Physical media has seen many forms over the years, and 4K UHD is the latest and greatest of them. Many people believe 4K Blu-ray might be the final format, and it’s difficult to disagree. Considering that DVD is still finding a way to stick around, it sort of shows that people don’t always prioritize having the best quality at home over simply getting the best price on something.
The reality is that a lot of people think DVD looks just fine, and even at 480p, many TVs have decent upscaling to clean up the image. You won’t ever see a DVD’s quality rival a 4K Blu-ray, but that doesn’t seem to deter a large chunk of the physical media buying audience. What I want to get across is that if you feel underwhelmed by how your 4K Blu-ray disc looks on your TV, it’s not the disc’s fault. 4K discs are definitely the best-looking physical media format available, and if you pair one with a high-end 4K TV, nothing comes close.
There are a variety of reasons why you might be underwhelmed by how your disc looks, and I think an underrated one is the fact that you simply sit too far away from your TV. To get the most out of 4K, you need to sit closer to the TV. If you have a couch backed up against a wall and your TV is mounted above a fireplace, you’re definitely not getting the most out of your TV. If your TV is the proper distance away and you still think your discs look bad, it might be time to have a talk about your TV.
- Brand
-
LG
- Display Size
-
55
- Operating System
-
webOS
- Display Type
-
OLED
- Display Resolution
-
4K 3D
- Connectivity
-
4 HDMI
Many TVs don’t have the proper brightness to make 4K pop
HDR ends up underwhelming
If you’ve been TV shopping lately, you might be surprised to see that 4K TVs are very affordable now. It feels like a couple of years ago you had to spend $500+ to get something in the budget range, but now that price has essentially been cut in half for budget-friendly TVs. Getting into the world of 4K for that cheap is good no matter how you slice it, but it comes with some unintended downsides. While these TVs have 4K panels, they often don’t have enough nits to make HDR look as good as it can. This applies to all three of the formats, and it’s going to hold back your 4K Blu-ray from reaching its greatest heights.
For example, a TV that caps out around 500 nits isn’t a good performer. For starters, it’ll look its absolute best in a pitch-black room, and it’ll struggle if it’s placed opposite a window that lets sunlight in during the day. Glares are rough to deal with, but they’re manageable if you get a TV that has enough nits to fight it off. Budget 4K TVs don’t have that, so they’re going to struggle mightily in those conditions, and even if you manage the sunlight, they don’t fare well for regular HDR either. With a low peak brightness, HDR won’t pop off the screen like you’d expect it to. A big selling point of HDR is its vibrancy, but that’s only possible if your TV can get bright enough.
What you need to be on the lookout for
The answer is an expensive TV
The safe spot is about 600 nits if you want HDR that’s going to be really noticeable. Of course, a lot of it does come down to a bit of personal preference. My Sony Bravia X90J hits this particular mark, and I think the HDR still looks solid. That’s thanks to its peak brightness that hits in the 700s. That’s a number that should be rather doable without breaking the bank. If your TV is capable of more, like 1,000, then your HDR will look noticeably better.
An exception to this rule is OLED, and that’s because things work a little differently there. OLED has unmatched contrast, and nothing can beat the black levels on display here, since the pixel is simply turned off instead of dimmed. This means quality HDR is possible at lower peak brightness, and that 700 nits would look fantastic on an OLED. Of course, OLED TVs are costly, and while you might be able to find a smaller one for under $1,000 these days, that doesn’t really cut it for a living room TV.
Computer monitors are where poor HDR implementation really stands out. I have an HP X34 monitor that I use thanks to its 21:9 aspect ratio. It’s rated for HDR400, which is HDR, but it’s so poor-looking that I just leave it off. I haven’t seen a single video game or video in general look better with it on, so it’s not worth the trouble. That’s a very easy trap to fall into, and I would go as far as saying that if your monitor is HDR400 rated, it doesn’t actually have HDR at all.
