clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/Settings.kt

@@ -114,6 +114,22 @@ data class Settings(
      * A TV (leanback) is always in this mode regardless (its remote/pad is the only input).
      */
     val gamepadUiEnabled: Boolean = true,
+    /**
+     * Draw the console UI at 1080p and let the display scale it up, instead of at the panel's own
+     * resolution. Off by default — this is a deliberate sharpness-for-smoothness trade, not
+     * something to impose on a device that does not need it.
+     *
+     * It exists for 4K TVs and projectors. Their graphics chips are chosen to decode and composite
+     * video, not to shade a UI, and are far slower than a phone's; at 4K every pass the console
+     * draws — the mesh backdrop above all — costs four times what it does at 1080p on hardware
+     * that is nowhere near four times faster. A "premium" 4K box is MORE likely to want this than
+     * a cheap 1080p stick, which never had the extra pixels to begin with.
+     *
+     * Read by [io.unom.punktfunk.console.SkiaConsoleShell], which applies it with
+     * `SurfaceHolder.setFixedSize` — the compositor then scales the smaller buffer up for free.
+     * The stream is untouched; that has its own `renderScale`.
+     */
+    val reduceUiResolution: Boolean = false,
     /**
      * When [gamepadUiEnabled] actually takes over — the cross-client `gamepad_ui_mode` pair,
      * mirroring the Apple client's `gamepadUIMode`: `"connected"` (default, and what the switch
@@ -329,6 +345,7 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
             // Migration: the pre-enum Boolean "trackpad_mode" (true = trackpad, false = direct).
             ?: if (prefs.getBoolean(K_TRACKPAD, true)) TouchMode.TRACKPAD else TouchMode.POINTER,
         gamepadUiEnabled = prefs.getBoolean(K_GAMEPAD_UI, true),
+        reduceUiResolution = prefs.getBoolean(K_REDUCE_UI_RES, false),
         gamepadUiMode = prefs.getString(K_GAMEPAD_UI_MODE, GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED)
             ?: GAMEPAD_UI_WHEN_CONNECTED,
         libraryEnabled = prefs.getBoolean(K_LIBRARY, true),
@@ -373,6 +390,7 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
             .putString(K_STATS_VERBOSITY, s.statsVerbosity.name)
             .putString(K_TOUCH_MODE, s.touchMode.name)
             .putBoolean(K_GAMEPAD_UI, s.gamepadUiEnabled)
+            .putBoolean(K_REDUCE_UI_RES, s.reduceUiResolution)
             .putString(K_GAMEPAD_UI_MODE, s.gamepadUiMode)
             .putBoolean(K_LIBRARY, s.libraryEnabled)
             .putString(K_UI_PALETTE, s.uiPalette)
@@ -415,6 +433,7 @@ class SettingsStore(context: Context) {
         const val K_HUD = "stats_hud_enabled"
         const val K_TOUCH_MODE = "touch_mode"
         const val K_GAMEPAD_UI = "gamepad_ui_enabled"
+        const val K_REDUCE_UI_RES = "reduce_ui_resolution"
         const val K_GAMEPAD_UI_MODE = "gamepad_ui_mode"
         const val K_LIBRARY = "library_enabled"
         const val K_UI_PALETTE = "ui_palette"

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/console/ConsoleJson.kt

@@ -328,6 +328,7 @@ internal object ConsoleJson {
         j.put("android.ds_capture", s.dsCapture)
         j.put("android.gamepad_ui_mode", s.gamepadUiMode)
         j.put("android.gamepad_ui_enabled", s.gamepadUiEnabled)
+        j.put("android.reduce_ui_resolution", s.reduceUiResolution)
         // A store written by the nesting build carries the stale wrapper; drop it rather than
         // round-trip a copy of these keys that nothing reads for the life of the install.
         j.remove("extra")
@@ -386,6 +387,7 @@ internal object ConsoleJson {
             gamepadUiMode = j.optString("android.gamepad_ui_mode", s.gamepadUiMode)
                 .ifEmpty { s.gamepadUiMode },
             gamepadUiEnabled = j.optBoolean("android.gamepad_ui_enabled", s.gamepadUiEnabled),
+            reduceUiResolution = j.optBoolean("android.reduce_ui_resolution", s.reduceUiResolution),
         )
     }
 }

clients/android/app/src/main/kotlin/io/unom/punktfunk/console/SkiaConsoleShell.kt

