Sony 4K Bravia TV reports 1080p resolution to apps

[Morosoph]

I have the 49xd8099bu Android TV.

Neither Kodi nor YouTube deliver 4K video, although the built-in video player will.  Kodi reports 1080p resolution, as does 'Developer Tools' from Google's Play store.

A 4K test file is available from the below link, for those who might want to test the resolution.  http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=261768

Apps can't deliver 2160p unless they know that the screen is capable of delivering it.  How, then can the default be overrulled?

[Kuschelmonschter]

Dunno why it is showing that or where you play it from. Just know that on Sony, GUIs are rendered in 1080p (ViewPort) while video goes down another pipeline, being MediaCodec Surface which directly renders to the 4K output. Totally different hardware architecture then your playback device you posted that screenshot to (PC?).

[Kuschelmonschter]

If you have separate player and display, you can only output at one resolution, because you only have that one pipeline, being the cable.

If you have player and display in one device (like YouTube app on Sony ATV) you can render GUI and video separately with different resolutions and merge it in the end. In case of Sony ATV, all GUIs are rendered in 1080p and upscaled to 4K. Video is rendered at the original resolution (up to 4K) and finally blended with the GUI. That's how those TVs work. I am a developer. I know how MediaCodec Surface works.

[vacoum]

I am also developer >35  years old. Tha result is 1080p on Youtube. Also I had 4k monitor and my friend has real 4k TV, with real Youtube view port to 4k. The diference of view quality is big.  

Kuschelmonschte, you are talking about reasons, I am talking about the reuslt.

 In my case: 4k youtube transformed to 1080p and probably upscaled to 4k again or not.  But as I said, I am interesting in result, and the result is not the same as for example 4k big monitor. 

[Kuschelmonschter]

You might want to debug into Kodi, play back this video and see how things work by checking the code. GUI rendered in 1080p (see Settings > System Information) and video via MediaCodec Surface in 4K.

[vacoum]

Kuschelmonschter as developer, do you have 4k monitor?  Run 4k youtube trailer on real 4k monitor, and than on "4k" Sony monitor. Come close to those displays and you will not need any plays with it. And one more thing. there is not only 2 steps: 1080p or 4k. Nowdays the upscale to 4k could make magic. So upscaled 1080p view to 4k with some tricks or with neural network algorithms could make reuslt much more better then 1080p. But apscaled view to 4k  is not 4k. 

I would test in this way. Make good foto with 4k rezoliution. Zoom some interesting places with 4k monitor and run the same image on youtube. Clsoe close and analize pixel by pixel. 

But, Youtube viewport means, that it's provided information to Youtube to be displayed. So the view is transformed to "rezoliution in viewport". If resolution is smaller in view port. some details will be lost. If the final output is upscaled again to 4k, the quality could be improved with upscale technics as adverticed by Sony. Sony adverticed, that they have upscaling tricks. So maybe that's the reason, 4k youtube view is better then 1080p screen. But it's gababe in any way. 

[Kuschelmonschter]

So you should just return your TV then .

[vacoum]

Yes, my friend have not Sony real 4k, and I can't have 1080p upscaled to 4k. 

Final: 4k is like blue color. 1080p is green color. 1080p upscaled to 4k is like green + (plus). 1080p upscaled with special quality improvement algorithm is green ++.

So Sony is green ++ on Youtube and programs, but not blue. And the result of watching Youtube on 4k internet stream is the almost almost almost 99.9% the same as wathing youtube 1080p stream.

[Kuschelmonschter]

It probably has to do with video post processing. Your PC might do some sharpening, fooling your eyes. Or probably your picture settings on TV side are not optimal. Also consider that your PC monitor is probably way smaller which results in much higher pixel density (PPI). This allows you to move much closer before you can discern individual pixels...

All I can say is that those apps play the content at full 4K resolution while GUI is rendered at 1080p (which is what Android tells the resolution is = ViewPort). You can't downscale a 4K picture with one pixel wide text font to 1080p and re-upscale it to 4K and still have it readable, no matter how good the scaling is.

[vacoum]

Kuschelmonschter is possible to make my internet browser to work minimum as 1440p? Some hacks or something. 

And I can confirm, Youtube is shown as 4k. I updated manually the system version yesterday late evening. Before update I saw no difference in 1080p and 4k. Now I see diference 1080p, 1440p and 4k. And you are right, viewport is just for GUI. Interesting thing, that auto update was showing, that it was already newest version.

Youtube is solved. Now I need to solve browser issue. I am not sure, that Sony processor is not capable to support 1440p or 4k. It's could be just the reason for GUI upscaling, as 4k meniu symbols without special upscale could be to small for most users (but not for me). 

[Kuschelmonschter]

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@vacoum  schrieb:

Kuschelmonschter is possible to make my internet browser to work minimum as 1440p?

You mean the Vewd browser on the Sony Android TV? I actually thought that it was limited to 1080p. What are you trying to play? Video player inside browser and also Chromecast unfortunately aren't very good. Both struggle to play 60p video in a stutter-free way.

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