Shield TV 2017 -- Best color space?

by vizNNN

I have a Mi Box but decided to go ahead and try the new Shield 2017 in comparison to it and figure out which one of the two I want to keep.

One thing I noticed right away was that the color on the Shield was dark and didn't look much like the Mi Box at all. One easy comparison I was looking at was the YouTube logo on the main menu. On the Mi Box, the logo is nice and red and bright, exactly like it should be. On the Shield, it was dark and almost dull.

I first thought it was because of the HDMI, but it wasn't. I tried them on the same port and they still were vastly different. Then I saw the color space options on the Shield and that definitely improved it, but now I don't know which one works the best.

Is there one that is considered best? I have a 55 inch 2015 Samsung 4k TV, and just wondered which one I should be using for the best visual experience.

Andrroid

There's about a dozen or more Samsung models put out every year. You'll need to be more specific.

arindamchoudhury

I have UE55KU6450. What color space should I use?

georgios73

I have a samsung ks9000 and the nvidia shield tv always defaults to 4.2.0 2020 10bit which doesn't trigger hdr. Has anyone figured out a way to enable hdr?

PourJarsInReservoirs

On my several year old Samsung 1080p set, you can make the choice of color space Auto or Native. I suggest choosing Auto and then trying the 4:4:4 option on the Shield if available. Even if your set doesn't support full 4:4:4, the conversion it may do could look better than other options depending on your other settings. You'll have to judge.

ETA: on my set, 4:4:4 does look best to me, but the difference even up close is subtle depending on material played. The colors seem richer and better defined. My set does support 4:4:4 with the correct combination of settings. But I think the other poster's statement that almost everything our devices output is 4:2:x is likely right.

JimboLodisC

Yeah I've always had my 2015 Shield set to RGB cuz I think I simply read somewhere that it was better. Not sure why or how, I just blindly went with it.

But now with this update, I'm wondering if I should really figure out what's best for my TV. (1080p Samsung J6300, 10-bit panel, can do 1080p60 with 4:4:4, no HDR support)

The 3 options I have for color space are:

  • RGB, 8-bit, Rec. 709
  • YCbCr, 4:4:4, 8-bit, Rec. 709
  • YCbCr, 4:2:2, 12-bit, Rec. 709

I do play a few games on here (both Android and emulated), so the Shield isn't strictly streaming video from YouTube, Plex, Netflix, Hulu, etc. I'm wondering if going with a YCbCr option would get me better picture for gaming.