[kmanpilkers]

Bit of an interesting one here, and my Google-fu seems to be letting me down as I can't find the right keywords - perhaps there is no solution.

I am running Kodi on a Windows PC attached directly to my LG 37in TV with a HDMI cable. I have always done this, and when I originally set it up, I noticed there was a problem with overscan. Originally I Googled this and corrected it using the TV's settings. With LG, if you change the input source label in the settings to "PC", it automatically "underscans" the image and you end up with the picture as intended (by going to Menu > Picture > Option and changing HDMI2 to "PC" from any other label). I've been using it set up this way for years, and was happy.

So that was all fine, until I noticed that when I went round to a friend's house, playing back the exact same file in Kodi (I used Pixar's "Cars" as an example), the video picture on his Samsung TV appeared sharper. Same file, same software - how was the picture sharper? The Kodi menu and windows desktop on his Samsung TV looked wrong though - too contrast-y and over-sharp.

I discovered that if I change the HDMI input label in the TV's settings from "PC" to anything else (I chose "HD-DVD".. it seems not to matter), but change the Aspect Ratio to "Just Scan", this also corrects the overscan issue, and leaves you with a much sharper picture when playing back video - this now matched my friend's picture. It makes everything look sharper, not just video. This results in video playback looking correct, but everything else looking washed out and jaggedy.. including the Kodi menus and the windows desktop. It's difficult to describe (I have attached a video to demonstrate). but in this scenario, the Kodi menus and the windows desktop everything appears to be over contrasted and too bright. My guess is, using the "PC" input label applies some sort of blurring or scaling at the pixel level which makes the Windows desktop and Kodi menus look correct on a LG TV, but this has the unwanted side effect of making the video look blurry. In the reverse scenario, the video looks better, but Kodi menus and Windows desktop look wrong.

You can see all of this in the video here: https://goo.gl/photos/3NXXLRk6QRMRjEPS9

In the video, I start with the TV input label set to "PC" - the Kodi menus look perfect. I then start playing back "Cars", and you will notice that as I change the input label back to "HD-DVD" that the video picture looks sharper. I flick back between them a few times for comparison as it's harder to tell when everything is being filmed through a smart phone. I then leave the input label as "HD-DVD" and press stop to go back to the Kodi menu - you can then see that everything in the Kodi menu is sharper, but it all looks washed out. And the sharper picture is not necessarily a good thing when looking at the menus - it looks much nicer when the jagged edges are blurred by using the "PC" input label setting.

My question is this - rather than compromise Windows desktop/Kodi picture for a better video picture, is there any setting I'm missing that will make EVERYTHING look correct?! Or do I just have to accept that I can only set the TV/Kodi up correctly for Windows menus, OR video playback, not both at the same time. Any experts out there, I'd love to hear from you.

[JxPx]

Back in the day when I ran a similar setup, I could only get my TV to display everything the right way by going into my nVidia display settings on the PC and doing some tweaks to the GPU settings until it looked right. What are the specs on your HTPC?

[kmanpilkers]

It's an Acer Revo 3700 from 2011 upgraded with an SSD and it performs perfectly well. The GPU is an nVidia Ion. I do have the nVidia settings available to play with, but not been able to get any of them to make a difference for me. What did you change?

I think what I'm trying to achieve might not be possible, it's almost like you need one setup for video playback and another for Kodi menus/windows. The thing is I'm sure if I had a PC monitor plugged in instead it would look fine without tweaking. It's the way the TV is interpreting the video signal from the PC

[JxPx]

I see what your saying. Yeah the only tweaks I made were to the dynamic RGB range and the over scan/under scan settings, then I let my TV do the rest. It maybe dependent on the TVs actual capabilities. I was running mine on a Panasonic VT60.

[nickr]

You do not need to label the input "PC". Just using ”just scan” should work.

[PatK]

Just to let you know I own an LG3750 and it's display is reasonable using 'Just Scan', more or less 1:1 pixel ratio if adjusted for under scan. Using a paint program you can put up a white background 1920 X 1080 pixels, then put a diagonal red line, and using a magnifying glass you can see what settings makes for the cleanest image. This is something that might be working against you Video levels and color space (wiki) You didn't mention the graphic card or driver settings (oops you did The GPU is an nVidia Ion), there should be something about using the video player settings, and nothing else should be toggled.

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-displa...ation.html

[kmanpilkers]

Just to let you know I own an LG3750 and it's display is reasonable using 'Just Scan', more or less 1:1 pixel ratio if adjusted for under scan. Using a paint program you can put up a white background 1920 X 1080 pixels, then put a diagonal red line, and using a magnifying glass you can see what settings makes for the cleanest image. This is something that might be working against you Video levels and color space (wiki) You didn't mention the graphic card or driver settings (oops you did The GPU is an nVidia Ion), there should be something about using the video player settings, and nothing else should be toggled.

