New Poster
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2 Messages
4K washed out
Been an issue since first came out but Comcast 4K is a terrible picture. Very washed out. The World Series game 1 between Philadelphia and Houston is offered in 4 K on fox but is unwatchable as it is very washed out
Accepted Solution
curlw
Contributor
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51 Messages
2 years ago
@chuck4556 Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I spent the last couple of days going back and forth with Xfinity about the poor 4K HDR sports broadcasts (World Cup and college football in particular). After brow-beating various Xfinity support people, I did a little more troubleshooting and discovered that it was actually an issue I caused and there was nothing wrong with the Xfinity 4K broadcast. Now, you may actually have a technical issue with Xfinity in your area; I don't know. Just in case though, I thought I would share a few things that I know (and one important one I had forgotten) about making the Xfinity 4K HDR work correctly. Maybe this will lead you to a solution, maybe not. I'll just tell you that I watched USA-Netherlands World Cup today in beautiful 4K HDR and looking forward to the Michigan-Purdue football game tonight in 4K.
Displaying 4K content properly (especially at 2160p60 and with HDR) is a somewhat complex and confusing endeavor at best and Xfinity sure doesn't help much.
(1) I'm sure you are aware that only the Xfinity XG1v4 DVR or Xi6 Wireless boxes are 4K capable. The Xfinity support people will tell you to ensure that the best available resolution is selected in the X1 settings and that it is 16:9, 2160p60 4K UHD (Best Available). That's pretty straight forward, but if that isn't even offered as an option, the box isn't recognizing your system as being capable of that resolution and you probably have a problem with cables or the TV supporting 2160p60.
(2) The Xfinity support people will tell you to ensure that you are "connecting with a 4K HDMI or 4K component cables". That's not a complete answer. At a minimum, you must have HDMI cables that are rated as Premium High-Speed HDMI (up to 18Gbps). The older High-Speed HDMI cables (up to 10Gbps) that have been around for years can only handle up to 4K 2160p30 resolution. You don't need the costlier Ultra High-Speed (up to 48Gbps) HDMI cables for the Xfinity connections but they certainly work well. If you aren't connecting via at least a good Premium High-Speed HDMI cable you will definitely have problems.
(3) The Xfinity support representatives will say you must have a "4K TV". Again, that isn't even close to a complete answer given that some people have 4K TVs that were produced recently and some have 4K TVs that were maybe produced 6 or 7 years ago. Many of the early 4K TVs didn't even have basic HDR10, much less HDR10+ or DolbyVision. Many early 4K TVs were only capable of 2160p30 resolution. Assuming your TV is new enough to at least be capable of 2160p60 and has at least HDR10 capability, then the critical factor is that you must connect your Xfinity box to your 4K TV ONLY through an available HDMI 2.0 or 2.1 spec port. If your 4K TV is from the last couple of years, most likely all of your HDMI ports are 2.0 spec (maybe even a 2.1 spec port available on higher end TVs) and this shouldn't be an issue, however, older 4K TVs have a mix of older and newer port specs. This is exactly where I screwed up. The TV I have my XG1v4 DVR connected to is a nice 75" Vizio M model from about 4 years ago. I still really love the picture on this TV and use it as my primary TV although I have a number of newer/smaller 4K TVs in the house. Unfortunately, I hadn't paid close attention when I originally connected everything and didn't realize that of the 4 HDMI ports on the TV, only one of them was the 2.0 spec port and the other 3 were the older 1.4 spec that has been around for almost a decade. HDMI 1.4 can only do 2160p30, not 2160p60. I actually had my 4K Roku connected to the only 2.0 port (which was giving me a beautiful picture on the Roku and making me despise the Xfinity box even more) and my XG1v$ box was connected to a HDMI 1.4 port. Once I disconnected the Roku from my only HDMI 2.0 port and connected the Xfinity XG1v4 to that port, all my issues with the Xfinity 4K were resolved.
Just in case...if you have a soundbar or audio receiver in the mix whereby the Xfinity signal has to flow via HDMI cable through one of them before getting to the TV, then that soundbar or audio receiver also has to have the HDMI 2.0 spec.
If none of this helps with your problem, then good luck with resolving it through Xfinity.
