[KS OWNERS ONLY] Sky to introduce HDR content on Sky Q from March

[daleski75]

Seen this article just now https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/02/sky-uk-unveils-next-wave-sky-q-tv-feature-upgrades.htm... and it will be very interesting to see if our televisions get HDR content through Sky Q.

Not seen anything yet about the format but assuming its HLG.

Will keep this thread as up to date as I can.

[JAMES4578]

Meant to post this earlier and some will be aware, however seems will be a while we have a further wait before we can enjoy SkyQ  HDR in the UK.  Apparently other priorities at the moment (some detailed in this article), however many will not think  other offerings are as important  (even if not everyone is interested in HDR).

SkyQ HDR - May be Late 2020 

[JAMES4578]

It turns out Hdr with be coming to Sky Q Boxes from 27th of May, so shorter delay after all. Will be using HLG for some nature programmes  and will follow later on Sky original Shows.  However it seems the older 1TB boxes will not be compatible, though the rest should be fine.  Reported on a few sites  but has not yet been the fanfare of an official announcement.

omeecinemachoice.com/content/sky-finally-upgrades-4k-uhd-hdr-your-sky-q-compatible 

[MattSano75]

I can confirm that my KS8000 is recognising the HDR signal being sent from the Sky Q box. I have a 2TB box with external power brick and my TV is on firmware 1242.

[Dazeboy]

I have the same setup and can confirm it looks great 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[rozel]

I can confirm that my KS9500 is recognising the HDR signal being sent from the Sky Q box. I have a V3 (Titan) 2TB box and my TV is on firmware 1242.  Looks very good, when I can get the better half off watching Corrie catchups etc. !  Because I route my Q box through my Yamaha Receiver, I have to toggle the inputs on it or on the TV in order to get the HDR-HLG to kick-in or kick out.  Does anyone else suffer from this?  If I plug my box directly into the One Connect box, I don't have to do this.

[MattSano75]

My sky q goes through my receiver (Denon AVR x2400h) and the HDR switches automatically. I can't check right now but I'm sure my receiver is set to pass through if that helps. 

[rozel]

Thanks. Mine is a Yamaha RX-A1070 and all my HDR-HLG devices are connected to a HDMI port at the rear of the Receiver, including the Q box. When my Receiver is in standby the video passes through to TV in the same way as it were on and a separate Optical cable from my Q box then routes the sound to a Sony Soundbar/mini sub. Whether in standby or not, I still have to "toggle" the inputs.

[dunwell]

I'm not sure about your specific receiver but I used to have a Yamaha RX-679 hooked up between my source devices and my KS8000. It passed through HDR quite comfortably, without the need to mess around with output switching etc.

Again, without knowing the specifics of your receiver, you may have to go into the Yamaha Advanced menu which can only be accessed with some strange key presses prior to being switched on. I had to do this to allow 4K HDR to work properly.

Just a shot in the dark but worth a quick Google if you have 5 mins.

[rozel]

Thanks for that, I'll google   I have lodged a post on the Yamaha AV forum in case they come up with something.  I haven't  discounted that it may be a problem with my set somehow.

[JAMES4578]

seems to be working  fine  (though I do not have the best set  for HDR) .  Sky have released information about compatible Boxes  and as well as the standard 1TB Boxes  the older  2TB Box  (32B0xx ) will  not support HDR in fact.  There will be no immediate swapping of  2TB Boxes(partly Covid-19 related) but should happen in the future.

The 3rd version of the 1TB box released late last year  will support HDR https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2019/11/sky-q-new-1tb-box/ 

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/check-which-sky-q-box 

General Guide here https://www.sky.com/help/articles/watching-sky-q-in-ultra-hd      Artcle states that Samsung Tv may initially flash when watching HDR abd if problem to return to SkyQ Home  before trying again.

[MattSano75]

I'm not 100% sure but there might be 2 types of pass through. The one that passes the video signal when the receiver is in standby, and one where when the source is selected the receiver has no influence over the video signal being sent to it and passes it to the TV for it to upscale the picture etc. Only the sound for this source would be handled by the receiver.

[rozel]

Thanks @MattSano75  -  I really thought and hoped you were on to something here.  I've just spent an hour or so waiding through my User Manual and indeed there are a few settings, in particular, an Advanced Menu which is accessed using a button or 2 on the front panel, not the remote.  There's a 4K setting to switch between Mode 1 & Mode 2, in case Mode 1 didn't work.  Switching to Mode 2 did not change anything, I still have to toggle the inputs to get HDR-HLG devices plugged in to the rear of my Receiver, to display properly.   This is getting rather frustrating.  I also checked Video Processing - it was set to Direct, so I switched it to Process but again no joy here either 😞

If the "One Connect" box could be expanded , then I'd plug all my devices into it and job done, but I cannot do this - I have one input spare but I need another 2 - 1 x Roku, 1 x Amazon Fire TV and 1 x Sky Q.  My media player takes 2 and my Bluray player the other one. 

I appreciate your help though - Cheers

[dunwell]

Hello

This may sound like a stupid question and apologies if I've missed some of the background but why aren't you plugging all of your devices into the back of the Yamaha AVR and then just the Yamaha itself into the One Connect box?

[rozel]

Hi @dunwell , thank you for taking an interest in this.  It is so we can watch, in particular Sky Q, without having to listen to our whole Surround Setup (HTS).  When the Receiver is in Standby, it continues to pass the Video through to the TV and I have an Optical lead from the Sky Q box to a Sony Sounbar, which feeds a small sub.  My better Half doesn't want full surround sound on all the time lol.  But I have a Harmony Hub, setup with Activities, which she can execute on either the Harmony Remote or on her phone but has the benefit of using the Sky Remote too.  I had hoped the Sky Q wouldn't suffer from this toggling necessity and I would just put up with it for my other 2 devices.  But I've got the bit between my teeth now to try and ascertain what the problem is.  I have known this has been an issue for the Roku and Amazon devices for well over a year now but I'm hoping there may be a solution.

