signals, too.
 
RichPA said:
<snip>
I've found that even 1080p TVs differ quite a lot in how well they handle standard definition signals, too.
Click to expand...

How well TV's upscale lower resolution video is an often overlooked item and is for some reason rarely mentioned in reviews.

There just isn't that much 4k content yet so most of what one watches will have to be unconverted from 1080 or 720 or even lower resolution if watching old TV shows.

When HD first came out (still tube TVs) I was blown away by the image until I turned it to a regular broadcast non-HD signal. It was unwatchable the image was so poor.
They improved the upscaling over the years. But even when we finally did 'upgrade' there were still ones that had issues with it.

We were at a store recently and had pretty much settled on one OLED TV when someone else asked them to put the game on. They switched from the 4k preset programming that was running and suddenly what we thought was the best TV had fuzzy edges around everything. And that was with a 1080P signal so I can't imagine what 720 or lower would look like on it.
A different brand next to it had a better picture with that signal so we waited for that brand to come out with OLED, now we are just waiting for a sale ;)

Some places can't or won't even switch the video over to broadcast from the factory designed sample video; which is rediculous.
 
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the skipper said:
Sorry if I offended you. That was not my intent. I just offered what would be the better connection options given a choice. I find it odd that both a satellite box and a DVD player only offer the lowest common denominator for connections. But, it's your system and your choice. I'm outta here.
Click to expand...

Hey Skipper, no offense taken.
I appreciate all the suggestions given, I just am not in a position to use any HDMI.

I'll check out the "soap opera effect", thanks.
 
noisefreq, the standard definition picture would look better on a tv meant for that. I've seen it many times.. also go into the settings and turn any feature that sounds gimmicky off.
 
unless you have a direct connection to 4K material, most connections provide less resolution
(video signals are about 480I/P, DVD better, etc) and it is unwatchable.

there are DVD/BR players that upscale to 1080 or 4K (I have this dual VHS/DVD that upscales
VHS to DVD) but for the best quality you'll need to buy/rent/watch only BR on a BR player.

Netflix is OK until the network congestion drops the resolution down and you hold your
breath until it resumes in "HD". nowadays there's a $ option to get even higher res.

before anyone complains about all this, your local public library has an entire large collection
of BR including foreign films.
 
My friend just bought one of those $3,000+ 4k tv's and 480 DVD's work just fine. Of course his BR disc's work better. The important thing with resolution and big screens is having the correct seating distance. With 4k we can sit perhaps 8' from a 65" tv and get a great picture, With 480 DVD's we might need to sit at least 2x that distance to get a nice sharp picture. This is not because the TV is too high tech, It's because it's just to big to watch low resolution material up close. We can reduce the picture size with the right setting to get a sharp picture up closer on 65" screen, But are defeating the purpose of the large TV.

I have watched "The Ten Commandments" video tape (250 lines resolution) on my 46" LCD 1080 HDTV from 11' with superb results. The colors much more vivid and crisp than many of my DVD's. While not quite as sharp, Still plenty sharp enough to read the small print of the ending credits.

IMO if there is a problem getting a good picture on a decent new TV with SD material, It is because we are either sitting to close, or the setting's on both the source and TV need to be adjusted. All results were with good Samsung TV sets.
 
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I completely understand what you are saying.
In fact, I went with a smaller 50" television because of this.
 
+48V said:
Use an antenna and/or stream for your source.

As for over-the-top clarity....google you TV model for the setting to turn off “soap opera effect”.
Click to expand...

Found the settings that eliminate the soap opera effect and things are looking MUCH better. Thanks!
 
I bought a TCL 55p605 from BB and most stuff looks great. DVD & BR look almost as good as 4K, along with good OTA signals. Some of the secondary channels aren't great. The upconverting from 480i does some weird things with textures and patterns sometimes. Watching SVU episodes they had a backlit privacy glass that you could watch the surface move around.
Even with that, brilliant colors, sharp picture. Great TV. absolutely an upgrade from my 1080i rear projection. And that was a really good picture.
 
I don't think there is 4K over the air signals TV in most US markets -
pretty pointless to go above a nice priced 1080 set for broadcast use ...
No offense meant - we're still running a 1080 Acquia TV in our home.
 
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