A Budget Home Theater & PC Setup: 4K, HDR, UHD Blu-ray, and More
by Ganesh T S on December 26, 2017 8:30 AM ESTThe Display: TCL 55P607
In the early days of 4K, we had cautioned consumers against hasty purchases related to the upcoming technology. As a recap and update, consumers looking for a relatively future-proof home theater display component need to have the following checklist in hand:
- 4Kp60 capabilities with RGB 4:4:4 support
- HDR support (preferably with Dolby Vision)
- HDMI 2.0 ports with HDCP 2.2 support
- Audio Return Channel (ARC) support
Thanks to the rapid adoption of 4K, the technology has come down in price. There are a wide variety of TVs and projectors fulfilling the above criteria. The budget often decides the size class as well as the TV panel technology (OLED vs. LCD/LED). The OLED vs. LCD/LED debate is beyond the scope of this piece, but, suffice to say that if the budget allows, one should go for an OLED television. Based on my particular installation location and budget considerations, I narrowed down my options to a LCD/LED TV in the 46 to 55" class. Available options included the Vizio M-Series, the Sony X800E, the Samsung MU8000 and MU7000 series, the TCL P- and S- series TVs, and the LG 55UH7700. Readers interested in the technical analysis of the above displays can refer to reviews on sites dedicated to analyzing TVs. From a specification viewpoint, the Samsung TVs were ruled out because of their lack of support for Dolby Vision. HDR10+ (the competing open HDR standard with features comparable to Dolby Vision) is yet to take off in a big way with respect to content and hardware support. In the meanwhile, there is a lot of content in OTT services that are encoded with Dolby Vision HDR. UHD Blu-rays with Dolby Vision have also started appearing inthe market. The TCL S- series was also ruled out for its 'fake' HDR nature (covered in the next section).
In the end, we decided upon the TCL 55P607 as an upgrade from the Sony KDL46EX720 in our test setup. The TV has been well-reviewed. For all practical purposes, 3D is dead, and we were not worried about the absence of 3D capabilities in the TCL model.
The TCL 55P607 is also an impressive smart TV platform, thanks to the integrated Roku features. It also enables network control of the unit. As a power user, I am not a big fan of Roku beyond its ease of use for premium OTT streaming services. In our previous evaluations, its local media playback capabilities turned out to be abysmal. In its recent iterations, the excessive advertising push has also been a bit disconcerting. In any case, it essentially comes for free with the 55P607, and for its price, it is a welcome option. Further down in this review, we will also look at how the built-in Roku platform performs for typical modern HTPC usage.
In the course of usage, I found that the TCL 55P607 delivered good value for money. However, it was not without its share of problems. One minor issue was the relatively rare flashing while playing back certain scenes (also brought out in the RTINGS review of the set). It is related to the local dimming algorithm used in the TV.
The other aspect was its high power consumption when the display was switched off. Admittedly, I do not have other comparison points, but, 24.65W in standby mode (just being able to turn it on over the network using the Roku app) seems a bit high. Finally, we found that the firmware originally on the TV when I purchased it (v7.7) had a compatibility issue with certain HDR sources that was later silently resolved in a firmware update (v8.0). That particular issue is covered in detail in the UHD Blu-ray playback section.
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Alreyouano - Monday, January 1, 2018 - link
Sir, good day, im new in the home theater field. May i know what kind of speakers and how many do i need to buy to set up a 7.1.2 home theater at home. Thank you.Reflex - Monday, January 1, 2018 - link
Well to start the number you listed there actually tells you the total. 7.1.2 = 7 surround speakers (two front left/right, one center, one on each side, two behind), 1 subwoofer and 2 upwards firing drivers or ceiling mounted speakers for the space above the viewer.As to brands and so on you need to make certain your receiver or soundbar supports Dolby Atmos, I suggest avsforums.com for more info and user preferences.
Golgatha777 - Monday, January 1, 2018 - link
That would be 10 speakers if you include the subwoofer.5 up front (R,L,C, RP, LP), 4 in the back (RS, LS, RSB, LSB), and the subwoofer.
Reflex - Tuesday, January 2, 2018 - link
I think that's what I said? You included the RS/LS as 'back' and I listed them separately as "one on each side" in my description. One question I would have for you though: The upwards firing ones, if you only have 2 of them should they be front or back?I'm using a Samsung HW-K950 so it has four upwards firing drivers, but in a 7.1.2 you'd only have 2 presumably unless you drop the sides...
Alreyouano - Tuesday, January 2, 2018 - link
Thank you.kallek - Friday, January 5, 2018 - link
My biggest problem with HTCP's is the stutter from playing 23.976 clips. Using Reclock helps but it only works with some programs and I haven't got it to work well with DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby True HDVorl - Monday, January 15, 2018 - link
So, I haven't read all 18 pages of comments, so if this has been mentioned already, sorry.Why a 4k tv? They are a gimmick. If you sit more than a couple feet from your 55' TV, you can't see the difference. Here is a good link to explain it. https://referencehometheater.com/2013/commentary/4...
Sure, you can see the difference if you were gaming, and sitting NEXT to your monitor, but most people sit several to many feet from their TV, so even a big tv at 4k isn't something you can see. A lot of extra cost for no real gain.
mikato - Thursday, January 18, 2018 - link
Fun time reading the comments :) I’d just like to say that I came here and read it for the HTPC info. I would like to make a (better) HTPC but I won’t be upgrading my old home theater setup, so I wasn’t looking for stuff about receivers, TVs, etc. Doesn’t matter to me, but just figured I’d throw in my perspective. If I bought a new house or something, then I might be interested in that stuff. But as it is, I’ll be using what I have now for those items which work pretty darn well.iescheck2 - Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - link
It is not clear to me if the ASRock Beebox-S 7200U or Intel NUC7i7BNHX can stream Dolby True HD and DTS-HD MA through the HDMI to the AV receiver. Comparing those setups to a i5 notebook, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of each, since they may be similar in price?prateekprakash - Saturday, July 21, 2018 - link
Greetings @ganeshts .It would be great if you did a follow-up article, now that HDR & wcg mode works much better on windows 10.
I have a query: does the HDMI out of the pc go into the AVR, and the 4k60p out of the AVR goes to the TV?
I am asking this because I have my Sony x800d TV connected to my GTX 1060 HDMI out, and the windows sound icon shows only stereo and 5.1 as available options (the 7.1 option is greyed out).
Does that mean GTX 1060 HDMI out is limited to 6 channels only? Or is it somehow related to my msi b250 Mobo?
If I routed
GPU HDMI out>>AVR source in>>AVR>>AVR HDMI out>>TV
Would it then show 7.1 option?
I am new to home theatre space, and I intend to set-up my first home theatre, so I thought it would be wise to learn about it.