HDR CONTENT ON NETFLIX THROUGH XG1V4

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@quovadis12345 wrote:

I notice the tv is on the same settings and the Netflix version of Planet Earth II really pops in color, especially the orange colors. Episode 1 the Komodo dragons look completely different when wiewed through the box or on Netflix. To be more objective I will be comparing other movies that I know are HDR and DV through both feeds.  I will also be comparing the quality on two color calibrated 4k 32" monitors, I use for photoshop in my daily work.

As for the data cap we seem to be getting very close every month, and watch about 150 hours a month of Netflix (family combined). Some of it is HD and some UHD. We also do about 160 hours of gaming a month. Apart from that there is very little data usage, so it's a mystery to me how we always manage to get near the 1TB mark.

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I'm confused. You are saying "viewed on the box". Are you using the Netflix app on the X1 4k box or viewing OnDemand content? Netflix provides the app on both your TV and on the X1 boxes. In my case I get the same performance from either the X1 box or my Rokus. In the case of the TV I also get DV when avalable. PE II is avalable OnDemand but onl y in HD not HDR. That is why I asked. I re-read your original post and I think you are using NF in both cases?

It is important that you note what the Netflix app is showing on whatever platform you are viewing. It will say Ultra HD 4k, HDR or Dolby Vision or maybe only HD depending on what the asset is capable of and what the app detects your display can handle (this is before you tell it to play). This is only the case with TVs, STBs etc. and not with computers, tablets and phones in my experience. I suspect that you may be getting HD on your X1 box either because it is not 4k or there is a configuration, compatability or detection issue? Double check your device/video settings on the X1 box. This would account for some of the difference but would not account for a vibrant color change. You should have info and other screens on your TV that will tell you what it is displaying, the resolution and HDR mode etc. Many will also flash a banner when it kicks into HDR modes and/or the resolution changes. I'm not familier with TCL TVs but I know they run the Roku engine that can be a bit hard to get status and stats out of. My daughter has one several states away and I recall having a hard time finding out what it was doing when we visited last time.

Accounting for your bandwidth usage is easy. NF HD will consume up to ~3Gb per hour. 4k uses a whopping up to 7Gb per. hour (I have noticed in my case that with HDR it is even more than that). This means that you can only watch ~140 hours of 4k content on one screen in a month. Watch only HD and it's a bit over 300 hours (on one screen) a month. It can easily add up. Yesterday I watched 6+ episodes of The Santa Clarita Diet in 4K HDR and racked up 23Gb of usage. This is a ~30 min. show so that was 7.66Gb per. hour. This is only ~3 hours of watching. Do that every day in a month and you are already at 700Gb. Gaming can also consume a lot of bandwidth but not as much as video.

My son watches a lot of online content (YouTube, NF, Amazon, Skype etc.). I don't normally stream much but there are always 1-2 shows my son and I are watching together on either NF or Amazon. I've had him dumb down the resolution on his laptop since he does not need full quality. We average ~200-300Gb per. month including a fair amount of downloading of media and updates I do in a month (we watch one show that I have to download a 3-4Gb file each week). Sometimes we go a bit over that, but rare. We mostly watch content from X1 either DVR or OnDemand. Since we watch so much broadcast and cable shows it does not leave much time for streaming. However when we do watch streaming (and I prefer to watch in 4k or HDR if possible) our usage spikes quite a bit. I've been hesitant to cut the cord since that would be 3 screens going in the evening and a ton of bandwidth (even at just HD we would be consuming ~10Gb per. hour, over 50Gb a day and way over the limit for the month. My screen alone would be 50Gb a day). We have had high usage in the past but have never run out (since the TB cap. We blew through the old 250Gb cap often). This was before I had my son ramp down the resolution of his viewing.