Playback Issues - Audio/Video & Power

[Arcanum1984]

Hey all, I’ve had a TCL P607 55” Roku TV since last year, and recently I also picked up the 5 Series 43” TCL Roku TV. I used to not have this problem with the P607 until an update occurred (I’m not sure which), but now tonemapping is completely broken in the Roku software when using Netflix and Vudu. Everything is incredibly washed out and gray. It did not used to look this way, and I changed nothing in my settings, so this is definitely related to an update (and I saw elsewhere on this forum people discussing this issue with Amazon.) Also, I entered the secret HDR menu and tried switching to “open HDR” and got the same result. Then I turned HDR off completely via the secret menu, and now content in Netflix and Vudu plays in 4K, but with no HDR / Dolby Vision whatsoever and guess what - the image is bright and vibrant and colorful. All this testing has lead me to the conclusion that something is broken in the software.

Additionally, the exact same results occur on the 43” 5 Series. 

The P607 is “fully updated” to 8.0.0. The 5 series is “fully updated” to 8.0.2. The system won’t update either TV beyond that.

I’m not sure what to do here, but this is incredibly frustrating because my TVs used to be fantastic, and now I can’t use HDR on them! Incredibly frustrating. Is Roku aware of this issue? Is there a fix incoming?

And I’m sure there will be some people that say that this is just “what HDR/DV looks like”. But I can assure that this is extreme and not the case. I can post pictures if necessary, but with HDR/DV activated, the image is incredibly gray and flat. And again, it didn’t used to look this way. It used to be *beautiful*! I even turned 2 friends onto this tv (the P607 in particular) by demoing HDR/DV content on Vudu and Netflix and it blew them away. Now that content looks awful. 

Any help? Thank you!

[blade_005]

I have the P605 and am not seeing any issues with HDR or DV from multiple (i.e. Netflix, Prime VIdeo) apps.

Perhaps try streaming content from THE HDR CHANNEL on YouTube and see what result you get from their HDR source material. DOLBY ACCESS is an app on the Roku store that provides a number of Dolby Vision clips for testing purposes. It might help you figure out if it is perhaps an issue from particular streaming providers and not all HDR / DV content.

[Arcanum1984]

"blade_005" wrote:
I have the P605 and am not seeing any issues with HDR or DV from multiple (i.e. Netflix, Prime VIdeo) apps.

Perhaps try streaming content from THE HDR CHANNEL on YouTube and see what result you get from their HDR source material. DOLBY ACCESS is an app on the Roku store that provides a number of Dolby Vision clips for testing purposes. It might help you figure out if it is perhaps an issue from particular streaming providers and not all HDR / DV content.

That's so odd, because I'm getting the same issue on TWO different models of TCL tvs.... What is your software version?

Oh, and yeah the Dolby channel is playing proper DV for me. So I think it is specific to Netflix/Vudu, but I don't know what caused it to happen, why it's happening to both on TWO different TCL tvs for me, and why it's not happening for you?

[blade_005]

"Arcanum1984" wrote:

"blade_005" wrote:
I have the P605 and am not seeing any issues with HDR or DV from multiple (i.e. Netflix, Prime VIdeo) apps.

Perhaps try streaming content from THE HDR CHANNEL on YouTube and see what result you get from their HDR source material. DOLBY ACCESS is an app on the Roku store that provides a number of Dolby Vision clips for testing purposes. It might help you figure out if it is perhaps an issue from particular streaming providers and not all HDR / DV content.

That's so odd, because I'm getting the same issue on TWO different models of TCL tvs.... What is your software version?

Oh, and yeah the Dolby channel is playing proper DV for me. So I think it is specific to Netflix/Vudu, but I don't know what caused it to happen, why it's happening to both on TWO different TCL tvs for me, and why it's not happening for you?

Version 8.0.0 - Build 4183-30

HDR content from YouTube and Prime Video are working. DV content from Netflix and Dolby Access app are working. I don't stream UHD content from VUDU. I assume you are using the internal apps and not an external device where cabling could be an issue.. I don't think network bandwidth would affect HDR quality. If bandwidth were limited I would guess that you would not get an HDR stream at all and it would fall back to SDR stream. Unsure what else could be creating these specific tone mapping issues.

I was one of the individuals posting on the TCL Prime Video HDR thread late last year when all tone mapping was gone from Prime HDR content when they switched over to HDR10+ encodes. Took about a month and a half to finally see a resolution.

You could remove the apps with issues from both TV's, do a RESTART from Power Menu and re-install.

[Arcanum1984]

"blade_005" wrote:

"Arcanum1984" wrote:

"blade_005" wrote:
I have the P605 and am not seeing any issues with HDR or DV from multiple (i.e. Netflix, Prime VIdeo) apps.

Perhaps try streaming content from THE HDR CHANNEL on YouTube and see what result you get from their HDR source material. DOLBY ACCESS is an app on the Roku store that provides a number of Dolby Vision clips for testing purposes. It might help you figure out if it is perhaps an issue from particular streaming providers and not all HDR / DV content.

