[noggin]

I don't know what to do with my Shield? I don't know if it's faulty and if I will send it back. I could have a refund without problems. Yesterday MX Player Pro read my files so well, perfectly. But today MX Player Pro not only reads them all in jerks but the remote control is so slow when I open MX Player Pro. It doesn't respond well. It is not reactive but only with MX Player Pro. With Shield the remote control works fine.

I don't understand - you say your remote doesn't work with MX Player Pro but does work with Shield? Aren't you running MX Player with your Shield TV? (Or do you mean Kodi rather than Shield)?

Are you plugging in a USB 3 hard drive directly to your shield? If you disconnect this and remove it does your remote control become more reactive in MX Player and/or Kodi? If so then you likely have the USB 3.0/2.4GHz (Bluetooth/Wifi) interference issue that is common with USB 3. (USB 3 connections generate interference in the 2.4GHz band that makes Bluetooth far less reliable)

I don't know what to do.

I can't recommend anything other than to try a Kodi nightly rather than a release build? I'm not seeing differences in Kodi other than motion rendition - the chroma saturation and brightness levels are very similar on my Mac in FCPX and my nVidia Shield TV other than the inherent gamma differences between the displays and the Mac laptop display being fixed at 60Hz refresh.

You are right: I shot Himba and Filipp with Sony AX100, it is 25p. But the strange thing is all those videos look badly not only those 2 clips.

How much grading did you do in Edius. The Canon footage looks significantly better than the AX100 (some of the Sony 25p stuff looks like it was shot with higher than 1/50th shutter speed (i.e. standard 'film' 180 degree shutter) which will emphasise motion artefacts (it doesn't look like regular 25p to me - so I'm guessing it was shuttered?)

Anyway to conclude: Kodi isn't working well with my Shield. It read badly all other my documentaries. It works enough well only with "La bassa" video. I wrote "enough well" because when I watch it with the Shield, I didn't notice good colours above all on the black skin. Kodi give colder and more violet color of the skin compared to the other software. Only MX Player Pro was working perfectly even regarding black skin colours. I'd like to give one last test. Today I will uninstall MX Player Pro and install it again to verify how it reads my files again.
If you were me, what would you do with my Shield?

I can't give you any more advice other than to try the latest Kodi Leia nightly and see if the chroma and levels are the same?

Anyway thanks a lot for your help.

EDIT: I installed MX Player Pro again and it works fine again. I noticed the delay problem of the remote control is due to the battery. If I'm very close to the Shield, the remote control works fine. It seems incredible because I have it from 2 days.

  
I often find that batteries shipped with remotes are terrible and usually have to replace them quickly. However have you checked whether your remote responsiveness changes when you DO and DON'T have USB 3 hard drives connected and powered near your Shield TV? As I mentioned USB 3 drives can interfere with Bluetooth (and other 2.4GHz tech such as RF keyboards)

[FoxADRIANO]

noggin,
at the beginning I told you my problems with the remote control are with MX Player installed in Shield but I have the same problems even with Kodi but less.
Regarding the HDD, it is plugged to Shield directly no by bluetooth or wifi. This HDD has USB3 port but it is an old model and I don't know if its cable is 2.4GHz.
Tomorrow I will buy the new batteries for the remote control and I will make the last tests and then I will decide about Shield.
I think my Kodi is the nightly version, I hope it!! This is the file I installed in Shield: kodi-20181109-a948f998-master-arm64-v8a
If it isn't nightly version, could you give me the precise version please?
Tomorrow I will inform you better about what it will happen with the new batteries.
Thanks for your availability.

[noggin]

noggin,
at the beginning I told you my problems with the remote control are with MX Player installed in Shield but I have the same problems even with Kodi but less.

I don't understand why remote control functionality would be different between applications on the same Shield TV with the same configuration (remote control is handled by the OS I think and this should be the same whatever app you use unless the app is really taking over all the CPU of the Shield TV - which for video it shouldn't be) - but I guess one could be more sensitive or need more control input.

Regarding the HDD, it is plugged to Shield directly no by bluetooth or wifi. This HDD has USB3 port but it is an old model and I don't know if its cable is 2.4GHz.

