What does the Upscaling to 4K?

[paulwilko]

Hello

My set up is:

SKY Q 2TB
PS4
Denon X2300W Amp
55KU6400 Samsung TV

As I understand it, apart from the PS4, they all do upscaling?

Should i be choosing which one or let them fight over it?

I may have this totally wrong and mis understanding of course.

Sky Q is set for UHD 8Bit
I have not done anything on the Amp
The TV is set for UHD (Or whatever it is) on HDMI 1

Anything else i need to do to make sure i am set up correctly for HDR (I know TV is not best for that), upscaling etc etc

Not worried about sound as i think i have that done correctly

Thanks

Paul

 

[wiz]

I would let the TV upscale so feed it 1080p. Just done this myself! I've set my sheild to 1080 and turned off scaling in Kodi

 

[paulwilko]

I would let the TV upscale so feed it 1080p. Just done this myself! I've set my sheild to 1080 and turned off scaling in Kodi

Thanks for your reply

How does that work with SKY Q then?
If i watch a UHD stream on SKY, it will say it does not see a tv or something like that?

 

[wiz]

Can't speak to Sky Q as I don't have it but I suspect you could do the same

 

[dante01]

It is generally suggested not to scale content using external devices and leave it up to the TV to deinterlace and scale video to fit its panel. You do not need to configure the TV to do this and the TV will do it automatically depending upon the source video.

You'd need to be spending quite a large sum of money on a standalone video processor to reap any benefits from scaling the video prior to reaching the TV. Cheaper scalers incorporated into source devices tend to actually introduce undesirable effects such as haloing when employed.

 

[Rodders53]

Ideally try watching with the source upscaling and then compare the pictures to the TV doing the same job. {Generally expensive TVs should do a better job than a cheaper set-top box. I can tell the difference between my plasma upscaling and my Foxsat-HDR doing it {I don't have HDR capability}. Not a big difference but observable. My Foxsat allows the user to choose a fixed output resolution or the 'original' or native resolution as transmitted.}

Ideally set the box to output the source material in its original 'native' format and allow the TV to do all scaling (eg most UK TV Broadcasts are 576i / 1080i even if the box de-interlaces and output 1080p). Other source material will depend on the original format.

$ky Q can also access the rarer UHD broadcasts, but may not be able to output 'native' resolution to the TV depending on the SD and HD TV programme channel it is tuned to / has recorded (I know the $ky HD boxes did not allow the resolution to vary depending on what is being received.) If Q is the same (check out $ky Q forum threads?) then you have no choice but to allow the Q to do the processing {unless you manually go into menus to change resolution as desired - which would prove to be a pain I think}.

You will need to switch off any video processing by the AVR (other than allowing any wanted on screen menus). Generally any scalers in AVRs will be poorer as they are relatively cheap designs.

 

[dante01]

Thanks for your reply

How does that work with SKY Q then?
If i watch a UHD stream on SKY, it will say it does not see a tv or something like that?

Put all the devices and the TV into standby and then connect the SKY box directly to the UHD HDMI port on your TV. Power both the TV and the SKY box back up and see it you get a UHD signal? If you do then reconnect the SKY box to the AV receiver. It should now see the TV.

Note that you'll only get UHD and HDR video on the TV if using its one UHD enabled input for the signal.

 

[BAMozzy]

Sky Q is better to set it to 2160p and let that handle the upscaling otherwise you will not be able to access 4k Content - at least not unless you keep going into the settings and switching between 4k and 1080p every time you want to watch 4k.

Some external devices are no worse at upscaling than the TV. In some cases, the external devices are better. If all the external device is doing is de-interlacing and/or upscaling whilst a TV would be doing that as well as all the image processing it may be better to use the external device to at least feed a 4k (upscaled) image to the TV to just do the image processing.

At the very least, I always suggest that people try it out themselves. If you can see a difference between using the TV to do the upscaling or the external device, then pick the one that looks the best for you. If you can't see a difference, then use the method that suits you best or the one that is less hassle - ie one that doesn't mean jumping into the menus every time you watch a different resolution.

Its possible that one device may be ever so slightly better, but only if you get up very close and scrutinise it but impossible to see any difference at normal seated position - I would still use the one that's easiest even if that means its not technically the best.

 

[groen]

I play all my stuff through a PC so I never upscale.

I only ever set the resolution on my PC to 4k when playing 4k content. Then I put it back to 1080p for all other content. Up-scaling is just a bad idea in general, in my opinion.

You would get better results playing an SD channels at 1080 than at 4k.

SkyQ probably changes resolution automatically. Well, it changes the resolution of the video and the TV automatically adjusts to that quality.

 

[BAMozzy]

I play all my stuff through a PC so I never upscale.

I only ever set the resolution on my PC to 4k when playing 4k content. Then I put it back to 1080p for all other content. Up-scaling is just a bad idea in general, in my opinion.

You would get better results playing an SD channels at 1080 than at 4k.

SkyQ probably changes resolution automatically. Well, it changes the resolution of the video and the TV automatically adjusts to that quality.

If you have a 4k TV, Setting Sky Q at 1080p won't necessarily be 'better' for SD content as that would mean Sky Q is upscaling it to 1080p and then your TV is upscaling the upscaled 1080p image to 4k.

If you have a 4k monitor/TV connected to your PC, if you are changing the PC resolution, the TV/Monitor is upscaling that image regardless. If not you would end up with black bars all around a small image. Setting it to 1080p would mean the TV upscales that by 400% regardless or else 75% of your screen would be black. It's not mapping 1:1 pixels is it! Its having to upscale a 1080p (2.07m pixels) image onto a 2160p (8.29m pixels) screen. Something has to be upscaling - whether its the PC or the TV/monitor to fill the screen!

 

[only1hammy]

If you have a 4k TV, Setting Sky Q at 1080p won't necessarily be 'better' for SD content as that would mean Sky Q is upscaling it to 1080p and then your TV is upscaling the upscaled 1080p image to 4k.

If you have a 4k monitor/TV connected to your PC, if you are changing the PC resolution, the TV/Monitor is upscaling that image regardless. If not you would end up with black bars all around a small image. Setting it to 1080p would mean the TV upscales that by 400% regardless or else 75% of your screen would be black. It's not mapping 1:1 pixels is it! Its having to upscale a 1080p (2.07m pixels) image onto a 2160p (8.29m pixels) screen. Something has to be upscaling - whether its the PC or the TV/monitor to fill the screen!

This.

A PC is actually one of the best ways to up-scale video material using a high-quality renderer (particularly madVR). @groen is doing themselves a disservice if they output 1080p content to a 4K display, as this relies solely on the internal scaler of the TV. In terms of quality, always outputting 4K from a PC is the best choice (combined with high quality luma/chroma upscaling options).