[Matt_123]

Hello All,

I just installed xbmc live on a Zotac Mag (atom 330 + Ion) and was having trouble getting the colorspace set correctly. I solved it with these steps, so maybe this will make it easier for someone in the future.

1. Got XBMC Live working well in general

2. Updated nvidia drivers using the iquik PPAs- thanks for those! Very easy!
http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=840123&postcount=2

3. Manually edited xorg.conf (sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf ) to include the following lines in the Display section:

Option "ColorSpace" "RGB"
Option "ColorRange" "Full"

EDIT*** Based on other's input, this is incorrect for HDTV, set instead to

Option "ColorSpace" "YCbCr444"

4. Reboot or restart the X server (if you know how to do that, which I dont)

5. Enjoy!

I got those options from this nvidia config page:

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Li...tions.html

The way I did it will apply the same settings to all displays, you can do it for individual displays using the instrucions on that nvidia page.

Hope that helps- these settings will apply to both the xbmc menus and video.

[cowfodder]

Cool, except that the colorspace for HD is YCbCr444, not RGB.

[Matt_123]

Cool, except that the colorspace for HD is YCbCr444, not RGB.

For whatever reason my display likes RGB Full range, to my eyes all my videos look better. I have used the "Full" option on my other devices to make my display look right as well- so it probably depends on your screen. If you set the colorspace to YCbCr it will only do 16-235.

[X3lectric]

Hello All,

I just installed xbmc live on a Zotac Mag (atom 330 + Ion) and was having trouble getting the colorspace set correctly. I solved it with these steps, so maybe this will make it easier for someone in the future.

1. Got XBMC Live working well in general

2. Updated nvidia drivers using the iquik PPAs- thanks for those! Very easy!
http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=840123&postcount=2

3. Manually edited xorg.conf (sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf ) to include the following lines in the Display section:

Option "ColorSpace" "RGB"
Option "ColorRange" "Full"

4. Reboot or restart the X server (if you know how to do that, which I dont)

5. Enjoy!

I got those options from this nvidia config page:

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Li...tions.html

The way I did it will apply the same settings to all displays, you can do it for individual displays using the instrucions on that nvidia page.

Hope that helps- these settings will apply to both the xbmc menus and video.

Welcome I try to keep drivers and relevant components up to date as fast as possible on ppas, thank you for using them and Im glad they work well....

Cool, except that the colorspace for HD is YCbCr444, not RGB.

For bluray you mean? At leats is the impression I get for reading stuff that what you mention is the bluray color profile, Ill have to try both to see what happens.

[jawilljr]

Why not just use nvidia-settings... me I rarely manually edit the xorg.conf. even when I setup twinview or setup to use separate X screen I use nvidia-settings.

just saying.

Jerry

[cowfodder]

For whatever reason my display likes RGB Full range, to my eyes all my videos look better. I have used the "Full" option on my other devices to make my display look right as well- so it probably depends on your screen. If you set the colorspace to YCbCr it will only do 16-235.

If your display doesn't look right with the proper color space then I would say that your display is not properly calibrated.

e impression I get for reading stuff that what you mention is the bluray color profile, Ill have to try both to see what happens.

Nope, for all digital video, starting with DVD.


Source=My ISF certification.

[jawilljr]

I concur with cowfodder...when I change the Color Space to YCbCr444 using nvidia-settings the color popped out.

BTW if you use nvidia-settings to change the Color Space do not run it as root, because it saves the settings to the file "~/nvidia-settings.rc". Which is in your home directory.

Jerry

[X3lectric]

Ill try that out atm only know how to add it to xorg I have a bunch of settings in .nvidia-settings.rc or something similar idk where that is now.

I'll try later.

@cowfodder Only did some light reading on this... What the hell is ISF sounds painful.

[cowfodder]

Ill try that out atm only know how to add it to xorg I have a bunch of settings in .nvidia-settings.rc or something similar idk where that is now.

I'll try later.

@cowfodder Only did some light reading on this... What the hell is ISF sounds painful.

ISF is the Imaging Science Foundation. They are the group that sets the standards for color in television and film, as well as providing training for properly calibrating HDTVs.

I'm going to throw out a quote from one of their articles that is very relavant to this topic.

One common misconception that is frequently exploited by some manufactures is that a wider color gamut indicates a better TV that produces more realistic colors. This is absolutely wrong because a larger color gamut
will simply make all of the screen colors appear more saturated than they ought to appear on a calibrated standard HDTV. Wider color gamuts decrease color accuracy and should be avoided except in specialized imaging applications – for example in medical or military applications. If you do get an HDTV with an extended color gamut it will be necessary to reduce the color gamut back to the Rec.709 standard values by using the color saturation control or other color management functions within the unit, so it is a pretty useless feature in HDTVs. It’s just a premature technology being used as a marketing gimmick!

Source

So there is a reason that you want limited instead of full range in a HTPC application.

[X3lectric]

its 5 am I guess I can turn the HTPC and test that.

Since your brined in calibrating hdtvs you mind I pm u a question?

[X3lectric]

tested that colorspace, cant really see a visible difference but still left it on.

[LB06]

RGB full is the default colour space, so this setting is superfluous.

[X3lectric]

yep thats right.

If the ColorSpace option is not specified, or is incorrectly specified, then the color space is set to RGB by default.

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Li...tions.html

but it also says this

"YCbCr444": sets color space to YCbCr 4:4:4. YCbCr supports only limited color range. It is not possible to set this color space if the GPU or display is not capable of limited range.

I havent slept all night so Im a bit fuzzy on the ION support for this as I never actually had to worry about color spaces and settings as such.

some clarification welcome.

[cowfodder]

its 5 am I guess I can turn the HTPC and test that.

Since your brined in calibrating hdtvs you mind I pm u a question?

Go for it. That goes for anyone else here too. Keep in mind though that I can only give general info, and can't really give advice on "optimal settings" on a TV, since these vary greatly from set to set.

[cowfodder]

RGB full is the default colour space, so this setting is superfluous.

So, let me get this straight. Since the default color space is wrong for HDTVs this setting is not necessary? Somehow I can't follow your logic.