55XE9005 and HDR

[fredwerk]

Hi,

So I have a 55XE9005 TV (4K and HDR) and I am wondering how to test if HDR is working? Does it have YouTube HDR app in the Android TV system (and yes I have updated everything)? I tried on of the HDR videos in the HDR channel and it doesn't seem to show in HDR. How do I know when the TV kicks in HDR mode?

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

Hi there

As I understand it, HDR on YouTube will be activated on a future firmware update.  However you can test HDR via downloading a test video and playing back via USB. 

See:

http://hdrsamples.com/

http://demo-uhd3d.com/categorie.php?tag=hdr

Cheers

[fredwerk]

Cheers for that!

I tried and it worked.

What type of format shall I use for the USB or external USB hard drive? Fat, exFat, etc.

Also any ETA for YouTube HDR?

Finally, trying to view HDR files from my connected PC. I have a PC with Nvidia 1080 TI connected with HDMI cable (very recent one for 4K) to the TV. When I toggle the HDR option in Windows 10 (settings > display) and use VLC or Kodi, the TV does switch to HDR but the videos are not playing in HDR.

Is this a known problem? Am I missing something? I am using same files that you linked to.

Many thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi there

1. exFAT, NTFS should work just fine
2. ETA unknown for YT HDR (Sony never release their FW update cycle plan unfortunately)
3. Ensure that your HDMI cable is rated for 18Gbps (or higher).  Issues also seen to occur when HDMI cable length is greater than 5 meters too.  There is a few threads on these forums about 4K from PCs and HDMI cable length - see HERE, HERE

Cheers

[fredwerk]

Cheers, my cable is 2 metres long. HDR does get enabled when I manually enable it on Windows 10. But then it seems i get different results when playing a video compared to playing it via USB directly on the TV.

[Jecht_Sin]

Sorry @Anonymous (and welcome back!! I missed ya! ) but I don't believe it will be necessary an Android update to get a new YouTube client version. The app is in the Google Play Store (same release of ours), Google just needs to update the bleeding thing in there and then it will roll out to all Android TV.. That will be done as soon as the awful deal with Samsung expires, I suppose. Apparently Samsung has got half of a monopoly on HDR by streaming. A couple of Italian streaming services support HDR only on Samsung televisions as well. Sorry for the moaning but this kind of things drive me wild.

Instead, @fredwerk, I would also check that the media players you're using do support HDR. I am not sure how HDR works at system level in Windows 10 (actually it's totally new to me). But if you switch the whole Windows to HDR, and the players do not support HDR, I believe you just end up playing the videos in SDR with the tv forced to HDR. I think your best bet is to try with WIndows Media Player. I mean, if Windows supports HDR, so should do its stock apps do. Or maybe it is a matter of installing the right Codecs. It needs a bit more of investigation. Fortunately I am not an Windows expert, I use a Mac. 

[Anonymous]

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@Jecht_Sin wrote:

Sorry @Anonymous (and welcome back!! I missed ya! )

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Awe thanks @Jecht_Sin

You're probably right about the YouTube app thing though, I forgot about what stage the update cycle was on.  Although as its one of the built in apps it could work both ways I guess.  I didnt know that Samsung has a deal on the HDR streaming - I dont suppose you have a link to that by any chance? 

This is certainly what happened with a couple of streaming apps for the UK a couple of years back (ITV Player and ALL4) - they purchased the rights for sole use for a 12 month period at that time.  Samsung seems to have a far larger TV budget than Sony.  But this purchasing of sole use off rights is infuriating.

[Jecht_Sin]

You're very welcome, @Anonymous! 

So, about the YouTube app: my understanding is that the situation is quite different from the Amazon Video app, for example. The latter should receive an update only through an Android TV (firmware. But I hate to use that term, it isn't correct) update (and so I have been told by the useless Amazon support). While being YouTube in Google Play, there are little reasons for the app not to update as soon as a new version is in there. I think it would be easy to check with TVs still running Lollipop. If they have the option to uninstall the update, one can uninstall it and then see if it gets udated from the store (like Google Movie & C. Those apps do get updated via the store. Not sure if Google Movie supports HDR either, though).

About the Samsung deal.. I don't have any proof, but sure it isn't a concidence that HDR for YouTube only runs on Samsung and Chromecast, that Infinity plays HDR content only on Samsung, Mediaset Premium Play does the same. Also, regarding YouTube, the app for PS4 Pro, which has got quite few updates (4K support included), as far as I am aware does not currently support HDR (at least there is nothing in the update history - I have the standard PS4 so I can't check). And I strongly doubt the PS4 doesn't support the profile vp9.2. I don't know about the Xbone One S, but I doubt it's supported either (also I checked in Google right now, all artciles/posts say it isn't supported).

Then I don't know if it is related to this, but Infinity claimed that HDR would have started rolling out first on Samsung tvs for three months (meaning that after this time more devices were going to support it). That was November 2016. And still now only Samsung does have it. I hope, if there was really any deal, that it hasn't been even extended! And with all partners, of course..

[Kuschelmonschter]

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The latter should receive an update only through an Android TV (firmware. But I hate to use that term, it isn't correct) update (and so I have been told by the useless Amazon support).

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Reason why Amazon Video is not on the Google Play Store is that Amazon would have to pay Google 30% of the revenue made by in-app purchases. Still Amazon Video is not on a lot of Android TV devices so I assume that manufacturers also have to pay Amazon to get the service on their devices. That's the TV business which is ruled by money and contracts.

Same with Apple TV. There Amazon will soon release a Prime-only app though. I would love to see that on Android TV also, with better support and integration than we have today. Amazon app on Android TV is close to not being usable at all.

[Jecht_Sin]

Oh, yeah, that interesting @Kuschelmonschter. I totally forgot about the Google Play extorsion. I pay that 30% myself, I make Xperia Themes and 30% is outrageous for the awful service we receive. I mean.. it's 30%!!!

But... no, wait! Amazon Prime is available on Android, though. Without Google Cast, making it not so attractive, but it is still there. I think it has more to do with Amazon having a deal with Sony for the big screens (and anything connected to them. Read: consoles), as you said. Still, it is possible in the Google Play Developer Console to restrict an app to a particular set of devices. The apk is already restricted to run only on Bravia anyway (I've read somewhere it won't work on Nvidia shield). And Amazon has already a deal with Google for the app presence in the store, it shouldn't be a drammatic deal to extend it.

Oh well, their loss. They are just making the luck of apps like Kodi and Plex. And they well deserve that!! 

Anyway, I tried to contact the (Italian) Amazon support about the lagging/stuttering issues. What a waste of time. She told me to contact Sony. I had to repeat a dozen times that it is an Amazon app, developed in Amazon, by Amazon developers.