You misunderstand me. USB 3 connections via cable can generate radio interference at 2.4GHz - which is the frequency used by Bluetooth - which is how the Shield TV remote control is connected to the Shield TV.  The cable won't be specified 2.4GHz and your hard drive doesn't need to be connected by Bluetooth or WiFi for this to be an issue. The problem is that the data moves over a USB 3 cable so fast that it generates Radio frequency interference in the frequency band used by Bluetooth. Some hard drives and cables will be better designed than others. Equally some devices have better designed Bluetooth interfaces than others.  There is a suggestion that the Shield TV is quite prone to interference.

If you disconnect your USB 3 Hard Drive and unplug the power from it - do you still have poor remote control response - or is it OK?

Tomorrow I will buy the new batteries for the remote control and I will make the last tests and then I will decide about Shield.
I think my Kodi is the nightly version, I hope it!! This is the file I installed in Shield: kodi-20181109-a948f998-master-arm64-v8a
If it isn't nightly version, could you give me the precise version please?
Tomorrow I will inform you better about what it will happen with the new batteries.
Thanks for your availability.

That looks like a 9th November Nightly - it might be better to go back to an earlier pre-release version rather than a nighly. I'm running Beta 4 but Beta 5 Link is here http://mirrors.kodi.tv/releases/android/...64-v8a.apk

[FoxADRIANO]

IT IS REALLY INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After 2 hours I got those problems I turned on the Shield again and I wanted whatch my videos to make other tests. It is incredible but true, everything worked perfectly. The remote control was very reactive even with the connected HDD. The Shield is making fun of me. I bought the batteries online and I will receive them tomorrow, but I will not have to change them because now the remote control work perfectly even at a great distance. Two hours before I needed sometimes put the remote control at 10 cm from Shield. Now what other tests should I do?
1000 thanks for the link.

EDIT: I decided to return the Shield, I'm sure it's faulty. It is giving me too many troubles. But ... out of curiosity: how long has to be the USB3 cable to have less problems?

[FoxADRIANO]

FINALLY I SOLVED MY PROBLEM!!!! I thank you dear noggin, you have helped to solve all my problems. It was enough to replace the USB3 cable to solve any problem: remote control, colors, brightness, etc. Now the remote control is very reactive with every software. I replaced USB3 cable with USB2 cable. It seems incredible. But now a spontaneous question arises. As no one has or got my same problems using USB3 cables, what was my real problem? Could it have been a too short USB3 cable (1mt)? In your opinion how long must be a USB cable for Shield? Now I plugged a USB2 cable more than twice as long. I'd like to make a test with a longer USB3 cable.

A last question please: in the Shield Menu "Filter by color space", what do I have to choose precisely? I chose RGB 8bit Rec. 709 but maybe is it better to choose YUV 420 8 bit Rec. 709? Look at the pic: https://www.dropbox.com/s/plmxr0kx2qs9omi/1a.jpg?dl=0

Thanks

[noggin]

FINALLY I SOLVED MY PROBLEM!!!! I thank you dear noggin, you have helped to solve all my problems. It was enough to replace the USB3 cable to solve any problem: remote control, colors, brightness, etc. Now the remote control is very reactive with every software. I replaced USB3 cable with USB2 cable. It seems incredible. But now a spontaneous question arises. As no one has or got my same problems using USB3 cables, what was my real problem? Could it have been a too short USB3 cable (1mt)? In your opinion how long must be a USB cable for Shield? Now I plugged a USB2 cable more than twice as long. I'd like to make a test with a longer USB3 cable.

I can't be precise - it will depend on the circuitry in your USB hard drive and the quality of the USB 3 cable. This is all to do with Radio Frequency interference - and that's not an exact science. I have zero problems with my USB 3 drives plugged into my Shield causing interference (and there is no way they are influencing picture quality). However I know other people do have problems with their USB 3 drives and cables - so it's not something you can give a precise answer on. I have a small living room so my sofa (where I use my remote control from) is quite close to my Shield TV.

