Thank you for the forum replies from brian_millham and sam_nazarko. I was surprised however that I only received 2 replies from all the forum members.
I have spent countless hours over the last couple of days working on my problem with the Vero 4K+. Nothing I have done has corrected the problem in any way. I have never spent so much time & effort trying to get a media player to function properly.
However, this problem with my new Vero 4K+ has me totally stymied.
This site would not allow me to upload a video file that shows the problem. Here is a link to my OneDrive account where you can view or download the video [Vero 4K HDR10 Problem (720p).mp4]:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AumcCuyWnbhquC-vUOr2fIERLqHp?e=ZLz6xc
To reiterate the problem: I am trying to play 4K movies from a USB drive connected to the USB ports on the Vero 4K+. All 4K HEVC HDR10 movies have an issue where the bottom black letterbox bar (on widescreen movies) is not black but is filled with pulsing colors that change according to the movie content. This is extremely distracting and make the movies essentially unwatchable. 4K movies in AVC format that are not HDR10 all play perfectly (with Atmos audio).
I have 24 Atmos 4K movies in mkv format. 16 of the movies are 4K HEVC HDR10, and 8 of the movies are 4K AVC format. These movies range in size from 10 GB to 26 GB. The 8 4K movies that are not HDR10 play perfectly from the USB drives. All of the 16 movies in 4K HEVC HDR10 have the bottom letterbox bar filled with changing colors (although they do otherwise play well). When a 4K HDR10 movie begins the [ HDR ] logo displays briefly in the top right corner of the TV.
Here is a new phenomenon I just discovered. If I press the [OK] button on the Vero remote while a movie is playing:
(a) For 4K Non-HDR10 movies: A menu bar appears in the bottom black letterbox bar showing symbols for Back, Pause, Stop, Next, Video Settings, Audio Settings, Subtitle Settings & Bookmarks (see PHOTO 1).
PHOTO 1::
(b) For 4K HDR10 movies: The menu bar does not appear. It seems to be masked by the flashing color letterbox bar (see PHOTO 2).
PHOTO 2:
This is the same phenomenon described by forum member Via321 in this forum on March 15. However, his solution (disabling HDMI-CEC options) did not work for me.
Here are some of the things I have tried without success:
(1) I verified that my OSMC GUI display was set (by default) to 1920x1080i resolution with 60.0 refresh rate. The other available resolutions were 4096x2160p, 3840x2160p, 1920x1080p, 1280x720p, 720x576p, 720x480p. However I apparently could not change the settings to any of the other resolutions: The screen would change to solid black for 5 sec. and then ask “Would you like to keep this change? No or Yes.” I was hesitant to answer ‘Yes’ to keep the black screen so it reverted back to the default of 1920x1080i .
(2) I turned on ‘Force 422 colour subsampling’.
(3) The ‘Display refresh rate’ was ‘Off’ by default. I set display refresh rate to ‘On Start/Stop’ and then set it to ‘Always’. None of the settings corrected the problem.
(4) I also tweaked several over settings in the OSMC video menu (none helped so I reset all to default).
(5) I changed the HMDI cable from the Vero 4K+ to my Denon receiver to another high-speed HDMI cable.
(6) I changed the HMDI cable from my Denon receiver to my LG TV to another high-speed HDMI cable.
(7) I connected the Vero directly to my LG TV to HDMI port 2 (CEC port).
(8) I connected the Vero directly to my LG TV to HDMI port 1 (Non-CEC port).
(9) I connected a Western Digital 4TB USB3.0 hard drive to each USB port on the Vero & tried to play 24 4K movies on the drive. The drive is self-powered. Only the non-HDR10 movies played correctly as explained above.
(10) I connected a SanDisk 128Gb USB3.0 (NTFS format) thumb drive to each USB port on the Vero. Only the non-HDR10 movies played correctly as explained above.
(11) I connected a Lexar USB2.0 (NTFS format) to each USB port on the Vero. Only the non-HDR movies played correctly as explained above.
(12) I disabled the OSMC HDMI-CEC options, powered off all devices, removed power cable and HDMI cable from Vero, waited a few minutes and then powered it back on. (This had fixed the same problem as mine for Via321 who posted on this forum on March 15). This did not correct my problem.
