# Using 4K Televisions Primarily for Upscaling Lower Resolutions



## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

*4K television owners.*
_Other than the current 4K DVD's and other limited 4K media how are you liking your 4K's upscaling ability? 
_
BTW, I have sincerely considered purchasing of a LG C7P OLED 4K HDR Smart TV - 65" Class but since it's use would primarily be for upscaling I am not convinced it is worth the cost.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

My folks have two 4K tvs and watch almost nothing that is a 4K source. They both are far superior to what where 1080p sets with the same content. Absolutely worth it. No way I’d buy a new tv that wasn’t 4K and hdr today. I watch a lot of Saturday college football there and the 4K tv is amazing for sports especially.

But my question to you is do you need a new tv? Either for your main tv or a secondary location? And how often do you buy new tvs in general? If you are happy with what you have an argument can be made to possibly wait about a year for the next generation as it may have more features that you’ll want down the line eventually. (HFR and more hdr options and hdmi 2.1 etc) however, I do not believe those th8ngs are worth waiting fo them if you are having issues with your current tv now, or if you have multiple tvs in the house. Cause once you get one 4K, you’ll want to have all 4K tvs sooner than you think. So in a year or two maybe you’d move the tv you buy today to the secondary location and buy the newest out then for the main one.


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## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

There are no current issues. My LG OLED C7 want is entirely based upon pure vanity. Logic will win the day. Just ask my wife.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

They key is to give her the second best tv in the house every time you upgrade to keep her happy!


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

1953 said:


> *4K television owners.*
> _Other than the current 4K DVD's and other limited 4K media how are you liking your 4K's upscaling ability?
> _
> BTW, I have sincerely considered purchasing of a LG C7P OLED 4K HDR Smart TV - 65" Class but since it's use would primarily be for upscaling I am not convinced it is worth the cost.


I love my "Cheap" 4k TV. It does an excellent job of upscaling. Best picture by far that I have ever had.
Being the tighwad that I am I would never spend as much as you are looking at for a TV. Over the years I have limited myself to about $1,200 for a TV. My last one, the 4k Samsung was on sale for $749 at Best Buy.

Go to Best Buy and look at them. Only you can decide if it is worth the money you are talking about spending.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

yeah ... best TV is that one for less then a magic number, $1000 !


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

1953 said:


> *4K television owners.*
> _Other than the current 4K DVD's and other limited 4K media how are you liking your 4K's upscaling ability?
> _
> BTW, I have sincerely considered purchasing of a LG C7P OLED 4K HDR Smart TV - 65" Class but since it's use would primarily be for upscaling I am not convinced it is worth the cost.


It's worth it. You're gonna have to get one to really appreciate the upscaling, I tried looking at them in stores, that told me little, you have to watch one for a few days. As *Inky *said, once you get one, you won't stop. By next week our 3rd and 4th 4K set will be installed. All my plasmas, except for one 1080p 42" set which still has a more than decent picture, need to be replaced. As I've said before, I don't think you can beat a Samsung when it comes to "most bang for the buck".

Rich


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

1953 said:


> *4K television owners.*
> _Other than the current 4K DVD's and other limited 4K media how are you liking your 4K's upscaling ability?
> _
> BTW, I have sincerely considered purchasing of a LG C7P OLED 4K HDR Smart TV - 65" Class but since it's use would primarily be for upscaling I am not convinced it is worth the cost.


Mine's a C6 (2016 - 'cause I "_needed_" 3D).

I have found that its "upconverting" of DirecTV signals is a mixed bag. IOW, good pictures look _really_ good, but lesser-quality HD can look annoyingly bad - the flaws are "enhanced."

The bad was the first "striking" thing noted. However, playing my first UHD BD was the second, _more_ striking experience and far outweighed the first (in a good way, of course).

