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4K Failed

Discussion in 'General Chit Chat' started by aposhark, Jan 6, 2020.

  1. Anon220806
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    Anon220806 Well-Known Member

    Well, since posting on this, the entire estate of 218 houses worth of families are up in arms about slow internet speeds. Seemingly it is actually part of building regs now to install fibre. It wasn’t when these houses were in the planning phase. The speeds vary across the site and some are unlucky and get only 2 or 3 mb/s. Some are getting 20mbs and they are the lucky few that have fibre to the cabinet. I have just found out we are one of those lucky few and can upgrade even though the option wasn’t there a few months back.

    The residents are looking into retrofitting fibre but Openreach estimate it will cost £62000 to fit across the site. Split across 218 houses assuming they all want it. Once fibre is installed, if it is installed the download speeds will be extremely good. In the meantime I think 20mb/s will do us.
  2. Anon220806
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    Anon220806 Well-Known Member

    All is well that ends well. A local company is running fibre here in January / February. In fact it has already started. The prices are good and with vastly improved download speeds available.

    Was in Currys today and they had an 8k tv on display....
    • Like Like x 1
  3. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    The Japanese are the only country I know of producing 8K content at this point in time but I am potentially out of date, 8k requires 4 times the data transfer of 4k and 16 times the data transfer of FHD.

    I only mention this because most of us on regular sized screens can barely tell the difference between FHD and 4k, I see a difference on some shows and I have made a point of buying UHD (4k) versions of movies I like, this was probably dumb as my eyesight is poorer now than it has ever been and I am someone who luckily had perfect eyesight for most of his life.

    There is a cross link to climate John, the energy requirements in delivering that much data is starting to account for a very significant proportion of total global energy use, it is not just the size of the TV, it is the broadband data throughput, the routers, the servers, the storage, the air conditioning requirements at the server farms.

    Most business operations are the transfer of relatively tiny bits of data, I wrote a telemetry system that receives about 2 to 4 million messages a day each is several hundred bytes, that amount of data is tiny and is easily handled by a single server on our premises, we have generally good communications capability something like 1 Gbps but even us we are wasting energy.

    When it comes to steaming that is a different ballpark the sheer volume of data is scary but many of us use it happily now without a thought, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ yeah I am guilty regards all of them.

    Broadcast Satellite coms for TV is far more efficient than on demand internet TV in any form, but getting 8k broadcast anytime soon could be hard, bandwidth eats channels, with any particular spectrum segment you can only get so much data multiplexed down that bandwidth, HD and lower gets you a lot more traffic.

    One thing I would say is that my computers are now a significant portion of my heating, I run 2 or three every day for most of the day and they help keep me warm :D
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  4. Anon220806
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    Anon220806 Well-Known Member

    I did read about the climate change thing, yes.

    Amazon Prime are providing Premiership football coverage again this Christmas. It is in 4K. The picture is very good.
  5. Aromulus
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    Aromulus The Don Staff Member

    My brand new 4K fire stick has brought my 4k toshiba TV to a new level. The picture seems to be sharper and more colours.
    or is it me???
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  6. Jim
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    Jim Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    I think it's you. My brand new 4k fireTV stick makes no difference to my 4k Samsung 50'' TV.
  7. Aromulus
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    Aromulus The Don Staff Member

    I could have sworn otherwise.

    Strange tho...
  8. Jim
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    Jim Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Unless it's me :D. My right eye is playing up, need to have it checked.
  9. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    I've had 4k Amazon devices since 2016, the most recent was a FireTV cube last year, the colour gamut of the output from various devices does vary, in general I find Amazon more saturated and punchy on their own devices than on say the Roku or the Netflix app on the TV itself.

    Some programs that are being broadcast in 4k yeah you can see a difference, there is more fine detail but you rapidly stop noticing at least I do.
  10. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Does the FireTV stick work in the Phils Jim?

    Do you get much Amazon content?

    I have a 4k Roku stick for when I travel as that gets me access to my purchased videos on Amazon but I was blocked for all other Amazon content.

    I found that for Netflix we just can't get a fast enough data stream to get reliable 4k but we still get a very good picture.
  11. Jim
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    Jim Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Yes, and It's limited Amazon content unless I use a VPN then I can get USA content. I use it mostly with a British expat IPTV service which I can get live British TV I'm hooked on Tipping point and the chase.:)
    • Like Like x 1
  12. aposhark
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    aposhark Well-Known Member Lifetime Member

    I watch the matches on my laptop and it is nowhere as good as 4K, let alone 8K.
    I still enjoy the games.
  13. Anon220806
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    Anon220806 Well-Known Member

    You can definitely see a difference in the Amazon Prime 4K footy on a 4K tv. The clarity is very good. Much improved compared to other sources I have used. I have the broadband width for it now.
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2020
  14. Aromulus
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    Aromulus The Don Staff Member

    Even as colour blind/ignorant as I am, I did notice the difference that makes for me a more enjoyable experience watching TV movies
  15. Anon220806
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    Anon220806 Well-Known Member

    I also find the Amazon Prime 4K movies very good and also better in HD with a 4K TV as @oss predicted. Definitely. Not just my imagination.

    I suspect running 4K discs through a 4k player to a 4k TV will give superior results too.
  16. Jim
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    Jim Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    I watch EPL games on the TV through my firestick, not 4k but HD quality. I get all the sky channels and BT sports plus PPV Channels.
  17. aposhark
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    aposhark Well-Known Member Lifetime Member

    Can you a link for the firestick you have, Jim?
    I have just signed up for a Sky TV / Broadband bundle again (TV mostly for the kids) for early January installation but there is no sports package and I would like to see Premier League games again.
    Perhaps a pm if that is better for you? :like:
  18. Aromulus
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    Aromulus The Don Staff Member

    Go to Amazon website and scroll around.. Bingo
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  19. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    In the UK this would be the HD version at a reasonable price Mike.

    All-new Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote (includes TV controls) | HD streaming device | 2020 release: Amazon.co.uk: Amazon Devices

    This next one is the 4k version which is not much more expensive just now but you need a specific HDMI standard to be supported by your TV to get the 4k, it will still work at FHD resolution, I think (not entirely sure) the standard is HDCP 2.2 and most modern equipment will support that.

    Fire TV Stick 4K Ultra HD with Alexa Voice Remote | streaming media player: Amazon.co.uk: Amazon Devices

    The storage in these sticks is limited to 8GB which limits the number of apps you can install, the more expensive FireTV Cube has double the storage at 16GB.
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2020
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  20. Jim
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    Jim Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Same what Jim says, Mike.
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