People should be able to set whatever GUI resolution they like and it should work. After all for a 4k screen, 4k is the ‘native’ resolution.
Kodi are also recommending setting the GUI to 4k now they have whitelisting.
A warning about slow performance and a bloated cache would be good, though.
Thanks for the report, but it’s better if we get full logs You can learn more about how to submit a useful support request here.
I completely agree… But the problem is that while setting the resolution to 4k in OSMC does switch the output resolution to 4k it still results in a GUI that is rendered at 1080p, which is a shame as a true 4k GUI in kodi looks so much better.
I guess a 4k GUI should be on OSMC’s roadmap for future hardware, but I for one would rather snappier performance than beautiful fonts if that’s the choice to be made right now.
if you put the GUI to 4K; you are relying on Kodi’s scaler, which will be worse than your display’s.
Kodi needs to support 4K GUIs (at skin level) natively first for this to make sense.
Kodi already supports 4k GUI’s natively, it has nothing to do with being at the skin level.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here goes. This is a side by side comparison of a HTPC and OSMC both set to 4k and both using imageres and fanartres of 9999 so no artwork is downscaled when added to the cache.
It’s pretty clear to see that the HTPC looks much better, look and the resolution of the text, the power button but more importantly the poster. The HTPC renders and outputs the GUI at 4k where as OSMC renders it at 1080p and then just outputs it at 4k.
That’s not quite correct.
The skin being used needs to implement 4K assets; or it will be upscaled from 1080p.
If you set the GUI to 4K on OSMC and the skin doesn’t have 4K assets, you will have 2K → 4K → 2K (OSD) → 4K.
If it does; you’ll get 4K → 2K (OSD) → 4K.
It’s nothing to do with skin assets… No skin has 4k assets.
You can clearly see from my image that OSMC has no true 4k frame buffer so the GUI is rendered at 1080p and then upscaled to 4k where as on a real HTPC the GUI is rendered at 4k and displayed at 4k. This is most clearly seen by text that is truetype and resolution independent and high quality artwork like the poster in my image which is cached with on scaling.
Look at it this way, in my image it’s the same version of Kodi, its the same skin Estuary and it’s the same poster art with the same cached resolution but clearly OSMC isn’t rendering at 4k. It’s rendering at 1080p and upscaling to 4k.
OSMC simply does not have a 4k frame buffer
vero3_2g_16g.dts
fb_reserved:linux,meson-fb {
compatible = “amlogic, fb-memory”;
size = <0x0 0x2000000>;
no-map;
};meson-fb {
compatible = “amlogic, meson-fb”;
memory-region = <&fb_reserved>;
dev_name = “meson-fb”;
status = “okay”;
interrupts = <0 3 1
0 89 1>;
interrupt-names = “viu-vsync”, “rdma”;
mem_size = <0x01800000 0x00100000>; /* fb0/fb1 memory size /
display_mode_default = “1080p60hz”;
scale_mode = <1>; /* 0:VPU free scale 1:OSD free scale 2:OSD super scale /
display_size_default = <1920 1080 1920 3240 32>; //1920108043 = 0x17BB000
};
For a true 4k frame buffer wouldn’t you need to reserve at least 0x4480000 ?
We scale at 1080p; which is why I’m saying you won’t benefit from running the GUI at 4K, but you will incur a performance penalty.
However: on other devices, if you have a 4K windowing system, you are still better to run the GUI at 1080p in almost all scenarios.
For 4K FB, see this post for an idea of the changes that would need to be made.
Cheers
Absolutely they should. But if there’s no benefit - just detriment, then currently it shouldn’t be an option, surely? Or an option with a warning - at the very least.
Yes, i’ve seen that post, thats how I know OSMC has no true 4k frame buffer.
Which is exactly my point OSMC need a true 4k frame buffer so that running the GUI at 4k will result in a true 4k GUI.
That is just not true, I’ve clearly shown that a true 4k GUI results in a much sharper image.
But there are clearly benefits, just look at the image I posted, a true 4k GUI gives a much better looking interface.
This is not correct in all circumstances. I have checked with Kodi guys before, and they are not praising of their current scaler.
Maybe something to revisit in the future.
Sam
Yes. But we’re talking OSMC here, not HTPC.
Sure but they both run the same Kodi and it doesn’t change the fact that a 4k GUI looks better than a 1080p GUI.
Weather they praise it or not, its a fact that a 4k GUI looks better than a 1080p GUI.
Here’s another example to prove the difference.
I’m still failing to see your point. Yes, we know a working 4K GUI is going to look better than a non-4K GUI. The Vero 4K apparently does not have a native 4K GUI and doesn’t do as good a job upscaling as your display device.
Plus the GUI as it is barely hits 30fps in the menus and is really inconsistent. Running higher res will tank the frame rate further.
Artwork isn’t part of the skin, so does have the potential to look better.
You can enable a 4K window manually for now. It would need a lot of testing before we could make such changes available.
See https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=241359
Our gui scaler is probably the worst that is possible … if 1080 upscaled by your TV looks worse than I would return my TV … and same for “native resolution”. The native resolution of your TV is 4k … watching 1080 movies at 1080 will have the same shitty effect as the GUI that you don’t like.
Further, without whitelisting support in v17; this isn’t going to be a good choice for those with 60fps content
So you do actually see my point… Because my point is that a 4k GUI looks better than a 1080p GUI and the Vero 4k has no true 4k GUI.
We should be able to set the Vero’s resolution to 4k and get a true 4k GUI.
You lost me. Completely. I give up.
Nobody is saying that wouldn’t be nice. It’s not possible now. That is all.
