Channels & viewing

[ROGERCPOST]

my roku is connected to a 1080p tv. i am noticing that youtube videos that are 720p look awful, poor interpolation up to 1080p. youtube 1080p material is fine. my tivo for comparison plays youtube 720p videos with great quality. why does the roku do such a poor job of playing 720p youtube video???

[Mnale]

I have a similar but odd issue. My YouTubeTv is streaming through a Roku Ultra to my 1080p LG TV. The Roku "Display Type" is set Automatic (1080p). I know that various broadcast channels are 720p native (e g. ABC, ESPN, etc)  and the interpolation,  especially on titles, looks bad. But if I "Restart" the Roku and immediately go to a 720p broadcast it looks fine- no issues. However if I then go to a 1080p native broadcast like CBS or NBC and then return to a 720p show, it's messed up again! The Roku only seems to interpolate 720p after a reboot and no 1080p viewing.

[RokuKarla]

Hello @Mnale

Thanks for posting here in the Community.

We'd like to gather more information about the issue you're running into. A few questions here to better understand what you're experiencing:

1. Does the issue only occur on a specific channel or all channels on your Roku device?
2. Can you please provide the steps to reproduce the issue you are experiencing? 3. Have you tried using another HDMI cable or with a different HDMI port to see if the issue persists?
4. What troubleshooting steps have you taken so far to try to resolve the issue? 
5. Have you removed the channel, restart the device the add the channel back? Note: Please make sure to restart your Roku device after removing the channel and before adding the channel back to ensure the process is successful.

We recommend starting here to troubleshoot any channel playback issues: How to resolve a channel playback issue

Please keep us posted and we'll continue assisting you from there.

Regards,
Karla

[Mnale]

Had you read my post you would know...

1. Does the issue only occur on a specific channel or all channels on your Roku device?

720p broadcasts such as ABC, ESPN cause the issue.

2. Can you please provide the steps to reproduce the issue you are experiencing?

I did this for you by rebooting the Roku Ultra, immediately going to a 720p channel and all looks fine - temporarily - until I switch to a 1080p channel such as CNN or NBC (which is fine at 1080p) and then switch back to a 720p channel and it is queered out and pixelated. 

 3. Have you tried using another HDMI cable or with a different HDMI port to see if the issue persists?

The HDMI cable/port can't possibly be the problem since it always looks good after Roku is re-booted to a 720p channel. But yes, I switched with no effect.

4. What troubleshooting steps have you taken so far to try to resolve the issue? 

See my procedure in item 2 above.

5. Have you removed the channel, restart the device the add the channel back? 

Yes and since Roku automatically updates/checks for YouTubeTV software daily, this is redundant since the latest version is always present.

6. We recommend starting here to troubleshoot any channel playback issues: How to resolve a channel playback issue

My Roku is ethernet wire connected to my router (no WiFi), there is no issue with connection speeds. What appears me is that the Roku does not automatically adjust the 720p signal to correctly upscale when the channel is changed from a 1080p channel. As I've stated, the Roku and YouTubeTV 720p upscales correctly only after a system restart, thereafter any change to 1080p channel and then back to 720p is bad.

Thanks

[AvsGunnar]

@Mnale 

You may want to try changing the display adapter refresh in Roku settings and see if that helps.

Settings/System/Advanced System Settings/Advanced Display Settings/Auto-Adjust Display Refresh Rate

----

This setting behaves differently on different TVs so may have to experiment whether setting to On or Off gives you any better results.

[Mnale]

Thanks. Tried that several times. No difference.

I would be interested if anyone else sees poor upscaling (YouTubeTV & Roku at 720p on 1080p TV) and if this is a new phenomenon. 

Just as a comparison, if I take the Roku out of the equation and stream YouTubeTV on my computer LG 2K monitor, everything looks great either at 720p or 1080p.

I know the Roku can interpolate YouTubeTV 720p great, but only after I restart it and go immediately to a 720p channel (and staying there).  

[Anonymous]

Hi  @Mnale

Thanks for keeping in touch!

Many channels on Roku are maintained by the channel provider themselves. Since the error only occurs on the YouTube channel, that's an indication that there's likely an issue within that specific channel that needs to be addressed with an update from them. We indeed recommend contacting YouTube Support to report the issue and get help.

Thank you for your understanding.


Warm Regards,
Lianna   

[ROGERCPOST]

I tried your workaround  @Mnale  and it works! Restarting, going to Youturd and viewing a 720 vid first is good quality. However, as soon as you view a 1080 video and go back to a 720, the quality is awful and remains so for all 720 vids.

[Mnale]

Ok, let's review... We've confirmed that Roku Ultra displays a YouTubeTV 720p channel properly (Fox,ESPN, ABC etc) after a Roku reboot and directly viewing a 720p channel.

This means that Roku does the proper 720p upscaling - temporarily - and then gives up adjusting proper quality with a channel change to 1080p.

I've also shown that if the Roku is taken out of the equation (YouTube TV streamed on my PC 2K Monitor) there are no upscale issues at 720p switching to 1080p channel and back.

I'll run this with YouTube TV support - if possible. I would hope that the Roku engineers concurrently check it out on their end - easy to reproduce.

[ROGERCPOST]

I sent an email to Anthony Wood awood at roku dot com, Roku's CEO about this, copy below (sorry, I tried to insert the images but this forum can't handle them).

Dear Anthony,

As an investor in Roku, I love my little Ultra box but there appears to be a video quality bug in playing 720p videos on Youtube.

My Roku is connected to a 1080p TV and I am noticing that YouTube videos that are 720p look awful, poor interpolation up to 1080p. YouTube 1080p material is fine. My Tivo for comparison plays YouTube 720p videos with great quality. Why does the Roku do such a poor job of playing 720p YouTube video?

For example take this image from a 720p video by ABC's Good Morning America:

This inset shows the awful up-res quality:

Restarting, going to YouTube and viewing a 720 video first, results in good quality as seen below. However, as soon as you view a 1080 video and go back to a 720, the quality is awful and remains so for all 720 videos.

Here is the YouTube version info:

Here is the Roku version:

I hope that your engineers will work with YouTube and figure this out, it's a major headache to have to restart the Roku every time you want to watch a lower res YouTube video.

Thanks!
Roger Dawson

President
Tel cell direct: (650) 218-XXXX
Component Post Associates, Inc.
Motion Picture Post Production Services