Scott is very happy Apple finally joined the 4K/HDR party with the new Apple TV 4K. Even better, the Apple TV supports HDR 10 and Dolby Vision, and will be upgrading all the movies you've already bought that are in HD. But there is a problem. Your new Apple TV won't support YouTube in 4K since it doesn't support VP9, Google's ultra high definition codec.
This week, Apple christened the new Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park with the announcement of the LTE version of the Apple Watch Series 3, which shares your iPhone's phone number and will work independently from the phone. The Apple TV will be 4K with HDR, and 4K movies will be the same cost for rental and purchase. Any HD titles you already have will be automatically upgraded to 4K as well.
Scott is at CEDIA in San Diego to look at the latest in home theater products. Both 4K and HDR are becoming more commonplace and coming down in price. Sony has a 4K HDR projector for under $5,000: VPL-VW285ES. The next big thing in color standards is Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG), intended for live broadcasts. Scott says when 4K UHD broadcast becomes live, it will have a huge impact.
Burke wants to know if he can create enhanced images in Google Photos like HDR? Leo says he can do some basic enhancements through Google Photos, but for real HDR, he'll be better off using Photomatix. It's not cheap, though, at $100. There's probably some cheaper ones out there. He should check out Topaz Studio and StuckinCustoms.com for other recommendations.
Dave would like to know if video cards with an HDMI output would allow him to calibrate his TV with his computer. Scott says that HDR calibration is in its infancy and he can get HD test pattern generators. The HD Fury Integral will add HDR meta data to do it. But for the cost, it's better to have a pro do it.
This week during the gaming conference E3, Microsoft announced the most powerful gaming console ever made. It's called the Xbox One X, and it's smaller, heavier, liquid cooled and more powerful than any other console on the market. It also comes with a 4K Blu-ray player with HDR support built-in. Scott says that the HDR capability of the player is really more important than the resolution simply because most people won't really see the difference unless they have a screen that's 70" or larger. But HDR is really noticeable, even on sets under that size.
Ron wants to know if it's worth the money buying a 4K Blu-ray player. Leo says only if he's planning on buying a 4K TV and only if he's planning on getting one over 55" in size. Then he'll want not only a UHD Blu-ray player, but also a 4K TV that supports HDR.
Scott joins Leo with a great story on AVS Forum about the Sentient Singing Internet where you can record the music you can hear in your head. And yes, it's an April Fool's Day joke.
Scott joins us to talk home theater and has questions from the chatroom. Is there a great ultraHD BluRay? Scott says that Oppo is the best out there. It supports HDR10, Dolby Vision, and 4K. But it doesn't support streaming, and Oppo says that since people get streaming from other devices, that it wasn't necessary for Oppo to get caught up in that. They just focus on having the BluRay player still be best at playing discs. It's everything you want in a player, and at $550, it should. Another option is the Xbox One S, but it doesn't support DolbyVision yet.
Scott says that the new HDMI standard will be pushing 4K and 8K video at over 5400 Gbps. Will HDMI ever be replaced? Scott says that if metadata doesn't survive going through an AV receiver, it could greatly affect the HDR10 dynamic range going to the TV. Your AVR needs to support HDMI 2.0A to do that, and few manufacturers will tell you that. Dolby has launched a program to educate people on which devices will support Dolby Vision.
