2015-12-13, 22:14
Just FYI, if you're using any limited mode, whether it is YCbCr or RGB-limited, you are going to have to put the video through a 16-235 -> 0-255 -> 16-235 round trip that negatively impacts quality. As long as everything is working correctly (i.e. no flicker issue) it is better to use RGB full, and then do one of two things.
If you only use Kodi and/or don't care about the desktop being a little off then you turn on the limited range setting in Kodi and calibrate the TV. Kodi will be on pass-through for the video content so it will come though unchanged, but because you're calibrated for 16-235 the desktop won't look right. But since this is a Kodi-only usage scenario you won't care about that. The point here is that you'll be getting 16-235 properly in the only app you use.
If you do use apps other than Kodi, maybe gaming or who knows what else, then you leave the limited range setting in Kodi turned off and calibrate the TV that way. Kodi will expand the 16-235 video to fill the 0-255 range so video will look right and so will the desktop. The only downside, if it even is one, is that you'll lose blacker-than-black and whiter-than-white as 0-15 and 236-255 are truncated. Since video is produced to fit into 16-235 this shouldn't be much of an issue, though.
But, if your hardware is exhibiting issues in anything but that one mode, then obviously you're stuck using that one mode. Which means you're going to have to live with the change in quality that results from the round-trip conversion. Which could also mean deciding whether or not you want to live with it or spend a few bucks on another card from the other vendor that doesn't show that same problem.
If you only use Kodi and/or don't care about the desktop being a little off then you turn on the limited range setting in Kodi and calibrate the TV. Kodi will be on pass-through for the video content so it will come though unchanged, but because you're calibrated for 16-235 the desktop won't look right. But since this is a Kodi-only usage scenario you won't care about that. The point here is that you'll be getting 16-235 properly in the only app you use.
If you do use apps other than Kodi, maybe gaming or who knows what else, then you leave the limited range setting in Kodi turned off and calibrate the TV that way. Kodi will expand the 16-235 video to fill the 0-255 range so video will look right and so will the desktop. The only downside, if it even is one, is that you'll lose blacker-than-black and whiter-than-white as 0-15 and 236-255 are truncated. Since video is produced to fit into 16-235 this shouldn't be much of an issue, though.
But, if your hardware is exhibiting issues in anything but that one mode, then obviously you're stuck using that one mode. Which means you're going to have to live with the change in quality that results from the round-trip conversion. Which could also mean deciding whether or not you want to live with it or spend a few bucks on another card from the other vendor that doesn't show that same problem.