That's due to deinterlacing as previously mentioned.
Usually ABC stations are 720p, but yours is one of the rare 1080i stations in the country.
WISN is one of several Hearst-owned stations that broadcasts its digital signal in the 1080i high definition format, instead of ABC's preferred 720p resolution format.
Not sure this will help, but I have this issue with my setup on a few local channels (HDHomeRun) when playing on my Shield. If I choose software as the decoder in the Channels app, I get the same flickering. Using hardware as the decoder in the Channels app, the flickering goes away. (ツ)
@tmm1, Yup I knew my ABC station is 1080i which is why I mentioned having flickering on 1080i sources. I also assumed it was due to deinterlacing. The problem though is why I'm experiencing these issues when many other people aren't. That's what I'm trying to figure out.
I actually have tried the 30fps "Blend" deinterlacing option and it does resolving the flickering/flashing issues, but scenes with any kind of motion or panning of the camera are incredibly choppy. Unfortunately that option is a no go.
Thank you all for your input and trying to help me out, I really appreciate it!
So, I've been doing a little more playing around with my setup. I noticed that on my second TV that has a 4th generation (non 4K) Apple TV attached some of the content that was previously flickering on my main setup with the 4K Apple TV was still flickering, but not nearly as bad. That led me to play around more with main TV/4K Apple TV setup.
I have a LG OLED TV and I discovered if I remove all motion enhancements that make motion smoother, the flickering goes away. Unfortunately, I'm then stuck with more choppy motion. My best guess at this point is that other people using Channels having slightly different setups with their TV, etc that make the flickering less noticeable or eliminate it all together.
I'm also guessing that WMC on my standalone computer is using a much superior deinterlacing algorithm due the hardware capabilities of my computer so even though I have all the motion enhancements enabled on my TV, the deinterlacing is superb and there is no flickering whatsoever. @tmm1, from what you said, it sounds like the 4K Apple TV just can't support a better deinterlacing algorithm?
Because I want to keep the motion enhancement features enabled on my TV, I guess I'll either have to deal with the flickering/flashing on 1080i sources or switch back to WMC. @tmm1, is there any option of having access to a beta version or something that will allow me to use a better deinterlacing algorithm? If that was available, I'd be interested in trying it to see if my 4K Apple TV holds up ok. It sounds like there are options within Channels to use software or hardware decoding on the Shield, is there anything like that for the Channels on the Apple TV that I just can't seem to find? I have a couple more days on my free trial so I'll play around with stuff a bit more and see what I can find out before I have to make my decision to stick with Channels or to try something else.
I see this on my AppleTV 4k and FireTV 4k (using both hardware and software decoding). Using my Android TV (Sony) I don't see this at all!
We don’t currently have any work underway to change the deinterlacing algorithms in the apps.
Why is this algorithm different with the different versions? AppleTV and FireTV exhibit this and Android TV doesn't.
What is the “this” you are referring to? This thread was about specific deinterlacing artifacts on different deinterlacing algorithms.
That's what THIS is. The flashing on 1080i OTA content as shown above on Jan 23rd is on AppleTV and FireTV but not Android TV.
I don't see it on FireTV4k. I am using a fairly cheap 4k Vizio TV. Oddly enough, I must be in the same region as FullSynthetic because I'm also using the same exact channel, coming in via OTA, at about 15.9 mbps total data rate on the file, 1080i.
It's possible that I'm just not as sensitive to it.
Android boxes generally provide hardware deinterlacing with motion compensation. Apple TV has no hardware deinterlacing and is not fast enough for advanced software deinterlacing.
I took a file recorded from my SageTV system via cablecard on WISN from this morning, made a copy of it to my Channels DVR Movies Import directory, and watched them on both systems. One of them via a SageTV HD300 extender (which doesn't seem to have the greatest de-interlacing capabilities by today's standards) then the other watched on the Firetv4k. I could not see a difference, with the exception that the scrolling ticker at the bottom of the newcast was smoother on the Firetv device than the much older HD300.
Apple 4K TV. LG 55UM7300AUE 55 in. LED LCD TV. LG's TruMotion set to Clear. ATV set to 4K HD. Frame Rate Matching set to Off.
If I get right up to the screen--I mean like one foot away, and look hard, I can see a little vertical jitter on high-contrast, sharp borders. (E.g.: White border against very dark background.) If I back away to as little as three feet it's entirely undetectable. No excessive aliasing around print, even very close up.
For an experiment: Turned the ATV's Frame Rate Matching to On. No discernible difference.
Verified the station I used for a test signal was broadcasting in 1080i as per the TV's Info display, with the TV, itself, tuned to the channel. (WDIV, channel 4.x, in Detroit.)
Btw: The TV's Info display is telling me the ATV is upscaling everything to 2160p?
What I find odd is if the screen is panning the flashing stops but if there is a scrolling ticker it flashes while it's scrolling. Setting the ATV to 1080 or 4k doesn't matter. Same with Ycbcr(420,444) or RGB. The flashing only happens on horizontal straight lines.
Straight horizontal lines is where you see it. I have a 75*tv and sit 13-14ft from it and see it just fine. I'm fine it it's just the logo because it's such a small area but when there is a scrolling ticker it's abnoxious.
Must be partly due to the TV's performance, then, if you can easily see it clearly on a 75 in. TV from 13-14 feet away and I can't make it out on a 55 in. TV from three feet away, no matter how carefully I look.
I wonder if there are some settings on the TV that are affecting it?
I wonder... Could it possibly be your HDMI cable? I've heard about all kinds of video and audio degradation resulting from HDMI cables not being all they should be.
Its not the TV. It only happens with the FireTV and Apple TV and only with the Channels app.