I was gonna add that it does do a fairly decent job on 1080p (out of the FireTV box) and how _great_ standard BD looks, but then remembered that my UHD player actually does the upconverting of the BD. (Great for BDs, but lousy for DVDs - set player to 720p or 1080i, and let the TV take it the rest of the way.)

Overall, I'm pleased with it, but I _do_ wish someone would come out with a suite of UHD *Channels!* (Like a Travel Channel, and maybe an HBO or two.)


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## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> Mine's a C6 (2016 - 'cause I "_needed_" 3D).
> 
> I have found that its "upconverting" of DirecTV signals is a mixed bag. IOW, good pictures look _really_ good, but lesser-quality HD can look annoyingly bad - the flaws are "enhanced."
> 
> ...


Yours is the first truly detailed response. We sincerely thank you. It has been an uphill battle to convince my wife about the advantages to buy a C7P. Now I am sure it would be a bad move. In fact, considering the many history type, varied and older BBC shows we watch the C7P would be a downgrade except for BR & 4K disc movies. The lack of 4K content on DTV is why upscaling was so important. Our LG OLED EG559100 HDTV is possible the best HDTV. I will wait until 4K media is readily available. Again, thank you and enjoy your C6.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> Mine's a C6 (2016 - 'cause I "_needed_" 3D).
> 
> I have found that its "upconverting" of DirecTV signals is a mixed bag. IOW, good pictures look _really_ good, but lesser-quality HD can look annoyingly bad - the flaws are "enhanced."
> 
> ...


I use a couple Samsung BD players that upscale the BDs and DVDs to 2160p, bought them on a whim, didn't even know what I was buying. Boy oh boy, do those BDs look good and the DVDs...don't. And I have tried a 1080p BD player with a DVD on a 4K set and the same thing happened, it looked awful.

Rich


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Yeah, get a good TV if you need a replacement. But I can't recommend it _strictly_ for the upconverting of D* pictures. (I know others have varying experiences with this, mostly positive I believe.)

In my case I had several reasons to "pull the trigger" earlier (including the discontinuation of 3D).

I can't imagine the tech not continually improving over time along with hopefully decreasing pricing.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Rich said:


> I use a couple Samsung BD players that upscale the BDs and DVDs to 2160p, bought them on a whim, didn't even know what I was buying. Boy oh boy, do those BDs look good and the DVDs...don't. And I have tried a 1080p BD player with a DVD on a 4K set and the same thing happened, it looked awful.
> 
> Rich


Yeah, I think I found out quickly that UHD TVs aren't really meant for watching SD!

DVDs always looked good on the old CRTs (SD or HD). I've still got one HD in use and even D* SD is watchable on it!


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> Yeah, I think I found out quickly that UHD TVs aren't really meant for watching SD!
> 
> DVDs always looked good on the old CRTs (SD or HD). I've still got one HD in use and even D* SD is watchable on it!


It depends on the source material used with SD. I have some DVDs that look like crap on my Sony XBR-55X900C while others look damn good.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

MysteryMan said:


> It depends on the source material used with SD. I have some DVDs that look like crap on my Sony XBR-55X900C while others look damn good.


I can get away with playing DVDs I've recorded from HD sources using component out from the recorder with its PS turned off.

But it seems certain "otherwise properly-mastered" commercial DVDs just look like crap when I play them on the UHD player.

(I'll admit I haven't tried a lot of them.)


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## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

Thanks everyone.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> I can get away with playing DVDs I've recorded from HD sources using component out from the recorder with its PS turned off.
> 
> But it seems certain "otherwise properly-mastered" commercial DVDs just look like crap when I play them on the UHD player.
> 
> (I'll admit I haven't tried a lot of them.)


Next time you play one, look at the resolution / ratio for the screen , etc. I would guess that the ones made for widescreen look the best.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> Yeah, get a *good TV* if you need a replacement. But I can't recommend it _strictly_ for the upconverting of D* pictures. (I know others have varying experiences with this, mostly positive I believe.)
> 
> In my case I had several reasons to "pull the trigger" earlier (including the discontinuation of 3D).
> 
> I can't imagine the tech not continually improving over time along with hopefully decreasing pricing.


