Buying new TV for KODI, suggestions?
#1
Hi all, hope your wknd is going well.

I am looking to buy a new 43" TV to act as a PC monitor but mainly as a KODI display, I play a few games but mainly I watch movies on KODI.

I just bought a Hitachi 43HE4005 to replace my dying LG 43" but it seems that the Hitachi TV won't recognize a PC no matter what I do, the image has the 'washed out' look that a TV has until you tell it that the input is a PC.

Can anyone recommend a TV? I am thinking of going with another LG as I have read that the newer smart models still have a PC input option so no headaches there.

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

BTW I am based in Europe and 43" is maximum size I am looking for Big Grin
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#2
This is not a Kodi-related discussion. Just buy the best 43 inch TV you can afford.
https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/best/b...42-43-inch
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#3
I've used Kodi since ~2007 with all sorts of harware from full HTPC setups to single board computers, and everything in-between - and with Windows, OSX and Linux (+ELEC) versions - and have literally never once needed to use a 'PC input'....

For best image quality - get yourself an OLED e.g. I have the Pana GZ 50" model.  Flipping fantastic and works perfectly with Kodi.
Addons I wrote &/or maintain:
OzWeather (Australian BOM weather) | Check Previous Episode | Playback Resumer | Unpause Jumpback | XSqueezeDisplay | (Legacy - XSqueeze & XZen)
Sorry, no help w/out a *full debug log*.
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#4
(2020-09-08, 04:33)bossanova808 Wrote: I've used Kodi since ~2007 with all sorts of harware from full HTPC setups to single board computers, and everything in-between - and with Windows, OSX and Linux (+ELEC) versions - and have literally never once needed to use a 'PC input'....

For best image quality - get yourself an OLED e.g. I have the Pana GZ 50" model.  Flipping fantastic and works perfectly with Kodi.

Thanks for the reply!

I did some research over the weekend and it seems I have an unusual situation. I am a big fan of older films (1950's to '70s mainly) which were filmed on film and suffer from film grain. Some of the rare films I have are quite bad quality. I have my PC set up to limited range which smooths over the issues such as film grain/blocky image on DVDRIP MKV files. Setting a PC and TV to modern standards makes newer digital films look amazing, you can see every detail. However, with older films it makes them unwatchable. This is why 43" is my maximum, anything over that would be problematic.
Sorry I didn't mention this in detail in my original post, I am a little ignorant on these matters and only now realise what my issues are.
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#5
Well, if you send a TV 16 - 235 and it is expecting 0 to 255, then for sure you're going to get a washed out appearance.  That's certainly an unusual solve to bad quality video, though.  I've got plenty of films from various eras, although they mostly come from blurays or at least DVDs, with good encoding.

I suspect there's a better solution to your problem than futzing with the levels thoughs...it's amazing what good post processing can do, for example.  But I am no expert!  

Good luck!
Addons I wrote &/or maintain:
OzWeather (Australian BOM weather) | Check Previous Episode | Playback Resumer | Unpause Jumpback | XSqueezeDisplay | (Legacy - XSqueeze & XZen)
Sorry, no help w/out a *full debug log*.
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#6
(2020-09-09, 04:49)bossanova808 Wrote: Well, if you send a TV 16 - 235 and it is expecting 0 to 255, then for sure you're going to get a washed out appearance.  That's certainly an unusual solve to bad quality video, though.  I've got plenty of films from various eras, although they mostly come from blurays or at least DVDs, with good encoding.

I suspect there's a better solution to your problem than futzing with the levels thoughs...it's amazing what good post processing can do, for example.  But I am no expert!  

Good luck!

Thanks for reply, I know I have an odd situation and solution for sure Big Grin
With regards to post processing, it seems that option in Kodi no longer has any effect, not sure why.
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#7
All consumer sources of video will largely be using 16-235 (or the 10-bit equivalent of it - 64-940) - as that is the standard used by Rec 601 (SD DVD and SD digital TV), Rec 709 (HD Blu-ray, HD digital TV and HD and some UHD SDR streaming services) and most of Rec 2020 (UHD Blu-ray and most UHD HDR streaming services) are all largely based around 16-235/64-940 representation. (Broadcast and video production don't usually use 0-255/1-254 representation as it would clip transients and cause ringing)

Most consumer playback devices used these day for Kodi (Raspberry Pis, AMLogic, nVidia Shield TV etc.) will usually default to 16-235 output, flagged correctly as 16-235 - and most TVs will default to that input format unless either forced manually to switch to 0-255 (i.e. 'PC mode') or automatically switched via InfoFrames inserted into the HDMI signal by the source device.  PC solutions are where this can go wrong - as some PCs will sometimes convert 16-235 output to 0-255, whilst other PC solutions may not convert and instead output a signal flagged as 0-255 but containing unconverted 16-235 video... You are often at the mercy of OS, graphics card drivers and settings etc.
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