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import androidx.compose.runtime.remember
 import androidx.compose.runtime.rememberUpdatedState
 import androidx.compose.runtime.setValue
 import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
+import androidx.compose.ui.layout.onSizeChanged
 import androidx.compose.ui.platform.LocalContext
 import androidx.compose.ui.platform.LocalDensity
 import androidx.compose.ui.platform.LocalLayoutDirection
@@ -137,13 +138,53 @@ fun SkiaConsoleShell(
     // Phone) still read a step too small in the hand: the floor is what sets the phone scale
     // (the couch term only wins on tablets and TVs), so this is a phones-only bump.
     val tv = remember { io.unom.punktfunk.isTvDevice(context) }
-    val scale = if (tv) 0f else {
-        val dm = context.resources.displayMetrics
-        val couch = minOf(dm.widthPixels, dm.heightPixels) / 800f
-        maxOf(couch, density.density * 0.75f).coerceIn(0.75f, 3f)
+    // The SurfaceView's own laid-out size, fed back by `onSizeChanged` below — deliberately not
+    // `displayMetrics`. The reduced buffer's aspect ratio has to match the RECT it is scaled into
+    // or the compositor stretches the whole interface, and while those two normally agree,
+    // `displayMetrics` has a long history of disagreeing with a view's real size by a system bar
+    // depending on the version and on who is currently hiding what. "Normally agree" is not
+    // something to hang picture geometry on. Zero until the first layout, which is exactly what
+    // `render` wants: the surface comes up at its natural size and is re-fixed a frame later.
+    var viewW by remember { mutableStateOf(0) }
+    var viewH by remember { mutableStateOf(0) }
+    // "Reduce interface resolution" (`Settings.reduceUiResolution`): cap the console's BUFFER at
+    // 1920 on its long edge and let the compositor scale it up to the panel. 1 means "draw at the
+    // panel's own resolution" — the setting is off, or the display is already at or under 1080p
+    // and there is nothing to give back.
+    //
+    // ONE factor on both axes, so the aspect ratio survives exactly and no layout can stretch.
+    // Everything else in this function that speaks in SURFACE pixels multiplies by it — the insets
+    // and design-unit scale just below, the pointer coordinates further down — because
+    // `setFixedSize` shrinks the buffer WITHOUT shrinking the view: a mouse still reports its
+    // position in view pixels, and handing those straight to a half-size surface would land the
+    // cursor at twice its true offset.
+    val render = if (!settings.reduceUiResolution) 1f else {
+        val long = maxOf(viewW, viewH)
+        if (long > 1920) 1920f / long else 1f
     }
-    LaunchedEffect(handle, left, top, right, bottom, scale) {
-        if (handle != 0L) NativeBridge.nativeConsoleSetViewport(handle, left, top, right, bottom, scale)
+    // The pointer listeners below are installed in `factory`, which runs ONCE — capturing `render`
+    // directly would freeze them at its first-composition value (1, before the first layout has
+    // reported a size), and a mouse would keep reporting view pixels into a half-size surface for
+    // the rest of the session. Same reason `platformUp` is held this way.
+    val currentRender by rememberUpdatedState(render)
+    val dm = context.resources.displayMetrics
+    val scale = if (tv) 0f else {
+        val couch = minOf(dm.widthPixels, dm.heightPixels) / 800f
+        // `render` too: the design-unit scale is in SURFACE pixels, so shrinking the buffer without
+        // shrinking this would draw the type larger on screen than the same phone draws it today.
+        maxOf(couch, density.density * 0.75f).coerceIn(0.75f, 3f) * render
+    }
+    LaunchedEffect(handle, left, top, right, bottom, scale, render) {
+        if (handle != 0L) {
+            NativeBridge.nativeConsoleSetViewport(
+                handle,
+                left * render,
+                top * render,
+                right * render,
+                bottom * render,
+                scale,
+            )
+        }
     }
 
