Amazon Prime 4K HDR-grey letterbox

[dylan_t_jones]

I have a Sony 49XD7004 TV

When I play 4K HDR content from Amazon Prime (I don’t have access to other 4K HDR content yet),  the black bars at the top or bottom of wide screen (letterbox) programs are grey and not black (eg Goliath and Transparent) .  On normal 1080p, they are black.  This is slightly off-putting.  I've tried to change the settings, but they are still grey.

Any idea if this is a bug?

[stormyuk]

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@Kuschelmonschter wrote:

You are basically tampering colors when setting HDR to HLG. It is indeed HDR10.

Funny enough I never witnessed those gray bars on an XF90. Tried Goliath which is HDR10 and 2.35:1.

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I'll check it out on my XE90. I think the "it can't be fixed" is probably not true and its probably "we can't be bothered to fix it".

[stormyuk]

Interestingly, I have just tested this on my XE9005 and while it used to give grey letterbox in UHD it's now working fine. 

Edit: actually it's fine in Goliath but still slightly grey in I Love Dick, it's not as bad as the OP or how it used to be but Goliath is black yet I Love Dick is dark grey, as though local dimming is kicking in. Weird.

[Kuschelmonschter]

I can confirm gray bars in the OV of I Love Dick. Dubbed German version is fine.

[stormyuk]

Mine is nowhere as bad as it used to be, but Goliath is black and I Love Dick is dark grey (almost like an older generation backlight bleed) in UHD. Both are black in 1080p.

Is yours like that on the XF? Its not anywhere near as bad as the pics posted here. Can't believe that wasn't fixed with the XF series.

[Kuschelmonschter]

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@stormyuk  schrieb:

Is yours like that on the XF?

Yes. But as I said, the German version is fine in UHD HDR. I think it also has to do with how Amazon encodes the stuff. I don't know whether black bars are part of the video or not.

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[SnAkEs1210]

I am also experiencing the same problem with any hdr content that I try to play. I have contacted Sony and after explaining the situation over and over again, following their instructions to factory reset my tv, sending pictures of the problem, sending a map of everything that is connected to my tv, then trying the same content with everything unplugged, etc. etc. they finally got back to me with the following answer.

Thank you for your patience.

In regards to the recent investigation regarding your Sony KD-55XE8596 screen; please note that as per the pictures provided, this condition is normal and not a malfunction of the TV

I am struggling to believe that bright grey bars were intended when watching a hdr movie and I would also guess that the directors of any of these films would also agree with me and that there is something actually wrong with the tv. How these TVs can be certified as hdr ready is beyond me. I would also think that most films are supposed to be watched in a dark room for maximum effect, similar to a cinema however this only highlights the problematic illuminated grey bars and makes it so much worse. I certainly won't be watching any hdr content on this supposedly hdr ready tv because in my opinion, it looks awful and detracts from watching any film so on those grounds it's pointless me paying the money for a hdr ready TV. I am very close to returning the tv altogether for a refund and possibly writing to watchdog to see if they will do an article on it. 

[Kuschelmonschter]

Grey bars are of course not as intended. Contacting Sony support is a total waste of time. Everything is always within specification according to them. Totally useless.

Only true Cinemascope content is affected where the TV is responsible for adding those black bars as they are not encoded into the video.

Grey bars have been worked around in MrMC and Kodi, see this bug entry.

[stormyuk]

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@Kuschelmonschter wrote:

Grey bars are of course not as intended. Contacting Sony support is a total waste of time. Everything is always within specification according to them. Totally useless.

Only true Cinemascope content is affected where the TV is responsible for adding those black bars as they are not encoded into the video.

Grey bars have been worked around in MrMC and Kodi, see this bug entry.

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Who is at fault though? Sony or Amazon? Netflix content in 4K HDR appears fine and black bars are black, It only appears to be Prime Video which has this grey bar issue, so whatever method Netflix uses "works".

[Kuschelmonschter]

Who is at fault though? Sony or Amazon?

Sony.

Netflix content in 4K HDR appears fine and black bars are black

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They either use the same workaround as MrMC/Kodi or black bars are encoded into the video. Keep in mind that not all HDR Cinemascope content on Prime is affected. Only true Cinemascope content that does not have black bars encoded.

[stormyuk]

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@Kuschelmonschter wrote:

Netflix content in 4K HDR appears fine and black bars are black

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They either use the same workaround as MrMC/Kodi or black bars are encoded into the video. Keep in mind that not all HDR Cinemascope content on Prime is affected. Only true Cinemascope content that does not have black bars encoded.

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So Amazon could use the same work around? If they decided to? Although both Sony and Amazon are as bad as each other, Amazon still refuse to support the PS4 Pro with 4K/HDR and its been out years. Netflix generally do better.