I think a "good" TV is one with a good refresh rate. That should be the first thing folks look for in the search for a new TV. Just keep in mind the sets with the good RRs are more expensive, but they're worth the money.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> Yeah, I think I found out quickly that UHD TVs aren't really meant for watching SD!
> 
> DVDs always looked good on the old CRTs (SD or HD). I've still got one HD in use and even D* SD is watchable on it!


Did they really look that good on the CRTs or did we have no idea what "better" looked like? I have no CRT sets, can't make that comparison. I know this: I have no urge to watch anything on my 720p plasmas, they just look dismal compared to the 4K sets and my 1080p plasmas. Even the TCL 1080p set I just bought for Sadie blows the 720p plasmas away, PQ-wise. And that only cost ~ $250.

Now I'm wondering if anybody here has compared a DVD on a CRT and a 4K set...anyone??

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

MysteryMan said:


> It depends on the source material used with SD. I have some DVDs that look like crap on my Sony XBR-55X900C while others look damn good.


Open Range was more than decent the last time I got a DVD of it from NF. Aside from that one DVD I can't think of another, but I gave up on DVDs. One of these days we'll get rid of the last rack of DVDs we have downstairs, must be fifty or a hundred of them on that rack and they haven't been touched in years.

I have a feeling NF is never gonna rent out UHD discs. Upsets me. I want the UHD player.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> I can get away with playing DVDs I've recorded from HD sources using component out from the recorder with its PS turned off.
> 
> But it seems certain "otherwise properly-mastered" commercial DVDs just look like crap when I play them on the UHD player.
> 
> (*I'll admit I haven't tried a lot of them*.)


I did. Kept thinking I was getting crappy discs. Then, an epiphany! It dawned on me that DVDs are never gonna give me the PQ I want consistently and I gave up on them. Donated bins and bins of DVDs to a church. They never made it to the church, the woman that took them from me kept them.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

1953 said:


> Thanks everyone.


I am curious. Is that LG OLED TV you have not 4K?

Rich


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Rich said:


> I am curious. Is that LG OLED TV you have not 4K?
> 
> Rich


His is not.
LG 55EG9100: 55 Inch Smart Curved OLED TV | LG USA


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> His is not.
> LG 55EG9100: 55 Inch Smart Curved OLED TV | LG USA


Wow! I thought all OLEDs were 4K sets. Wrong again. If that's a link it doesn't work.

Rich


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Rich said:


> Wow! I thought all OLEDs were 4K sets. Wrong again. If that's a link it doesn't work.
> 
> Rich


Strange. The link works for me. It is a link directly to the LG TV in question on the LG website.

*Curved OLED 1080p Smart TV - 55" Class (54.6" Diag) *

*55EG9100*
Discontinued Product


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> Strange. The link works for me. It is a link directly to the LG TV in question on the LG website.
> 
> *Curved OLED 1080p Smart TV - 55" Class (54.6" Diag) *
> 
> ...


You use Chrome? I can't open the above link.

Rich


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Rich said:


> You use Chrome? I can't open the above link.
> 
> Rich


The above was just copied and pasted text from the website.
No, I use Edge.


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## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

Rich said:


> I am curious. Is that LG OLED TV you have not 4K?
> 
> Rich


We have a LG OLED 55EG9100 HDTV. Discontinued in favor of 4K's. Possibly the best HDTV ever sold. Read about it: LG 55EG9100: 55 Inch Smart Curved OLED TV | LG USA


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

jimmie57 said:


> Next time you play one, look at the resolution / ratio for the screen , etc. I would guess that the ones made for widescreen look the best.


So far, seems to be the case. In theory, you wouldn't think so, though.

In the situation of a non-widescreen program, the DVD format is able to utilize its _entire_ horizontal res of 720 for that narrower picture. So those pixels should be "squeezed" into the center part of the widescreen TV.

