Samsung 4K TV with Nvidia Shield blurry/stuttering on fast motion like sports

[pmarsh]

Posting in case anyone else goes searching for this issue.

Setup:
- HDHomerun prime
- Nvidia Shield latest software version (and any previous) Connected via ethernet
- Samsung NU8000 65" TV UHD
- FiOS TV service

The issue is that on fast motion on sports and scrolling tickers, on some channels, there is a blur/lag that is best described as multiple frames showing at the same time. The root cause was the Shield being set to 4K display. This seems to cause the TV to upscale the HDHomerun app and that's what causes the issues.

Setting the Shield to 1080 and the issue goes away.

The ultimate fix is for the HDHomerun app to allow setting itself to 1080 when in use while the Shiled can remain at 4K. There's an Android API that allows this, I believe Kodi takes uses it.

Hope this helps someone!

[jasonl]

Is your Shield outputting 4K30 or 4K60? I used mine quite extensively for sports before it died and didn't see any issues with it running at 4K60.

[rikd]

Are there any specific channels you see the issue on more than others?

What your describing sounds like a deinterlace issue which tends to be more visible in high motion such as sports and tickers.
But also need to confirm - great thing about the English language is we have so many different ways of describing things
Am guessing is something like

where it appears to have a double vision/blur look to it?

Which is strange because the Shield has good deinterlace support.
Since the issue is resolved when the shield display is set to 1080p, (probably '1080p 59.9530 Hz'?), that would indicate a possible issue occurring in some combination of content, deinterlace, upscaling, and/or frame rate conversion.

Can you check what the display settings are on the Shield when displaying 4K (Settings -> Device Preferences -> Display & Sound -> Resolution)?
the ideal is 4K 59.940 Hz for broadcast TV
Shield also has options to set to 4K 23.976 Hz, 4K 50 Hz, and 4K 60 Hz
Also what are the Shields settings for AI Upscaling (Settings -> Device Preferences -> Display & Sound -> AI Upscaling)?
Which Shield model do you have (Settings -> Device Preferences -> About -> Model Number)?
And its software version (Settings -> Device Preferences -> About -> Shield Android TV SW Version)?

[pmarsh]

@rikd sorry missed your reply. Definitely a deinterlace issue, thanks for the terminology fix. I have never seen it so bad, but it definitely is most noticeable on sports & tickers.

And more-so on some channels than others, and annoyingly not always consistent. CBS Sports, Fox Sports and FS1 would all display the issue but sometimes it would clear up only to get worse again with no changes.

I had been using 4K59.94 on the Shield before dropping it down to 1080 59.953. For the complete picture here are the other settings. I have not adjusted anything else other than changing to 1080.

Also what are the Shields settings for AI Upscaling (Settings -> Device Preferences -> Display & Sound -> AI Upscaling)? Not listed is this on the newer shields, mine is the older rectangle version
Which Shield model do you have (Settings -> Device Preferences -> About -> Model Number)? 2897
And its software version (Settings -> Device Preferences -> About -> Shield Android TV SW Version)? 9.1.1

[rikd]

@rikd sorry missed your reply. Definitely a deinterlace issue, thanks for the terminology fix. I have never seen it so bad, but it definitely is most noticeable on sports & tickers.

That's typically where deinterlace issues are most noticeable.

Also what are the Shields settings for AI Upscaling (Settings -> Device Preferences -> Display & Sound -> AI Upscaling)? Not listed is this on the newer shields, mine is the older rectangle version
Which Shield model do you have (Settings -> Device Preferences -> About -> Model Number)? 2897

The AI Upscaling means a 2019 Tegra X1+ based shield TV - both the tube and the rectangular 'Pro' which also has the model number P2897
So, since it's P2897 and no AI Upscaling - you have the 2017 16GB one

And its software version (Settings -> Device Preferences -> About -> Shield Android TV SW Version)? 9.1.1

Same as my 2015, '17 and '19 shields TVs.

And more-so on some channels than others, and annoyingly not always consistent. CBS Sports, Fox Sports and FS1 would all display the issue but sometimes it would clear up only to get worse again with no changes.

Fox is typically progressive. So, if you're seeing it there then it's not likely a deinterlace issue. but more likely something else.
Could be in their broadcast (not impossible but unlikely), an issue with the upscaler in the Shield, or an issue with further processing in the TV (made worse by the upscaled image).
On the TV try modifying/removing any processing and see if that helps or makes it worse - search shows settings for

• Digital Clean View - attempts to remove noise - but can cause pixel shifting
• Auto Motion Plus - tries to smooth motion with blur and judder reduction - try different settings and/or turn off. it is known to be cause of issues on non 30/60fps content.

Alost things like local dimming, contrast enhancer, and gamma can play a part in exposing ghosting on fast motion.

[foxbat121]

Most likely motion artifacts because most of the TV broadcasting are over compressed (either OTA or cable). So it is inevitable that these kinds of motion artifacts occur. The only way to compensate for this is to have a TV with good motion processing. TV boxes typically don't have that kind of processing power.

[leerandall]

The compression on my Spectrum cable system is SO bad that I've begun to stream (Fox Sports app, Peacock app, Paramount+ app, ESPN app, etc.) all sporting events that I can.

[pmarsh]

So that switch to 1080 actually didn't fix the issue. Just good timing.

What I am still seeing is on say CBS Sports (again this is FiOS) the interlacing will be so bad college basketball is basically unwatchable. BUT it will clear up suddenly for a couple of minutes and then get awful again.

Tried the Channels app, same issue. Watching on an iPad or an Android the same channel there are no issues.

Will have to keep messing with it. I'll have to borrow a FireTV or some other device to see if it's the TV or the Shield.

[pmarsh]

One more follow-up. Have an Amazon fire TV 4k stick on the same TV and while watching March madness on CBS the image was horrible on the shield and totally fine on the fire TV.

If I ever do figure it out I'll post again.