     // The pad, raw, before MainActivity's B→Back and stick→D-pad synthesis: face buttons and the
@@ -272,7 +313,9 @@ fun SkiaConsoleShell(
 
     Box(Modifier.fillMaxSize()) {
         AndroidView(
-            modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(),
+            modifier = Modifier
+                .fillMaxSize()
+                .onSizeChanged { viewW = it.width; viewH = it.height },
             factory = { ctx ->
                 SurfaceView(ctx).apply {
                     // The console draws opaque, edge to edge; Compose overlays sit above it.
@@ -305,7 +348,8 @@ fun SkiaConsoleShell(
                             MotionEvent.ACTION_CANCEL -> 5
                             else -> return@setOnTouchListener false
                         }
-                        NativeBridge.nativeConsolePointer(handle, kind, ev.x, ev.y, 0f)
+                        // View pixels → SURFACE pixels (see `render` above).
+                        NativeBridge.nativeConsolePointer(handle, kind, ev.x * currentRender, ev.y * currentRender, 0f)
                         if (ev.actionMasked == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP) v.performClick()
                         true
                     }
@@ -313,13 +357,27 @@ fun SkiaConsoleShell(
                         if (handle != 0L && ev.actionMasked == MotionEvent.ACTION_SCROLL &&
                             ev.isFromSource(InputDevice.SOURCE_CLASS_POINTER)
                         ) {
-                            NativeBridge.nativeConsolePointer(handle, 4, ev.x, ev.y, ev.getAxisValue(MotionEvent.AXIS_VSCROLL))
+                            NativeBridge.nativeConsolePointer(handle, 4, ev.x * currentRender, ev.y * currentRender, ev.getAxisValue(MotionEvent.AXIS_VSCROLL))
                             true
                         } else false
                     }
                     importantForAccessibility = View.IMPORTANT_FOR_ACCESSIBILITY_NO
                 }
             },
+            // Applied here rather than in `factory` so flipping the setting takes effect without
+            // leaving the console: `setFixedSize` re-creates the buffer and the render thread
+            // re-wraps it through the ordinary surfaceChanged path. `setSizeFromLayout` is the
+            // documented way back to "the view's own size" when the setting goes off again.
+            update = { view ->
+                if (render < 1f) {
+                    view.holder.setFixedSize(
+                        (viewW * render).roundToInt().coerceAtLeast(1),
+                        (viewH * render).roundToInt().coerceAtLeast(1),
+                    )
+                } else {
+                    view.holder.setSizeFromLayout()
+                }
+            },
         )
         when (platformScreen) {
             "licenses" -> ConsoleLicensesScreen(onBack = { platformScreen = null }, navActive = true)

clients/android/native/src/console/host.rs

@@ -223,6 +223,7 @@ impl ConsoleHost {
         let thread = std::thread::Builder::new()
             .name("pf-console".into())
             .spawn(move || {
+                boost_thread_priority();
                 let run = || -> Result<()> {
                     let console = Console::new(opts, entry, &thread_handles)?;
                     render_loop(console, thread_shared.clone(), thread_store)
@@ -249,6 +250,34 @@ impl ConsoleHost {
     }
 }
 
