Poor picture quality with Wally + 4K HDR TV

[TheKrell]

While I don't think that is your problem, yes there is a difference between top tier brands for upscaling Samsung and Sony and next tier including Vizio and then lower tier hisense etc.

Before I increased the anti-noise setting on my Hisense, it looked a little grainy when viewed at very close range. I figured the upscaling was awful on the Hisense, so I bought a cheap 4K Bluray player, and it exhibited the same issue when upscaling regular DVDs or regular HD Bluray disks.

 

[Tampa8]

Where can I find the picture size settings in the menu?

Of which, TV or Wally. (check both of them) Wally should be able to be done with the remote and depends on which one;
How to Set Display Preferences on a Hopper | MyDISH | DISH Customer Support

It looks to me the picture size settings are in the advanced settings menu on your TV.

 

[richeydog]

Do you have another 4k tv (your's or a friends) of similar size you can connect to the Wally and test for issues with resolution? That might help determine if it's a wally problem or a tv problem.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I picked up this 55" TV from Best Buy today for just under $250: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-55-class-led-1080p-hdtv/6172325.p?skuId=6172325

Going to be returning the TCL.

Video quality problems are solved. The Wally looks great, my FTA receiver's video looks great. I guess I just didn't need 4K resolution. The picture on this 55" 1080p TV blows away the TCL. And it was $100+ cheaper.

 

[dishdude]

55" TV for $250? I can't believe how much TV prices have fallen.

Imagine it's like 1969 and someone spent $1200 (in 1969 money) for a color TV. If you showed them you could buy a TV like that in 2019 for $25 in 1969 money, they'd probably have a heart attack.

 

[comfortably_numb]

55" TV for $250? I can't believe how much TV prices have fallen.

And it is a good TV, too. Unless someone is watching a lot of 4K programming, this TV is more than enough. I'm extremely impressed with the picture quality so far.

 

[rvvaquero]

All TV's look good to me when viewed by themselves. It's only when I go to Best Buy and see them next to a better model that it gets confusing. I thought the Sony X850 was the cat's meow until I saw a demo of it next to an X900. And, the X900 pales in comparison to the OLED model. Ignorance is bliss for me sometimes.

 

[comfortably_numb]

All TV's look good to me when viewed by themselves. It's only when I go to Best Buy and see them next to a better model that it gets confusing. I thought the Sony X850 was the cat's meow until I saw a demo of it next to an X900. And, the X900 pales in comparison to the OLED model. Ignorance is bliss for me sometimes.

In my opinion, the trouble is that Best Buy is feeding all the floor displays a true 4K 3840x2160 signal. This is going to look good on almost all the current TV's being sold today. But what they either can't or won't show you is how those same TV's handle most regular TV signals (1920x1080). They wouldn't even give me remote controls for the TV's so I could see how the menus looked.

I had happened to buy a TV which looked good while being fed native 4K but failed horribly at upscaling.

I went back to the drawing board, read reviews, determined that most of what I watch is 1920x1080, then bought a different TV.

As they say, bigger (or in this case higher resolution) isn't always better.

 

[comfortably_numb]

PS- During this whole process I discovered my Pioneer AVR couldn't handle 4K resolutions over HDMI either, so that would have been another ~$250 investment to buy a current Denon or Yamaha AVR that can handle 4K.

All in all, the increase in PQ for 4K just isn't worth it for me at this time. I suppose someday I'll be FORCED to buy a 4K TV when they no longer sell 1080p sets. By then, maybe most broadcasts will be 4K (yeah right!)

 

[Tampa8]

At this stage of 4K you are missing virtually nothing not having a 4K TV. There are some original programming on Amazon, Netflix that is in 4K. I can see the difference sometimes but more to do with HDR than 4K. Even at that some of those shows are not shot entirely in 4K.

 

[comfortably_numb]

At this stage of 4K you are missing virtually nothing not having a 4K TV. There are some original programming on Amazon, Netflix that is in 4K. I can see the difference sometimes but more to do with HDR than 4K. Even at that some of those shows are not shot entirely in 4K.

