Recommended video settings for SPMC and Fire TV

Updated as of Shield Experience 5.0.2 and SPMC 16.5.5 and the 16.6 beta

Overview

UHD TV Settings

Because your content is limited to 1080p, your TV should be configured with limited range of RGB (16-235). You should be able to use both HDMI 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 ports though users have reported a few issues due to HDMI 1.4 devices.

Android TV Settings

Confirm that your Fire TV is configured to limit the video output resolution to "auto":

PATH NEEDED

codec \ device	AFTV2	AFTV1	FireStick1
H.263	S	H	H
H.264	H	H	H
H.265	H	X	X
MPEG2 (SD)	S	S	S
MPEG2 (HD)	X	X	X
VC-1 (SD)	S	S	S
VC-1 (HD)	X	X	X

SPMC Settings

Enable 'expert' in the settings menu. Then, make the following changes:

Videos > Playback

• adjust display refresh rate = on start / stop
• pause during refresh change = 3.0 seconds
• sync playback to display = off

Videos > Acceleration

• allow hardware acceleration - Mediacodec (Surface) = on
• allow hardware acceleration - Mediacodec = on
• accelerate MPEG4 = HD and up
• accelerate h264 = HD and up

System > Video Output

• set GUI resolution limit = 1080
• vertical blank sync = always enabled

advancedsettings.xml

Finally, add the following lines to your advancedsettings.xml. The fanart and imageres elements are optional but enable higher quality jacket art and wallpapers, depending on your source images.

<advancedsettings>
<video>
<enablehighqualityhwscalers>true</enablehighqualityhwscalers>
</video>
<fanartres>1080</fanartres>
<imageres>1080</imageres>
</advancedsettings>

Other / Known Issues

Videos > Playback > sync playback to display should always be set to off when using passthrough audio.

Refresh rate switching doesn't work if the AVR is HDMI 2.0/HDCP 2.2 and the display is HDMI/HDCP 1.4.