[Cesar.Malari]

I've been using Kodi on a Windows 8 machine connected to a 1080p TV as a DVR for OTA TV for a while, so things were pretty easy - just have the machine output 1080p, let Kodi handle upscaling from 720p or 1080i where needed, and it's fine.

Now I've upgraded to a 4K TV, but haven't upgraded the machine running Kodi yet (so it's not capable of 4K output) - is there a way to get Kodi to switch the output resolution to match the thing being played so I can let the upscaler in my TV handle things? For 1080i content, it's not a big deal - Kodi handles the i->p, TV handles the resolution increase. However, for 720p, I'm guessing I'm not getting the best experience with the double-upscaling involved - 720p->1080p in Kodi, then 1080p->4K in the TV.

Any suggestions, or do I just live with it until I get the machine upgraded to 4K and can once again just let Kodi handle all the upscaling?

[DJ_Izumi]

Well, what's hardware in the machine? Why not just get the machine to output 4K and have Kodi upscale all the way to 4K instead of keeping Kodi at 1080p.

[Cesar.Malari]

As I said, I haven't upgraded the machine yet, so it's not capable of 4K output -- looking to see if there's something I can do in software to get it output @ the native resolution of the content and let the TV upscale.

[DJ_Izumi]

As I said, I haven't upgraded the machine yet, so it's not capable of 4K output -- looking to see if there's something I can do in software to get it output @ the native resolution of the content and let the TV upscale.

For the sake of the thread, could you at least tell us WHAT the machine is?

[Cesar.Malari]

Well, I don't see why the particulars of what not-capable-of-4K-output Windows machine it is (since this is a *software* question) should matter, it's a ZOTAC ZBOX Intel Atom D525: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WO8O9Y/. It's not capable of more than 1080p over the HDMI connection (and the dual-link DVI can't go up to 4K).

So, like I said, is there a way to get Kodi to switch between 1080p (or 1080i?) and 720p output based on the material being played back?

[DJ_Izumi]

Well, I don't see why the particulars of what not-capable-of-4K-output Windows machine it is (since this is a *software* question) should matter, it's a ZOTAC ZBOX Intel Atom D525: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WO8O9Y/. It's not capable of more than 1080p over the HDMI connection (and the dual-link DVI can't go up to 4K).

So, like I said, is there a way to get Kodi to switch between 1080p (or 1080i?) and 720p output based on the material being played back?

Well, if it had a DisplayPort a DP->HDMI 2.0 port adaptor would have gotten the job done for you, which would have worked around your problem, but it seems not. On a whim I take it you TRIED to spit 4K out of it to see if it could work contrary to the specs on paper right? Though that said, I'm not really sure an Atom box could really run Kodi that well at 4K even if it was capable of the output.

[Cesar.Malari]

4K isn't pickable in the Windows output resolution. Like I said - 4K output with this hardware isn't an option - *way* too old. Sure, once I upgrade the machine, I'll just run at native 4K and be done with it, but I'm hoping there's an option I'm not aware of that'll tide me over.

Hence the reason I asked to see if I could avoid the double-scale by going the other direction (getting Kodi to output the raw stream).

[willemd]

720p -> 1080p is 150% increase in the horizontal and vertical pixel amount. Then 1080p -> 2160p is then another 200% increase. Although I'd guess you're right that upscaling twice is not an optimal scenario, the incremental steps are nicely rounded (50% and 100% more pixels in in either direction), so I doubt you'd lose any visible sharpness. At least not enough to warrant buying new hardware (imho).