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. 

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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.

[dunwell]

One final note re today's FA Cup Final - the second half was indeed shown in UHD on the iPlayer; looks like this was a "final test" for the World Cup.

[stevej190]

@dunwell
Your update came in as I typed mine, I made the changes you listed with the display and colour and it did improve the clip, I agree.
How/where did you find out about the fa cup 2nd half? Do the bbc announce these things somewhere?

[About-Time]

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@dunwell wrote:

A few futher points to add now that I've had the evening to play with the Roku Streaming Stick+

(1) The PQ on the UHD HLG stream was still awful, far too bright and washed out. I changed the Roku display setting from AutoDiscover to 4K 60Hz and also the HDR Color Profile to 4:4:2 in advanced settings. After applying these changes the FA Cup UHD loop looked a lot better.

(2) To benchmark against other services is a little unfair. The HDR colour *was* there, with some impressive contrasts on close ups. The 'main camera' was pretty average and slightly worse than Sky's UHD sports broadcasts. Frankly, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who watches MOTD and can see the degradation in quality after the BBC have got their hands on the footage!

(3) Intriguingly the FA Cup Final from today had a "Watch UHD Trial" option tagged on it but selecting this returns an error. This may have been a closed trial but I don't know - no amount of tinkering got this to work.

(4) The UHD trial content would only work in iPlayer Beta Mode - anything else returned an error.

(5) Genuinely impressed with how much better the Roku Apps are compared to the built in Samsung Smart TV apps - so refreshing to select channels which actually load quickly and work properly!

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Thanks for the feed back, I have my HDR sampling rate set to 422 as well, but have Auto adjust display refresh rate set to enabled, as I prefer the native refresh rate, for Netflix I.e 24hz. BBC hlg stream at 50hz, and I have tried auto adjust to disable, for 60hr, but could not see much difference. Perhaps next task to recalibrate settings for  HDMI port (must remember APPLY picture settings as current source), for best picture quality.

I watch 1st half of FA CUP final on My BT box (4k channel) and 2nd half as also reported by another poster on Roku BBC iPlayer app uhd HDR HLG. Must admit took a few minutes to get use to HLG picture. 

Still find hard to believe we have a solution to BBC iplayer, as I have checked the ROKU stick + and Fire TV 3, each day, for past 6 months.

Just out of interest I have just tried my Roku Ultra box, and via SUB port, played back the HLG version of LG jazz and it played back in HDR HLG, so all Roku 4 HDR boxes must be HLG capable. Not seen this posted any where else, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Samsung  KS series TV's are still excellent, so come on Samsung please deliver HDR10 + and fix the HLG playback for other sources. And internal BBC iPlayer app. 

[About-Time]

SUB SHOULD HAVE READ SUB, BUT AUTO CORRECT ON MY SAMSUNG TABLET SET.

[About-Time]

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@About-Time wrote:
SUB SHOULD HAVE READ SUB, BUT AUTO CORRECT ON MY SAMSUNG TABLET SET.

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Same issue again should have been USB.

[dunwell]

Apologies if I wasn't clear - the two changes I made were to 4:4:2 and "Display Auto Detect" (not refresh rate) - given it had automatically detected I had a 4k 60hz set I don't see why this should have made a difference but I've seen stranger things in the world of TV software.

Re the 2nd half UHD / HLG trial, I only found out from another forum late this evening. I don't know if it was announced during the programme or not. Both FA Cup HLG games have been filmed in less than optimal light conditions - it would be nice to see how this all looks under floodlights.

[blenky]

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@About-Time wrote:

Still find hard to believe we have a solution to BBC iplayer, as I have checked the ROKU stick + and Fire TV 3, each day, for past 6 months.

Just out of interest I have just tried my Roku Ultra box, and via SUB port, played back the HLG version of LG jazz and it played back in HDR HLG, so all Roku 4 HDR boxes must be HLG capable. Not seen this posted any where else, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Samsung  KS series TV's are still excellent, so come on Samsung please deliver HDR10 + and fix the HLG playback for other sources. And internal BBC iPlayer app. 

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Could it be that Samsung fixed the EDID issue in the last firmware and its only now we have found an external HLG enabled iPlayer that we are seeing the result?

[dunwell]

The only way we would know that is if the US and Italy are using the same firmware version as the UK - if they are then SkyQ and DirectTV would work, which as far as I'm aware, still don't.

[blenky]

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@dunwell wrote:

The only way we would know that is if the US and Italy are using the same firmware version as the UK - if they are then SkyQ and DirectTV would work, which as far as I'm aware, still don't.

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Far point.

[About-Time]

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@blenky wrote:

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@About-Time wrote:

Still find hard to believe we have a solution to BBC iplayer, as I have checked the ROKU stick + and Fire TV 3, each day, for past 6 months.

Just out of interest I have just tried my Roku Ultra box, and via SUB port, played back the HLG version of LG jazz and it played back in HDR HLG, so all Roku 4 HDR boxes must be HLG capable. Not seen this posted any where else, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Samsung  KS series TV's are still excellent, so come on Samsung please deliver HDR10 + and fix the HLG playback for other sources. And internal BBC iPlayer app. 

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Could it be that Samsung fixed the EDID issue in the last firmware and its only now we have found an external HLG enabled iPlayer that we are seeing the result?

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No EDID Issue not  fixed by last firmware update, as Fire TV 3 BBC app, for a short period of time played back the Planet Earth HLG trial clip. Then suddenly it was no more and the tech reference on Amazon developers page referring to HLG playback disappeared as well.