That's so odd, because I'm getting the same issue on TWO different models of TCL tvs.... What is your software version?

Oh, and yeah the Dolby channel is playing proper DV for me. So I think it is specific to Netflix/Vudu, but I don't know what caused it to happen, why it's happening to both on TWO different TCL tvs for me, and why it's not happening for you?

Version 8.0.0 - Build 4183-30

HDR content from YouTube and Prime Video are working. DV content from Netflix and Dolby Access app are working. I don't stream UHD content from VUDU. I assume you are using the internal apps and not an external device where cabling could be an issue.. I don't think network bandwidth would affect HDR quality. If bandwidth were limited I would guess that you would not get an HDR stream at all and it would fall back to SDR stream. Unsure what else could be creating these specific tone mapping issues.

I was one of the individuals posting on the TCL Prime Video HDR thread late last year when all tone mapping was gone from Prime HDR content when they switched over to HDR10+ encodes. Took about a month and a half to finally see a resolution.

I wonder if my Vudu and Netflix apps aren’t updating or something? Maybe I’ll try deleting the channels and reinstalling them.

Edit - on whoops, just saw your edit! Lol.

[Arcanum1984]

"blade_005" wrote:

"Arcanum1984" wrote:

"blade_005" wrote:
I have the P605 and am not seeing any issues with HDR or DV from multiple (i.e. Netflix, Prime VIdeo) apps.

Perhaps try streaming content from THE HDR CHANNEL on YouTube and see what result you get from their HDR source material. DOLBY ACCESS is an app on the Roku store that provides a number of Dolby Vision clips for testing purposes. It might help you figure out if it is perhaps an issue from particular streaming providers and not all HDR / DV content.

That's so odd, because I'm getting the same issue on TWO different models of TCL tvs.... What is your software version?

Oh, and yeah the Dolby channel is playing proper DV for me. So I think it is specific to Netflix/Vudu, but I don't know what caused it to happen, why it's happening to both on TWO different TCL tvs for me, and why it's not happening for you?

Version 8.0.0 - Build 4183-30

HDR content from YouTube and Prime Video are working. DV content from Netflix and Dolby Access app are working. I don't stream UHD content from VUDU. I assume you are using the internal apps and not an external device where cabling could be an issue.. I don't think network bandwidth would affect HDR quality. If bandwidth were limited I would guess that you would not get an HDR stream at all and it would fall back to SDR stream. Unsure what else could be creating these specific tone mapping issues.

I was one of the individuals posting on the TCL Prime Video HDR thread late last year when all tone mapping was gone from Prime HDR content when they switched over to HDR10+ encodes. Took about a month and a half to finally see a resolution.

You could remove the apps with issues from both TV's, do a RESTART from Power Menu and re-install.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the apps and same results. Also, on the ResetEra thread (another forum) for these TVs, other people are having the same issue. I feel certain it’s a problem with the Roku software as Netflix, Vudu, and even Amazon are all not working.

Roku really needs to fix this as HDR/DV is the prime reason I got these darn TVs and it’s broken.

[drjekel_mrhyde]

Have you tried swaping the cables?

[Arcanum1984]

"drjekel_mrhyde" wrote:
Have you tried swaping the cables?

The main issue is the apps built into the tvs itself (the tvs have built in Roku). So cables aren't involved here (other than the PS4 / Xbox One which also have the same issue). And again, these issues didn't exist a handful of months ago. They started when Roku updated software.

[blade_005]

"Arcanum1984" wrote:

"drjekel_mrhyde" wrote:
Have you tried swaping the cables?

The main issue is the apps built into the tvs itself (the tvs have built in Roku). So cables aren't involved here (other than the PS4 / Xbox One which also have the same issue). And again, these issues didn't exist a handful of months ago. They started when Roku updated software.

Perhaps you can try posting your issue in the AVS Forum thread for the TCL P-Series. The thread has really slowed down now that the 6-Series has been released, but you would have eyes from TCL TV users that may provide some input that would be helpful. I continue to test HDR content on Prime VIdeo and Dolby Vision content on Netflix on my P605 with the internal apps, but am not seeing the washed out tone mapping that you are seeing on both of your sets.

*Official* 2017 TCL P-Series 4K Roku TV HDR/DV Owners Thread

[blade_005]

"blade_005" wrote:

"Arcanum1984" wrote:

"drjekel_mrhyde" wrote:
Have you tried swaping the cables?

The main issue is the apps built into the tvs itself (the tvs have built in Roku). So cables aren't involved here (other than the PS4 / Xbox One which also have the same issue). And again, these issues didn't exist a handful of months ago. They started when Roku updated software.

Perhaps you can try posting your issue in the AVS Forum thread for the TCL P-Series. The thread has really slowed down now that the 6-Series has been released, but you would have eyes from TCL Roku TV users that may provide some input that would be helpful. I continue to test HDR content on Prime VIdeo and Dolby Vision content on Netflix on my P605 with the internal apps, but am not seeing the washed out tone mapping that you are seeing on both of your sets.

*Official* 2017 TCL P-Series 4K Roku TV HDR/DV Owners Thread