4K TV Woohoo! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 10:44:17 am
content: A year ago I bought myself an LG 55" 4K HDR TV.It's never been connected to an aerial or any kind of cable or satelite connection. It has only served as a media centre using a PC. For a while I used it's "apps" for Amazon Prime, Netflix, but I stopped and disconnected it from the network when it did this...I hit the "Home" button on the TV and along the bottom it said, "Recently uploaded photos" and displayed a series of images I had no idea I had and... well... didn't really want them displayed on my TV dashboard if friends or family were round. It turns out it scanned my network and invited itself into some folders I had shared with DLNA. Buried in one of them was a folder of images I hadn't seen in years, but unfortunately a few dubious photos were present. With the TV applying a new update which contained a horrifying Privacy and data sharing policy, I unplugged the network cable and made sure it's Wifi was unconfigured.Anyway... I was using a Dell Small Form Factor PC I found on EBay, it's a reconditioned 2nd gen i5 with 8Gb of RAM and a 512Gb SSD (for £120!). However the build in, Intel HD Graphics adapter maxed out at 1080p. "Oh noes!"It wasn't until I happened across a YouTube video on turning one of this highly available corporate surplus PCs into a gaming machine that I realised you could actually fit a GPU in them.Scored myself a brand new GTX 1030 for £60 on scamazon, it fitted perfectly, rebooted, installed the NVidia drivers and BOOM, full 4k display.Amazon Prime works with it, YouTube works will it. I think Netflix want extra money for 4k, but I'm happy enough.I tried a few of the remastered movies claiming to be 4K, but to be honest I don't think you really notice the difference. However a HQ YouTube stream from a big channel like Linus Tech Tips or similar is absolutely glorious looking. I think the remastered movies are a scam, they may be redigitized at 4k, but they are then absolutely annihilated by over compression removing any positive quality improvements. Maybe they are better on BlueRay or maybe it's just Amazon Prime that is over compressing.As a bonus, I can now play games on the living room TV too. Sure it's pretty low end, but will do most games at low settings 1080p at 30FPS.

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 10:47:33 am
content: I suppose the next step is to finally get a Dolby surround amplifier and speakers. That market is a minefield of big holes to pour money into, so I'm open to ideas on how to get a decent setup without spending way too much.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 12:32:19 pm
content: Quote from: paulca on September 14, 2020, 10:47:33 amGet a cheap secondhand receiver with HDMI, doesn't need to be 4K compatible. Use another HDMI output on the PC to run it, that way you don't have to leave the receiver on to get video or have problems with the receiver adding lag. (Ironically, that's more likely with higher end receivers that have built in upscaling. You don't need that since you have a GPU.)

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 01:11:39 pm
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on September 14, 2020, 12:32:19 pmUnfortunately my options for outputs are limited to a single HDMI and one DVI. There is a Display port onboard, but I guess that's out as PC only.I do however have an optical out from the TV. How likely is it to forward 5.1 audio out the optical to a reciever?EDIT: I think the TV supports using HDMI as an audio OUT, so maybe that's another option for pass through, if 5.1 pass through works.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 01:28:27 pm
content: Quote from: paulca on September 14, 2020, 01:11:39 pmDVI can be converted to HDMI with a passive adapter. S/PDIF only supports compressed surround so not a great option for gaming. HDMI ARC is an option, if both the receiver and TV support it.I would go with getting another HDMI output using an adapter so that the audio will work without the display.

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 02:25:22 pm
content: Would display port -> hdmi work and retain surround sound? I have a bunch of those adapters.Also... would it be cheaper to just buy a USB sound dongle. I know it's quite domestic/low quality, but something like £300 PC surround setup with USB, amp and speakers.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2020, 10:18:12 pm
content: Quote from: paulca on September 14, 2020, 02:25:22 pmTry it with your TV.I have not seen any USB audio boxes that support HDMI output. There's no point when there's already a "sound card" of sorts built into the GPU.https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/gpu-hdmi-audio-document/

author: MosherIV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2020, 07:49:04 am
content: HiI went with old skool av amp (no hdmi inputs or outputs) instead of av reciever. I use the optical out from tv to the amp.I also used optical from blueray player to amp. If disc has dts I use that because it is better quality than dolby. Bought yamaha amp and sub base seperately on ebay. Whole set up cost me less than £150 inculding speakers.Btw, the eye cannot see in 4k! Apparently 2k is about the limit for human eye, so you can see a difference between hd and 4k but you will not see the full detail of 4k. Hd is 1.5k, so not far off what the eye can see.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2020, 07:59:11 am
content: Quote from: paulca on September 14, 2020, 01:11:39 pmJust look for a port which is labelled with ARC (audio return channel). If you plug that into a AVR you dont need any other cables. 5.1. If it doesnt work, get a better cable, I had HDMI cable that ARC didn't work.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2020, 08:20:50 am
content: I have a 4k "'HDR"" philips tv with a small Ryzen 3200G box underneath. Works great, much better then all those crappy apps.I built it myself, butthisshould soon be available.Netflix isn't really 4k, the bitrate is ridiculously low, not worth it.Amazon Prima hassomeshows available in real 4k hdr, those you can only play with the app.To enjoy the best 4k hdr experience, install the k-lite codec pack (with madvr) and find yourself some "2160P.UHD.BluRay.REMUX.HDR10.HEVC..." if you know what I mean.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2020, 01:57:53 pm
content: Quote from: MosherIV on September 15, 2020, 07:49:04 amI don't think it's that simple, for example the "pixel density" of the eye is not a uniform grid like it is for a display or camera. The equivalent pixel count for the average human eye is anywhere from around 10MP to well over 500MP depending on how you're counting it.

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2020, 03:32:11 pm
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on September 15, 2020, 01:57:53 pmI agree. I have read this bunk and debunked a lot. It's complex. Something like a thumbs size at arms length right in the centre of our vision is extremely high res. As it moves away it drops so that at our extreme it's less than VHS quality, but brilliant at motion detection. But the human mental picture is completely synthetic. Our eyes will dart around and build a higher resolution image than we can actually see.Think about it. Right now reading this, you "think" you can see all the text in the message. You can't. It's your snythetic image. Force yourself to stare at one word and without letting you eye move for a few seconds the rest of the page will blur to more of the reality of what you can see.It also, of course depends on how far you are sat from the TV and how large the TV is.I worked in a company that made phone media streaming services (Pace) and customers complained that HD 1080p videos were downscaled to 480p on their 4.5" mobile screen.... seriously.