The 4K Experience (and trouble-shooting)

[Middleman]

6 hours ago, markofwolves said:

Where do you get this bios? In the dashboard info i've: 1.0.21

Ok then I have to ask, have you ever seen this screen? This is a VCS BIOS update.

 

If not you may have to run your secondary VCS OS drive. There are two VCS booting partitions available on your system and one of them should activate it.

[markofwolves]

8 hours ago, Middleman said:

Ok then I have to ask, have you ever seen this screen? This is a VCS BIOS update.

 

If not you may have to run your secondary VCS OS drive. There are two VCS booting partitions available on your system and one of them should activate it.

If you go to system, general settings, system update, bios, what version do you have? 1.0.21?

[markofwolves]

After three month Atari replied:

 

Hello Valerio, We are very sorry for the delay. We put out a new update that should solve your issue. Can you try and update your unit for us? Please let us know what happens after the update.

Thank you for your time. Sincerely,

Atari Support

 

My reply:
After the last update (OP 20210826.135839 build 1205 - BIOS 1.0.23) the 4K in the dashboard work fine, in the game work bad, nothing change.

Edited September 13, 2021 by markofwolves

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I actually decided to try the 4k mode on Atari OS tonight and it’s actually working for me now! (3840x2160) restarted the VCS and absolutely no lag or fan noise! I’ve been waiting for this moment since January it’s definitely a step in the right direction the Dashboard looks so much better now. I’ve tried a few games and apps but I don’t know if those are in 4k or not but all is working smoothly. 

[zzip]

I moved my VCS from my PC monitor to my living room TV over the weekend, and booted up Ubuntu where I have my retro games stored.   The TV is 4K and I immediately noticed lag in some things.  Particularly the Dolphin Wii emulator.    I assumed 4K was the issue and bumped it down to 1080p.   Still lag.  But then I set it to 1080p/60 and the lag problems went away.   I noticed ubuntu only showed a 4K/30 but not a 4K/60 setting.

 

I don't know if this is a driver issue, an HDMI cable issue or a hardware issue.   But I wonder if it's related to the 4K issues people were seeing with Atari OS?    There's a good chance that Atari OS uses the same drivers as Ubuntu.

 

Oh I did boot into Atari OS on the same TV and didn't notice any issues there, so maybe they did fix it?  Or maybe I didn't play long enough.

[justclaws]

On 10/12/2021 at 6:08 PM, zzip said:

Oh I did boot into Atari OS on the same TV and didn't notice any issues there, so maybe they did fix it?  Or maybe I didn't play long enough.

As I recall, the Ubuntu drivers are quite a lot older than the AtariOS ones which AMD supplied to Atari, as I understand it.
In Google Chrome, the "chrome://gpu" option shows a lot of interesting video information, but not the driver version I think.

I don't have time to look right now, either. I guess you or somebody else will verify/disprove my comment quicker than I will.

As much as I like Ubuntu, sometimes issues like kernel+video versions, long a problem with Nvidia drivers, get frustrating.
(In particular re: CUDA drivers for Ubuntu, but that's not relevant to the AMD-based VCS of course, but just for context.)

[+MrZarniwoop]

Any new observations a year later of further updates? Is 4K UHD gaming ok on the VCS?

 

How about when booted into Windows with Adrenalin Edition graphics drivers for Steam, since that's currently the only way to play Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration on a VCS?

[swingstate]

On 11/30/2022 at 7:28 AM, MrZarniwoop said:

Any new observations a year later of further updates? Is 4K UHD gaming ok on the VCS?

 

How about when booted into Windows with Adrenalin Edition graphics drivers for Steam, since that's currently the only way to play Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration on a VCS?

Funny enough I can use Windows 10 in 4K and watch 4K videos but I can't do it in AtariOS without this green screen. I reported the issue to Atari Support. I'm thinking if it can't do 4K streaming that well it probably can't game in 4K at all. Btw that green screen in the screenshot only appears when using Chrome in 4K.

