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UI Resolution

C

cue

New member
I am considering purchasing Kaleidescape server. I just got a demo and the functionality and interface is great but the resolution of the UI is a disappointment. I was expecting hd resolution for the Kaleidscape application. The DVD covers and text would look much better. Is there any plans to update this and if so, when?

Eddy
 
Hi Cue, Welcome to the forum!

The UI resolution is outstanding, so I'm betting you saw a demo on a less-than-perfect setup. I know of one dealer who shows Kaleidescape on a 80+ inch screen, but they have it running on component cables and only have the display set for 480i (maybe 480p), so it looks terrible. When I was there last, I could immediately tell that it was in 480 because of the text on the UI. Looked bad - you could see jaggies on the text. I told them, and we checked... sure enough it was only 480p and they said it had something to do with doing very long cable runs from a player in another part of the store.

You won't be disappointed in the UI resolution on a properly set up system... The cover art and UI use every bit of available resolution. The cover art is definitely brought in at high-enough resolution that it looks perfect. (Try the "intermission" function to see how detailed the cover art is... but even in the cover-nav view it's very high.)

Where are you located, by the way? Where'd you see your demo?

--josh
 
I am in Los Altos. I saw it at the dealer's house. Does it support hd resolutions (720p or 1080i) for it's UI?

Thanks for the info...
 
The UI does support 720p and 1080i resolutions... and it does redo the text and graphics for the resolution you set. You set your preferences in the player setup screen. The UI text and screens look amazing on a good display when the player is set up right. You're welcome to come by (Saratoga) some time if you'd like to see mine. PM me if interested.

--josh
 
Agree with everything Josh said. It must not have been set up correctly. I'm projecting to a 127" screen and the cover art looks great.

Jim
 
The UI is always rendered at standard definition (480 lines for NTSC, 576 for PAL). There's an option to show the UI at 720p or 1080i over HDMI, but that's just upscaled standard-definition. The purpose of that option is to avoid video mode changes in the display when showing upscaled DVDs or high-definition content.

Lawrence Kesteloot
Software Engineering Manager
Kaleidescape, Inc.
 
Hey, Welcome back Lawrence! Nice to see you visiting the forums...

Wow... so there we have the official answer and it sounds like the UI is in fact never actually higher than 480 lines. Definitely surprises me. So Lawrence, if that's true, then why is there a VERY noticeable difference in the readability of text on component output at 480p vs. HDMI output at 1080i. Sounds like I shouldn't see a difference, but I definitely do.
 
Hi Josh,

The source material is in 480 lines and your display can only show 1080 lines physically, so scaling must happen somewhere, either in the Kaleidescape Player or in your display. If you prefer the result of the Player outputting 1080i/HDMI to it outputting 480p/component, then either our scaling is better than your display's, or the analog conversion is introducing noise or blurring. You should be able to distinguish by trying 480p/HDMI, eliminating the analog variable.

In general we've found that we do better scaling and much better de-interlacing than what you'll find built-in to a display. But that's not a universal rule and you may find the opposite to be true with some displays, or with a dedicated external scaler.

Lawrence Kesteloot
 
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