AVForums Podcast 30/03/2020: Samsung Q950TS 8K QLED TV and JVC N5 4K Projector reviews and more...

Three (and this is the lottery win question). The 85-inch version of the television that you have just reviewed, if we overlook the discrepancy of the missing "S" in the model number, currently costs £12K at Sevenoaks, when it arrives in April. Now, I know that you haven't formally reviewed the Sony 85ZG9 television from last year, but you'll be aware of its existence and it's now been reduced by over four grand from its initial price and now costs £9,799. I believe that you have reviewed the LG OLED88Z9 (on my birthday!) which still costs £30K. As I'm fantasising about a lottery win, which of these three would you recommend for my parlour, which you have seen? The 85"-88" size is as big as I could go since I'd like to retain access to my bay windows! The Sony and LG do Dolby Vision, and the Samsung does HDR10+. I know that the OLED will have the deepest blacks of the three, but I don't like its stand, which with the built-in speakers occupies fully six square feet of carpet, and I'm not sure how much space there would be for other equipment for a receiver or a blu-ray player etc? The Samsung's neat central desktop stand certainly appeals ....

Ah well, I'd better stop dreaming!
 
For a change, Mr Withers, I'll respond to a podcast the next day, rather than on the Friday or Saturday! I have three observations about the Samsung television, which I'll break up into three different posts.

One, I think you say in the podcast that the Samsung Q950TS 8K television is available in 65", 75" and 82" sizes. I know it's confusing with the various Samsung model ranges, but I believe you had said in post #121 of the review thread that it comes in 65", 75" and 85" sizes. I personally never liked the 82" size, it's not far enough removed from the 75" size so I'm glad that the 8K flagship comes in the 85" size. However, I was , searching for Samsung 8K televisions at the Sevenoaks Sound and Vision website. I notice that their model numbers for the Q950T series do not end with a letter S, which denotes slim? I'm not sure if the absence or presence of the final S is the difference between pre-production sample and the production sample?
Sorry for the confusion Ken, it is 85-inches. I said 82 in the podcast because I was reading off the intro to my review, which was wrong and I've just corrected it. The model number is Q950TS, so Sevenoaks have just made a mistake on their website.
 
Two, you note wryly in summary towards the end of the piece that "Every year they (Samsung) squeeze a bit better performance out of the (LCD) technology, much to my surprise." Funny you should say that! One of the AVF reviews that really sticks in my mind (which I why I can recall it immediately!) was your review of one model in probably my all-time favourite television range, the Samsung JS9500 series, away back in the first half of 2015. And in your review of the Samsung UE78JS9500 television you wrote, in the High Definition Performance section: "In fact it's hard to see how they could really squeeze any more performance out of an LED LCD TV." So not only have Samsung been surprising you for at least five years Mr Withers, your phraseology has remained consistent over that time! :)
It's just a painful lack of imagination on my part Ken.
 
Three (and this is the lottery win question). The 85-inch version of the television that you have just reviewed, if we overlook the discrepancy of the missing "S" in the model number, currently costs £12K at Sevenoaks, when it arrives in April. Now, I know that you haven't formally reviewed the Sony 85ZG9 television from last year, but you'll be aware of its existence and it's now been reduced by over four grand from its initial price and now costs £9,799. I believe that you have reviewed the LG OLED88Z9 (on my birthday!) which still costs £30K. As I'm fantasising about a lottery win, which of these three would you recommend for my parlour, which you have seen? The 85"-88" size is as big as I could go since I'd like to retain access to my bay windows! The Sony and LG do Dolby Vision, and the Samsung does HDR10+. I know that the OLED will have the deepest blacks of the three, but I don't like its stand, which with the built-in speakers occupies fully six square feet of carpet, and I'm not sure how much space there would be for other equipment for a receiver or a blu-ray player etc? The Samsung's neat central desktop stand certainly appeals ....

Ah well, I'd better stop dreaming!
The LG is ridiculously expensive, and Sony hasn't really impressed me in recent years, so I'd recommend gracing your parlour with the Q950TS when the price drops.
 
Thanks for your responses, Mr Withers! So I'll aim for the Samsung rather than the Sony when the Samsung's price drops, in about a year's time maybe. And the nice central stand is much more user-friendly than the industrial legs of the Sony or the carpet-consuming stand of the LG, which costs thrice as much as the other two. By the way, there ain't nuthin' wrong with lacking imagination, I'm severely afflicted in that regard myself!
 
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Yes, Netflix is using 7.62mbps based on the info on my C9, but it still looks good to me. Makes you wonder why Netflix doesn't do it all the time, it would probably be good news for people with slow internet connections.

To be honest I'm getting sick of people moaning about it, they need to accept the situation and just shut the hell up!
I agree, its not important at the moment, just interesting to see that some people are seeing no difference and some people are seeing massive compression artifacts. I watched Knives Out on prime the other day and it looked perfect, but then Netflix is really hit and miss at the mo. On a related point, how are other people finding the £3 upgrade for Now TV to get 1080P and 5.1? I think its a large improvement but has a bit of shimmer in the image that Netflix and Prime doesn't.

I'll shut up now.
 
With regards to confusion/downgrading Samsung 4K TV range in podcast.

OK I was bored so was checking out that other site in the UK for reviews - the one who sells paper copies as well. Don't hate me.

Anyway cut a long story short they generally think even though the Q95T would be equivalent to last years Q85R it is actually an improvement over the Q90R. 😮

Have AV forums got a Q95T to test now or are you expecting one?
 
Public negative criticism or ridicule of a moderator
Yes, Netflix is using 7.62mbps based on the info on my C9, but it still looks good to me. Makes you wonder why Netflix doesn't do it all the time, it would probably be good news for people with slow internet connections.

