Poor EMBY display quality on a new Sony KD65X85X

[doobs 2]

Not quite certain where to put this, so I'll try here first.

I've have an Emby server installed on my Synology DS918+ that I've been using for several years now.

We recently moved and a new Sony KD65X85X has made it's appearance for mounting on the wall over the fireplace.

Previously we had a Sony 52XBR2 driven by a Roku Ultra LT. All worked beautifully with that combo.

I'm assembling the new system, with the being hard wired to my network TV.

What I'm finding is that the image quality on the KD65X85X when playing media from the Emby server is really pixelated.

I've tried the native Emby app in the TV, I've tried a Roku express(wi-fi), I've even tried the hard wired Ultra LT with the same result.

Using the inbuilt media player in the KD65X85X provides much less pixelation.

Any thoughts on how to resolve this?

thanks,

chris

[pwhodges 2012]

(1) Look at the Emby Dashboard, or Stats for Nerds in the playing client, to see how the item is being played, and why.

(2) Post the server log here so that the devs can see in more detail what is going on.

Paul

[speechles 2055]

It might be the automatic bitrate detection wasn't able to "peak" and the average bitrate it detects can be lower than expected. Maybe adjust the Video Quality to a higher bitrate? If you are playing locally you can ramp it to the highest setting. If the media bitrate falls above the video quality bitrate this will cause transcoding and loss of video quality.

The post above this has the information we need along with any ffmpeg logs which occur during that timeframe as well as the server log if this is something other than the Video Quality setting.

Edited November 10, 2023 by speechles

[tedfroop 34]

I own a KD-55x85k  and buried deep in the manual in mouse print is this:

This TV displays all video input signals in a resolution of
3840 dots × 2160 lines.

So....make sure your Roku is set to 4k resolution and your cable can handle the signal first.  If it continues I would pick several files, at different resolutions , and check how they display.  You may find some videos display the problem more than others.  In my case, I went back and started ripping old 480 stuff in 720p which helped remove the "jaggies".

[RanmaCanada 496]

Yeah you're going to need to look at the dashboard and see what the server is doing. If it's pixelated that usually means it's transcoding stuff at a starved bitrate.  

[Luke 42080]

@doobs

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[doobs 2]

Playing through the Emby app on the TV.

Dashboard screen grab

Accessing the logs through the EMBY web interface:

Most recent log is attached.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

chris

embyserver.txt

Edited November 11, 2023 by doobs

[doobs 2]

Just a comment.  Playing this same video on my desktop is significantly higher quality.  No pixelation.

Thanks

[pwhodges 2012]

You're playing a 480p video directly to a 4k screen, and it seems no interpolation is being applied in the upscaling - hence the nice sharp rendering of the original pixels!  I don't know whether either the Shield or your TV would be expected to interpolate; it might be worth checking the settings, maybe for words like smoothing or sharpening.

As far as I know the Emby client doesn't do upscaling.

EDIT:  I read that there is a setting in that TV called "Reality Creation" (what?) that can improve the upscaling of low resolution video.

Paul

Edited November 11, 2023 by pwhodges

[Luke 42080]

Yea he's right. This is direct playing, meaning the device is playing the original file as-is without any processing from Emby. I'm guessing this is only an issue with lower resolution content?

[ebr 16185]

Hi.  Not only 480p but only 800Kb/s bitrate.  It is simply a very low-quality video that your new TV is now exposing to you.

[doobs 2]

Well,

I got Kodi installed on the Sony, and guess what. No ugly block pixellation.

Soooo, I guess that means Emby gets kicked to the curb.

I will try Jellyfin on a Rpi though, just for fun.

AMF

[speechles 2055]

@doobsIt really has nothing to do with Emby. Your media is direct playing on the device. This takes Emby out of the equation.

720 x 3 = 2160
1080 x 2 = 2160

Both of those resolutions can be upscaled and look incredible. The Roku will only upscale/interpolate these two resolutions.

480 x 4.5 = 2160

No interpolation. I have the same problem output to a 75 inch TV. I do not see the problem as bad with 480p on the 50 inch. But move to the 75 inch and the problem immediately shows up.

 

[RanmaCanada 496]

Trying to play a 480p movie and expecting it to look great..Sorry you have no idea what you're talking about OP.  

