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Komag
Roku Guru

Roku 4 super sharp, Roku 3 and Stick, not as much

So I picked up a used 1080p TV to test Roku dev on, and to my surprise, when I plugged in three Rokus into the three HDMI inputs, all set to 1080p, Only the Roku 4 is crystal clear perfect pixel-by-pixel
I tried swapping which HDMI inputs they went into on the TV, didn't change the results, so it's the Rokus.
The Home screen on the Roku 4 appears different - there is a little extra space around the channel icons and the selector rectangle. But on the Roku 3 and Stick there is no space in there - the selector rectangle fits exactly tight around the channel icons.
On the Roku 4 my side-loaded 290x214 channel icon FINALLY looks perfect, pixel-by-pixel perfection, no compression or resizing going on. But on the Roku 3 and Stick it's resized and uglified (as I talked about previously here https://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=96660).

Upon close comparison inspection, I see that ALL the channel icons are clearer on Roku 4, not just mine. The tiny little tines on the bomb in "Kaboom" are crystal clear and sharp, whereas they are blurry on Roku 3 and Stick. The fine details on the red and green tiles on the "Mah Jongg" icon are crisp and clear on Roku 4, blurry on Roku 3 and Stick. Every single one has the same issue. The tiny details in "XElevation", the intricate wing tips in "Retaliate", the sharp colored circle edges in "Agario", every so perfect and clear on Roku 4, blurry and ruined elsewhere.

Roku Stick 3600X, 7.6.0 build 4125-24
Roku 3 4200X, 7.6.0 build 4125-04
Roku 4 4400X, 7.6.0 build 4120-17

Theories:
- The Roku 4 is better somehow.
- The Roku 4 Home screen is displaying in actual 1080p, while the others are only using 720 scaled up to 1080 (thus scaling my icon DOWN to 720, then scaling back up to 1080).
- Different build number actually works different for handling icons on the home screen.
- That tiny bit of scaling that seemed to be happening between true 290x214 icons and what I measured as 295x223 is not happening on Roku 4 or on this build#
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4 REPLIES 4
belltown
Roku Guru

Re: Roku 4 super sharp, Roku 3 and Stick, not as much

"Komag" wrote:
So I picked up a used 1080p TV to test Roku dev on, and to my surprise, when I plugged in three Rokus into the three HDMI inputs, all set to 1080p, Only the Roku 4 is crystal clear perfect pixel-by-pixel

Roku Stick 3600X, 7.6.0 build 4125-24
Roku 3 4200X, 7.6.0 build 4125-04
Roku 4 4400X, 7.6.0 build 4120-17

I was under the impression that the Roku 4 is the only device in your list that supports a 1080p UI resolution. https://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?t=94260
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destruk
Streaming Star

Re: Roku 4 super sharp, Roku 3 and Stick, not as much

Yes, however, the roku4 shouldn't have that gap between the highlight square and the icon - a different 9-patch image with the center entirely selected will fix that if they choose to replace the one they've been using.
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renojim
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Roku 4 super sharp, Roku 3 and Stick, not as much

I'm not sure I would have noticed the difference if Komag hadn't pointed it out, but he's absolutely right. As another example, the Weather4us icon is stunning on my Roku 4 while on the 3 it's just meh.

-JT
Roku Community Streaming Expert

Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Kudo.

I am not a Roku employee.
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NB_
Roku Guru

Re: Roku 4 super sharp, Roku 3 and Stick, not as much

I don't know if that helps the conversation - but here is a screenshot from a Premiere with the display set to 1080p:
[spoiler=FHD:1ck7rez0][/spoiler:1ck7rez0]
Here is the same with display set to 720p:
[spoiler=HD:1ck7rez0][/spoiler:1ck7rez0]
The posters measure as 290x218 in the first and 196x148 pixels in the second case.
I would have expected them to be 1.5x smaller in the 2nd case but it seems to be 1.48 x 1.47
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