Newbie question - initial setup

[quartermain]

It's been so longer I can't remember any more - when you get asked to set a video resolution on first startup, is this for the UI only or does it affect playback?

Not sure whether to select 1080i to match the broadcast data or 2160p to match the box capabilities.

[cactikid]

If you have a 4K box and tv i set it it to 2160 but never recorded in 2160.

When going to 2160 tv changes from 1080 to 2160 .

No problem with recordings with lower rates.

[adm]

It's been so longer I can't remember any more - when you get asked to set a video resolution on first startup, is this for the UI only or does it affect playback?

The live TV output from your box and playback from a recording. Consider however that irrespective of the video resolution output from the box you are not going to improve the quality of the original source material. Up-scaling a SD picture from one of the lesser TV channels that is broadcast at a low data rate, over compressed and looks blurry
to 2060(i or p) will still look over compressed and blurry. Very little, or no, magic is preformed in up-scaling.

Not sure whether to select 1080i to match the broadcast data or 2160p to match the box capabilities.

Depends on your TV and whether the box or the TV has better up-scaling

If you have 1080 TV there is no point in up-scaling to 2160i as the TV will downscale it again and you will have two conversions. Each conversion is likely to degrade the picture.

If you have a 4K TV that is better at up-scaling than the box then set 1080i. If the box is better at up-scaling set 2160i. Only you can make the subjective assessment.

I see no value is setting progressive (1080p or 2160p) for UK broadcast TV over interlaced (1080i or 2160i). With interlace you halve the data rate down your HDMI cable with no loss in quality. By the way the UK refresh rate for broadcast is 50Hz so you don't want an unnecessary conversion to 60Hz.

If most of you viewing is going to be from content over the Net (via the box) rather than UK broadcast then perhaps set your output video resolution to that of the source material, assuming that it's better than 1080i).