iPlayer HLG/UHD HDR on Samsung’s J and K Series TVs

[ewanstancarr]

So, of the nigh on 400 TVs supported in BBC iplayer for the Blue Planet II  HLG episodes none are from Samsung. Oh joy. 

...

Moderator edit: Original thread title was "Blue Planet 2 HLG - No Samsung". With the OP's permission, the title was changed on 12/03/2018 to accurately reflect the dominant theme of the thread as it has progressed. If the reader would like to know more about the HLG format, please check out the BBC's page and FAQ's on it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/high-dynamic-range Thank you, AntS.

[Jay108]

 Apology, if i am  asking stupid question here.

Are we saying that we can buy a specific  Model / version of a Roku Stick and plug  it directly into the KS model TV via HDMI.  The Iplayer on Roku will allow KS Model TV to play HLG content?

If that is the case  then can someone verify the Model number of the ROKU stick and where we can buy them please.

Thanks

[dunwell]

Not a stupid question. This is the model of the streaming stick:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roku-Streaming-Stick-Player-Black/dp/B076FH18TC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526...

You may want to wait until more than one poster can verify this information; I will be able to do so tomorrow. Others may be able to more quickly.

The stick has a number of connected TV apps on it, one of which is the BBC iPlayer. The experience of the poster overnight is that the iPlayer app on the Roku stick has been updated to enable HLG and (even more importantly) his Samsung KS TV is recognising the HLG output as demonstrated by the HDR logo being shown on screen.

The stick could be plugged directly into the TV HDMI (untested) or through an AV Receiver which the earlier poster did. I will test both options tomorrow.

[Jay108]

---

@dunwell wrote:

Not a stupid question. This is the model of the streaming stick:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roku-Streaming-Stick-Player-Black/dp/B076FH18TC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526...

You may want to wait until more than one poster can verify this information; I will be able to do so tomorrow. Others may be able to more quickly.

The stick has a number of connected TV apps on it, one of which is the BBC iPlayer. The experience of the poster overnight is that the iPlayer app on the Roku stick has been updated to enable HLG and (even more importantly) his Samsung KS TV is recognising the HLG output as demonstrated by the HDR logo being shown on screen.

The stick could be plugged directly into the TV HDMI (untested) or through an AV Receiver which the earlier poster did. I will test both options tomorrow.

---

Thanks for clarifying this much appreciated.  I will hold off buying  the stick just for the moment.

[mrtickle]

---

@About-Time wrote:

On the question of HLG over HDMI, as HLG format has no meta data, and in theory HLG info would be ignored by non compatible TV's, so the issue being reported in USA, indicates HLG info being stripped from  by Cable TV STB. HENCE HLG HDMI EDID fix needed, but Roku Stick + sending signal, without stripping. 

---

No. This is not what is happening, it's been clarified several times! 😞

• The Cable STB asks the TV "do you support HLG", and the TV says "nope" in its EDID message.
• Next, the Cable STB sends a plain SDR picture to the TV instead of a HLG picture. (even though HLG is basically backwards compatible with SDR, it would still look off, the STB knows to send a normal SDR picture instead)
• Neither end is "stripping" anything off a HLG picture. A HLG picture is never constructed from the stream or sent.

This is why the EDID needs to be fixed, so that for those devices which ask the question (SkyQ is one), they get the answer "yes" from the TV.

The devices like the Roku and some Samsung UHD blu-ray players which send HLG are doing this because they are not asking the question to the TV first.

[mrtickle]

---

@dunwell wrote:
Huge news if true (no reason to doubt you at all)

I don’t think the iPlayer app on the TV will ever be upgraded and our best hope for this is an external device showing the content over HDMI. Whilst the best result would be through an existing set top box (eg SkyQ, Virgin) which I still think will follow shortly, this gives us an inexpensive option ahead of the World Cup which is only 4 weeks away. 

---

Agreed, but it's not really news - other than the fact that we've all been waiting for one of two things:

1. A device like this Roku (which doesn't check the EDID first, but blindly sends a HLG picture to the TV)
2. Samsung to fix the EDID so that all the devices, including those which check, will send a HLG picture to the TV.

Next a nit-pick which might seem pedantic but it's important because it's been discussed so many times: 

The BBC iPlayer app on our TVs was never the problem: as discussed ad nauseam, it's the lack of support in the TV's underlying Tizen OS for the DVB-DASH standard which the iPlayer 4K streams (both SDR and HDR) use that prevents us getting HLG HDR from the internal iPlayer app. If the BBC had chosen to use the same HTTP-DASH that the YouTube app uses, for example, it wouldn't have been an issue, but they didn't, they used DVB-DASH which isn't even a new standard. 

[About-Time]

Another reason to wait, as I mentioned in a follow up post. The Fire TV 3 is also HLG capable. See review in a forums, internet streaming apps part: the BBC  Iplayer.In the case of the latter, the Fire TV gets in on the Ultra HD HLG HDR action with the beta version of the app ....

https://www.avforums.com/review/amazon-fire-tv-3-2017-streamer-review.14083

[About-Time]

So STB not sending HLG and that equals stripping HLG info. I am well aware of previous posts.

[mrtickle]

---

@About-Time wrote:
So STB not sending HLG and that equals stripping HLG info. 

---

No, it does not equal.

There is a datastream. The STB has two choices as to what to do with the data.

1. Create an HLG HDR picture from the stream.
2. Create an SDR picture from the stream.

The stream is NOT an HLG picture which has something stripped off it to make the SDR version. The box does not start with the HLG picture and change it to make the SDR picture. The box creates a second completely separate SDR picture from the original stream. That is what I clarified.

[Markbo]

It will be interesting to see if the updated BBC iPlayer app on the Roku stick also works with the JS series of TVs as well. Also if the Roku delivers HDR on the YouTube app for us JS owers then this would be a double bonus as we don't get HDR on the built in YouTube app.

If this is a solution for us JS and KS owners, then maybe Samsung could do a deal with Roku to make them available to us at a very special price as a gesture of goodwill for the failure on their part to update their former flagship TVs. At this point something to do with pigs flying comes to mind.

[dunwell]

I agree, it is a bonus - and a Samsung subsidised price point would be the least they could do.

However - this is not the end of the story. If all of this is as good as I hope then this only fixes the original problem, that of the iPlayer HLG trial not being available to us. The bigger prize will be the EDID update which will be required to watch SkyQ and other HDMI delivered HLG programming, including those from the BBC.