[James_liv]

No sign of getting 4K Kodi to work on the shield then?

Kodi and SPMC do play 4K videos at 4K.

But pretty much everybody in this thread say that since the marshmallow update it doesn't work in 4K. Concerned about buying a 4K player to play 4K movies and it not working.

I wish I could afford a 4K laptop tbh but a Shield was looking like a decent option.

[Tinwarble]

But pretty much everybody in this thread say that since the marshmallow update it doesn't work in 4K. Concerned about buying a 4K player to play 4K movies and it not working.

I wish I could afford a 4K laptop tbh but a Shield was looking like a decent option.

You're confusing things. People keep looking at the codec info, which will always report the UI resolution not the actually video resolution.

[James_liv]

I'm not so sure. There's a video knocking about where the user hits the bumper button whilst playing the film and it clearly shows the video has been down sampled from 4K to 1080p.
The UI isn't in 4K and therefore wouldn't be being reported as down sampled. Also, when the user hits the button to change to video size it only shows the centre 1/4 of the video which again suggests it's been down sampled.

In fact, here's the video. This has only started happening since the marshmallow 3.0 and kodi 16 updates.
If you go back to 15.2 apparently it still then displays correctly.

https://youtu.be/mZOJjzBcEw4

[Tinwarble]

I'm not so sure. There's a video knocking about where the user hits the bumper button whilst playing the film and it clearly shows the video has been down sampled from 4K to 1080p.

That is the UI that Kodi is reporting, it has nothing to do with the video resolution.

And read the comments now below that video you keep pointing too.

[Louike]

I just found out that if you use the `Adjust display refresh rate` in video playback settings you get true 4k in Kodi (and Koying test 4k text is legible). however this completly screws up audio, you can get it to sync in 1 video but it will be out of sync on the next one... i guess we have to wait for a more permanent solution to the scaling problems.

[James_liv]

Damned shame this isn't working as I wanting to buy a shield specifically for this purpose as it's cheaper than a replacement laptop.

[Ned Scott]

Damned shame this isn't working as I wanting to buy a shield specifically for this purpose as it's cheaper than a replacement laptop.

Again, this is working. You can even install SPMC and have both video and GUI in 4K if you want.

[Louike]

Damned shame this isn't working as I wanting to buy a shield specifically for this purpose as it's cheaper than a replacement laptop.

Again, this is working. You can even install SPMC and have both video and GUI in 4K if you want.

yes you can but the issue remains. you can display a 2160p video and set 2160p gui perfectly fine, but the testvideo image undergoes scaling making the 4k text unreadable. this happenes in all settings except 24p (or with refresh rate switching changing to 24p). Its a Nvidia issue.

[Koying]

yes you can but the issue remains. you can display a 2160p video and set 2160p gui perfectly fine, but the testvideo image undergoes scaling making the 4k text unreadable. this happenes in all settings except 24p (or with refresh rate switching changing to 24p). Its a Nvidia issue.

Nope. Works fine in all refresh rates for me.

Might be your AVR or TV doing something bizarre, not the Shield.
I guess heavy post-processing from the AVR/TV might render the text unreadable as well...

[James_liv]

Damned shame this isn't working as I wanting to buy a shield specifically for this purpose as it's cheaper than a replacement laptop.

Again, this is working. You can even install SPMC and have both video and GUI in 4K if you want.

yes you can but the issue remains. you can display a 2160p video and set 2160p gui perfectly fine, but the testvideo image undergoes scaling making the 4k text unreadable. this happenes in all settings except 24p (or with refresh rate switching changing to 24p). Its a Nvidia issue.

Way to go Nvidia - make a 4k player and then inadvertently disable the 4k! yay!

[wrxtasy]

You may find this post interesting as well:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2396306

[James_liv]

What im trying to achieve is Kodi play back 4k at 60hz with DTS-HS 7.1 Master Audio & TrueHD. I dont mind spending a couple of hundred pound to achieve it.

Currently this doesnt seem possible unless I spend an insane amount of money on a 4k laptop - which seems a waste given that its ONLY a playback media center with stacks of external HD's plugged into it. I dont it for anything else anyway.
My current 1080p laptop is permanently hooked up to my 4k tv with the screen permanently closed.

Totally stumped at this point. Any ideas? Is there a playback device which can do what im asking?

[wrxtasy]

I would give a $40 or less AMLogic S905 (non HDR) box running LibreELEC Kodi a go.

As an example:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2233982

And a whole bunch of 'em here:
https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-1982.html

Cheap S905's will give you up to 60Hz - 4K 10bit decoding with video output as 8bit color depth.
You would need an externally powered USB Hub or mini brick powered HDD's as well.

For the price paid and bang for the buck, you will be very surprised at what is possible. Depends how much DIY you like to do.

[Louike]

yes you can but the issue remains. you can display a 2160p video and set 2160p gui perfectly fine, but the testvideo image undergoes scaling making the 4k text unreadable. this happenes in all settings except 24p (or with refresh rate switching changing to 24p). Its a Nvidia issue.

Nope. Works fine in all refresh rates for me.

Might be your AVR or TV doing something bizarre, not the Shield.
I guess heavy post-processing from the AVR/TV might render the text unreadable as well...

It might be both, as long as i use 8bit colour nothing is wrong, when i switch-off Samsungs HDMI-UHD-Colour, all is fine, as soon as i turn this feature on its ready for 10bit + HDR signals. that's when the shield / samsung combi fails.

[James_liv]

I would give a $40 or less AMLogic S905 (non HDR) box running LibreELEC Kodi a go.

As an example:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2233982

And a whole bunch of 'em here:
https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-1982.html

Cheap S905's will give you up to 60Hz - 4K 10bit decoding with video output as 8bit color depth.
You would need an externally powered USB Hub or mini brick powered HDD's as well.

For the price paid and bang for the buck, you will be very surprised at what is possible. Depends how much DIY you like to do.

Yeah, thanks for the suggestion. That looks decent.

Couple of concerns, only 2 USB ports could be an issue as I have 4 x 5gb external drives. Do USB hubs work with them?
I once tried to use one with my laptop (to be fair it was only a couple of pound off Amazon) but it simply didn't work.

Also, on my laptop I use my iphone to copy a magnet link into the torrent remote. This lets utorrent download a file in the background to kodi and I use the file manager to move the film into the library and then update the movie or tv show list.(does that make sense?). The idea is so I can literally download stuff and add it to the library without getting out of my seat or whilst away from home.
Can utorrent run in the back ground on these or is there an alternative way of achieving the same?

Thanks in advance.