[+MrZarniwoop]

On 12/23/2022 at 9:39 PM, swingstate said:

I'm thinking if it can't do 4K streaming that well it probably can't game in 4K at all. Btw that green screen in the screenshot only appears when using Chrome in 4K.

4K on AtariOS worked for me on a couple of different 4K LED and OLED TVs I tried. I'm not sure streaming, like Netflix, really was in 4K though? I suspect it may only be in 1080p.

 

But, I can say definitively, gaming in 4K is laggier than gaming in 1080p, especially noticeable if using the spinner on the classic controller. All games are far snappier and responsive at 1080p, day/night difference if the spinner is used, and don't really look any worse as nothing I tried felt like it really took advantage of 4K visuals.

[tripled79]

On 1/7/2023 at 3:26 PM, MrZarniwoop said:

4K on AtariOS worked for me on a couple of different 4K LED and OLED TVs I tried. I'm not sure streaming, like Netflix, really was in 4K though? I suspect it may only be in 1080p.

 

But, I can say definitively, gaming in 4K is laggier than gaming in 1080p, especially noticeable if using the spinner on the classic controller. All games are far snappier and responsive at 1080p, day/night difference if the spinner is used, and don't really look any worse as nothing I tried felt like it really took advantage of 4K visuals.

Would it be snappiest in 720 mode?

[zzip]

On 1/7/2023 at 4:26 PM, MrZarniwoop said:

4K on AtariOS worked for me on a couple of different 4K LED and OLED TVs I tried. I'm not sure streaming, like Netflix, really was in 4K though? I suspect it may only be in 1080p.

 

But, I can say definitively, gaming in 4K is laggier than gaming in 1080p, especially noticeable if using the spinner on the classic controller. All games are far snappier and responsive at 1080p, day/night difference if the spinner is used, and don't really look any worse as nothing I tried felt like it really took advantage of 4K visuals.

On the Linux side, if it switches into 4K it also goes to 30hz.    30mhz makes some things laggy, notably the Dolphin emulator.   I don't know if the hardware is capable of 4K/60 or if it requires extra configuration

[+MrZarniwoop]

12 hours ago, tripled79 said:

Would it be snappiest in 720 mode?

No discernable difference in feel to me between 720p and 1080p. It might be my video switcher getting confused and showing a blank screen, but I'm not sure the VCS displays the boot up screens the same way in 720p as the Astroids-boot sequence in 1080p.

[zzip]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

On the Linux side, if it switches into 4K it also goes to 30hz.    30mhz makes some things laggy, notably the Dolphin emulator.   I don't know if the hardware is capable of 4K/60 or if it requires extra configuration

The VCS does support HDMI 2.0 which is the minimum for 4K/60    But a non compliant cable or TV could force it to max out at 4K/30.   I suspect the lag people experience in 4K is due to the 30mhz,  but I'm curious if anyone is able to run the VCS at 4K/60, in any OS?   

[+MrZarniwoop]

9 hours ago, zzip said:

The VCS does support HDMI 2.0 which is the minimum for 4K/60    But a non compliant cable or TV could force it to max out at 4K/30.   I suspect the lag people experience in 4K is due to the 30mhz,  but I'm curious if anyone is able to run the VCS at 4K/60, in any OS?   

Windows on my VCS defaults to 4K/59.94hz with many other rates available.

 

[zzip]

11 hours ago, MrZarniwoop said:

Windows on my VCS defaults to 4K/59.94hz with many other rates available.

 

Cool so then its not the hardware, it's either cabling or configuration if you can't hit 60 at 4k

[+MrZarniwoop]

9 hours ago, zzip said:

Cool so then its not the hardware, it's either cabling or configuration if you can't hit 60 at 4k

It’s definitely 4K/60hz on AtariOS according to my TV. The easiest way to see the lag is ThrustLander with a classic controller. When playing with spinning the controller it’s perfect at 1080p and nearly unplayable at 4K.