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scarpp
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Hello all,
So I just bought a Fire TV Stick 4K Max the other day. After some days' use of it with Kodi, I found that all the high definition pictures (mostly 5K) I opened with Kodi are displayed in worse quality than what I usually see with my PC although both the Fire TV and the PC share the same LG 4K monitor (interchangeably) to view the same pictures. I also tried to install a few other apks to open the same pictures with my Fire TV, all yield the same results. It's like when viewing 4K+ pictures, Kodi on Fire TV display them in 1080p resolution while 4K videos playback is kept at 4K without any display deterioration. So I couldn't help wondering what went wrong with the picture viewing? Is it a Android TV thing, meaning all Android TV boxes and sticks have such a problem and only 4K video playback can run free of this problem? Or is there any way to resolve this problem?
Thanks a million!
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scarpp
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By the way, I also verified with my Samsung Note10+ by installing the same Kodi apk to view the same pictures, and it turned out the pictures are displayed without any problem. Sharp as they should. No downgrade to 1080p. So, Android for TV and Android for Smart Phone are so much different like two different worlds when it comes to viewing 4K+ pictures?!
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Hitcher
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Make sure you have the Display resolution set to 3840x2160p and Set GUI resolution limit to Unlimited. You'll need to restart Kodi for this to take affect.
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Hitcher
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No idea about the contrast, sorry.
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scarpp
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Hi Hitcher, it's me again.
After some days use, I find when the GUI resolution limit is set to Unlimited it sooner or later always inevitably results in blank screen of a solid color during 1080p playback, while 2160p playback is always no any problem. And it looks like the solid color comes right from the 1080p file that's playing cos the color tint seems matching. This usually does not happen right away when I start the 1st 1080p mkv file playback after my TV is on, but more like when I have played a few 1080p files in and all of a sudden in the middle somewhere a blank screen shows up and the only solution is to press the volume up or down on the remote to bring up the UI so as to bring back the 1080p video's picture. But right after the GUI disappears, the blank screen comes back in 1 or 2 seconds. So the blank screen simply dominates once it shows up. Just can't get it away meaningfully. And when this happens for the 1st time, it keeps happening immediately no matter how many other 1080p files I try to select to play right afterwards until I turn the TV off.
I tried setting different refresh rate between 59.94 and 60 with no luck. Also tried many latest versions of the nightly master builds aka Kodi v20 (Nexus) Nightly(only v20 has AV1 decoder) as well as the latest recommended Kodi v19.3 (Matrix), all yield the same problem. The only way I find to fix it is to set the GUI resolution limit back to auto. But I really hope to keep the unlimited GUI resolution cos not only the interface looks sharper and pleasing to eyes, but more importantly I get uncompromised pictures viewing experience.
Any luck to fix this and still keep the unlimited GUI resolution? If there is a way to work this out, it would be so great. Thanks a lot!
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Hitcher
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Sounds like the TV isn't switching properly if turning it off fixes the problem. You could try adding a delay when changing refresh rate. Other than a debug log might show if Kodi isn't switching correctly.
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scarpp
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Thanks for the tip. I will give it a try.
Actually by TV, I mean it's a LG 27inch 4K monitor. And turning off it does not fix the problem, it's just each time/day I turn the Fire TV 4K Max on and my monitor on to start watching, the problem only comes up at a later time instead of showing up immediately right when I first play a 1080p video. Usually it takes a few minutes to about an hour or so of 1080p playback before the first time the problem shows during that Fire TV 4K Max usage session, which means I can finish watching a couple of 1080p videos before the blank screen comes up. And once it comes up, it stays there all the time going forward no matter what I do or what other 1080p files I switch to unless I turn the Fire TV 4K Max off and quit watching.
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scarpp
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It was like I'm allowed to watch 1080p videos for only about an hour each time I turn on the devices to enjoy. Like there's a quota. Once that time's past or quota is exceeded, the blank screen shows up and keeps bugging me and I have to quit and wait for next time to turn on the devices to use.
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scarpp
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So I've just turned on my devices to troubleshoot it with your tip. Unfortunately when I set the delay to 2 seconds after the refresh rate change, it does not solve the problem. Things keep the same.
During this time, I understood the way the problem happens more clearly. Please allow me to rephrase the whole situation below.
Whenever the system UI shows during the playback of the 1080p or 720p video or even during the pause of the 1080p or 720p video's playback, a blank screen follows upon the system UI's disappearance. If I simply let the video play after selecting it to do so and do not do anything to bring the system UI show over the video, there's no problem. The video will keep play without interruption. No blank screen will show. But once I bring up the system UI overlay, for example adjusting the volume to bring up the system UI's volume bar appear, it's doomed to have a blank screen to follow right after system UI fades out. In this case, the only way to prevent the blank screen is to mute the video cos that's how to keep the system UI's mute icon constantly show on screen. If the system UI shows, the blank screen goes away; if the system UI goes away, the blank screen comes back to fill in to replace. An either-or situation.
4K videos playback however never brings this blank screen problem. Please help.
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Hitcher
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Are you using a whitelist for video output resolutions?
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scarpp
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No, I didn't make any special settings other than the unlimited GUI resolution(Don't even know how to start to use the whitelist thing). All the other never mentioned settings are generally untouched/unchanged.
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Hitcher
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Full debug log next then please.