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CCXavier
Official Employee
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695 Messages
2 years ago
Hello, thank you for reaching out to us and sorry to hear of your experience. To confirm you have all the proper equipment, are you watching off our Xfinity 4K Cable box and you have a 4K TV and connecting with a 4K HDMI or 4K component cables?
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skaus
New Poster
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8 Messages
2 years ago
I have had the same issue since I got my LG OLED4K TV three years ago. The picture is fine on movies, but on sports it is washed out and unviewable. I have tried fiddling with the settings, but at 2160p30 the picture is grainy and jerky and at less than 2160 resolution, it is not 4K. I don't understand why Comcast cannot deliver an acceptable 4K picture.
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MNtundraRET
Gold Problem Solver
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5.9K Messages
2 years ago
The problem may be on the originating end. There is the problem of sufficient bandwidth for uploading the 4K signal.
On You Tube only a 720p signal was available for replays of 4K labelled videos. A 720p signal would end up looking washed out un upscaling on many 4K televisions. The video you watched was more than likely on 720p.
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skaus
New Poster
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8 Messages
2 years ago
Waiting for someone from Comcast to explain how they are going to fix this!
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MNtundraRET
Gold Problem Solver
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5.9K Messages
2 years ago
Good luck with that one.
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skaus
New Poster
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8 Messages
2 years ago
That is very helpful. Also ridiculous! I will get to work. I have no idea what cables I have. They either came from Comcast or I paid through the nose at Magnolia!
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MNtundraRET
Gold Problem Solver
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5.9K Messages
2 years ago
@curlw:
I marked your post Accepted answer. I can't use any X1 boxes since I refuse to switch to Comcast Internet. My HDMI ports are similar to yours. I happen to be on the correct type. I agree if your reply. "chuck4556" can always change the accepted reply if he wishes.
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skaus
New Poster
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8 Messages
2 years ago
Actually, inspired by your story, I determined that my Marantz Receiver has an "enhanced" 4K setting deep in its bowels. I changed it and the picture is much improved. Not sure it is all the way yet, so I have some cables coming. Everything else met the specs.
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mjboh3
Contributor
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15 Messages
2 years ago
I finally realized washed out 4K could be solved with a TV setting adjustment.
Setup: Sony Bravia XBR-70X830F (~4 years old) that supports 4K HDR10 and HLG formats.
For me, apps like Netflix and Prime Video work fine and the picture automatically adjusts to the 4K format (coming off the Comcast Xi6 box-- and I also had this experience using the XG1v4.)
Where I got in trouble was occasional live sports in 4K and also MGM+ (formerly EPIX) OnDemand. This really annoyed me, because I wanted to watch the last Bond movie, No Time To Die, in 4K, but when it went into the OnDemand library to dial up the 4K UHD version, it was badly washed out and the regular HD version's color was much more vibrant.
Finally, I decided to test the Sony TV's HDR setting buried in the "video options" specific to the Input. (This has nothing to do with the Xfinity box settings, which don't even mention HDR format.)
I believe the MGM+ 4K UHD OnDemand title was in Dolby Vision format. And I'm willing to bet the Xfinity box just passes through that signal with no idea if the television supports that particular HDR format. From what I've read, Dolby Vision should be backwards-compatible with HDR10 sets like mine-- supposedly, the device should recognize Dolby Vision and get the slightly stripped-down version, displayed as HDR10. (I'm not a total tech nerd, so this explanation might be off.)
Back to the fix. What I found through my tests is that the TV's Auto HDR selection-- which needs to be on for jumping between regular HD and 4K HDR video-- doesn't recognize the Dolby Vision format, and leaves HDR Off.
I manually toggled the HDR mode to HDR10 and voilà, the colors look great-- no longer washed out.
Here are two untouched photos taken from my iPhone of No Time To Die from MGM+ 4K UHD OnDemand:
Auto mode (which is the same as HDR "Off")
HDR10 mode manually selected
I also tested HLG format (looks like Off) and just turned it Off and it looks the same as Auto.
So, in short, if you're getting washed out 4K, I encourage you to find the HDR setting buried in your television's menus and manually toggle it to HDR10. Just don't leave it there, though, because when you go back to regular HD channels, it will look weird.
Good luck. --Mike
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