What is your best b&o purchase ?

elephant:

The Beonic Man:

. Watching a 4K picture from YouTube on the Apple TV (switching to 1080i) takes it to another level and leaves me speechless. A 7 year old non-4K television displaying 4K content virtually as good as my previous Sony X9 4K set, certainly to my eyes. Unbelievable! You tell me?

Thanks for the tip ... I went and browsed YouTube for 4K content ... and some of it is stunning camerawork.

While you can force a laptop session to stream the 4K version, I would like to know how you forced the Apple TV to pull the 4K version from YouTube . . . 

Well this is why I have concluded that its largely the source and not the panel that gives a great picture. Perhaps an obvious statement to some extent but the fact the BV9 is 7 years old and displays the content as well as it does just astonishes me. I can only conclude that technological advancements over the last 7 years amount to very little noticeable change. Of course that's not quite true with LCDs as they definitely have come along way these days, especially the 7-55 which I often harp on about, but thats because it's a beautiful rich picture I can't fault with motion, clouding or anything else. Very impressive.

With plasma however, I think probably deeper blacks are about the only thing someone might be fussy about but not me because the picture quality overall is easily as good as modern televisions in my opinion. HD Ready/720p doesn't seem to make any difference to me - yet I always thought it would. Contrast ratio is fine, blacks are fine, motion is fine and screen burn in has been addressed. I am not a visual purist so what the techies on sites such as AV Forums may pickup and discuss at length, I don't see.

I certainly haven't forced the Apple TV to play 4K. I simply used the YouTube app to search for and play the native 4K videos. While I could have changed the ATVs output resolution to 720p (as I did with Sky HD) I didn't, so it selected the highest output resolution and frame rate automatically. All I am saying is that in the same way I notice a difference going from SD to HD there was also a noticeable difference going from HD to 4K and I have no idea how this is possible on a non-4K set, just saying what I see. I have had some friends over to make sure I am not seeing things and justifying my own purchase but they all seem to agree. Hence, I can only conclude that the better the native recording the better the display on this BV9. I am not suggesting we are seeing a native 4K picture! Just one slightly (but noticeably) better than HD. I think this may be due in part to the screen being 50" that allows for this by default. Perhaps others with older plasmas or even LCDs could try the same test as many of us are using Apple TVs? I found the wildlife videos to be some of the best test material and Vimeo has some nice videos too. Remember to check YouTube is set to display 4K output, which it should by default but just to be sure.

 

Thanks for a detailed answer. It sounds like your eyes are much better than mine these days.

Are you using a YouTube user ID login to force the 4K ?

I have been looking at YouTube slow motion of London, England, and Costa Rica as they all showed up in the results list from using "4K" as a search term.

Is there a particular clip you would recommend ?

@elephant (not using any ID to login, just going to YouTube and using the searchstring: 4K)

1. Costa Rica in 4K 60fps (Ultra HD) - by jacobschwartz is a particular favourite of mine with so many brilliant scenes I could pick out. Particularly, the first snake at 0:08 seconds in, the first lizard at 1:02 which is absolutely spectacular (my favourite in the whole footage) and a second smaller lizard at 2:00 where a lizard jumps across the water - not only is the resolution great here, but the colours displayed by the BV9 and the way it handles the very fast motion is effortless. Also 2.42, 3.28 and onwards with more snakes, just the clarity really. The whole clip is excellent from start to finish to be honest. Have a look at their other 4K uploads too. A decent internet connection is required so you don't get any panning problems due to slow downloading.

2. 4K-England-Long - by hqmedia is another breathtaking clip. At the beginning, the red telephone box (particularly) and red busses to follow are out of this world on the BV9. I imagine the deep rich realistic colours of plasma make a difference, not just the resolution and other factors around the footage. So I can't vouch for what others will see with the same footage on different TVs but give it a go. As above, all the other uploaded videos from hqmedia are equally impressive.

Of course we know the BV9 is not showing native 4K to its full potential, but I do find it fascinating to see just how great these images look. Kudos to Panasonic and to B&O. I can see why this television was the top of the range at the time. The colours of plasma are quite marvellous. I have never really noticed this before, which is perhaps because great source material (from expensive commercial cameras) hasn't really started to surface until fairly recently for the home market. Amazing to see what can truly be achieved with the right source.

There is native 8K footage available on YouTube too, and I am happy (and relieved I think!) to say that I definitely can't notice a further difference between that and 4K - not on the BV9 anyway!

I think there's a whole new thread to be had about this, with discussion around just what has changed over the last 5 years (let's say) that has really made much of an impact on what we see on our screens with our day-to-day viewing habits. Apologies to the OP if it seems this thread has been hijacked a little, it was never intentional! Questions have been asked and I feel compelled to answer! :)

In a two way tie between bv7-55 and beolab 5s.

Love the above pic. What made you go for the 7-2 (I assume) over the 7-6? And is that a white grill of sort at the back of the TV? Can't quite make it out. In terms of speakers well I'd have to say the 5s but let's be honest, B&O is B&O so everything is great and works great with everything else. The 1s look just fine to me and seem to compliment the 7-55 quite nicely. I rather like the 8000 in the back right hand corner too! Where is the other one hiding? Lovely big open space you have there.

Items used everyday since Jul 1990...  

Beocenter 9500 and three Light Control  LC 1's.

BeoSound Ouverture 400 (Beoworld prize a couple of years ago) has been used instead of the 9500 since we moved last Oct until we decide where the 9500 is to be placed.

 

The Beonic Man:

I think there's a whole new thread to be had about this, with discussion around just what has changed over the last 5 years (let's say) that has really made much of an impact on what we see on our screens with our day-to-day viewing habits. Apologies to the OP if it seems this thread has been hijacked a little, it was never intentional! Questions have been asked and I feel compelled to answer! :)

Mate ... I have rescued us from any pending scoldings by starting a new thread !

http://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/t/10854.aspx