4K PVR Colours

[NewUser]

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing the issue I am seeing with a fairly new Bell Fibe TV installation.

We have a recent model Samsung 4K TV that we are very happy with. We recently changed form Rogers to Bell, as fibre to the home was recently installed in our neighbourhood.

Our Bell TV service is basic, with not that many channels. While the resolution is great, we noticed that the colours are a little faded when we set the unit to 4K mode. Skin tones aren't quite right, browns and reds are dull, and the colours just generally aren't as brilliant. Everything is a little dull, and clearly not quite right.

When we set it back to 1080p mode, the colours are great.

I've tried every setting on the TV, and tried a different HDMI cable. I've tried all the different picture modes on the TV, and tweaking the colour and tone settings, including resetting the TV display settings to their default, but no matter what I do, the PVR's 4K mode is just not as good as 1080p mode.

For fun, I tried connecting a 4K Fire TV box to it, using the Bell app, and accessed the same channels in 4K with it, and everything is stunning. It's just 4K mode on the PVR box itself.

Since we don't actually have any 4K channels (yet), I can set it to 1080p mode and enjoy great colour, but I can't help thinking there's something not quite right.

Did we get a dud, or is this the way the box is? If I have to use a Fire TV box to get good 4K mode, it's not the end of the world, but I would like to know what's wrong.

Searching on Google finds nobody complaining about this.

[NewUser]

Here's a comparison. The one "behind" is the 4K. Compare the skin tones, plus the reds and greens.

[BellPatricia]

Hey @NewUser. Welcome to the Community. Thanks for sharing your question. 🙂

In order to get full benefits from your 4K Television then you need to be tuned into a 4K channel, if not 4K content will not display. Is there a Dynamic Display option in your display settings? That option should automatically switch between the different display options (HD/UHD or 4K). 

- Patricia 

[NewUser]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I apologize, but it would seem I wasn't clear, and it seems I have completely confused you.

I'm not complaining about not getting 4K content, I'm saying when this box is set to 4K display output in its settings (as is recommended), colours are degraded. It does it with any channels, 4K channels or 1080p. It is incorrect behaviour, and I am asking if anyone else experiences this (or is bothered by it).

As mentioned, if I watch the exact same channels on a 4K Fire TV stick (with the Bell Fibe app), it does not suffer the same loss of colour. It appears to only be the Bell hardware experiencing the issue.

I have also tried to compensate with every possible setting on my TV, with no luck. I can get away with setting the box to 1080p output for now, but that is not a good answer - and this will only suffice as a workaround until I do subscribe to more 4K content.

Just to be as clear as possible, this is incorrect behaviour on the part of the hardware. The 4K output of the box appears to be degrading the colour output - for any content, either 1080p or 4K channels, when set to 4K output. I should be able to set the output on the box to 4K without any loss of colour at all.

[AlexS]

Bell says their 4k dvr is hdr-ready. maybe their built-in hdr is on?

[NewUser]

I'm wondering if there has been a software update to the PVR. I checked again this week, and the colours are now fine on 4K mode.

[Stallion]

I just had Fibe TV installed and the TV channels have terrible colour. I had satellite TV before and colour was good. Now the colours are muted, and generally dull. I also tried resetting colours but nothing works. Since there are so few 4k channels, I may be switching back.

[Stallion]

Hey Patricia...which channels are 4k?? I don't see many!!

[AlexS]

1. Try keep it 1080P if you’re not watching any 4K stuff. A high-end TV is probably better at upscaling. But at least you don’t need to worry about the signal quality during a bad weather.

2. TSN, SN, stingray Ambiance/Naturescope. TV1 and Love Nature on-demand plus PPV events and movies. About two months ago, Bell Streamer started to show a 4K streaming quality option in its settings, but it appears no content is available yet.

[Stallion]

I tried setting it to 1080, but still not good. So I set the resolution to "Auto" which is supposed to select the best resolution, but it's  still not good. Watching hocky is the worst. Looks like the long distance  feeds we were getting  in the 70s from Europe. The ice looks grey. Colours on jerseys aren't accurate. 

[AlexS]

Did the TV calibration reset when you connected the new box?

[Soambosu · Accepted solution]

I just experienced this issue too and didn't see any resolutions, and I think I managed to figure it out.  You have to go into settings --> Advanced Settings --> Display --> Screen Resolution --> Display Mode and change it to 4K2k-60hz