+/// Best-effort: lift the console's render thread off the default nice band, the same way
+/// `decode::setup::boost_thread_priority` lifts the decode thread. This thread IS the console's
+/// frame loop — every menu press waits on it — and at default priority a TV box's scheduler is
+/// free to park it on a little core behind whatever else the system is doing, which reads as a
+/// UI that lags the remote. `-8` rather than the decode path's `-10`: a stream's frames are the
+/// harder deadline, and the two should not compete when the console is up during a session.
+///
+/// Non-fatal if the platform refuses (the exact floor a foreground app may set is policy).
+fn boost_thread_priority() {
+    // SAFETY: `gettid`/`setpriority` on the calling thread are always-safe syscalls; PRIO_PROCESS
+    // with a TID targets that one task on Linux — the idiom `Process.setThreadPriority` uses.
+    unsafe {
+        let tid = libc::gettid();
+        if libc::setpriority(libc::PRIO_PROCESS, tid as libc::id_t, -8) != 0 {
+            log::debug!(
+                "console: setpriority(-8) failed (non-fatal): {}",
+                std::io::Error::last_os_error()
+            );
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// How often the render loop reports what a frame is costing it. Nothing in a bug report from a
+/// TV said whether the console was drawing at 4K or at 60 Hz, so "it feels sluggish" could not be
+/// triaged from a log bundle at all — this is that missing line. One line a minute is cheap
+/// enough to leave on for everyone, and the answer is only useful from the box that is slow.
+const FRAME_REPORT: Duration = Duration::from_secs(60);
+
 /// No input for this long = the console is being looked at, not used — halve the redraw
 /// rate (`IDLE_FRAME_STEP` slept between swaps). 60 s keeps every interaction and its
 /// afterglow at full smoothness and only calms a genuinely parked screen.
@@ -283,6 +312,9 @@ fn render_loop(mut console: Console, shared: Arc<Shared>, store: Arc<SnapshotSto
     // SurfaceView forever. Dying raises `Dead`, and Kotlin answers with the touch UI.
     let mut gl_failures = 0u32;
     const GL_FAILURE_LIMIT: u32 = 3;
+    // What a frame is costing, reported once a `FRAME_REPORT` window (see there).
+    let (mut frames, mut frame_time, mut frame_peak) = (0u32, Duration::ZERO, Duration::ZERO);
+    let mut report_at = Instant::now();
 
     loop {
         // Take everything queued. With no surface up, block until something arrives.
@@ -446,8 +478,17 @@ fn render_loop(mut console: Console, shared: Arc<Shared>, store: Arc<SnapshotSto
                 skia = None;
                 match g.wrap_window(&egl, w, h) {
                     Ok(surf) => {
+                        // The console's real render resolution — the one number a bug report
+                        // from a TV never carried. A 4K panel is 4× the fragment work of 1080p
+                        // for every pass the shell draws.
+                        log::info!("console: drawing at {w}×{h}");
                         skia = Some((surf, w, h));
                         gl_failures = 0;
+                        // Start the frame window here, not at loop entry: the console parks
+                        // with no surface while a stream is up, and a window that had been
+                        // open across that would report its first frame as "1 frame in 20 min".
+                        (frames, frame_time, frame_peak, report_at) =
+                            (0, Duration::ZERO, Duration::ZERO, Instant::now());
                     }
                     Err(e) => {
                         log::error!("console: {e:#}");
@@ -462,6 +503,11 @@ fn render_loop(mut console: Console, shared: Arc<Shared>, store: Arc<SnapshotSto
                     insets,
                     scale,
                 };
+                // Around the DRAW only, not the swap: `eglSwapBuffers` blocks on vsync, so
+                // wall-clock per iteration is always ~the panel period and says nothing. What
+                // matters is how much of that period the shell spends building the frame —
+                // once that passes the period, the console is missing vsyncs.
+                let drew = Instant::now();
                 console.frame(
                     surf.canvas(),
                     &viewport,
@@ -470,6 +516,20 @@ fn render_loop(mut console: Console, shared: Arc<Shared>, store: Arc<SnapshotSto
                     &pads,
                 );
                 g.context.flush_and_submit();
+                let cost = drew.elapsed();
+                frame_time += cost;
+                frame_peak = frame_peak.max(cost);
+                frames += 1;
+                if report_at.elapsed() >= FRAME_REPORT {
+                    log::info!(
+                        "console: {w}×{h}, {frames} frames in {:?} — {:.1} ms/frame mean, {:.1} ms peak",
+                        report_at.elapsed(),
+                        frame_time.as_secs_f64() * 1000.0 / f64::from(frames),
+                        frame_peak.as_secs_f64() * 1000.0,
+                    );
+                    (frames, frame_time, frame_peak, report_at) =
+                        (0, Duration::ZERO, Duration::ZERO, Instant::now());
+                }
                 if let Err(e) = s.swap() {
                     // The window went away under us; wait for the next surface.
                     log::warn!("console: {e:#} — dropping the surface");

