9.0.3 Discussion

The Skin I am using (amber with skin shortcuts) looks a LOT better at 3840x2160 compared to 1920x1080.

The menu text has jagged edges at 1920x1080 and a few other things also look better.

I agree that the TV would do a better job at upscaling the SD stuff but as the resolution switching doesn’t seem to work properly and I watch so little SD stuff, I would rather have a better looking gui at 3840x2160.

So this is interesting, it won’t switch resolutions at all, only refresh rate.

I tried the 422 option and then checked my AVR info.

When playing the SD file it said the input was 4k 30hz. (tv says 2160p)
When playing a 1080p file it said the input was 4k 24hz. (tv says 2160p)
And when displaying the gui it said the input was 4k 60hz (tv says 2160p)

I turned 422 off and rebooted again but got the same results, so CoreELEC was only changing the refresh rate and not the resolution.

I then added every option there is to the whitelist and tried again.

The AVR and TV now both say that the input is 1080p for the 1080p stuff, BUT for SD file they still both say that the input is 4k 30hz (2160p).

So what I am getting from this is that CoreELEC atm cannot output all SD resolutions ?

And to get it to even switch from the “default” 3840x2160 to 1920x1080 when watching 1080p files you have to add 1920x1080 to the whitelist ?

I never realised this was a requirement before, not sure if that’s just me ?

Can we somehow manually add other SD resolutions to the “whitelist” ?

Thanks
Rob

userdata/guisettings. xml

see Whitelist on 8.90.3

It was for CE 8.90.3, but maybe valid for CE 9.0.3 also. I don’t know…

No, it’s your AVR that probably can’t handle a certain combination of color depth with YUV420 at 4K.

Ok so I was pretty sure there was nothing wrong with my AVR.
I made sure when I bought it that I got one that could overlay the OSD with 4k sources, that it supports E-ARC etc etc…

But to make sure for you I just killed myself pulling everything apart and testing the CoreELEC directly plugged into the TV bypassing the AVR completely.

“EXACTLY” the same result as before.

Set to 3840x2160 with nothing in the whitelist the SD files play fine but when i press stop the tv loses signal.

With everything in the whitelist selected the file plays and stops fine but my tv tells me it is receiving a 2160p signal not an SD signal.

The SD files I am playing have a 4:3 aspect ratio and the resolutions are either

512x384
or
576x432

@treboR2Robert
You should really consider setting your GUI to 1080p/50Hz and remove all white list options.
Your SD videos will be upscaled to 1080p (looks way better than native SD quality), and the resolution correctly switches to 3840x2160 for 4K movies then. Also refresh rate and CS/CD auto switching should work correctly with this setting.

I’m not sure about your preference, but personally I prefer video quality in movies over a slightly sharper GUI.
I don’t use Kodi to look at the GUI but to watch movies instead.

Like @TheCoolest said our TV does a better job of upscaling than the s912 can, so I would rather if at all possible that CoreELEC output the native resolution.

Also if this is not possible why would I want the s912 to upscale SD content to 1080p rather than 2160p like it is doing now. ((looks way better than upscaled 1080p quality)

The resolution already switches fine (with the resolutions set in the whitelist) for 1080 and 2160 stuff including colour space and colour depth.

My preference would be a nice sharp 2160 gui and for SD resolution videos to be output at their native resolution.

Thanks for your reply though

These settings were determined by own experience. The SOC is not very good at outputting SD resolutions - they look washed out, pixelated and are stuttering. Upscaled to 1080p is looking much better. I agree though, that you should let your TV upscale to 4K resolutions instead of your S912 box, because it can handle it much better.

So basically the answer is.

CoreELEC cannot output SD resolutions.

SD videos have to be upscaled by CoreELEC and when it upscales to 2160 it looks worse than when it upscales to 1080.

And CoreELEC cannot switch colour space and colour depth when the gui is set to 2160.

Sound about right ?
Or is there something I can do to change any of this behaviour ?

CoreELEC CAN output SD resolutions (proper TV resolutions like 576p as long as your TV also supports it).
But it doesn’t look as smooth as upscaled to 1080p. This is not a CE problem, but a problem of the SOC instead.
And yes, your TV is most probably much better in upscaling e.g. 1080p videos to 4K.

If you set your GUI to 3840x2160 and enable all resolutions between 1920x1080 and 3840x2160, Kodi will always upscale all SD videos to the highest possible resolution (3840x2160). This again isn’t a CE problem, but a Kodi feature instead.
CS/CD auto switching should be still working though (not entirely sure about this).

Sure, if you accept the reduced video quality when setting your GUI to 3840x2160, there is nothing wrong with it, but there is nothing we can do to change the behavior described above.
That is one of the reasons, why we are always suggesting to set the GUI to 1080p.

How do I make CoreELEC output my proper TV/DVD 4:3 videos at their native resolution then ?

Enable them in the whitelist.
But again: Don’t waste your time on it…it’s looking ugly as hell.
The next problem is, that also all GUI overlays while playing an SD video in native resolution are extremely pixelated.

Why will I have reduced video quality when setting my gui to 2160 if the res automatically switches to 1080 when i play a 1080 file ?

They are not in the whitelist

We were talking about SD videos.

Then your TV’s EDID information aren’t correctly listing these resolutions

So my TV is the problem not my AVR like @TheCoolest said

It could also be your AVR. Because @TheCoolest owns the same TV model, and he has no problems with it, it is very likely, that your AVR is the problem.

But I can’t stress that enough: DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME ON IT!

And if I disable the whitelist completely and play a SD file, when i press stop the TV loses signal.