Help wtih 4K play back

[GhostRider 46]

Hi

I have decided it is time I joined the 4K TV world and I am looking at an LG 4K C3 TV. My current setup is simple:

1) HTPC in lounge connects to media server for data, most movies are bluray quality

2) HTPC connects to AV Receiver which plays sounds and sends HDMI video signal to an old 1080 Plasma TV

As current setup is 1080p I do not have any upscaling requirements and it works well.

My new setup will look like above except the TV will be a 4K TV. Connection over eARC from TV to Yamha receiver. I see this is a challenge for the HTPC as Windows will connect at 4K to the TV and Emby will not be upscaling the movie playback so I think things will look soft if I maximazie the Emby playback window.

I could use the Emby LG client instead and connect that to my media server. Three questions please:

1) Would the LG App output at the movie quality and then the LG TV do the upscaling to 4K?

2) Would the LG App / TV pass Dolby Atmos sound to the receiver over eARC?

3) Is it possible to use Emby Theatre on the HTPC or is the upscaling a challenge?

Many thanks

 

Edited April 27 by GhostRider
spelling correction

[generiq 113]

Use the Theater from the Emby website and you'll get what you need. It has great capabilities 

https://emby.media/emby-theater.html

Edited April 27 by generiq

[GhostRider 46]

As far I understand Emby Theater does not upscale so I think it will play back at 1080 on a 4K screen which will either be a small window or if the window is enlarged it will look soft.

Edited April 27 by GhostRider

[Lessaj 73]

1080p content looks fine on my 4K TV, it's an LG C8. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[Luke 37151]

@GhostRiderhas this helped?

[GhostRider 46]

Hi @Luke

No not really. MY HTPC outputs at 4K resolution via the graphics card so the TV will get a 4K signal so will not upscale. However, the movie is blu-ray HD format so only 1080. Emby Theatre does not upscale so you will see either 1) a small HD window 1/4 size on screen or 2) I can maximise the window but this is not upscaled by Windows so will lose detail and look soft. I cannot see how it could be otherwise as that is what happens when I play a blu-ray disc on my main PC with a 4K monitor the playback is soft if I maximise the window. In the past I used PowerDVD to upscale but that is nolonger an option.

I am interested to know:

1) Is it possible to upscale in Emby Theatre from 1080 to 4K?

2) If I used the LG app on the TV does it send Dolby Atmos sound over eARC to the AV Receiver?

#2 sounds a option which means I could retire my HTPC.

Many thanks

 

 

Edited May 1 by GhostRider

[Lessaj 73]

I'm not clear on what you mean that a 1080p video would appear as 1/4 of the screen in Theater. The video will take up the entire screen (respective of the video dimensions, IE my monitor is 3440x1440 ultrawide and if I play a 1920x1080 video I have black bars on the left and right but is otherwise the whole screen).

But yes you can also use the LG app instead if you want, though do note that it has some limitations around picture based subtitles that will force transcoding. Audio passthrough should work fine.

[GhostRider 46]

I am referring to my experience with my main PC with a 4K monitor. If I playback a HD movie the default window is 1920 x 1080 in size so appears 1/4 size on the 4K screen, i.e. the media player is playing back the movie at native resolution. I can maximize the window but the Windows OS is not upscaling the movie to 4K so the picture is definitely degraded compared to that displayed in the native window size of 1920 x 1080. My understanding is that Emby Theatre does not upscale so if a HD video is displayed  at 4K resolution on the HTPC it is going to be softer than at native HD resolution. The TV will not upscale the signal from the HTPC as the graphics card will be outputting at 4K so the TV will think it is 4K.

I am also interested to know if the LG app will pass the HD signal to the TV so the TV will then upscale to 4K and that it will also pass the full sound track Dolby Atmos etc over eARC.

Edited May 1 by GhostRider

[Lessaj 73]

Well yes because now 1 pixel of data needs needs to occupies 4 pixels, so it's being upscaled in that regard, though I think more correctly that's upsampling, which is going to be handled by the operating system because it still needs to fill the frame with data before sending out to the display. There shouldn't be any interpolation between pixels required because it's an exact 4:1 ratio, compared to for example displaying 1440p content within a 2160p frame which is not an exact ratio and would require interpolation. It's never going to look as good (read: sharp) as content that matches the native resolution because there's less pixels to work with, but it's not going to look bad per se, especially if the bitrate is high enough on the content. I think what you're actually trying to ask is if the OS upscaler is better than the one built into the TV, and I don't have a concise answer but given the exact 4:1 ratio upscale required I think the answer is that it doesn't matter and it's going to look the same either way.

Yes it will pass the audio over eARC, that's how I use my soundbar. I used to use the LG app but then switched to an Nvidia Shield and still using eARC for audio to the soundbar.

[guunter 2]

3 hours ago, GhostRider said:

I am referring to my experience with my main PC with a 4K monitor. If I playback a HD movie the default window is 1920 x 1080 in size so appears 1/4 size on the 4K screen, i.e. the media player is playing back the movie at native resolution. I can maximize the window but the Windows OS is not upscaling the movie to 4K so the picture is definitely degraded compared to that displayed in the native window size of 1920 x 1080. My understanding is that Emby Theatre does not upscale so if a HD video is displayed  at 4K resolution on the HTPC it is going to be softer than at native HD resolution. The TV will not upscale the signal from the HTPC as the graphics card will be outputting at 4K so the TV will think it is 4K.

I am also interested to know if the LG app will pass the HD signal to the TV so the TV will then upscale to 4K and that it will also pass the full sound track Dolby Atmos etc over eARC.

If you're doing it off your PC you can try Lossless Scaling in steam. There's an anime4k option that is probably what youre looking for since most anime is 1080p. YMMV but you can at least return it on steam if it doesn't work.