A Budget Home Theater & PC Setup: 4K, HDR, UHD Blu-ray, and More
by Ganesh T S on December 26, 2017 8:30 AM ESTHDR Support
High Dynamic Range (HDR) is one of the most impressive features in the recent crop of 4K televisions. In layman's terms, it refers to the ability of a single frame to have wide variation in brightness for different regions. This allows the details in the dimly lit areas of the frame to be seen more clearly. Overall, it delivers a more vivid picture to the viewer. Note that this is quite different from the concept of high contrast.
Picture courtesy: SMPTE HDR Presentation from Steven Holmes of Tektronix
The ability of a display source to transmit HDR frames, as well as that of a display sink to be able to accept and understand them, can be gathered from the HDMI port's specifications. However, being able to accept and understand is only part of the problem. There are many low-cost 'fake HDR' TVs that simply parse the HDR information, but, do not have the ability to translate that to the display.
There are many HDR 'standards', with the base requirement being HDR10. Shifting a display sink into HDR mode involves the source sending some information (metadata) with the characteristics of the video being transported (the mapping of the pixel data to the displayed luminance, light levels in the video stream etc.). If this is static (i.e, done once when the shift to HDR mode occurs), it falls under the HDR10 category. Dolby Vision allows for the metadata to change on a frame-by-frame basis (dynamic). The upcoming HDR10+ standard will also support dynamic metadata. The takeaway is that Dolby Vision certification all but ensures a display with true HDR capabilities.
The TCL 55P607 comes with standard HDR10 and Dolby Vision support. The native Roku apps shift to the appropriate HDR mode based on the content being played back. We will analyze this more in the subsequent sections.
The NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV (SATV) is similar to the native Roku app in the TV with respect to treatment of HDR content. The main issue is that SATV doesn't support Dolby Vision yet, though there is a lot of clamor for it from SATV owners. Videos with HDR10 metadata shift the display to the appropriate HDR mode prior to playback.
PCs encounter additional challenges for HDR implementation. It is just not one company that is responsible for the feature. On one hand, the GPU driver vendors need to support it. On the other hand, the OS itself needs to provide hooks to enable HDR. Finally, the software ecosystem needs to catch up. The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update brought HDR10 capabilities for the Windows desktop into the stable ring. It also allowed streaming of HDR videos from YouTube and Netflix. Microsoft is continuing to fine-tune the HDR capabilities built into Windows 10.
Intel, along with CyberLink, had decided not to wait for Microsoft to deliver HDR on PCs. PowerDVD 17 was the first software Blu-ray player, and it only made sense for them to support HDR playback for applicable titles. The Intel / CyberLink solution for HDR when playing back certain Blu-rays in full-screen exclusive mode is orthogonal to Microsoft's HDR support.
The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update enabled desktop HDR and HDR video streaming on all the three test PCs described earlier.
HDR and Advanced Color Settings - Intel NUC7i7BNHX1 with Desktop HDR Enabled
The KBL-U platforms drove the display at YCbCr 4:2:0 10-bit, while the NVIDIA GTX 1080 drove the HDR output with higher quality (YCbCr 4:2:2 10-bit). For a good desktop experience, 4:4:4 is preferable.
HDR and Advanced Color Settings - Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080K with Desktop HDR Enabled
Gaming is not a focus in our HTPC reviews, but, we must give credit to NVIDIA for supporting Dolby Vision in their Pascal GPUs. Certain gaming titles such as Battlefield 1 support both HDR varieties (HDR10 and Dolby Vision), and the Zotac EN1080K is able to deliver it in a HTPC environment, thanks to its small form factor and relatively silent liquid cooling.
Battlefield 1 HDR Output from the Zotac EN1080K
Battlefield 1 Dolby Vision Output from the Zotac EN1080K
Unfortunately, Pascal's Dolby Vision support is available only in certain games, and is not applicable to streaming services like Netflix.