To be honest I'm getting sick of people moaning about it, they need to accept the situation and just shut the hell up!
Are you really advocating Netflix sticks to this lower bitrate? An expert on AV? Jesus Steve sometimes I just cannot fathom the words that sometimes comes out of your mouth or fingers
 
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With regards to confusion/downgrading Samsung 4K TV range in podcast.

OK I was bored so was checking out that other site in the UK for reviews - the one who sells paper copies as well. Don't hate me.

Anyway cut a long story short they generally think even though the Q95T would be equivalent to last years Q85R it is actually an improvement over the Q90R. 😮

Have AV forums got a Q95T to test now or are you expecting one?
That's basically what Samsung said, the Q800T is the Q90R with an 8K panel, and the Q95T is the equivalent of the Q85R but with various 2020 upgrades.
 
OK I was bored so was checking out that other site in the UK for reviews - the one who sells paper copies as well. Don't hate me.
I'm sure that you mean Home Cinema Choice, who do sell paper copies, yes?:) 'Tsalright, I'm just being mischievous!
 
Rockets absolutely was referring to WHF, also known as WTF ...
 
You need to take two Xanax and chill out mate.
I'm chilled as a cucumber. But why you think it's a good idea to stick to less than 8Mbps after all this mess is over is beyond me.
 
Rockets absolutely was referring to WHF, also known as WTF ...

You busted me!

OK it's out.

I was bored, come on give me some slack.

Being diplomatic -
I'm sure the guys over there are great and do a fine job. I think there is a group who takes what they do with a large pinch of salt. That may be me or that may be you.
 
I'm chilled as a cucumber. But why you think it's a good idea to stick to less than 8Mbps after all this mess is over is beyond me.
You're clearly not, and while I appreciate these are difficult times there's no need to be rude.

To be clear I didn't say it was a good idea, I was just wondering if Netflix's compression algorithms are now efficient enough to deliver 4K to people with slower broadband speeds. Previously you couldn't get it at less than 15Mbps, but it looks like they can now deliver it at half that speed and I honestly haven't seen a noticeable drop in quality.

Perhaps you should try reading something properly before jumping down people's throats because frankly I don't need it.
 
Take a look at your older posts to see who's jumping down who's throats but OK Steve. let's consider this dropped and forgotten.
 
Steve, if you're planning to watch the Clone Wars on Disney+, and in case you didn't know, they are listed in broadcast order, not chronological order. The chronology for the first 3 seasons is all over the place. I've never found out why they did it like that, but here's a list of the correct order...

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Chronological Episode Order | StarWars.com
 
Steve, if you're planning to watch the Clone Wars on Disney+, and in case you didn't know, they are listed in broadcast order, not chronological order. The chronology for the first 3 seasons is all over the place. I've never found out why they did it like that, but here's a list of the correct order...

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Chronological Episode Order | StarWars.com
Thanks for the heads-up. I did know that, and rather sadly I've already printed out the chronological running order so I can watch The Clone Wars in the correct order.
 
On a lighter note I've started my virgin Marvel Marathon last night with Iron Man, though I have watch IM1 once when it first came out, but that's it.

Not sure how we get from IM1 to all the shenanigans of Avengers et all, but I do know that IM2 is terrible. It's the reason I stopped (halfway into the film) my Marvel Journey.
 
I signed up for Disney+ to give me something for the kids but haven’t actually watched anything on it yet cos I’m trying to avoid getting them addicted to the telly.
Minding the kids during the day while the wife is working and then working myself in the evenings is making watching anything difficult ... the only thing we are (slowly) getting through is “The Chef Show” on Netflix, turns out I’ll enjoy pretty much anything Jon Favreau makes as we’re really enjoying it.
 
I signed up for Disney+ to give me something for the kids but haven’t actually watched anything on it yet cos I’m trying to avoid getting them addicted to the telly.
Minding the kids during the day while the wife is working and then working myself in the evenings is making watching anything difficult ... the only thing we are (slowly) getting through is “The Chef Show” on Netflix, turns out I’ll enjoy pretty much anything Jon Favreau makes as we’re really enjoying it.
Chef Show is brilliant. Just don't watch hungry.
 
Re Disney+: it is a case of "your mileage may vary" as our American cousins would say. I'm only really interested in The Mandalorian and don't want to pay £50/£60 for that.

Re Monty Python Blu-ray: Monty Python was, as per most UK TV circa 60s-80s shot on a mixture of video (in-studio) and 16mm film on location. The former is pretty soft by today's standards (and plagued with numerous analogue nasties) and whilst the latter can be scanned in HD/2k and improved, more often than not the original film elements for many of these shows are long gone, meaning they are also 'baked' in good old 625line analogue video as per the studio stuff.

If the BBC managed to keep hold of the original film elements for Python (which would be some achievement given how poorly they looked after so many classic shows) then those bits would be noticeably better although there's only so much you can do for 50 year-old standard definition video.
 
I've just checked Disney+ and Battle Beyond the Stars is not on there, although as I said in the podcast it is currently available on Amazon Prime. I don't want to be the guy who says I told you so... but I told you so!
Have it on blu-ray although it’s a Spanish copy with U.K. set as the second language (cannot remember the audio format). Bought it off Amazon only to find it was a bootleg after watching it too. Although it works perfectly, I did report it as it cost me about £20 and it then got removed
 
The LG is ridiculously expensive,
Well, clearly LG didn't think that 30 grand for an 88 inch 8K OLED was expensive enough, because it's been announced today that the incoming 88 inch model is 40 grand!!! Words almost fail me. I wouldn't by it even with a lottery win!
 
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