crates/pf-console-ui/src/screens/settings.rs

@@ -80,6 +80,12 @@ enum RowId {
     /// beside the palette row for the same reason it does: both are presentation, and the
     /// effect of stepping this one is visible on the backdrop behind it.
     ReduceMotion,
+    /// Draw the console at 1080p and let the display scale it up, instead of at the panel's
+    /// own resolution. Android-only, and beside [`RowId::ReduceMotion`] on purpose: both are
+    /// "give up some fidelity for a smoother console", and this is the one that matters on a
+    /// 4K TV or projector, where every pass the shell draws costs four times what it does at
+    /// 1080p on a GPU that is not four times faster.
+    ReduceUiResolution,
     /// How the game library arranges its titles — see `library::LibraryView`. The library
     /// changes it in place now, from the bar over its own field, which is where an
     /// arrangement you want to SEE the effect of belongs; this row stays because both
@@ -128,6 +134,7 @@ mod android_keys {
     pub const DS_CAPTURE: &str = "android.ds_capture";
     pub const GAMEPAD_UI_MODE: &str = "android.gamepad_ui_mode";
     pub const GAMEPAD_UI: &str = "android.gamepad_ui_enabled";
+    pub const REDUCE_UI_RES: &str = "android.reduce_ui_resolution";
 }
 