[MattSano75]

Have you tried pressing the home button on your remote, move left to the settings cog and then up to sound output. You can cycle through the different sound outputs. I have all divices plugged in AVR and one HDMI to my one connect box. I tried this and it works the only issue I had was when I went from TV audio back to HDMI audio I had to re select cbl/sat on  my receiver for the audio to play through my speakers. I'd imagine doing that would be less annoying than the HDR not auto switching. I think you've got a project for the weekend pencilled in!! 

[rozel]

No I haven't - it is food for thought though. Because I have quite a few Activities set up on My Harmony Hub, which work alongside my Alexa Echo, I want to keep things as simple as possible for my other half. These Activities can be activated by Voice, using the Harmony Remote or by using our Samsung S10+ phones. Not sure what you call it but I can add an "Icon" to the main Harmony Menu, the one that applies to all menus (each device has one) which when set up, will act like an independant Activity to "Toggle" the inputs. I shall set up two, one for toggling the TV inputs and one for toggling the Receiver's inputs. I'm unsure yet as to which method works best. Last night we watched Red Joan on Netflix (using my Roku) - it was not an "HDR" release, I don't think, but when it ended and went back to standard Sky Q TV the picture quality was over saturated with a "vivid x 5" look. I had to toggle the inputs to sort. First time I've had this, as it usually happens when exiting from HDR releases. This is a very strange phenomanon

[Notty72]

Hi did you go from your sky q box straight into your one connect box and if so which hdmi port did you use on your one connect as I can't get it working on mine but I know hdr works as it comes on when watching on my amazon firestick?

[MattSano75]

Hi Notty Unfortunately I am connecting to an AVR (Denon) which then goes in to HDMI 4 ARC on the one connect box. Check your HDMI UHD colour setting in you TV picture expert settings, make sure this is set to on for the HDMI port you are using. Also are you sure your Sky Q box is compatible as not all are. 

[tarbat]

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@tarbatwrote:

Needless to say I've emailed them back to query this reply.

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Latest reply from Samsung U.K. Support.  I wonder what they mean by “alternative ways to have your TV compatible with HLG external devices“.

.......... the HLG or 'Hybrid Log Gamma' function is supported only by the digital terrestrial and satellite decoder integrated in the TV and via USB. Samsung is evaluating the situation for a possible future software update. Hence, it is not yet compatible on external devices connected to your TV such as Sky Q box, even if the external device itself is HLG capable.

Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention. Know that it has been raised and being looked into with the highest priority. We cannot promise any specific time scale but Samsung is doing its best to enhance our products and services as soon as possible. Should there be any updates (software or alternative ways to have your TV compatible with HLG external devices), Samsung will keep us posted.

[mrtickle]

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@tarbatwrote:

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Latest reply from Samsung U.K. Support.  I wonder what they mean by “alternative ways to have your TV compatible with HLG external devices“.

.......... the HLG or 'Hybrid Log Gamma' function is supported only by the digital terrestrial and satellite decoder integrated in the TV and via USB. Samsung is evaluating the situation for a possible future software update. Hence, it is not yet compatible on external devices connected to your TV such as Sky Q box, even if the external device itself is HLG capable.

Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention. Know that it has been raised and being looked into with the highest priority. We cannot promise any specific time scale but Samsung is doing its best to enhance our products and services as soon as possible. Should there be any updates (software or alternative ways to have your TV compatible with HLG external devices), Samsung will keep us posted.

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To me that reads like a poorly worded version of what our American friends with DirectTV have already been told: a fix for the EDID issue is being worked on, with no timescale at present. As we know here, software wise, there aren't a "range of ways" they can choose "alternatives" from, it's one way - just fix the EDID (which is relatively simple to do)!

The only logical conclusion for "alternatives" therefore, is they are talking about hardware (ie a new One Connect box) which would be a sledgehammer to crack a nut, since you don't need new hardware to change the EDID. To me I think this is what a company would say if they were panicking and wanted to keep all their options open.

[rled050469]

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@mrticklewrote:

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@tarbatwrote:

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Latest reply from Samsung U.K. Support.  I wonder what they mean by “alternative ways to have your TV compatible with HLG external devices“.

.......... the HLG or 'Hybrid Log Gamma' function is supported only by the digital terrestrial and satellite decoder integrated in the TV and via USB. Samsung is evaluating the situation for a possible future software update. Hence, it is not yet compatible on external devices connected to your TV such as Sky Q box, even if the external device itself is HLG capable.

Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention. Know that it has been raised and being looked into with the highest priority. We cannot promise any specific time scale but Samsung is doing its best to enhance our products and services as soon as possible. Should there be any updates (software or alternative ways to have your TV compatible with HLG external devices), Samsung will keep us posted.

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To me that reads like a poorly worded version of what our American friends with DirectTV have already been told: a fix for the EDID issue is being worked on, with no timescale at present. As we know here, software wise, there aren't a "range of ways" they can choose "alternatives" from, it's one way - just fix the EDID (which is relatively simple to do)!

The only logical conclusion for "alternatives" therefore, is they are talking about hardware (ie a new One Connect box) which would be a sledgehammer to crack a nut, since you don't need new hardware to change the EDID. To me I think this is what a company would say if they were panicking and wanted to keep all their options open.

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we got quite similar answers from Smasung Italy too (either firmware update or alternative ways).... meaning too me either new One Connect or external small interface, just to fix the EDID issue.... wondering if is a way to ask more money to us (I will stay anyway on HDfury in that case.....)