On today’s episode of You Asked: Should you worry that a mini-LED TV is going to be too bright? Should you wait until 2025 to buy your dream TV? What’s up with Netflix Calibrated Mode and Amazon Prime Video Calibrated Mode? And just how limited is the digital optical audio output on TVs these days?
From plasma to mini-LED
Rick writes: I watch my plasma TV in a darker room. I love it, but just want it bigger. Should I be concerned that mini-LED would be too bright for my room? I don’t want to keep adjusting the brightness settings to keep from having to wear sunglasses to watch football games. My room is completely dark in the evening and only a couple small windows let in light during the day.
The short answer is no. Just because a mini-LED TV can get super bright doesn’t mean that it has to. It’s nice to have the headroom in some situations. But for SDR content, you can reduce the brightness to whatever level feels comfortable. And for HDR content, you can tame down the brightness highlights if you find them to be too much. But I think most folks really enjoy the sparkle you get when tiny little elements are intensively bright.
Buy in early 2025? Or wait longer?
Wade writes: I currently have an 85-inch Sony Bravia X900H and have loved it from Day 1. But now I am looking to upgrade to my dream TV — a flagship OLED. It would have been the Sony A95L, but due to being spoiled by the 85 inches I have now, I can’t go down in size. So, now I am looking at the 83-inch LG G4 instead. I am not looking to buy until soon after the new year. So do I go ahead and buy in early 2025? Or wait for blue PHOLED to come out? Is it that close to commercial release, and will there be a huge difference between the two? I really don’t want buyer’s remorse!
If you’re not looking to get your dream TV until after the new year, all you need to do is wait for CES to happen. At CES — the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas each year — we’ll be showing you all about what kind of advancements are coming in the 2025 TVs. If Blue PHOLED makes it to a TV, we’ll know. But I think there’s a very strong possibility that there will be an 83-inch QD-OLED option from Samsung. And if Samsung does it, that means that Sony won’t be far behind. So I know it can be hard to wait, but I think once we see all the new TVs coming out in 2025, you’ll know what to do. That LG 83-inch G4 will still be available, and the price will be coming down then, too.
Just be sure to read our full LG G4 review first.
Why so many studio calibrations?
Cell Tech writes: Sony Bravia televisions provide studio-calibrated modes for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Bravia core apps. Do they really work? And there are so many PlayStation features included on Sony TV’s — can you explain that?
I got a briefing on this when I visited Sony in Tokyo earlier this year and I think I can best sum up studio-calibrated modes this way:
These picture modes most of the time act a lot like the Filmmaker Mode on TVs, but are controlled by the streaming companies that deliver the content. They are tough to test because they are triggered by the content on those streaming apps. At least, if there’s a way to run test patterns on a TV that’s been forced into one of these modes, I’ve not figured it out.
I think most of the time these picture modes will target a D65 white point — a slightly warmer overall color temperature — and they will target a chosen color space, be that Rec. 709, P3, or BT.2020. And most of the time, motion smoothing will be disabled.
The purpose of these picture modes is to reproduce the content creator’s intended look, whatever that may be. Are they redundant when something like Filmmaker mode exists? I think for most of the content on these streaming platforms, the answer ends up being yes. But I can see there being times when the content calls for something other than D65 white point, for example. Or, if a brighter average picture level is called for.
But there are deeper reasons. One of which is that its hard to get people to change the picture mode at all — every single TV brand tells me that its data shows the vast majority of folks never change the picture settings. And since these picture modes can be made to turn on automatically when you’re using a specific service, that’s a way to control what the user experience will be like.
Some may believe that’s a bit controversial, that it’s something you should opt in to, and not be forced to opt out from. But here we are.
The other reason I think they exist? It’s yet another feature to list on the side of a box. If they can make you think you want it, then they can market it on the box as a benefit. Marketing always comes into play with this sort of thing.
As for your PlayStation question, Sony makes the PlayStation and Sony makes TVs. It’s in a unique position to offer some special automated features on Sony TVs that take advantage of the PlayStation’s abilities. Makes sense to me.
Like soundbars and TVs, you’ll be able to get baseline compatibility for some features like variable refresh rate and HDR performance. But for more advanced stuff, Sony is in a position to offer some premium features between the two devices it makes.
Simpler than stereo separates
Anders has a great home theater system with A/V separates and speakers and subwoofers. And while they have no problem powering it all on and enjoying it, their wife and kids just aren’t up to dealing with the complication. So, Anders figures a soundbar system added into the room would be the best idea. But they are concerned about the limitations of the digital optical output and wanted to get suggestions on a soundbar that had good surround virtualization, in case the signal going to that soundbar isn’t up to snuff.
I get it. I’ve suffered this issue myself. I was able to remedy it some by setting up the TV to power on my preamp/processor, which was set up to use a low-voltage trigger to turn on the amp. This way, when the TV came on, so did everything else. And since it ran off of HDMI-ARC, there was no need to worry about getting the preamp or A/V receiver tuned into the correct input.
But even with this automation in place, sometimes the big system was just too much. So I get the appeal of using a soundbar system instead.
I must admit that I’m a little unsure about the digital optical audio output limitations that you are referring to. It’s true that digital optical can only pass lossy multi-channel audio formats, but Dolby Digital Plus is still pretty good. And it’s true that you can’t get Dolby Atmos via optical, but most soundbars that offer Atmos support offer upsampling that fakes Atmos — or at least fills out the sound a bit more.
With all of that said, I think the Samsung Q990C or Q990D would be a great choice for an impressive soundbar surround system that can take whatever you toss at it via TOSLINK and make it sound great. Samsung also has step-down options, like the Q910 and Q800 that could be worth taking a look at.
But perhaps you’re not interested in having another set of surround speakers in the room. Or maybe you just want to skip having a subwoofer?
If that’s the case, consider the Sonos Arc. It doesn’t have an optical input, but it does come with an optical to HDMI adapter so you can still use the optical output on your TV. And Sonos does a great job of making just about any signal you send it sound great on the ARC. Just be mindful of the Sonos software problems this year.
And for anyone wanting to get the best sound they can using the optical output of the HDMI-ARC or eARC port on their TV, I think the thing to look for is signal upmixing so that it can take a non-Atmos signal and still make good use of all the speakers in the soundbar and, if applicable, surround speakers. The presence of upmixing or “virtual atmos” should be mentioned in the product features or specs section.