On today’s You Asked: Why do so many movies considered to have great transfers to 4K Blu-ray look so noisy? Is there a problem with Hisense TV stock, just ahead of the holidays? How many calibrations should a TV get?
Check that TV model again?
John in the U.K. writes: How highly would you rate the 55-inch Samsung Neo QLED QN55D? I entered myself into a competition draw via Dolby.
First, I think there may have been a typo there? I’m not aware of a QN55D — at least not in the North American market — and I don’t know of one in the U.K. or Europe either. Did you possibly mean the QN85D or QN95D? Let me know the exact model number. The “55” should go before the QN to signify size, I believe, and the following number is the model or series number.
Out-of-stock Hisense
Brendan wrote in about the Hisense 75U8N being out of stock at Walmart, and that they’re concerned they may miss out on a big employee deal, and also about the availability of that TV in general since it is highly rated.
If you’ve been eyeballing a 75-inch Hisense U8N, my contacts at Hisense let me know that a restock order is due to ship in two to three weeks, which would place the item back in stock at Walmart during the first or second week of December.
For a while there, I was wondering if Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio may have led to some Hisense models being edged out strategically, but happily this does not appear to be the case.
How many times should you calibrate?
Omar writes: Is it better to calibrate a TV twice, once for daytime/bright and once for night/dark? I have never seen anyone mention this before and would like to know. Also, is it common for TVs to have multiple preset “slots” for multiple calibrations?
This is a great question. Yes, it is wise to have a TV calibrated for daytime or bright room use and also have a preset for nighttime or dark room use. That way, you can have a fully accurate mode and a mode that is better suited for viewing in the day, when scenes that are displayed at their intended brightness (by the creator anyway) would be too dark to see unless you were in a pitch black room. There’s plenty of content out there like that.
And, yes, one of the things we got the TV manufacturers to do is create multiple preset options with labels that make sense for day and night use. But a good TV can have any mode calibrated to perform to your liking — so even the dreaded Vivid mode can be made more accurate, but still bright enough for daytime use.
Soundbars in corners
Omar writes: Do soundbar systems work in the corner of the room? My TV is wall-mounted, in a corner of the room, with the soundbar hanging underneath. Will Atmos soundbars work in a corner configuration? I’m interested in getting the new Sonos Arc Ultra complete system or the Bravia Quad. Any recommendations on which one I should get?
You could go with either the Theatre Quad or the Sonos Arc Ultra system. The Theater Quad might be a little better since it can be placed more flexibly and you’ll still get killer Atmos surround sound. However, the Sonos Arc Ultra could work mounted under the TV.
Any drivers shooting out of the sides of the Arc Ultra, though, would struggle to give you some extended width to the sound, as they would not bounce off at the intended angle — that might be hard for the Sonos TruePlay system to overcome. But it would still sound amazing, especially with the surrounds and sub in place. So don’t feel like you should skip it because of that one concern. Both would be great, but if this were my room, I would do Theatre Quad.
Noisy 4K Blu-ray blues
Max writes that he noticed when watching The Matrix – specifically in scenes like “The Construct” — that the white background is super noisy, even though the 4K Blu-ray version is known to be the product of a high-quality transfer. They noticed it on a Bravia 7 with a Sony UBP-X800M2 Blu-ray player and on a Hisense U8K with a Panasonic Blu-ray player. Is it normal for a movie to have these noise issues?
This is something that keeps coming up, and I think that means we need to keep talking about it.
The Matrix was shot on 35mm film and used a lot of effects. One of the things that made that movie interesting was its blend of traditional filmmaking and more modern digital special effects.
That white background was not digitally manifested. It was an actual white background. That doesn’t necessarily account for it being noisy, though. When doing a transfer to digital, the grain in 35mm film is very difficult to reproduce well — digital scanning must be done very carefully to get a digital representation of it.
The real issue, though, is that despite all the advances in TV image processing, digital capture of film grain is hard to perceive as anything but noise to the TV. And even if the TV’s digital noise filters are disabled, the TV still has a hard time knowing what to do with all that “noise.” The white background, even if it was digitally inserted, would need to have had digital film grain added in order for it to work with the rest of the movie — with actual film grain in the source image.
The noise is always there. It’s just way, way more obvious with bright and light colors. I think that’s why it seems so severe. It’s just easy to see and, therefore, potentially more distracting.
Where’s the Samsung QN90D review?
Devon writes: Will there be a full review on the Samsung QN90D besides the one that I see was done for subscribers? The Sony Bravia 7 was my pick until I saw how bad the reflections are, so now I would really like to hear your full thoughts on the Samsung. Thank you for all that you do!
First, a little correction. I have not done a review on the QN90D for members. I have shared some behind-the-scenes info, as I have been testing the TV and have talked a little about some specific experiences and some questions that have come up.
The full review of the QN90D has now been published.
Unfortunately, the review on the 98-inch version might not provide the information you’re looking for. If you think the Bravia 7 may be too reflective, the QN90D will be a better option. If you are getting a 75-inch model or lower, the QN90D will likely make you very, very happy.