[Hitcher]

Unfortunately, I cannot activate 720 in my whitelist. But I don't understand your statement either, everyone says that the TV upscales it much better than Kodi. You are saying exactly the opposite

I'm talking about the UI elements which the TV will have to upscale from 720p to 4K but with Kodi doing the scaling the UI won't need upscaling as it will be rendered by the skinning engine at 4K.

[izprtxqkft]

I use Kodi 20.2 on a Xiaomi MiBox S - Android 9 and this is connected to an LG OLEDC17LB. The problem with the Xiaomi box is that the whitelist only shows 1080p resolutions, which is probably due to a faulty firmware from Xiaomi

yes, but not only Xiaomi, a lot of lower end android devices have this same limitation

to try and put some perspective on the scaling, look at it this way
if kodi has whitelist resolutions then it is telling the device to switch to that resolution, the same way if you went into the windows desktop settings and changed the resolution for your screen/graphics card

i think this is where you are not understanding scaling, if a device outputs 1080p to a 4K display then the 4K display scales the signal to size not the device, this is why its better to have a whitelist because most displays are far better at changing a 1080p signal to 4K

when the device outputs 4K to a 4K display then the device must scale to output 1080P onto a 4K output

most of this is done by hardware and or device drivers

[clarkss12]

The easiest way I've found to know who is doing the scaling is to play something low res. (eg 720p) and bring up the UI. If it looks a bit rough then Kodi is outputting at 720p and the TV is then upscaling the UI which is why it looks rough. On the other hand if it looks nice and sharp then Kodi is outputting at the TV res. so the UI is scaled perfectly by Kodi.

I too have been following this thread because the "white list" is confusing to me also.  This answer really helps me understand whether Kodi is doing the scaling or my TV.  
In reality, I really can't tell any difference when watching a movie with the "White list" enabled or disabled.  But, as you said, I can defiantly see the UI degrade when using the "white list" for 480p movies.  So, with most of my DVD rips (480p) movies, it **seems** like Kodi does a better job of upscaling than my Vizio TV.

[Hitcher]

But, as you said, I can defiantly see the UI degrade when using the "white list" for 480p movies.  So, with most of my DVD rips (480p) movies, it **seems** like Kodi does a better job of upscaling than my Vizio TV.

Don't confuse what I'm saying in this case because the UI isn't being upscaled by the video player at all. Kodi is upscaling the video to 4K but rendering the UI natively at 4K over it.

[clarkss12]

But, as you said, I can defiantly see the UI degrade when using the "white list" for 480p movies.  So, with most of my DVD rips (480p) movies, it **seems** like Kodi does a better job of upscaling than my Vizio TV.

Don't confuse what I'm saying in this case because the UI isn't being upscaled by the video player at all. Kodi is upscaling the video to 4K but rendering the UI natively at 4K over it.

I just did more testing and I don't see what I "thought" I saw the last time I tried it.  Last time I played a 480P movie with 720x480p white listed, and went back to the main menu after the movie was over, the main screen thumbnails were all **fuzzie**.   I can't make it do it today.  In other words, the last time, the UI was "downscaled", or at least it looked that way.  Today it is not doing that.

I have been testing to see IF I should white list any of my 'resolutions'.  From my eyes, I don't think it matters.  I am using a Dune HD Homatics Box R 4K Plus running CoreELEC.

[-locha-]

If your box/Android resolution is set to 1080p, Kodi can't do anything to change that. ALL video you play is output to TV in 1080p/xHz (x depending on Android setting).

But then I don't understand my results (see Post #20)
In example 2 and 3 it seems to be upscaled to 2160p, because that's what the TV gets in singal.

I know how to activate the screen info on the LG, hence my observations, only the results confuse me.

[Sholander]

E.g.#2 1080p/24Hz Video -> TV receive 2160p/24Hz (Display Info Kodi by pressing z on a keyboard shows 1080p->1080p --> that means no upscaling?)
E.g.#3 1080p/59.94Hz Video -> TV receive 2160p/60Hz (Display Info Kodi by pressing z on a keyboard shows 1080p->1080p --> that means no upscaling?)

To me it looks as Kodi is sending 1080p signal and how your TV gets 2160p signal is not clear to me. Some Photos/SS from your TV would help me to understand. My best guess is that the underlying OS (Android) is doing something on it's own...

Btw, playing this same (#2) video make a SS of following overlays SS1 and SS2 with present Android settings. Then change Android output to 2160p/24, reboot and take the same SS.

[wsnipex]

If you want to tell exactly what resolution and framerate your LG TV is receiving go to all settings/General/Programs highlight program tuning and settings but don't open it,
press 1 on the remote 5 times and you will get a diagnostic screen, in the bottom right side of the screen will be the info you want.

nice, didn't know that, thanks

[Sholander]

Here you can see how to enter some more hidden menus.

[-locha-]

Btw, playing this same (#2) video make a SS of following overlays SS1 and SS2 with present Android settings. Then change Android output to 2160p/24, reboot and take the same SS.

Thank you, i will do that in the next few days...

Here you can see how to enter some more hidden menus.

Link does not work...

nice, didn't know that, thanks

There are some videos on YouTube with tips on secret key combinations for TVs. However, it must be said that not every LG behaves in the same way...

[Sholander]

Here you can see how to enter some more hidden menus.

Link does not work...

Put a new one, although not all suggestions work on all LG TVs...

[DragonFly]

Could things be made simpler?

As of now there are two settings which - for the average user - might have influence on some form of upscaling:

• Settings -> Player -> Videos -> Processing - Enable  HQ scalers for scaling above
  
• Settings -> System -> Display -> Whitelist
  

For starters, these are found in two different sections of the Settings menu and each on its own are proven to be difficult to understand, let alone their respective implications

Would an option like Video Upscaling Enabled / Disabled not be simpler and more apparent?

[davorf]

Hello!

I was wondering the same. I would like to have an option to completely disable upscaling done by Kodi. Mostly because Whitelisting works only in case you have videos whos resolution is on the Whitelist. I have a lot of strange rips that aren't found in the Whitelist, so, regardless of the settings, Kodi does the upscaling instead of TV. Making this option should be even easier than Whitelist, since Kodi wouldn't have to check video resolution and than decide if it should upscale it or not. It would just be passed to the TV as-is, for every video played. 

Best regards,
Davor

[Hitcher]

It would just be passed to the TV as-is, for every video played. 

And your TV won't be able play it as evidenced by it's omission from the whitelist.

[izprtxqkft]

I have a lot of strange rips that aren't found in the Whitelist

then the question would be, why did YOU encode them to non-standard resolutions??
because, obviously, you wouldn't have pirated them, right?!