Questions about the Kodi GUI and 4K, etc !!

Zammo · May 11, 2020 at 3:33 AM

Thanks for the free software, just bought a Raspberry Pi4 just for LibreElec. I have some issues though. I will label them below.

1) I have a Fire TV 4K and it seems to play everything in 4K fine, in VP9 and x264 and x265. I notice on my Pi4 only x265 4K plays back smooth, the other codecs (4K VP9 and 4K x264) stutter every second. Is this just a limitation of the software or the Pi hardware itself ? Is this something that can be fixed in the future or is that just the way it is forever ?

2) No need to answer this question, I worked out the solution just before clicking submit on this message, but I have left the question here so others in my situation can see the answer. Even if I add the code "hdmi_enable_4kp60=1" in my config.txt file it still refuses to change to 4K 60fps on my Samsung 4K TV. I realise not much uses this format, but some might in the future. I am also curious why it doesn't work given I have added that tag. I have a 2018 Samsung 4K TV. With my FireTV 4K it automatically loads Kodi in to 4K 59fps, so I know my TV can do it, all 4 of my HDMI ports are 60fps 4K compatibe. Any idea here ?

Answer : The solution was HDMI UHD Color. In the TV menu of my Samsung TV I had to go to External Device Manager, and then HDMI UHD Color, and then click the radio button beside HDMI 2 which is where my Pi is plugged in to. So in a nutshell, UHD Color had to be activated on the HDMI port.

3) My Pi4 automatically loads with 4k 30fps. The scan on screen is fine, as everything fits. But I notice screen tearing sometimes when I move between icons. If I change to 1080p 60fps this virtually goes. However Kodi does not fit on the screen properly unless I use the Video Calibration feature. If I keep it on "Resolution 1080p" and "Refresh Rate = 60fps" and use the Video Calibration to fit Kodi on the screen, am I losing out on anything ? Will videos still play correctly in aspect ? Can I also play 4K videos with this setting at 1080p ?

4) I have used the SSH shell via Windows 10 WinSCP but I can't save files due to write protect. I saw a online help file but I couldn't get my head around what to do even after reading it. Please bear in mind I am a 2 day newbie to all of this. Any idea how I can remove write protect with WinSCP ? Thanks.

5) Is "Resolution" in the Kodi menu JUST for the GUI ? And the Whitelist for the videos ?

6) Following on from my self answered Question 2, does having "hdmi_enable_4kp60=1" in the config mean there WILL be negatives even if I have the Resolution set to 1080p ? Should I remove the tag from the config text if I am unlikely to play 60fps ? Or does it only use more heat and power when actually playing 60fps 4k ?

Thanks again for the software and doing it for free !! Much appreciated. Please don't think I am ragging on it by saying about the pros of the Fire TV, I realise they are different beasts, I just mention out of curiosity of the differences and if they are software or hardware related. The positives of LibreElec over the FireTV 4K is my old AVI files work great in Kodi now, where as on the FireTV they stutter unless I turn off hardware acceleration. Also I have an annoying audio sync issue with the Fire TV Kodi, some files need 300ms adjusting and others don't, so it is a nightmare.

**chewitt** · May 11, 2020 at 5:46 AM Official Post

1. RPi4 supports hardware decode of 4K HEVC, but not 4K VP9, and not H264 (which is not a standard).

3. The TV should support a "Just scan" or auto mode. On a modern TV you should never need to calibrate the screen. And 1080p@60 is the best default resolution. Forcing the screen to run at 4K just adds load to the device. Kodi is already upscaling the 720p skin to 1080p, the TV will do a better job of scaling 1080p > 4K (native resolution of the panel) can Kodi does scaling 720p > 4k.

4. The filesystem is read-only apart from the persistent /storage area - this cannot be changed Anything you need to configure can normally be done in /storage, but we can't advise what to do unless you explain what you're trying to change.

5. Resolution determines the GUI (desktop) resolution. The whitelist determines the resolution/refresh rates to be used for playback if "adjust refresh rate to match video" is enabled. If the TV supports them, enable 1080p@23.976/24/50/59.94/60 and 4K@23.976/24/25/29.95/30 (50/60 optional).

6. It generates more heat and draws more power, and IMHO is completely unnecessary unless you actually have 4K60 media. So far I've only seen test media in this format so I don't have it enabled.

Zammo · May 11, 2020 at 3:22 PM

Thanks. Just to clarify.

1) So just having "hdmi_enable_4kp60=1" in the config.txt also draws more heat and power even if that resolution is not being used in Kodi ? Such as then playing 1080p ?

2) The scan problem with Kodi only happens when I have 1080p selected as my resolution, when I select native 4K resolution the image fits the screen perfect. However the video calibration option has allowed me to make the GUI fit the screen now.

3) It was the config.txt file I had hoped to change via SSH but it was write protected. In the end I moved the SD card to my PC.

Thanks again

**chewitt** · May 11, 2020 at 4:45 PM Official Post

1. Correct, it changes the behaviour of firmware which results in more power draw (which increases heat).

3. "mount -o remount/rw /flash" will remove the ro block on the boot partition. It and /storage are the only persistent writeable areas of the filesystem, as everything is inside a squashfs compressed file SYSTEM that's expanded on each boot, or the KERNEL file.

harun-cuk17 · May 11, 2020 at 6:12 PM

Quote from chewitt

1. RPi4 supports hardware decode of 4K HEVC, but not 4K VP9, and not H264 (which is not a standard).

3. The TV should support a "Just scan" or auto mode. On a modern TV you should never need to calibrate the screen. And 1080p@60 is the best default resolution. Forcing the screen to run at 4K just adds load to the device. Kodi is already upscaling the 720p skin to 1080p, the TV will do a better job of scaling 1080p > 4K (native resolution of the panel) can Kodi does scaling 720p > 4k.

4. The filesystem is read-only apart from the persistent /storage area - this cannot be changed Anything you need to configure can normally be done in /storage, but we can't advise what to do unless you explain what you're trying to change.

5. Resolution determines the GUI (desktop) resolution. The whitelist determines the resolution/refresh rates to be used for playback if "adjust refresh rate to match video" is enabled. If the TV supports them, enable 1080p@23.976/24/50/59.94/60 and 4K@23.976/24/25/29.95/30 (50/60 optional).

6. It generates more heat and draws more power, and IMHO is completely unnecessary unless you actually have 4K60 media. So far I've only seen test media in this format so I don't have it enabled.

5. For 4k you should whitelist: 23,976 and 24 (50/59,94/60 optional)

you wrote also 25 29,95 and 30. We do not want this in whitelist.

harun-cuk17 · May 11, 2020 at 6:15 PM

Quote from Zammo

Thanks. Just to clarify.

1) So just having "hdmi_enable_4kp60=1" in the config.txt also draws more heat and power even if that resolution is not being used in Kodi ? Such as then playing 1080p ?

2) The scan problem with Kodi only happens when I have 1080p selected as my resolution, when I select native 4K resolution the image fits the screen perfect. However the video calibration option has allowed me to make the GUI fit the screen now.

3) It was the config.txt file I had hoped to change via SSH but it was write protected. In the end I moved the SD card to my PC.

Thanks again

check at your samsung tv if you could adjust auto size then everything will fit perfectly

Questions about the Kodi GUI and 4K, etc !!

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