I suspect you don't need the transfer speeds of USB 3 for replay of your media, so using a USB 2 cable will be a stop-gap fix. Many of us stream files over the network from a NAS rather than plugging storage directly into our Kodi boxes (all my media is on a GigE connected unRAID server elsewhere in my house, I only use USB 3 HDDs and Flash drives for temporary storage)

A last question please: in the Shield Menu "Filter by color space", what do I have to choose precisely? I chose RGB 8bit Rec. 709 but maybe is it better to choose YUV 420 8 bit Rec. 709? Look at the pic: https://www.dropbox.com/s/plmxr0kx2qs9omi/1a.jpg?dl=0

Thanks

  
RGB will be 4:4:4 whereas 4:2:0 YUV (aka YCbCr) is 4:2:0 - so RGB is better for a higher quality UI, but your video is all YCbCr / YUV 4:2:0 so it's probably a balanced decision to make. Which look better to you? That's what I'd go with. They should look identical.

Also - you are coming across as a bit stressed.  Take a breath!  We're here to help...

[FoxADRIANO]

I did that test and I like more RGB 4:4:4. I see a better image even if it is a little brighter. But this is not a problem.
I thank you for your professionalism and availability. Without you I would never have solved my problems. Have a good time!

EDIT: A last question I need to ask you. In your opinion if I want to see the best image quality, what HDMI cable do I have to buy? Every cable is good or the most expensive cables give better image quality? Are 2 mt. cable OK?

[noggin]

EDIT: A last question I need to ask you. In your opinion if I want to see the best image quality, what HDMI cable do I have to buy? Every cable is good or the most expensive cables give better image quality? Are 2 mt. cable OK?

Don't pay more than you have to for a 'super high quality' (i.e. Monster or similar) HDMI cable. The signal carried over HDMI is digital - an electrically good quality cable will give you a perfect picture.

An HDMI cable won't make a picture better or worse quality or change its colour - the only difference between a good HDMI cable and a bad one is if it works perfectly or not...  Digital signals mean you get perfect, you get nothing or just on the edge of perfect you get sparkies or intermittent break up or flashes to a black screen.

For UHD/4K at 2160/50p or 2160/59.94p with 4:2:2 12-bit output (i.e. for HDR) - then a high bandwidth cable is a good idea because the new HDMI 2.0 standards include much higher bitrate signals than the older 1080p HDMI standards. These new standards will push older cables that were designed to just meet the 1080p standards past the basic electrical requirements that they were designed for. The longer the cable - the more it will need to be decent quality. By 'decent quality' I don't mean 'very expensive'

Look for 'Premium Certified HDMI cables' - they aren't hugely expensive. I live in the UK and bought OMARS HDMI cables from Amazon. They have the HDMI Premium Certified hologram and work fine for me carrying 2160/60p 4:2:2 12-bit signals (in my case for HDR content from an Apple TV 4K, nVidia Shield TV and Sony X800 UHD Blu-ray player) They were recommended to me by a friend who is a broadcast colourist, and they are what he uses at home. They are £10 or less in the UK (<€12) 1m example here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Omars-Premium-C...01MDTOA8R/ I'm sure there are other equally good cables - but I am using these at home and have not had any problems with them.

HOWEVER - if you aren't currently getting problems with blank screens, 'No Signal' messages, and aren't having lots of sparkling dots on your picture - you current HDMI cables are probably fine.

[FoxADRIANO]

Could I know with wich camera do you shot please? You are teaching me a lot. THANKS

[noggin]

Could I know with wich camera do you shot please? You are teaching me a lot. THANKS

I work in broadcast TV in the UK so the shows I work on are largely shot on Sony HDC1500, HDC 2500, HDC 4300 system cameras used in studios and on outside broadcasts (i.e. cameras connected back to a control room, not recording locally).  

When we shoot using camcorders on location we shoot on Sony PMW-F5, PMW-F55 etc., though lower budget shoots are shot on PMW-500, PXW-FS7 or Canon C300, and higher budget shoots are on Arri Amira.  We usually have to shoot on cameras that are EBU tier approved or similar to meet our contractual requirements.  (Very small shoots might drop to a PMW-300)

The PMW500/PMW300 will match the HDC system cameras well because they are both 2/3" 3-chip cameras - whereas the F5/55/C300 etc. are all larger, single-sensor cameras, that have a very different 'look'.  We would normally shoot 50i interlaced on these formats.  The F5/55/C300/FS7 are more 'filmic' and we would be more likely to shot 25p progressive on these.

These are all broadcast cameras and are not cheap.  I'm not suggesting that you can use these for your documentaries.

