Dont see many of these right?
Firstly and probably most importantly is the TV used with it. And in my case it is a 65" Samsung KS9000. This set supports 60Hz HDR10 (and I believe got the update to HDR10+).
Initial setup, not as fluid as I would have desired. Holding my phone close to the AppleTV to set it up kept failing (3x) so I resorted to manually entering all my data (wifi, iCloud, etc). For me this was fine because I forgot that NFC was a feature so while disappointed it didn't work I was prepared to enter my info anyway.
Once setup the sound didn't work. The TV would not pass the audio from the ATV 4k to the receiver. Fixing this required me unplugging the TV and plugging it back in. So not sure if this was a Samsung problem or ATV. Regardless it was an easy fix.
Video was initially setup to 60hz HDR 4:2:0. Which was fine. I set the TV to UHD on the HDMI 2 port (ATV 4K). I manually set the ATV to 4:2:2.
At this point I could tell to no surprise the calibration was off from my previous ATV 4th gen. I quickly calibrated it just using the THX tuning app. Now clearly using an iPhone 6S poses a problem for color and tint adjustment but its a down and dirty calibration method that does "ok".
The results,
Colors have the capacity to be much brighter and more vivid however I'm more impressed with the deepness of colors especially red. Its unusual for me to see reds like this away from 10-bit computer monitors.
Brightness didn't drop for me like many people mention however that is because it was previously calibrated using professional tools and not overly bright like most people have (or prefer). I actually had to turn the brightness down just a bit to get perfect. One thing of note for me is my brightness is consistent across media and streaming services. I know many have mentioned problems with this, and I dont have it, at all. Youtube content is comparable to HDR content (within reasonable expectations).
HDR content looks great, probably the best I've seen on this particular TV. That isn't saying much due to limitations with the smarttv apps and the gaming calibration on my PS4 Pro though. Regardless it looks great. Admittedly I don't have an UHD BD player which I'm sure I could get a better image from. However compromises had to be made when compared to a dedicated 4K HDR player.
Other things of note,
Lack of "auto switching". For me this isn't a problem for several reasons. First, my TV can compensate for many problems like 24p judder. Secondly, the ATV 4k upscaler is MUCH better than I would have expected, it rivals the one built into the TV which I was shocked and it should only get better with future updates. Third, and this may sound selfish but my TV can't adjust it calibration based on input media, only the input source (HDMI 1, 2, etc). I wouldn't oppose a toggle setting for people that want this feature though.
It adapted right into HomeKit. Didn't require me to do anything at all, its just there and completely functional.
Its a bit faster. I notice apps that generally took a couple seconds to load now load faster. Nothing worth upgrading over though.
AirPlay from iOS devices seems to work better. However AirPlay from my iMac still doesn't seem to work. This maybe something I'm doing wrong I haven't mess with it much. It ask me the code, it pops up on the ATV, I enter it on the iMac, and nothing....blank screen. I just need to get some time to mess with it and see what is going on. This was the same issue I had with my ATV 4th gen.
Overall I'm happy with the purchase. Reading the issues some people have had and my lack of experience with other model TV's I don't know if I would recommend it however I definitely would to those with a KS9000/9500.
Firstly and probably most importantly is the TV used with it. And in my case it is a 65" Samsung KS9000. This set supports 60Hz HDR10 (and I believe got the update to HDR10+).
Initial setup, not as fluid as I would have desired. Holding my phone close to the AppleTV to set it up kept failing (3x) so I resorted to manually entering all my data (wifi, iCloud, etc). For me this was fine because I forgot that NFC was a feature so while disappointed it didn't work I was prepared to enter my info anyway.
Once setup the sound didn't work. The TV would not pass the audio from the ATV 4k to the receiver. Fixing this required me unplugging the TV and plugging it back in. So not sure if this was a Samsung problem or ATV. Regardless it was an easy fix.
Video was initially setup to 60hz HDR 4:2:0. Which was fine. I set the TV to UHD on the HDMI 2 port (ATV 4K). I manually set the ATV to 4:2:2.
At this point I could tell to no surprise the calibration was off from my previous ATV 4th gen. I quickly calibrated it just using the THX tuning app. Now clearly using an iPhone 6S poses a problem for color and tint adjustment but its a down and dirty calibration method that does "ok".
The results,
Colors have the capacity to be much brighter and more vivid however I'm more impressed with the deepness of colors especially red. Its unusual for me to see reds like this away from 10-bit computer monitors.
Brightness didn't drop for me like many people mention however that is because it was previously calibrated using professional tools and not overly bright like most people have (or prefer). I actually had to turn the brightness down just a bit to get perfect. One thing of note for me is my brightness is consistent across media and streaming services. I know many have mentioned problems with this, and I dont have it, at all. Youtube content is comparable to HDR content (within reasonable expectations).
HDR content looks great, probably the best I've seen on this particular TV. That isn't saying much due to limitations with the smarttv apps and the gaming calibration on my PS4 Pro though. Regardless it looks great. Admittedly I don't have an UHD BD player which I'm sure I could get a better image from. However compromises had to be made when compared to a dedicated 4K HDR player.
Other things of note,
Lack of "auto switching". For me this isn't a problem for several reasons. First, my TV can compensate for many problems like 24p judder. Secondly, the ATV 4k upscaler is MUCH better than I would have expected, it rivals the one built into the TV which I was shocked and it should only get better with future updates. Third, and this may sound selfish but my TV can't adjust it calibration based on input media, only the input source (HDMI 1, 2, etc). I wouldn't oppose a toggle setting for people that want this feature though.
It adapted right into HomeKit. Didn't require me to do anything at all, its just there and completely functional.
Its a bit faster. I notice apps that generally took a couple seconds to load now load faster. Nothing worth upgrading over though.
AirPlay from iOS devices seems to work better. However AirPlay from my iMac still doesn't seem to work. This maybe something I'm doing wrong I haven't mess with it much. It ask me the code, it pops up on the ATV, I enter it on the iMac, and nothing....blank screen. I just need to get some time to mess with it and see what is going on. This was the same issue I had with my ATV 4th gen.
Overall I'm happy with the purchase. Reading the issues some people have had and my lack of experience with other model TV's I don't know if I would recommend it however I definitely would to those with a KS9000/9500.