In the widescreen program, that 720 is more evened-out across the entire width of the screen.

This is why when I would make a DVD recording from (TCM for example) on a non-widescreen (4:3) program I would set the receiver to 4:3 crop mode, thereby allowing the full use of the DVD format's 720 H-resolution for a slight improvement of the recorded picture.

You would think this "improvement" would carry over to commercially-produced DVDs of older TV programs, and on my older screens it seemed to.

Fortunately for me, I don't have much of an investment in commercially-produced DVDs.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> The above was just copied and pasted text from the website.
> No, I use Edge.


Must be a Chrome problem, they keep popping up.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

1953 said:


> We have a LG OLED 55EG9100 HDTV. Discontinued in favor of 4K's. Possibly the best HDTV ever sold. Read about it: LG 55EG9100: 55 Inch Smart Curved OLED TV | LG USA


Link worked, another puzzle.

Rich


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Rich said:


> Link worked, another puzzle.
> 
> Rich


Most times I put my laptop to sleep.
The other day I downloaded a program to install. It got to a point in the installation and said the files had to be on drive "C". I only have drive "C".
I did a shutdown / restart and the program installed without a problem. I now plan to do a restart at least once per week.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> Most times I put my laptop to sleep.
> The other day I downloaded a program to install. It got to a point in the installation and said the files had to be on drive "C". I only have drive "C".
> I did a shutdown / restart and the program installed without a problem. I now plan to do a restart at least once per week.


Never a dull moment, huh? Last two Win 10 updates really screwed up my two computers. I just got the PC working and the laptop shows a solid blue screen when I turn it on. That only lasts for seconds and then the desktop comes up, but it scares me. I like my Lenovo Z710.

Rich


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## mutelight (Oct 6, 2008)

My take is that if you are happy with your current set and, as you mentioned, you aren't going to view native 4K content, you may want to stick with your current display.

That said, depending on the TV, upscaling on a brighter and higher resolution screen can be quite nice. From my personal experience, my Sonys do the best job with non-native signals, my LG second but the Samsungs I used to have were a close third.

If you do go the 4K route, I highly recommend the Apple TV 4K. There are almost 400 4K movies on it, then every new Amazon and Netflix series are being released in 4K so there is quite a lot of content available now. I've had numerous streamers, including the Nvidia Shield for 4K and the Apple TV is easily my favorite since their 4K versions of movies are the same price as HD, then on top of that they have easily the best streaming quality which is the highest bitrate of all the services.


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## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

mutelight said:


> My take is that if you are happy with your current set and, as you mentioned, you aren't going to view native 4K content, you may want to stick with your current display.
> 
> That said, depending on the TV, upscaling on a brighter and higher resolution screen can be quite nice. From my personal experience, my Sonys do the best job with non-native signals, my LG second but the Samsungs I used to have were a close third.
> 
> If you do go the 4K route, I highly recommend the Apple TV 4K. There are almost 400 4K movies on it, then every new Amazon and Netflix series are being released in 4K so there is quite a lot of content available now. I've had numerous streamers, including the Nvidia Shield for 4K and the Apple TV is easily my favorite since their 4K versions of movies are the same price as HD, then on top of that they have easily the best streaming quality which is the highest bitrate of all the services.


Going 4K all the way!


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## mutelight (Oct 6, 2008)

1953 said:


> Going 4K all the way!


Haha, nice!

I am a big AV nerd and have been bought into 4K for some time and had numerous 4K displays so if I can help answer and questions or provide any advice, please let me know.

I'd recommend the LG B7/C7 for the OLED side and the 900E/930E from the LCD side of things. Both technologies have their advantages but those should serve as a good starting point as they are all high quality and a nice balance of price to performance.


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## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

We choose the Sony 930E


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## mutelight (Oct 6, 2008)

1953 said:


> We choose the Sony 930E


Awesome, enjoy!

