I'm not sure if this is an HDMI sync issue mentioned elsewhere but it's only started happening today following calibration of the TV & Zidoo Z9X (I was on factory default settings until today with no issue). When I start a file, audio keeps playing but video goes black briefly before resuming. When you stop and go back to the previous screen (be it Jellyfin or Media Centre), the video does the same. See video: I tried to lock and unlock resolution. Colour settings were YUV422 10Bit for everything but I changed it to match the recommended settings to fix a stutter issue with an HDR file (solved that problem but not this one). I'm not sure what settings I should list so rather than dump them all I'll be guided by feedback and share as needed. All of the main settings match the recommended settings thread though. Note: This happens regardless what content I play. SD, HD, DV, HDR, all display the same issue.
That looks like a broadcast US TV show which is typically at 29.97 or 30 htz. HDMI re-sync is needed everytime the frame rate of the signal changes. The recommendation is to lock Zidoo UI to 23 htz and then configure the unit to switch on frame rate changes. It will cause the least amount of HDMI re-sync as the majority of movies are in 23. However, it won't help with this type of content as the frame rate is not 23.
To add, you can configure the Zidoo to (1) lock resolution to 4K60, (2) use VS10 engine for all contents, and (3) don't switch on framerate. This will cause no HDMI re-sync as everything will output at the same resolution, color space, and framerate (4K60 Dolby Vision). However, the picture quality may suffer as displays (TVs and projectors) are better at handling the different framerates.
As mentioned this is happening on all files now, and did not happen before the calibration. Do I need to be going through the Sony TV settings or the Zidoo? I have already changed Colour settings as mentioned above. Match frame rate is on. 2160p 50 or 60hZ locked doesn't make a difference, still happens. Match dynamic range is on. The 2160p 29.97Hz in the top left corner never used to appear on the screen either, this is new. What am I missing? Whatever the default settings were I didn't have this problem, but it has fixed the previous issue I reported with See and the quality of the dark scenes, and colour settings fixed the HDR jitters I had.
HDMI sync happens on a change of frame rate and/or HDR mode and/or resolution. If your GUI is set to 60Hz and the content is 29.97Hz then of course it will resync. The resolution notification has always been there.
Sorry but none of that explains why this is happening as of the last 24 hours and not the past 6 weeks. So what do I change to make it stop, because my content certainly hasn't changed. I promise you the notification was not there before yesterday. Otherwise I would have come here asking how to get rid of it. What setting do I need to change that I haven't already mentioned? What are the factory default settings? I can then change the settings one by one and test if nobody is sure which one is causing it.
I can only assume that previously either you had the GUI set to the same framerate as the content or you had match framerate off. Assuming the GUI and content play with the same HDR mode and resolution, both those options would not result in a resync and of course you wouldn't see the mode notification at the top (because the mode didn't change). If you set the GUI to 4K60 and play 4K29 content with match frame rate on you will always get an HDMI resync. Let me say this again: HDMI sync happens on a change of frame rate and/or HDR mode and/or resolution.
Mark, you don't need to assume anything. Prior to yesterday I had factory default settings, I didn't change anything out of the box. I was waiting for the calibration to occur before touching any of the settings. So I ask again, what are the default settings for Resolution and AFR? I see what you're saying about the refresh and the display in the top left corner once the refresh is done, but as the refresh never occurred before, I never saw that info when I started watching any content. I don't have 4K content and don't intend to any time soon. It's primarily SD with some 720p episodes and very few 1080p movies. So what is the ideal resolution setting for this content on a Sony A80J? I tried automatic but that just forced 4k 60hZ for some reason and didn't solve the problem. I can change the resolution to a 4K setting if I get any HDR content, but right now I don't need it.
Factory default is match framerate and resolution Off so that explains why you didn't get resyncs on frame rate. But that's absolutely the wrong thing to do because if the content is not the same frame rate as the GUI or an exact multiple, you'll get dropped or repeated frames at a frequency dependent on the difference. So let me ask you what the majority of content you watch is in terms of: 1. Resolution 2. HDR type (SDR, HDR10, DV) 3. Frame Rate ?
Thanks. So I have Resolution at 1080p 60hz and I turned Frame rate mode to Shutdown. I don't see anything for Resolution = Off, just a Lock option and the list of Resolution options (is lock worth using, not mentioned in recommended settings?). Either way, these settings seem to resolve the black screen issue on every file I tested so far. I haven't noticed any dropped frames to date watching a variety of content. As per my previous comment most is SD (480p DVD or 576p BD, usually mkv files), any 720p content is typically WEB sourced from streaming services. I only got 1 episode of See in HDR & DV to troubleshoot the quality issue I posted about in another thread, for which I found jitters in the HDR content until I switched the colour settings from what the calibrator did back to the recommended settings in your thread. No other content above 1080p at the moment. We haven't watched many movies yet, those we did were old Christmas classics. Most of our watching is TV shows which is why I don't bother with crazy high quality, especially since a lot of it is older shows. I assume if I want to watch HDR10 content I would go back to 2160p 60hz with match frame rate only on. If that's all I need to toggle for any 4K I get in the future I'm OK with that.
Shut down and Off are the same thing, just a bad translation - you must be using a different language to me (I use US English and just ignore the fact that colour is spelled wrong ). Ok, I would never ever usually advocate this, but hey, if you don't see the repeated/dropped frames then yeah, by all means leave match framerate off! It'd drive me insane. Sometimes you might miss them if the action is fairly static but as soon as one happens in a pan for example, I'm pulled right out of the movie. It's just such a shame that you've gone to all the trouble of calibrating the TV and then you're watching content in the wrong framerate particularly with such a variety of content.
Other than the frame issue you mentioned (repeat/dropped), should I notice anything else? I don't see a difference in the picture quality, the clarity on faces and movement in dialogue scenes is still pretty good. The upside is I know what framerate and resolution to use when I do get HDR content. It'd be nice if you could setup picture profiles in the Zidoo like you can on the TV and switch between them but it's only 2 settings so shouldn't be too hard to remember.
No, it's just the frame rate that's affected. Some people aren't sensitive to it so much, so my advice is if you don't see an issue then don't look for it.. At the moment, if you set the resolution to 1080p60, HDR to Auto and match frame rate to Off then 1080p content is played at its native resolution by the Zidoo and the TV then upscales it to 4K. All other content is scaled by the Zidoo to 1080p and then scaled by the TV to 4K - two lots of scaling going on. I would suggest setting the Zidoo to 4K60 and then all non-4K content is scaled by the Zidoo only and 4K is played natively from start to finish. There's only ever one scaling and 4K is native. If you do this you don't need to change anything when you watch HDR/DV content (just be aware that you will just get a resync with HDR/DV content only). So to summarise, and to reiterate, I would never normally advocate turning match frame rate off!!! Playback/Automatic frame rate/Frame rate mode: Off (or "Shutdown") Display/HDR: Auto Display/Color Settings/4K 50~60Hz: Priority YUV420 10BIT Display/Color Settings/4K 23~30Hz: Priority YUV444 10BIT Display/Color Settings/Non-4K: Priority YUV444 8BIT Display/Color Settings/HDMI Range: 16-235 Display/Resolution: 3840x2160p 60Hz