[tedfroop21 86]

On 11/11/2023 at 08:59, doobs said:

Just a comment.  Playing this same video on my desktop is significantly higher quality.  No pixelation.

...and I will bet dollars to doughnuts it's not displaying at 4x3 aspect either, rather at some weird 5x3 format.  Sony has stated plainly in they documentation for newer TV's that they will not display 480p correctly because they upscale everything to 4K

I had the same issue and upscaled my files to 720p  and the pixelation went away, and they played at the correct aspect ratio as well.   They did it to sell more Blu Rays because your DVD's look terrible - and there is nothing you can do to fix a DVD.

You on the other hand are playing a video file.  Rip a copy at 720p and you will see what I mean - because I had the same issue.......

[Ronstang 294]

On 11/12/2023 at 7:17 AM, ebr said:

Not only 480p but only 800Kb/s bitrate.  It is simply a very low-quality video that your new TV is now exposing to you.

I was perusing this thread to see if anyone had posted this but here lies your problem.  It is a low quality video played on a TV much larger than you are used to watching on so of course there will be pixelation.  But, that being said there also has to be something amiss in your settings because all my Sony TVs play my DVD content, which is quite compressed with HEVC, very well and the upscaling the TV does is actually amazing.....which is why I only buy Sony TVs for me.  When I have some time later I will try some of DVDs and see what bitrate they are playing at and report back.....I'm thinking you can work this out.  

BUT....a 65" TV in my opinion is about the max for video that is compressed a lot of from low quality sources to begin with and why it is the max size I have.

[Ronstang 294]

Ok, I just tried an old TV show from the early 70s that I just encoded the other night from a DVD source.  It is a 25 minute video that is a little over 100 megs in size including audio.  It plays at a lower bitrate than yours, about 566kb/s for the video, and it looks perfectly fine on both my 50" Sony and my 10 year old 65" Sony....so it will look awesome on my 2 year old 65" Sony.....that is considering the source and the bitrate.  It is a higher quality than you would get from MeTV or the like.

I think you have a settings issue but I am confident that you should be able to get where you want with some fiddling.  I really can't help on the settings because I basically have plugged in my Sony TVs and never touched them as Sony is usually pretty good about maximizing the viewing experience.  I have read that professionals who calibrate TVs say Sonys are so close out of the box most people don't need to mess with it.

I am a little surprised at this since Sonys have the best image processing on the market....so it has to be something you can fix in my opinion.

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Ronstang

[Ronstang 294]

One idea, if you have a Firestick or access to one try that and see if there is any improvement.  For me, the Firestick is the one piece of hardware I can always count on for no issues with any of my files or quality, it simply plays everything I throw at them with nice quality.  I have a 55" LG TV in one of my stepson's room and I was really unhappy with the playback quality of the video using the emby app on the LG.  I threw in one of my Firesticks and it looks amazing.  This is one reason I usually ask all my users to buy a Firestick so I have less tech support issues.

[pwhodges 2012]

50 minutes ago, Ronstang said:

it looks perfectly fine on both my 50" Sony and my 10 year old 65" Sony....so it will look awesome on my 2 year old 65" Sony.....that is considering the source and the bitrate.

15 hours ago, tedfroop21@gmail.com said:

Sony has stated plainly in they documentation for newer TV's that they will not display 480p correctly

But honestly, I doubt Sony would shoot themselves in the foot like that.  I'm much more convinced by the idea that the higher resolution is shining a glaring spotlight on the quality of the DVD; a recent one might come out as acceptable, but an really old one, with interlaced non-anamorphic video for instance, would look far worse.  This is discussed at some length in this fairly recent thread:

Paul

[Ronstang 294]

31 minutes ago, pwhodges said:

I'm much more convinced by the idea that the higher resolution is shining a glaring spotlight on the quality of the DVD

While I agree with that in general he stated it had much higher quality on his older TV and doesn't have pixelation viewed on the computer.....which is the worst to view anything on in my opinion since it doesn't deinterlace without intervention and there is no upscaling.  Even HD content recorded from TV looks iffy on the computer. 

My newest Sony plays older DVD content better than any other TV I own so I really don't know what to think here.