A SIMPLE error with your TV’s ports could be preventing you from getting the best picture quality.
Roku revealed where you might be going wrong – and how to fix it in seconds.
When it comes to the visual quality of a TV show or movie, there are two very important factors: resolution and dynamic range.
Resolution is how many pixels there are in the image and is often described by terms such as HD, Full HD and 4K.
The higher the resolution, the more detail can be put into an image.
Dynamic range is related to the reach of contrast in an image: If you’re watching a movie in HDR format, it will have brighter whites and darker blacks.
But to enjoy these two formats, you need to have the right TV setup.
HDMI HAVOC!
Even if you have a 4K HDR TV and some suitable content to watch, you can still fumble with cables, settings, and HDMI ports.
“To preserve compatibility with early Ultra HD Blu-ray players, many 4K TVs are factory-set to use HDMI 1.4 mode, limiting 4K Ultra HD (4K) playback with High Dynamic Range (HDR) to 30 frames per second (fps), ” Roku explained.
“Not only is playback less smooth at a lower frame rate like 30fps, but some channels like Netflix won’t play 4K HDR content unless 60fps is supported.
“To ensure support for higher frame rates, the HDMI connection to your TV and any other devices, such as an audio/video receiver (AVR) or soundbar, must be configured to use HDMI 2.0 mode or later.
“This latest standard enables 4K playback at 60fps with HDR colors such as HDR10 and Dolby Vision.”
You can check your settings in your settings.
If your Roku player is connected directly to your TV, you can set it to 4K HDR.
NextMake sure your Roku player is connected via an HDMI 2.0 (or later) port.
What is 4K, Ultra HD and UHD?
Here’s an easy guide to what 4K means…
- 4K, Ultra HD and UHD are different names for the same type of TV screen. 4K refers to the number of pixels on your TV screen – or the “picture resolution”
- Pixels are small colored dots that make up the image you see on television. A pixelated image is one where the pixels are really obvious because there aren’t many of them. But images with lots of pixels — like a 4K movie — often look sharper and clearer.
- A true 4K display is 4096 x 2160 pixels. This means that your TV screen is 3,840 pixels wide and 2,160 pixels vertically. There are around 8.3 million pixels on the screen in total
- 4K gets its name because it has four times more pixels than a standard Full HD TV
- Full HD (or 1080p) displays are 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels up – about two million pixels in total. So 4K just means your TV has a lot more pixels on the screen compared to a more common Full HD screen
- Ultra HD, or UHD, is basically the same as 4K. If you buy a UHD television in a store, you can watch 4K content without any problems
- But there is a small difference. Almost every TV you buy has a 16:9 aspect ratio. This means that for every 16 pixels horizontally, there are 9 vertically.
- Real 4K images don’t fit this aspect ratio, so you won’t often find TVs with 4096 x 2160 pixels. Instead, to fit the 16:9 aspect ratio, most 4K TVs will be 3840 x 2160 pixels.
- If it doesn’t make sense, grab a calculator and divide 2,160 by 9. Then multiply by 16 and you get 3,840. That’s the aspect ratio working its magic. So when you see an Ultra HD TV, it just means it’s a 4K picture with slightly fewer vertical pixels
- If you try to watch a 4K video on a non-4K TV, the video will still play – but it won’t be 4K quality. To watch 4K video in 4K quality, you’ll need to shell out for a 4K TV. Likewise, if you are watching standard or HD images on a 4K TV, it will not magically become 4K quality.
- Some TVs promise “4K upscaling,” which converts your standard or HD footage to near 4K quality. This works by using software to guess which colors would fill the extra empty pixels missing from HD footage and then filling them in. This creates an effect similar to 4K, but it is not true 4K.
And finally, make sure you use an HDMI 2.0 compatible cable.
“Roku players that support HDR ship with an HDMI 2.0 compatible cable,” Roku explained.
“If you cannot use the included cable, please purchase a Premium High Speed HDMI Cable or an Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable.
“Cables that are not labeled or may be labeled ‘high speed’ or ‘standard speed’ may not be suitable for 4K HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision content at 60fps.”
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WHAT IS HAPPENING?
Of course, there are many other reasons why you might not see a 4K or HDR image.
For starters, your TV model may not support one or any of these video formats.
Likewise, you may be viewing content on a streaming device that doesn’t support 4K or HDR.
The Roku Channel – what you need to know
Here’s the summary…
The Roku Channel is a streaming app available on multiple devices.
It offers more than 400 live TV channels.
And it promises more than 80,000 movies and TV shows on demand.
Roku says the app is available at:
- Roku streaming devices
- Compatible Samsung Smart TVs
- Compatible Amazon Fire TV Devices
- Website TheRokuChannel.com
- Roku mobile apps (iOS and Android)
Roku notes that the app is only available in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It’s also available in Mexico, but only on Roku devices.
You’ll also need to ensure the content you’re trying to watch is 4K and HDR – it will usually be labeled as such within streaming apps.
And even if everything else is set up correctly, slow Internet can cause streaming services to degrade the quality of the image you’re seeing.
Roku says you’ll need up to 25Mbps to enjoy a 4K HDR picture, so you might struggle if your Internet is particularly slow.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