(13) Additionally I connected the Vero directly to an HDMI port on my other LG (49UH6100) 49” 4K HDR TV. Only the non-HDR10 movies played correctly as explained above.
(14) Additionally I connected the Vero directly to an HDMI port on my Westinghouse (WD32HB1120) 32” 720p TV (not 4K and not HDR). Only the non-HDR10 movies played correctly as explained above. Even on this 720p TV, the 4K HEVC HDR10 movies had the bottom black letterbox bar (on widescreen movies) that was not black but filled with pulsing colors.
None of the things I tried solved the HDR10 movie display problem. No matter what I did, all 4K HEVC HDR10 movies continued to display the bottom black letterbox bar (on widescreen movies) that was not black but was filled with pulsing colors that changed according to the movie content.
There appears to be no solution to this 4K HDR10 movie problem. It appears that my new Vero 4K+ (only few days old) contains either defective hardware or defective software. Otherwise there would be many more complaints about this problem on this forum.
Via321 described this same problem in his post on this forum on March 15. His solution did not work for me (disabling HDMI-CEC options).
No Atmos and playback not smooth - #22 by dogsrus
dogsrus described this same problem in his post on this forum in March 11. No solution was posted.
No Atmos and playback not smooth - #16 by grahamh
AndreF described this same problem in his post on this forum in July 2018. No solution was posted.
Three general questions and problems with VERO 4K
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And now my next problem with the Vero 4K: Plex Streaming
My scenario:
I have fiber gigabit Internet service that is currently showing 875 Mbps download and 935 Mbps upload speed. I have a Linksys gigabit tri-band router with 4 gigabit Ethernet ports. I have a Netgear 8 port gigabit Ethernet switch.
I have a dedicated PC Plex media server attached to my home network. The PC server is a Dell OptiPlex Intel i7-3770 CPU @ 3.4 GHz with 8 GB ram and a Windows 7 64-bit operating system. It contains two 4TB hard drives.
I use Cat 6 Ethernet cables. In my office, the Plex server is connected to one of the router’s gigabit Ethernet ports. The gigabit router is connected by Ethernet cable to the Netgear gigabit switch in my adjacent home theater. In my home theater, the Vero 4K+ is connected by Ethernet cable from its Ethernet port to the Netgear switch.
This would appear to be an ideal wired network and Plex server environment.
I installed the official Plex player add-on on the Vero 4K+ and connected it to my Plex server network. The Vero Plex player will stream my 1080p movies and my 8 4K movies that are not HDR10 —and will stream the Atmos audio to my Denon receiver. However, the Vero Plex player will not stream my 16 4K HEVC HDR10 movies without extreme buffering which makes them all unwatchable. The good news is that the parts of the 4K HDR10 movies I could actually see had a solid black letterbox bar at the bottom (no pulsing colors). The smallest 4K HDR10 movie was only 10 GB but it would not play without extreme buffering. It was interesting there was no problem playing a 1080p movie (with Atmos audio) that was 26 GB and another 1080p Atmos movie that was 23 GB.
Bottom Line: The Vero 4K+ fails again to play 4K 10-bit HDR10 movies.
I don’t know how to check the network speed of the Vero 4K+ but my HTPC connected to the same Netgear gigabit switch tests at 350 Mbps download and 250 Mbps upload speed (by Ookla).
Based upon my experience, the Vero 4K+ is not capable of playing acceptable 4K 10-bit HDR movies from a USB drive or from the OSMC Plex player add-on.
The Vero 4K+ OSMC web site advertises that: “ The new powerhouse can play back your 4K, 10-bit HDR content without breaking a sweat. ” Vero - OSMC
My primary goal was to buy a media player that would play 4K 10-bit HDR10 movies (with Atmos audio) on my home theater system. I debated between the Vero 4K+ and the Nvidia Shield. I may have made the wrong choice.
I would love to hear from forum members about any of their similar experiences or any other suggestions.
It appears that my new Vero 4K+ contains either defective hardware or defective software. If the 4K 10-bit HDR playback problems cannot be resolved I will need to contact Vero OSMC about a replacement or a return.