Figure this is better here in than in the random gaming thoughts area.
So I've had just a small amount of time with my new TV (50" Samsung JU6500 4K). When I first set it up, the closest and easiest thing I had to hook up to it was the NES. I had to move pretty quickly, had to get back to work; still, I couldn't resist hooking it up to test.
It looked awful. Like, really awful. Of course, it's composite from the NES, so I wasn't expecting great, but still. It got slightly better after enabling Game Mode. Anyway, didn't think much about it, went back to work.
When I got back in and finally got all my stuff hooked back up (basically playing Tetris with my systems because of the lost space), 480p and 720p still looked pretty awful. I could tell there was some sort of processing going on, but it looked like Game Mode had disabled all of it. Well, it had, except for one.
Sharpness.
So for those that don't know, "sharpness" is something left over from the old CRT days. It doesn't operate like it did then. It applies a sort of filter to the image on newer HDTV sets. Samsung sets it to 50 for Game Mode. This produces an effect not unlike an Eagle filter, and also adds a sort of halo effect around stuff. It ain't pretty. After some experimentation, I came to the conclusion that 15-20 was around the right setting, and some information I saw somewhere confirms this. Things look so much better. In fact, I'd say the 720p is clearer than my actual native 720p set... which is probably a function of that set not actually being a true 720p, but 1366x768. Lag times look super good, too, around 26ms.
Another thing I wanted to test was to see if it handled 240p sources. Well, the NES answered that little question, but does it handle them correctly? Many sets handle flashing objects (like when you get hit in Castlevania) as a combed object, instead of actual flashing. This is what my old Bravia set does. Turns out this one actually handles it correctly, to my surprise! If you want to see what your set does, try downloading the 240p test for whatever console you're using. I use the Wii version. I did notice some softness in the image, though, as if it's not quite lining things up perfectly. Not sure what I need to do to fix that, or even if it can.
1080p looks spectacular. Very happy with performance there. Still need to hook to my laptop, and see how things look there, too. I suspect quite nice.
Anyway, I'm pretty darn happy with my purchase so far (knock on wood). Having $300 from credit card rewards helped reduce the dent on my wallet, so I was only out around $400. Certainly a lot less than I paid for my Bravia back in the day! And while it's not as feature-rich as a more expensive set, for my purposes, it should do quite nicely.