Questions about 4K and upscaling

General Discussions
1

Hi guys,

I just ordered a 4K TV finally and now I am wondering how it will work with Plex when it comes to upscaling 1080p (or less) to 4K.

My TV will have an excellent upscaler built in. I actually wouldn’t need Plex to do (software based) upscaling. Now if I run Plex on an nVidia Shield or Pley Media Player connected to a 4K screen, how does it deal with lower resolution content? Will it scale up to the display’s resolution or can I do some sort of “pass through” to make sure the scaling is done by the TV’s hardware?

Thanks

2

bump bump .

3

@cryptochrome said:
Now if I run Plex on an nVidia Shield or Pley Media Player connected to a 4K screen, how does it deal with lower resolution content? Will it scale up to the display’s resolution or can I do some sort of “pass through” to make sure the scaling is done by the TV’s hardware?

If your TV is 4K and your content isn’t then I would expect up-scaling by the TV to occur automatically.

Anytime PMS can’t DirectPlay/DirectStream something would otherwise result in transcoding.

4

The TV is 4K. The source is 1080p. The device in between (Shield or PMP) is set to output at 4K. Which device will do the upscaling? The TV or the device in between?

5

The Shield or PMP would be in that case.

6

@lqvnguyen said:
The Shield or PMP would be in that case.

Thank you. Is there any way to prevent that, e.g. disable Plex’s own upscaler and just pass the video through to the TV as is?

7

Thats a question I have asked myself the last few days. Using a command line with embedded PMP on a NUC, I could force a 1080p resolution but with refresh rate switching–I am not sure it will stick. I am not familiar with the Shield’s setting options so I can’t answer you there.

8

I don’t own a Shield TV but someone in this thread assets that it won’t up-scale itself.

forums.plex.tv/discussion/247098/is-the-nvidia-shield-tv-using-plex-able-to-upscale-to-4k-uhd-or-will-it-use-pass-through

9

For the record, any digital TV will upscale the image to its native resolution. A 4k monitor always displays at 4k, regardless of the input source. Same for 1080p/720p sets.

10

I think everyone in the thread understands that point, the question here is how to not have the player upscale but pass it through to the TV to upscale as you just reiterated. However, embedded PMP by default is handling the upscaling. Whether or not the Shield does as well is in question.

11

Guess I am going to have to figure it out when the TV arrives.

12

@cryptochrome What do you plan on running as the player?

13

@lqvnguyen said:
@cryptochrome What do you plan on running as the player?

I haven’t decided yet. I am a fan of PMP but my pretty old Mac Mini can’t do 4K. So I am either going to build a new small PC for PMP embedded, or I am going to use either my nVidia SHIELD or the Plex client that’s built into the TV (LG OLED with WebOS 3.0). Probably going to play with all these options to see what’s best for my use case.

14

Wait for the Intel NUC6CAYH if you can for running embedded PMP. HDMI2.0, 4K/60, HDMI-CEC and integrated front array mics for voice command if plex ever does build a feature set like that. It will be in the $125-130 range for the kit. Stick in system memory and flash memory and you are set.

15

Which OLED? B6,C6,E6 or G6?

16

Thanks for the hint on the upcoming NUC6CAYH. Really interesting!

I am getting the B6 OLED. It’s already been ordered and hopefully it arrives before christmas :slight_smile:

17

I am considering the 55" E6 for the master bedroom.

18

I was looking at the E6 too but decided 3D and the soundbar are not worth the 1000$ price difference (I never use 3D nor do I need the soundbar). Since they share the same panel and software, both have identical PQ.