Anyone got 2160p setting to work

[DrGadget]

I'm satisfied with this box for the money paid. However I have a Formuler F1 box in my caravan and liked it so much I thought I would get a cheap E2 box on OpenVix to see if I could live permanently without a Tivo box at home. Unfortunately this 4k51 box is not in the same league as the Formuler, especially let down by a remote that isn't too great, not the worst ever, but firm presses are needed and pointing straight at the box. I tried it on the factory installed Open ATV, I haven't used before, but even after selecting English a lot of German words appeared in the settings. I also got a blank screen when setting to 2160p out, despite having a fairly new Hisense 4k TV which has three other 4k devices on it a 4k Firestick, an Android 4k box and the Tivo from Virgin which all work in 4k fine. I installed OpenVix latest 5.3 and got a nicely working Freesat and Freesat from Sky combined epg working as smooth as silk. I connected a 1Tb drive from a laptop I had upgraded to an SSD using an enclosure off eBay costing £6 - total outlay £72 so altogether cheap as chips. However the video setting raised its head again and playing the Freesat 4K demo using 1080p and 60Hz resulted in a very good picture which looked as good as the 4k output from the TV's own tuner, (no proper epg) , however trying this channel with the video output set to 2160p resulted in a either a mish mash of wavy lines or a stuttering colourless picture so I had to revert the settings back to 1080p. My TV is a Hisense B7500 and I have tried the enhanced setting for 4k in the HDMI 2.0 menu but that doesn't work either. I'm just being a perfectionist I suppose but if anyone has any ideas to try I would appreciate their opinion. Please bear in mind I am fairly new to Enigma boxes and in my 70's so don't assume I know stuff. Thanks in anticipation.

[ronand]

First thing to check is the refresh rate - all UK TV is at 50Hz. Don't go enabling "enhanced" features - a lot of them can mess things up.

[BrianTheTechieSnail]

It could conceivably be worth trying a different HDMI cable.

[Trial]

Hi,
check if all inputs of your TV have at least HDMI 2. On some TV only some inputs allow HDMI 2 other only 1.4 which is limited to 2160@30.

Ralf

[adm]

Freesat 4K demo using 1080p and 60Hz resulted in a very good picture which looked as good as the 4k output from the TV's own tuner, (no proper epg) , however trying this channel with the video output set to 2160p resulted in a either a mish mash of wavy lines or a stuttering colourless picture so I had to revert the settings back to 1080p.

Was the source actually 2160p at 60Hz? UK broadcast is 50Hz so setting 60Hz possibly results in an unnecessary 50 to 60Hz conversion possibly degrading the picture/timing. Often the "p" (progressive) is at half frame rate (25Hz or 30Hz and not 50 or 60Hz). UK broadcasts are usually "i" (interlaced). A setting of 2160i @ 50Hz may be correct for your source material.

A setting of 2160i @ 50Hz rather than 2160p @ 60Hz may cure your problem because you are halving the data rate down the HDMI cable without degrading the picture by not adding unnecessary frame/timing conversions to the source material. Setting all the configurations on your box to their maximum values doesn't necessarily give you the best results. It’s often better to match the setting to what is actually being transmitted or received from the source, or at least only upscaling the picture content rather than also changing frame rates.

As others have said you may be pushing too high a data rate down the cable or into a HDMI socket on your TV. There are different standards of HDMI – the standard has evolved over the years to cater for faster data rates. If other boxes in your system really work at 2060p @ 60Hz then try the SAME cable and SAME HDMI input socket on your TV with the box that is giving problems.

[DrGadget]

Thanks for the tips. Yes tried every suggestion except 2160i @ 50 Hz. I can't recall that option in the settings but I will have a look. The suggested 2160p at 50Hz resulted in a different result, it was like looking at an old analogue TV slightly out of tune (jagged wavy lines) so might be on the right track. That setting didn't crash the box I was able to get back by pressing exit. I'm tuned to the Freesat 4k demo by the way, the few demo transmissions seem to be the only 4k on satellites to look at, so I don't know why I am bothering but I enjoy learning. I have been watching 4K on my Firestick and from the inbuilt sat tuner of the TV, I honestly can't tell the difference in the picture quality of the TV's sat tuner compared to this box when watching the 4k demo channel so maybe the tuner in the TV isn't 4K either. The Firestick picture is the genuine article and blows you away.

[BrianTheTechieSnail]

I've only seen the test UHD channels on Astra 2E/2F/2G but my box thinks they are 2160p/50Hz.

[DrGadget]

Thanks again. No option to set at 2160i I'm afraid. I have been watching the demo on the TV's Sat tuner compared to the 4k51 box and can't tell the difference, they are both very very good. I have tried turning off the PIP mode on the same setting page to get HDR, seems to make no difference. Either my TV just isn't compatible with this particular box or the setting of the resolution may not be quite right in the software/firmware for this box. There isn't any detail in the epg info panel regarding the signal whereas there is on all the other channels, so maybe that points to the software. I can't imagine it is the hardware, TV or box, because they both work perfectly on all other settings. I'm going to try and find a short 4k video to download and see if that plays from the USB.

[ronand]

Enabling HDR on the test transmissions on 28E wont change anything because they are not broadcast in HDR. They are broadcast in 2160p50 SDR.

[Andy_Hazza]

Try your ‘cheap as chips’ box in a different HDMI port, as @Trial pointed out some cheaper TVs only have one or two 2.0 ports, while the others are 1.4.


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[DrGadget]

Solved but needs a fix on the firmware/software I think. I chucked some sample 1920p videos at it I downloaded from the internet - the 4k51 played them all. I then discovered that the up button on the Hisense TV remote gave the output to the HDMI socket in use, displayed as a pop up overlay on the screen (there isn't an info button). Wish I had known that earlier. The 4k51 is outputting 1920p even though in the menu of the video settings you can't set it to 1920p it is set to 1080p and automatic resolution. Learning from the comments from you guys this explains the no difference in picture quality of the TV's inbuilt sat tuner and the 4k51. The movies on the Firestick have been HDR so that explains their more vivid look for want of a better description. Thanks very much again for the tips I learned a lot today.

[Trial]

Hi,
HD is 1920x1080 so you cannot set to 1920 as always vertical resolution is used for settings.

Ralf

[DrGadget]

I'm an idiot keep getting 2160 and 1920 mixed up. Back to square one then.

[DrGadget]

Now working, but beats me how I did it. TV says the signal is 3840x2160. Picture is very good but compared to 1080 appeared to be a bit wishy washy. A little bit of tweaking on the colour saturation and contrast on the TV (The Hisense allows diferent settings for each HDMI) its all good. I don't really know how I got it to work it just suddenly happened. I think it was setting 2160p and 50Hz and Disable automatic settings, then pressing green. This resulted in a poor picture but I accepted that and then rebooted. Everything now works as it should, I can set the box to 60Hz no problem, I can set my TV to enhanced HDMI mode makes no difference. I can set it back to 1080p and then back again no issues. Thanks to all again for the helpful advice and not taking the p with me getting 1920 and 2160 mixed up, I haven't had my B12 jab at the doctors due to the Covid-19 so thats my excuse for my Brain fog. Next problem is to find out why my SSD drive, in a usb enclosure with some test files on, hasn't been recognised by the box but my Windows pc has no problems with it.

[abu baniaz]

> Next problem is to find out why my SSD drive, in a usb enclosure with some test files on, hasn't been recognised by the box but my Windows pc has no problems with it.

What file system is it in? If ex-fat or ntfs, you will have to install drivers on the receiver. Then reboot (not just restart)