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-displa...ation.html

OK, so you're saying there may be settings relating to the video player in the nVidia settings?

[kmanpilkers]

I see what your saying. Yeah the only tweaks I made were to the dynamic RGB range and the over scan/under scan settings, then I let my TV do the rest. It maybe dependent on the TVs actual capabilities. I was running mine on a Panasonic VT60.

My TV seems like it must be capable of creating a decent picture in both scenarios. I'll have a look at the RGB settings and as if it makes any difference, but I don't think that's what's causing the washed out look to the menus. Thanks for suggestion.

[kmanpilkers]

You do not need to label the input "PC". Just using ”just scan” should work.

If you re read my original post you'll see that I already discovered this myself .I've turned the PC input label off, but now the Kodi menus and windows desktop look odd .

[PatK]

I should have mentioned that the LG offers different modes, like Cinema, Sports and a few others, the important mode is 'off', you don't want the signal going through any sort of chip enhancement. That pixel line I talked about previously should be a clean staircase, no jellies or pink pixels surrounding it. I'd also mention tat a lot of skins are only 720p to make them faster, but the movie will play in full resolution, and the last thing is that some graphic drivers will use internal routines for rendering that are not up to par (I'm unfamilair with the gfx engine you mentioned) so I would be inclined ot use software rendering or pixel sharers. Obviously if you get better results with an external player, you can set-up using that player, but I found that unnecessary with my set-up. Check the video level link wiki, you may have some solace in that.

[kmanpilkers]

I should have mentioned that the LG offers different modes, like Cinema, Sports and a few others, the important mode is 'off', you don't want the signal going through any sort of chip enhancement. That pixel line I talked about previously should be a clean staircase, no jellies or pink pixels surrounding it. I'd also mention tat a lot of skins are only 720p to make them faster, but the movie will play in full resolution, and the last thing is that some graphic drivers will use internal routines for rendering that are not up to par (I'm unfamilair with the gfx engine you mentioned) so I would be inclined ot use software rendering or pixel sharers. Obviously if you get better results with an external player, you can set-up using that player, but I found that unnecessary with my set-up. Check the video level link wiki, you may have some solace in that.

Thanks very much for advice. I can't see an "Off" setting for the LG TV picture mode - the closest is "Standard" (which I was already using). I've noticed something - if you set the TV input label to "PC", you CAN'T manually tweak the "Sharpness" and other settings in the main picture settings, but if you set it to anything else, you CAN tweak these settings.

I've tried drawing a line with paint - I can't see any of the issues you describe, either with "PC" input label on or off.

I continue to struggle with this - the "PC" input label seems to correct the picture for everything bar video playback - essentially you lose a lot of sharpness and vibrancy in the colours.

The "PC" input label is correcting something (blurring pixels?!) that I can't recreate by using any of the TV's other settings, or by tweaking the Nvidia Gfx card settings - I've tried a few. I can't help but think I haven't found the right setting yet. I will take a picture to show the difference in the way the picture is handled with the "PC" input label on and off - the key is being able to recreate the same degree of sharpness when playing back video, but without the horrible jagged edges on everything seen with the "PC" input label set to OFF.

[kmanpilkers]

UPDATE: I think I've found the solution - at least to the sharpness issue. I set the "PC" input label to ON, so everything other than video looks correct.

I then found a setting in the Nvidia Gfx card control panel settings, under "Video" (believe it or not), called "Edge Enhancement". It was set to "Use video player setting" by default, so I tried switching it to "Use the NVIDIA setting" - you then get a slider (0-100%) which lets you put a greater definition on edges. Hey presto, it's beginning to look more like the video picture with the "PC" input label set to "OFF"!

EDIT: now with images.

watch gallery

If anyone knows how to acheive this or similar within Kodi, I'd be interested.

[nickr]

I have to say I have 3 LG TV's and have never had any issues like this. I use Intel graphics these days but have also run nvidia (in Linux). Both menus and video is great.

[kmanpilkers]

I have to say I have 3 LG TV's and have never had any issues like this. I use Intel graphics these days but have also run nvidia (in Linux). Both menus and video is great.

How do you set the input on your LG panels? With or without the PC input label? The issue I mentioned with Windows and Kodi was present on my friends Samsung TV too.. he just was unaware of it!

The picture is OK without the edge enhancement, it just looks better with it on.

[nickr]

I just connect it to any old hdmi input, and select 'just scan'.

It's possible I'm just got old eyes, or am not fussy.