Just bought my first 4k tv and it looks like shit, where did I go wrong?

[Ruggerxi]

Before this new TV I had a Samsung 1080HD TV and the picture looked a lot better than this new TV

I run a TIVO Bolt through a cable card

I just bought this 4k TV

https://www.lg.com/us/support/product/lg-60UN7000PUB.AUS

When I watch anything on cable TV it looks like shit

I was thinking the video processor in the TIVO Bolt would of upscaled the cable signal and it would look super nice on the TV, but it did not. 

I checked to make sure the signal coming from the TIVO box was 2160 4k at 60hz

 

Any suggestions on what to try to get a clear picture or did I just go too cheap on the TV?

 

[YACCster]

Try to hook up a computer at 4k and stream some youtube, see how it looks.

We use an AppleTV 4k and stream everything, Hulu, NetFlix, AppleTV+, Disney+, etc alll looks fantastic.

[Ruggerxi]

1 minute ago, YACCster said:

Try to hook up a computer at 4k and stream some youtube, see how it looks.

We use an AppleTV 4k and stream everything, Hulu, NetFlix, AppleTV+, Disney+, etc alll looks fantastic.

When I stream things that are 4k it looks nice, its the upscaling of the 1080 and 720 from regular cable channels where the issue is

[YACCster]

12 minutes ago, Ruggerxi said:

When I watch anything on cable TV it looks like shit

^ I found your problem

[Ruggerxi]

Just now, YACCster said:

^ I found your problem

Before this new TV the cable channels looked great

Edited August 25, 2020 by Ruggerxi

[YACCster]

1 minute ago, Ruggerxi said:

Before this new TV the cable channels looked great

Or did they just not look as crappy?

[Ruggerxi]

Just now, YACCster said:

Or did they just not look as crappy?

It looked a lot better than this new TV is all I can say. 

I didn't change anything with my setup, so I was hoping there is a setting I need to change for a 4k tv, or something I need to hook up different

[BigPapaDean]

Take my picture and scare that dude into submission. lol

[Labob]

You only have what is there. Upscaling it to a 1080p signal worked ok upscaling it 4 more time kills it. I would set the TIVo to allow for the best picture signal. Cable reduces the signal for bandwidth reason and hopes the upscale works well. As you can see it does not. Good luck 

[Ruggerxi]

30 minutes ago, Labob said:

You only have what is there. Upscaling it to a 1080p signal worked ok upscaling it 4 more time kills it. I would set the TIVo to allow for the best picture signal. Cable reduces the signal for bandwidth reason and hopes the upscale works well. As you can see it does not. Good luck 

Would you say this is the case for all the TVs? or do I need a better TV with a better video upscaling processor?

 

[Angelz]

It could also just be the TV itself. Made on a Friday. It happens. Maybe take it back and get a replacement.

[Sharpe]

Remembered @KaptCrunch posted this a few weeks ago 

No idea if it will help your situation though. 

[Mule]

Make sure the sharpness is set to 0 zero. Very important.

[Dark Asylumn]

ok 4k has motion plus or some other name depending on brand.  when its on it make the pic look like a 90's soap opera.   turn that down or off and you will lose the crappy over worked image and get an outstanding pic

 

Edited August 25, 2020 by Dark Asylumn

[Labob]

2 hours ago, Ruggerxi said:

Would you say this is the case for all the TVs? or do I need a better TV with a better video upscaling processor?

 

All TV's . Its kinda like blowing up a small picture. It just gets grainy. Upscaling tries to fill in the gaps. It might be ok to go a few steps up 420 to 720 to 1080 but to go further is a mess .  Unless you have something big enough for th escaler to work with. This explains it better than me. LOL So plain cable TV might be 720p it has I think 777,600 pixels that would be impossible to stretch. I'm sure your TV has setting to compensate for this so those black bars are not half your TV. 

Remember, physical resolution is defined by the number of pixels on a display. It has nothing to do with the actual size of your TV. A 1080p TV screen is comprised of only 2,073,600 pixels, while a 4K screen has 8,294,400. If you show a 1080p video on a 4K TV without upscaling, the video will take up only a quarter of the screen.

For a 1080p image to fit a 4K display, it needs to gain 6 million pixels through the upscaling process (at which point, it will become a 4K image). However, upscaling relies on a process called interpolation, which is really just a glorified guessing game.

 

[MikeB]

Another factor in proper 4k viewing is distance to the tv from viewing area.  

 

[Ruggerxi]

I returned the LG and bought a Sony. Picture is perfect! Problem solved 

[BUDMAN]

3 minutes ago, Ruggerxi said:

I returned the LG and bought a Sony. Picture is perfect! Problem solved 

Sony Rocks!!

[Bogleg]

Cut the cable and get a good streaming service that provides you the content you deserve.

 

[Bogleg]

12 hours ago, Ruggerxi said:

I returned the LG and bought a Sony

How come you didn't stick with Samsung?

[YACCster]

12 hours ago, Ruggerxi said:

I returned the LG and bought a Sony. Picture is perfect! Problem solved 

I'm so sorry, when that breaks you will regret it.  Sony in 2020 is not the Sony from 1990

 

[Ruggerxi]

26 minutes ago, Bogleg said:

How come you didn't stick with Samsung?

In my price range Sony had the best upscaling processor chip

 

[FUNky]

40 minutes ago, Bogleg said:

Cut the cable and get a good streaming service that provides you the content you deserve.

 

+1 and if you want your locals go with YouTube TV, they have locals in almost all markets as well as all the sports channels. 

[Bogleg]

There will likely be some real competitors soon (and maybe there are now, I haven't really looked) - but when we made the choice to get rid of cable TV the only two real options were Hulu and YouTube.  We chose Hulu at the time (end of last year) - I don't recall exactly why.  I can tell you that, at least where I live in central MA, we get all the local stations and all major sports - including NFL Endzone/Gameday and the regional sports networks.  We added on HBO Max, Disney+ and Netflix and of course have Amazon Prime (we use a Fire Cube).  With all that we're saving around $100/month.

Edit:  I also boosted our internet service to the max Spectrum provides in the process to compensate for all the additional streaming.  

Edited August 26, 2020 by Bogleg

[YACCster]

2 minutes ago, Bogleg said:

There will likely be some real competitors soon (and maybe there are now, I haven't really looked) - but when we made the choice to get rid of cable TV the only two real options were Hulu and YouTube.  We chose Hulu at the time (end of last year) - I don't recall exactly why.  I can tell you that, at least where I live in central MA, we get all the local stations and all major sports - including NFL Endzone/Gameday and the regional sports networks.  We added on HBO Max, Disney+ and Netflix and of course have Amazon Prime (we use a Fire Cube).  With all that we're saving around $100/month.

Yep, we haven't had 'cable' or sat tv for many years, cycled through all the providers except YouTube because they didn't have LivePD but that's not an issue now that they are off air.  Hulu with local channels has been our mainstay.