Before I swapped out the 4K TCL, I watched a few 4K HDR movies on Netflix and to be honest I was not blown away. I think sacrificing PQ on 95% of all broadcasts for such a marginal PQ increase on a small amount of broadcasts is silly.

This Insignia 55" TV has a BEAUTIFUL crisp picture and was substantially cheaper. I love it. Best $250 I ever spent.

 

[dishdude]

This site does a pretty good job of reviewing TVs and always posts test results trying lower resolution sources.

Reviews and Ratings

 

[eddie willers]

Before I swapped out the 4K TCL, I watched a few 4K HDR movies on Netflix and to be honest I was not blown away. I think sacrificing PQ on 95% of all broadcasts for such a marginal PQ increase on a small amount of broadcasts is silly.

Why in the world would you think that?

 

[Tampa8]

Why in the world would you think that?

I think you may be misunderstanding. His 4K TV had inferior PQ on less than 4K material, less than 4K material is over 95% of what most anyone watches. So having a 4K TV for him was sacrificing PQ 95% of the time. Add to that 4K generally is not eye popping better like HD was over SD. Some demo material may be.

When I bought my 4K TV I had them use 1080 (or 720) material to judge which was best first, then of those I watched 4K for the same reason - most of what will be watched is not 4K. The difference between 4K tv's playing 1080 and less material is alot. As an example the Vizio's 4K was very good, maybe as good as Samsung and Sony sometimes. But watching less than 4K was inferior and Vizio is not the worst at upscaling. (That was a couple of years ago so I am not necessarily saying Vizio would be the same now for non 4K)

 

[comfortably_numb]

I think you may be misunderstanding. His 4K TV had inferior PQ on less than 4K material, less than 4K material is over 95% of what most anyone watches. So having a 4K TV for him was sacrificing PQ 95% of the time. Add to that 4K generally is not eye popping better like HD was over SD. Some demo material may be.

When I bought my 4K TV I had them use 1080 (or 720) material to judge which was best first, then of those I watched 4K for the same reason - most of what will be watched is not 4K. The difference between 4K tv's playing 1080 and less material is alot. As an example the Vizio's 4K was very good, maybe as good as Samsung and Sony sometimes. But watching less than 4K was inferior and Vizio is not the worst at upscaling. (That was a couple of years ago so I am not necessarily saying Vizio would be the same now for non 4K)

Yes, this is exactly what I meant

 

[glynnp]

Yes, this is exactly what I meant

Content trumps PQ in this house.
I imagine most of the unshaven masses think 4K is a long distance run.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I think the masses see the demos on the TV's in the store and think everything will look like that when in reality most people only need a 1080p TV. And even today in 2019 there isn't much 1080p in broadcast TV either (none at all on OTA and only PPV on Dish)

 

[charlesrshell]

Content trumps PQ in this house.
I imagine most of the unshaven masses think 4K is a long distance run.

Quality DVR equipment trumps it all in this house and that includes streaming.

 

[eddie willers]

Yes, this is exactly what I meant

The reason I asked.

I bought the (at that time) $3000 LG 55EF9500 (the first flat OLED) and the Hopper 3. When I got the Hopper, I found out there almost no 4K content and the only way to actually get it was via Internet. Now I was stuck with a 3 mbps DSL at the time, so no help there. So I figured, why should I pay for 4K when there was NO 4k? The 1080p should be just as good...right?

So I exchanged the 9500 for the 55EG9100 which was $1000 less. Besides being curved (which I hated) the picture was NOT as good. The 9500 blew it away by any and all measures. And having pixels 1/2 (or whatever) the size of the 1080p's meant no scan lines whatsoever. I rushed to get the 9500 back (even though HH Gregg charged me a $300 "restocking feed" ) and as luck would have it, within 30 days Comcast moved into the neighborhood and I was able to drop my Windstream DSL and get a whopping 300 mbps from them...so 4K from Amazon and Netflix!

I'm guessing that since my (two) TVs were both very premium that the upscaler on the 9500 was better than the difference may be on more entry level TVs. At least that's my theory and I am sticking to it.

 

[HipKat]

Next time I go TV shopping, I'm taking my firestick and hotspot it to my phone lol