I've been extremely pleased with mine.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

mutelight said:


> My take is that if you are happy with your current set and, as you mentioned, you aren't going to view native 4K content, you may want to stick with your current display.
> 
> That said, depending on the TV, upscaling on a brighter and higher resolution screen can be quite nice. From my personal experience, my Sonys do the best job with non-native signals, my LG second but the Samsungs I used to have were a close third.
> 
> If you do go the 4K route, I highly recommend the Apple TV 4K. There are almost 400 4K movies on it, then every new Amazon and Netflix series are being released in 4K so there is quite a lot of content available now. I've had numerous streamers, including the Nvidia Shield for 4K and the Apple TV is easily my favorite since their 4K versions of movies are the same price as HD, then on top of that they have easily the best streaming quality which is the highest bitrate of all the services.


Agree, I do. ATVs are simply the best. In my opinion. I have to say: Putting a new ATV5 on a Samsung 4K set is...interesting. To say the least. I've learned a lot recently about the menus of the ATVs and Sammys. I know how to fix some glitches that are surely gonna pop up when you hook up the ATV5s to a Samsung. I'm gonna start a thread about that when I get a tuit.

Rich


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

Here you go Rich, a round tuit.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

billsharpe said:


> Here you go Rich, a round tuit.


One of my bosses had a pin like that. Neat. Thanx. Now find me a henway...

Rich


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

LMGTFY: henway

Or for an answer you did not expect:









So ... back to 4K TVs.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

James Long said:


> LMGTFY: henway
> 
> Or for an answer you did not expect:
> 
> ...


I expected H. E. N. W. A. Y.

Rich


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

I recently received an LG 65 inch 2017 model 65UN6200 4K TV as a warranty replacement for my 2014 Samsung UN60A7100 3D TV, which had developed a rather large burnin spot over the past year or so. Since 3D TV's are no longer available and a replacement panel would have cost around $1300, the warranty company gave me the LG. Very nice TV except that the HDR performance isn't the best. Other than that, the upscaling is excellent, and the Masters Tournament yesterday looked stunning. I haven't tried any native 4K content on the set as yett, but have upgraded my Netflix account to include 4K.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Cholly said:


> I recently received an LG 65 inch 2017 model 65UN6200 4K TV as a warranty replacement for my 2014 Samsung UN60A7100 3D TV, which had developed a rather large burnin spot over the past year or so. Since 3D TV's are no longer available and a replacement panel would have cost around $1300, the warranty company gave me the LG. Very nice TV except that the HDR performance isn't the best. Other than that, the upscaling is excellent, and the Masters Tournament yesterday looked stunning. I haven't tried any native 4K content on the set as yett, but have upgraded my Netflix account to include 4K.


Don't know if this applies to your LG TV, but I found out on mine (an OLED) I had to go into settings and turn on "deep color" for the input that I wanted HDR to work on.

The TV then rebooted and HDR worked like it was supposed to (except for needing further adjustment to my personal taste - including turning off motion control).

HDR is a whole 'nother set of picture adjustment settings, like having its own input.

Prior to having done that, HDR was kind of dark and muddy-looking.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

I haven't gone into the picture settings as yet. I have a copy of suggested picture settings for the 65UN65300, which is this year's version but haven't had the opportunity to get in and try them as yet. Even so, the picture in the CBS telecast of the Masters was beautiful. I haven't seen any dark scenes as yet (my family usurps the TV), so can't really tell for sure.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Cholly said:


> I haven't gone into the picture settings as yet. I have a copy of suggested picture settings for the 65UN65300, which is this year's version but haven't had the opportunity to get in and try them as yet. Even so, the picture in the CBS telecast of the Masters was beautiful. I haven't seen any dark scenes as yet (my family usurps the TV), so can't really tell for sure.


Your TV probably has a You Tube app. They have a section that is 4k, some with HDR.
I believe the N version that you have has the HDR+ and the HLG capability.


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