None of the shows I work on are 4K yet - we are still largely producing in the 50i domain (with material shot 50i or 25p)

[FoxADRIANO]

It is wonderful to talk with you. I'm sorry if I'm constantly disturbing you. But your great experience fascinates me. This year I bought a Lumix GH5 to take my first documentary in remote african areas. I like traveling light but at the same time having a great image / video quality. I found myself a bit in trouble because it was the first time I used a camera instead of a video camera. In your opinion am I making an error to continue using a camera instead of a video camera? Would it be better to buy a new video camera even if a little heavier? I always travel alone. Thanks for your suggestions.

[noggin]

It is wonderful to talk with you. I'm sorry if I'm constantly disturbing you. But your great experience fascinates me. This year I bought a Lumix GH5 to take my first documentary in remote african areas. I like traveling light but at the same time having a great image / video quality. I found myself a bit in trouble because it was the first time I used a camera instead of a video camera. In your opinion am I making an error to continue using a camera instead of a video camera? Would it be better to buy a new video camera even if a little heavier? I always travel alone. Thanks for your suggestions.

Plenty of people now shoot non-broadcast video on DSLRs and similar Mirrorless cameras, and the GH5 range is well regarded. The Sony A7S-series (specifically the S-series, not other A7s) are also very well regarded for low light performance (though not so good for stills as the regular A7/A7R they have bigger pixels which means more light is captured for each pixel and thus the camera is more sensitive in low light)  

If you want shallow depth of field, prime lenses and the 'big sensor' look then using a DSLR or similar mirrorless camera is a popular way to go - and it's smaller and lighter.  Where you sacrifice quality in some areas is the camera codec, and stuff like decent sound inputs.   In my line of work you need to be able to shoot at a broadcast appropriate bitrate and codec, and need flexibility in sound - but a larger camera is less of an issue as you are normally driving to location and have people to help you carry stuff.  I can see why in remote locations a smaller, lighter camera is more appropriate.

If your documentaries are for online distribution then you don't have to worry about hitting the mandated quality levels that broadcaster like the BBC, Discovery, Sky etc. have in their technical contracts.  

Most of the work I do is still in HD though - as 4K for broadcast is quite new outside of high-end documentary and drama.  Most of the time stuff is being shot 4K on shows I work on it ends up in HD but is used to allow for 'punch ins' on interviews in the edit (so you can zoom in without losing quality in post production to let you re-frame an interview shot size), or some latitude in reframing or stabilisation (post stabilisation will zoom in a bit - so 4K for HD makes sense).

[FoxADRIANO]

Hi, I managed to adjust the quality of video with Kodi in the settings. Now I get a good video. The video is slightly better compared to MX Player Pro. But for the audio it is slightly worse, the voice over of my documentaries is as if it were slightly distorted and diaphanous. The voice is not as thick, dense as that of MX Player Pro. Be careful: I said slightly but I don't like the quality of the voice. My speakers are 5.1 and I chose this opion in Kodi but even if I choose 2 channels only (stereo) I listen a not excellent voice. Can someone tell me how to configure the audio part in Kodi? Thanks.

[noggin]

Hi, I managed to adjust the quality of video with Kodi in the settings. Now I get a good video. The video is slightly better compared to MX Player Pro. But for the audio it is slightly worse, the voice over of my documentaries is as if it were slightly distorted and diaphanous. The voice is not as thick, dense as that of MX Player Pro. Be careful: I said slightly but I don't like the quality of the voice. My speakers are 5.1 and I chose this opion in Kodi but even if I choose 2 channels only (stereo) I listen a not excellent voice. Can someone tell me how to configure the audio part in Kodi? Thanks.

What codec are you using for your audio? Keep it to PCM 48kHz in your editing program and export in that format to avoid any compression.

Also in Kodi System Sound settings make sure you have not got Optimised and instead have Best Match for audio sampling rate (or whatever that setting is called if it’s there in Android)

On some Kodi installs the default behaviour cane be to transcode 48k to 44.1k. Also if you are on,y playing stereo, I’d configure Kodi for 2.0 output.

[FoxADRIANO]

Sorry but I don't understand well what I have to do. I don't see "Best Match" in the options. I attach you my Audio config.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xbby8fxxku7tefb/1aa.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e3j0wushdv19cg1/2aa.jpg?dl=0

Then: I don't see the option to choose "PCM 48kHz" in Kodi or in the Shield. Where is it please? Maybe is it automatic in Kodi?