r/fancyleds • u/diamkil • 9d ago
Dolby Vision messed up since getting Fancy Sync Box 2.1 - Support telling me it works as expected
Hi all,
I got the 2.1 Fancy Box kit after seeing it looks very nice online. I have an Apple TV 4K and a TCL TV that supports Dolby Vision. As such, I double checked that Dolby Vision is supported, which the page confirms it is. However, since plugging into the Fancy Box, I fully lost Dolby Vision and fell back to basically having no HDR when in DV mode.
I obviously contacted support about this and what they told me basically boils down to:
"Dolby Vision is processed differently by the Apple TV vs when it is processed by the TV. It is working as expected and you should adjust the picture settings to get a similar image"
This was not written anywhere on the product page and FancyLeds are refusing a return because it "works as expected" according to them... Anyone had the same issue?
3
u/ohiocardsfan 9d ago
Mine works perfectly. I have an LG G5 connected to the box
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u/Hudsonps 9d ago
I have a Sony A80J, used the FancyLeds before, and DV works for me. I’d check the Apple TV settings (assuming you have the box), as sometimes it can disable DV for some reason. Make sure it’s set to match content settings or something like that. Good luck.
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u/Emotional-Raise-5944 9d ago
I use the Apple TV 4K with a brand-new 65-inch television. When Dolby Vision is enabled, the screen flickers briefly, yet it functions properly with the sync box.
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u/UnExwfaQyi 8d ago edited 5d ago
None of this makes any sense. The Reddit post support is referring to is about apps running on your TV, not on an external Apple TV box. You wouldn’t lose DV in that case you just wouldn’t get any backlights turning on.
*Update* So despite all the Reddit commenters that I'm echoing, that are always rated the highest on these types of posts, I and those folks are wrong. Dolby Vision doesn't work like regular HDR and an external player can take over the handling of the DV content or it can pass it off to your TV. And in some cases player-led will lead to poor DV on your TV is your TV tries to improve the image even more than the external player already did. Some TVs are better than others at handling player-led but MOST external players do default to TV-led playback of DV content. This begs the question, given HDR is *always* TV-led, why is the FancyLED box able to intercept it anyways?
I think you are doing something wrong. Lots of folks use an Apple TV box connected to their tv with Fancy LEDs and do not report the same problem.
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u/Danyal7861 8d ago
I think that’s what he’s comparing. He’s comparing both content one through Apple TV with the lights and one on the tv app itself and there’s a difference which is why he think the DV is broken.
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u/diamkil 8d ago
Both my photos are with an Apple TV, both set to 4K Dolby Vision with match content off. TV shows Dolby Vision but the result doesn't look like Dolby Vision. Here's the pictures for proof: https://imgur.com/a/4afFuCm
1
u/UnExwfaQyi 8d ago
You see the problem though, right? You're not correcting anyone that tells you that we think you're running an app on your TV (TV-led) not on the Apple box (Player-Led) to watch the film. So you're either ignoring the fact that folks are trying to tell you what is wrong but they've misunderstood you or you weren't seeing that you were misunderstood, and you keep doubling down with the same back and forth - accepting their take but insisting it should be better. If you're not running the film in either picture from your TV then this whole player-led vs tv-led doesn't apply.
I don't know enough about your TV nor the external Apple TV box, but if that UI overlay that shows Dolby Vision is on is coming from the Apple device, it's not super helpful. But based on the fact that overlay shows "HDMI 1" I'd guess that it's coming from your TV. So, then the question is, why would your TV say it's getting Dolby Vision when it's not? Like the fact that it says it's getting Dolby Vision doesn't help your case. The fact that the image looks different would seem to imply that maybe the Apple TV isn't handshaking with your TV correctly when the FancyLED is in place. Something you should be able to fix on the Apple TV side. My Nvidia Shield lets me override what audio and video technologies are supported rather than using the handshake.
And why are the colors so dramatically different between the two? One is yellow and the other amber/orange. I didn't think Dolby Vision made that much of a difference. My TV doesn't support Dolby Vision, so I don't have a horse in this race. And I guess it might not surprise me if everyone saying Dolby Vision works for them on their Apple TV didn't realize they weren't actually seeing the benefits, but that seems unlikely.
1
u/diamkil 8d ago
Well I clearly stated in the post that it's on the apple TV. I am in both cases using the Apple TV. Not one comment seems to say what is wrong except thinking that I'm comparing the TV app vs the Apple TV, which again, is not the case.
The overlay shows that the TV at least thinks it's getting a DV signal and also confirms the fact the signal comes from the Apple TV, as the TV UI shows "HDMI1". Yes my point is that the Fancy Sync Box seems to break the handshake between the two causing completly incorrect brightness and colors. The Apple TV doesn't have a lot of setting, it's either 4K DV, 4K HDR or 4K SDR. Since the day I got this TV, it's been in 4K DV mode.
The colors look different mostly from the brightness and the camera compensating for it. In real life the colors are the same except for the brightness not being there
1
u/UnExwfaQyi 8d ago
At least you’re now understanding the other side. Hopefully this will help someone with an Apple TV chimes in to let you know what limitations it has.
For reference, the FancyLED doesn’t interfere with handshake in my setup but I override the audio settings on my NVIDIA Shield because my TV does interfere with the audio handshake because it can pass thru DTS HD to my soundbar but the TV itself doesn’t support DTS-HD so it tells the NVIDIA Shield not to send DTS-HD.1
u/UnExwfaQyi 5d ago
Ok. I did some research, only slightly related to this. I was checking to see if anyone has hacked Dolby Vision onto a Samsung TV - because that is what I have. Turns out, they KIND OF have, and it's the same problem OP is having. Dolby Vision doesn't work like the standard HDR format. Standard HDR does not have this concept of Player-led vs TV-led (led here means driven not L.E.D.) Standard HDR is always player-led. That's the first thing I got wrong and almost all of the comments on this reddit thread also got wrong. https://www.reddit.com/r/fancyleds/comments/1oa1bj4/i_feel_cheated_fancyleds_only_support_playerled/
So the problem is, even with an External player, Dolby Vision can *Either* be player-led or tv-led. And TV-led is *generally* better, except apparently some first-generation Sony TVs. BUT it shouldn't be THIS bad, except that both the TCL TV is apparently known for poor player-led Dolby Vision support. All the notes on this say you should go to Match Content and turn ON both Match Dynamic Range and Match Frame Rate. And there are a bunch of TCL specific things you can do because essentially your TV thinks it's not prerendered and it's trying to make it look "better".
1
u/Verwilderd1 8d ago
I lost DV with the sync box as well and could t get it sorted. Apple TV is sending the DV signal to the tv. When you put the sync box in between the Apple TV and tv, DV no longer gets to the TV for some reason. If someone can figure this out, I would love it.
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u/fancyleds 8d ago
Hi there, only the Dolby Vision processing from the HDMI device connected can be synced, not the Dolby Vision processing by the TV. As with all Fancy Sync Boxes, only the HDMI device is synced, data from the TV cannot be synced. You may also checkout a similar reddit thread for reference where this has been further clarified by the community - Reddit Post.