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EnTerr
Roku Guru

What's ui_resolutions good for?

Manifest file has new parameter, where supposedly ui_resolutions=fhd will specify my app wants to run in 1080 resolution. roScreen and ifDeviceInfo pages imply ui_resolutions will affect the screen resolution, however i always seem to get 720 back from roDeviceInfo, regardless if ui_resolutions is set and to what value.

di.GetDisplayMode()  = 720p
di.GetDisplaySize() = {w: 1280 h: 720}
di.GetSupportedGraphicsResolutions() = [{width: 720 name: SD preferred: false height: 480 ui: false}, {width: 1280 name: HD preferred: true height: 720 ui: true}]
di.GetUIResolution() {width: 1280 name: HD height: 720}

Why ui_resolutions seems to have no effect? Why can't i even know that player is configured for 1080p?
Roku3, fw7.0, Settings > DisplayType=1080p. TV says video signal is 1080p/60Hz at all times.
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13 REPLIES 13
TheEndless
Channel Surfer

Re: What's ui_resolutions good for?

ui_resolutions is used to tell SceneGraph which resolutions are supported by the components in your channel (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/ ... Resolution). The device info functions tell you what the device supports, but I suspect they don't take into account SceneGraph, which is the only way to provide UI in 1080p resolution. As I'm sure you're aware, standard SDK screens are just upscaled from 720p, if you have the box set to 1080p, so technically the UI resolution is still 720p.

I'd be curious to know if roDeviceInfo returns different values if running within the SceneGraph context.
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EnTerr
Roku Guru

Re: What's ui_resolutions good for?

But if ui_resolutions was only for the graphical scenes (xmlGangBang, cf. McGangBang^) - why is it mentioned in roDeviceInfo and roScreen ? The former implies it is taken into account, the latter - that 1080 can be used to draw

Seems there is discrepancy between documentation and implementation?

(^) "when two all beef patties love the same chicken sandwich very much"
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RokuKC
Roku Employee
Roku Employee

Re: What's ui_resolutions good for?

Given that your call to GetSupportedGraphicsResolutions didn't include an fhd entry, you won't be able to use roScreen with FHD / 1080 resolution.

Do you have a Roku 4 to develop on? I would expect you to be able to use it there.

Using roScreen with FHD is independent of SceneGraph components, as you stated.
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EnTerr
Roku Guru

Re: What's ui_resolutions good for?

"RokuKC" wrote:
Given that your call to GetSupportedGraphicsResolutions didn't include an fhd entry, you won't be able to use roScreen with FHD / 1080 resolution.

Do you have a Roku 4 to develop on? I would expect you to be able to use it there.

Using roScreen with FHD is independent of SceneGraph components, as you stated.

This makes me even more confused!

Provided i have set ui_resolutions=fhd ("fhd" only but "sd,hd,fhd" did not fare better),
  • Why doesn't roDeviceInfo in any way show that i can use 1080?

  • How would i know if i can use roScreen in 1080 or not?

  • Isn't roDeviceInfo that can tell me if Roku is connected to TV in 1080 mode?

  • Is "fhd" a Roku4 exclusive? (No, i don't have Roku4 to test it)
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RokuKC
Roku Employee
Roku Employee

Re: What's ui_resolutions good for?

"EnTerr" wrote:

  • Why doesn't roDeviceInfo in any way show that i can use 1080?

  • How would i know if i can use roScreen in 1080 or not?

  • Isn't roDeviceInfo that can tell me if Roku is connected to TV in 1080 mode?

  • Is "fhd" a Roku4 exclusive? (No, i don't have Roku4 to test it)


roDeviceInfo GetSupportedGraphicsResolutions is telling you that only SD and HD resolutions are supported on your Roku 3, and not FHD.

This applies to roScreen, and should indicate both the default and the maximum resolution supported.

Re. TV mode, have you looked at roDeviceInfo.GetVideoMode?

And yes, you can consider FHD exclusive to Roku 4, currently, to my knowledge.

I hope I'm not adding confusion, but I agree that it is a confusing area, and the doc folks have some work to do 😉
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EnTerr
Roku Guru

Re: What's ui_resolutions good for?

"RokuKC" wrote:
Re. TV mode, have you looked at roDeviceInfo.GetVideoMode?

Yes! "di.GetVideoMode()" gives me "1080p" indeed.

But this is kind of weird, isn't it? As in saying "to get the actual screen resolution, check GetVideoMode() (Do not ask GetDisplayMode(), have no faith in GetDisplaySize() )"

I have to admit my current attempts are beyond the scope of BrS SDK alone, as in i am trying to coax Marmalade into running in 1080 instead of 720 - and it's not cooperating, contrary to what the <censored> documentation says. So i figured maybe if i massage the manifest a little, that will help. And i presumed if ui_resolutions affects something, that will show in roDeviceInfo ...
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TheEndless
Channel Surfer

Re: What's ui_resolutions good for?

"EnTerr" wrote:
But this is kind of weird, isn't it? As in saying "to get the actual screen resolution, check GetVideoMode() (Do not ask GetDisplayMode(), have no faith in GetDisplaySize() )"

Presumably, it's because GetDisplayMode() is referring to the graphics plane, while GetVideoMode() is referring to the video plane. If 1080p for graphics rendering is "exclusive" to Roku 4, that would explain why the results differ on your Roku 3 when set to 1080p. With that said, however, on my Roku 4, set to 1080p, GetDisplayMode() still returns 720p. Of course, the documentation still only lists 1280x720 as the max size for roScreen, so I guess 720p would be correct, if 1920x1080 is intentionally left undocumented for some reason (fwiw, I just tested it, and 1920x1080 does indeed work for roScreen on the Roku 4). Perhaps it's undocumented, because they haven't updated the GetDisplayMode() implementation, yet.. 😛
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RokuKC
Roku Employee
Roku Employee

Re: What's ui_resolutions good for?

"TheEndless" wrote:

...
With that said, however, on my Roku 4, set to 1080p, GetDisplayMode() still returns 720p.


Does your app manifest specify ui_resolutions with a list including fhd?
E.g. ui_resolutions=hd,fhd ?
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TheEndless
Channel Surfer

Re: What's ui_resolutions good for?

"RokuKC" wrote:
"TheEndless" wrote:

...
With that said, however, on my Roku 4, set to 1080p, GetDisplayMode() still returns 720p.

Does your app manifest specify ui_resolutions with a list including fhd?
E.g. ui_resolutions=hd,fhd ?

Well played, sir... adding ui_resolutions results in a 1080p result on the Roku 4.
My Channels: http://roku.permanence.com - Twitter: @TheEndlessDev
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