 /// The Android console-UI mode's stored values (`GamepadUi.kt`).
@@ -247,6 +254,7 @@ const TABS: [(&str, &[RowId]); 7] = [
         &[
             RowId::Palette,
             RowId::ReduceMotion,
+            RowId::ReduceUiResolution,
             RowId::LibraryView,
             RowId::LibraryCollections,
             RowId::Stats,
@@ -685,6 +693,7 @@ fn row_on(id: RowId, platform: crate::platform::Platform) -> bool {
             | RowId::DsCapture
             | RowId::GamepadUi
             | RowId::GamepadUiMode
+            | RowId::ReduceUiResolution
             | RowId::Controllers
             | RowId::Licenses
     );
@@ -936,6 +945,11 @@ fn row_spec(id: RowId, ctx: &Ctx, profiles: &[(String, String)]) -> RowSpec {
         // Phrased as the thing that is ON, not as the suppression, so "On" means the
         // reduction is in effect — the same way every other toggle on this screen reads.
         RowId::ReduceMotion => (None, "Reduce motion", on_off(s.reduce_motion).into()),
+        RowId::ReduceUiResolution => (
+            None,
+            "Reduce interface resolution",
+            on_off(extra_bool(s, android_keys::REDUCE_UI_RES, false)).into(),
+        ),
         RowId::LibraryView => (
             None,
             "Library view",
@@ -1131,6 +1145,12 @@ fn detail(id: RowId, platform: crate::platform::Platform) -> &'static str {
              fades. Also the gentler choice on an OLED, where a still field can sit for \
              hours."
         }
+        RowId::ReduceUiResolution => {
+            "Draws the menus at 1080p and lets the display scale them up. Text goes a \
+             little softer; the console gets much smoother on a 4K TV or projector, whose \
+             graphics chip is far slower than the panel in front of it. Nothing about a \
+             stream changes — this is the interface only."
+        }
         RowId::LibraryView => {
             "Shelf shows one cover at a time, big. Grid shows about eighteen at once — \
              for when you already know what you are looking for. The library's own bar \
@@ -1396,6 +1416,9 @@ fn adjust(id: RowId, delta: i32, wrap: bool, ctx: &mut Ctx) -> bool {
             step_option(cur, all.len(), delta, wrap).map(|i| s.ui_palette = all[i].id.to_string())
         }
         RowId::ReduceMotion => toggle(&mut s.reduce_motion, delta, wrap),
+        RowId::ReduceUiResolution => {
+            toggle_extra(s, android_keys::REDUCE_UI_RES, false, delta, wrap)
+        }
         RowId::LibraryView => {
             let all = &crate::library::LibraryView::ALL;
             let cur = crate::library::LibraryView::parse(&s.library_view);
@@ -2250,11 +2273,12 @@ pub(super) mod tests {
         // 2026-08 sweep found them bridged but unreachable) later passes added, minus the
         // game-library toggle: this screen never read it, and the library is offered on any
         // paired host now.
-        // 35 desktop rows + the nine Android-only ones (design android-skia-console-port.md
-        // D3): seven `extra`-backed settings and two platform-screen action rows.
-        assert_eq!(seen.len(), 44, "{seen:?}");
+        // 35 desktop rows + the ten Android-only ones (design android-skia-console-port.md
+        // D3): eight `extra`-backed settings and two platform-screen action rows.
+        assert_eq!(seen.len(), 45, "{seen:?}");
         assert!(seen.contains(&RowId::Palette));
         assert!(seen.contains(&RowId::ReduceMotion));
+        assert!(seen.contains(&RowId::ReduceUiResolution));
         assert!(seen.contains(&RowId::AudioFormat));
         // The catalog rows belong to the trailing tab, which builds them at render time.
         assert!(TABS[PROFILES_TAB].1.is_empty());

crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/overlays.rs

@@ -163,8 +163,19 @@ impl Shell {
             let bw = lead + tw + pad_x;
             let bx = (w - bw) / 2.0;
             let by = h - BOTTOM_BAND * k - bh - 8.0 * k + (1.0 - slide) * 12.0 * k;
-            canvas.save_layer_alpha_f(None, alpha);
             let rect = Rect::from_xywh(bx as f32, by as f32, bw as f32, bh as f32);
+            // BOUNDED to the pill. Unbounded, `save_layer` allocates an offscreen the size of
+            // the whole SURFACE and composites it back — on a 4K TV that is a 33 MB render
+            // target raised and torn down every frame, for four seconds, to fade a 34 dp pill
+            // (and on a box whose whole Skia budget is 64 MB, it evicts real work to do it).
+            //
+            // Everything drawn inside is inside `rect`: the pill fill, `theme::panel`'s
+            // hairline ON that rect, the kind mark centred in it, and text that ends a `pad_x`
+            // short of its right edge. There is no blur to reach further, so the outset is
+            // slack for the stroke rather than a computed reach — `screens::home` needs 36 k
+            // for the same layer only because it wraps a σ = 10 k halo.
+            let bounds = rect.with_outset((12.0 * k as f32, 12.0 * k as f32));
+            canvas.save_layer_alpha_f(Some(bounds), alpha);
             canvas.draw_rrect(
                 skia_safe::RRect::new_rect_xy(rect, (bh / 2.0) as f32, (bh / 2.0) as f32),
                 &fill(crate::theme::shade(0.6)),

