Solving playback issues

[twigsixora]

I use my roku tv as a monitor for my pc and xbox (because its much cheaper than a gaming monitor) and sometimes the picture looks too sharp. the best way i could describe is that it looks crunchy if that makes any sense. its usually only normal when i have the hdmi channel set to my pc, but all my other channels have tjis problem. it also happens sometimes on my pc, mainly when i fullscreen youtube videos. The first image is what it looks like when im experiencing the problem, and the second is what its meant to look like.

[atc98092]

I've used a Roku TV for some time as a secondary 4K PC monitor, and it really made teleworking much easier. You might go in and change the label on the HDMI connection you use for the PC as Computer, as I believe that changes some internal picture settings. You might simply have the Sharpness picture control set too high, as it can induce ringing around the edges of things on the screen. Also, make sure your PC resolution is set to the native resolution of the TV. Sometimes computers might select a resolution that is close, but not the true display resolution, and that can cause screen artifacts as well.

As to YouTube videos, you have to remember that many of those videos are not the highest of quality. I've seen videos labeled as 4K that were not even close. Also, YouTube will reduce the resolution if it believes there is a bandwidth issue between you and their servers. 

[twigsixora]

thats the thing though, usually when im using my pc everything looks normal. the only time it happens is when i fullscreen youtube or even just a chrome tab. its not the actual video changing, its the tv. i can tell because when it switches over to the lower quality, the screen will go black for a second and then switch over. then once i exit fullscreen it goes black again then returns to the original quality. the tv is doing some kind of adjusting.

[atc98092]

Well, if there's some sort of component issue with the TV (and that's one possibility), you have to contact the TV manufacturer. Roku does not build the TVs, they only provide the operating system. The manufacturers provide hardware support for the TVs. You can check this page to see how to contact your specific TV manufacturer. 

[StreamerUser]

@twigsixora 

The fact that you TV goes blank/black for a second or three indicates it is doing an HDMI handshake sequence - the resolution and/or refresh rate is changing when you play the videos (which makes sense when you make them full screen).

In addition to what @atc98092  suggests (change input to PC mode - it changes settings for the input for PCs) since you say it looks "low res" it may be - verify the resolution of the input to the TV before and after (use the input display/info feature if it has one), and verify that your video card isnt adjusting the output resolution for full screen to match the content resolution (most video cards do this, GPU Scaling=off).

If it is changing the full screen resolution to match content, and the content resolution is lower than your desktop resolution, its going to look "low res" - a 2160p desktop image is much sharper than a 720p or 1080p video (GPU Scaling=off)

For your PC's video card output settings, your choice is to display your content full screen at its original resolution (lower res content will look lower res) and let the TV do any scaling (GPU Scaling=off), or have the video card upscale it to the desktop resolution (GPU Scaling=on) - either way it may look odd/chunky, but you should try each to see which you prefer.

[RkkMe]

Pay attention to your inputs as well. Each input can have a completely separate set of picture settings, so if you're plugging into different port(s) you might be plugging it into a port that had different settings. It's generally sharpness/edge detail/black level enhancement settings, etc. Also could be due to upscaling from a lower resolution setting from the source.