Microsoft's current approach to HDR with a desktop HDR mode is currently not efficiently implemented. For example, the desktop in the Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080K idles at 34.5W. With the HDR mode enabled, this jumps to 39.5W. In the KBL-U systems the penalty is of the order of 0.8W - 1W.
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pjcamp - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
The one thing you didn't mention is what keyboard you are using. I haven't been happy with any of the ones I've used so a little help would be, well, helpful.DIE_BETA_SOY_BOYS - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
"budget"What a useless article
watersb - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
I, for one, enjoyed this write-up very much. I have been out of the AV Zone for a decade, but as a musician and PC enthusiast I was curious to see how this played out.A write-up like this: I have done similar tests for audio-only gear, and it took 50 hours of work. Maybe I'm too slow.
And finally, this may be a dumb question, but for a Home Theater setup, what keyboard/pointing device work best for you? I need to get something. My ten-year-old Gyration Mouse/keyboard has died. Not kidding. It was great. Backlit keyboard that can see duty as primary PC keyboard preferred.
What are you all using?
Shaan1969 - Thursday, December 28, 2017 - link
watersb, Logitech K830 (~$50) is the best one with long lasting rechargeable battery with back-lit option. I have been using it for the last few years without any issues.watersb - Tuesday, January 2, 2018 - link
Thanks! Was on my list, at $50 the price has come down a bit since last I looked.Shaan1969 - Thursday, December 28, 2017 - link
Ganesh, thank you for taking time to write up a great article. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and planning to upgrade my HTPC accordingly this weekend.Everyone's definition of budget is different and I wish readers focus on the content of the article rather than accusing the writer.
milkod2001 - Thursday, December 28, 2017 - link
good read, you might want to also upgrade those curtains granny bought and insisted to use when on last visit while you are in this upgrading process.UtilityMax - Friday, December 29, 2017 - link
This situation with the high cost and pain-in-the-butt involved in 4K HTPC setup compared to buying Playstation 4, Xbox, or Roku reminds me of a similar situation that happened with home routers in the late 1990s. As the Internet connections started becoming more affordable (be it dialup or broadband) a whole lot of geeks wanted to come up with solutions so that their entire home network could connect to the internet with just one IP address. A whole lot of them turned to setting up a dedicated PC running Linux to act as their gateway to the internet for the purpose of firewalling and network address translation (NAT). This made even people originally not interested in using Linux start exploring the Linux systems because back in the 1990s Linux distributions were way better than Windows or Macs at advanced networking stuff.Then an interesting thing happened. A cheap Taiwanese-made router with firewall, NAT, and a 4-5 port 100Mbps switch became available for something like 50 bucks around year 1999-2000. This has near instantly killed the concept of setting up manually a dedicated PC to act as your router gateway. Today you don't even have to buy a dedicated router, because your broadband cable modem probably already comes integrated with wifi, router, NAT, firewall, switch, and all that (mine does).
The same way we are observing the situation where various set top boxes or "sticks" costing under a couple of hundred bucks, gaming consoles, and even smart TVs have pretty much near eliminated the whole point of building a dedicated HTPC. HTPC is basically a dinosaur.
Combine that with the fact that most people out there still don't give a damn about 4K content, don't have 4K TVs, don't have access to 4K cable (duh!), and don't want to pay for either 4K BD discs or for high speed internet conections required for 4K streaming, and you see why building your own HTPC is going to be just like banging your head against a wall.
rapster - Friday, December 29, 2017 - link
Totally agree. The NVIDIA Shield has - for me - made the PC moot. This time around I based my system on a Shield that streams from the internet and Synology disk array, a “budget” receiver, a BD player, some great speakers, and an old 1080p TV. Not even sure what use a PC would serve.mikato - Thursday, January 18, 2018 - link
Sounds good. I’ll have to check out the Shield. But you can’t bring this to a friend’s house and plug into their TV or home theater. I want that too :)