Underwhelming HDR playback

Help and Support Vero 4K / Vero 4K +
1

Im really not sure I have HDR working correctly on my panasonic TH-49EX640Z
The 4K HDR high bitrate (50GB+) files I have dont seem to “pop” or be as vivid in colour as Id like or was lead to believe by marketing. The playback looks good but not “WOW! thats a step up from 1080p”
My TV isnt exactly top end but I expected more

Also in some scenes I get noticeable blocking (pixelation, not sure what to call it)

https://paste.osmc.tv/kafodonewu TV spec.
vero 4k (fully updated) connected to pc via Ethernet using autofs

2

FYI:

I have a very good 4k tv. 4k HDR isn’t a huge step up from 1080p. If your TV “isn’t exactly top end” then i really wouldn’t expect much difference. I highly doubt this has anything to do with the V4K.

3

And I would compare the Vero with a high quality stream from a built-in app or better a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.

4

fair enough.
It is what it is I guess. :wink:

5

My TV is very similar. Yes, the difference between 4k and HD is difficult to spot. I get banding (typically on pale skies) which goes if I set Vero to 10-bit output:

echo 10bit | sudo tee /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/attr

but I’ve not noticed ‘blocking’. There is a fix to make switching to 10 bits automatic which is being tested atm.

1 Like
6

When I first got my 4k HDR TV my reaction was probably worse than yours and I thought “my god what have I done?”.
Initially it gave a picture worse than I had from my old 1080P TV, however I soon found that each setting for each individual input has to be tweaked to get the best out of it.
For example using my Vero 4K I have a different set of settings for when 4K HDR is being displayed than when SDR HD/UHD is being used, I don’t have a Panasonic but an LG, my TV saves these settings for all types of inputs rather than having to do it each time you switch formats and I’d assume yours will do the same.

I now love my TV but it took a lot of tweaking to get to this point.

7

Hi @grahamh
I thought the banding issue was addressed in a recent update, is that not the case?

Not being a techie, is it a simple case of telnetting in and running the command you suggest, or is there any earlier commands required first?

8

Yes there were some improvements done but I was still getting banding with 8 bits.

Yes. But it won’t survive a re-boot. For that you will have to put a line into your /etc/rc.local file:

echo 10bit > /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/attr

You do that by using the simple text editor nano:

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

‘telnet’ may be betraying your age. Have a look in the wiki.

Details regarding how to access the command line interface can be found here on our Wiki: Accessing the command line - General - OSMC

9

Compare the colour between playing via Vero and via internal TV player from a USB pen drive or something directly. If the colours differ, go for the advice by grahamh.