crates/pf-console-ui/src/shell/render.rs

@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ impl Shell {
             }
             None => dt,
         };
+        // The shaped-paragraph cache's clock, before anything asks it to draw.
+        fonts.begin_frame();
         self.sync();
         // Publish the palette's ink before ANYTHING draws — every widget, glyph and panel in
         // the crate reads it (see `theme::set_ink`), so a frame that skipped this would paint
@@ -80,10 +82,14 @@ impl Shell {
         crate::theme::set_reduce_motion(reduce);
         self.pads = pads.to_vec();
         self.glyphs = GlyphStyle::from_pref(pad_pref);
-        self.chip = Some(pad.map_or_else(
-            || "No controller — keyboard works too".to_string(),
-            str::to_owned,
-        ));
+        // Compared before it is rebuilt: this string changes when someone plugs a controller
+        // in, and was being re-allocated 60 times a second to say so. (`pads` above is left
+        // alone — it is at most a handful of small structs, and `PadInfo` would have to grow a
+        // `PartialEq` in another crate to be worth the same treatment.)
+        let chip = pad.unwrap_or("No controller — keyboard works too");
+        if self.chip.as_deref() != Some(chip) {
+            self.chip = Some(chip.to_owned());
+        }
 
         let (full_w, full_h) = (f64::from(viewport.width), f64::from(viewport.height));
         let ins = viewport.insets;
@@ -353,7 +359,26 @@ impl LayerEnv<'_> {
         scale: f64,
     ) -> Vec<(crate::glyphs::HintKey, Rect)> {
         let canvas = self.canvas;
-        canvas.save_layer_alpha_f(None, alpha.clamp(0.0, 1.0) as f32);
+        // Only RAISE the layer when it carries something. A settled screen is painted at full
+        // alpha, unscaled and unslid, and an unbounded `save_layer` allocates an offscreen the
+        // size of the whole SURFACE and composites it back — so the console was paying for one
+        // full-screen offscreen on every frame it sat still, to apply an alpha of 1. Skia does
+        // not elide it either: `SkCanvas::saveLayerAlphaf` forwards alpha ≥ 1 straight to
+        // `saveLayer(bounds, nullptr)`, whose only early-out is an empty clip.
+        //
+        // Dropping the layer is pixel-identical rather than merely close: nothing in this crate
+        // draws with a blend mode other than `SrcOver`, and `SrcOver` is associative, so
+        // compositing the draws into a transparent layer and then over the backdrop lands on
+        // exactly the value drawing them straight onto the backdrop does. (It is also why the
+        // text stays grayscale-AA — no LCD subpixel text to gain or lose an isolation.) Same
+        // reasoning `screens::home` already bounds its per-tile layer by.
+        let layered = alpha < 0.999 || (scale - 1.0).abs() > 0.001 || dy.abs() > 0.001;
+        if layered {
+            canvas.save_layer_alpha_f(None, alpha.clamp(0.0, 1.0) as f32);
+        } else {
+            // Still a save: the transform below is undone by the same `restore`.
+            canvas.save();
+        }
         canvas.translate((0.0, dy as f32));
         let (cx, cy) = ((self.w / 2.0) as f32, (self.h / 2.0) as f32);
         canvas.translate((cx, cy));

crates/pf-console-ui/src/theme.rs

@@ -7,12 +7,15 @@
 
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Result};
 use skia_safe::textlayout::{
-    FontCollection, ParagraphBuilder, ParagraphStyle, TextAlign, TextStyle, TypefaceFontProvider,
+    FontCollection, Paragraph, ParagraphBuilder, ParagraphStyle, TextAlign, TextStyle,
+    TypefaceFontProvider,
 };
 use skia_safe::{
     gradient, Canvas, Color4f, Font, FontMgr, FontStyle, MaskFilter, Paint, PathEffect, Point,
     RRect, Rect, TileMode, Typeface,
 };
+use std::cell::{Cell, RefCell};
+use std::collections::HashMap;
 
 // --- Paint ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -521,7 +524,7 @@ pub(crate) const EDGE_INSET: f64 = 24.0;
 // --- Typography ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 /// Geist weights the console uses (matching the Apple client's `.geist(size, weight)`).
-#[derive(Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq)]
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
 pub(crate) enum W {
     Regular,
     Medium,
@@ -538,6 +541,111 @@ pub(crate) struct Fonts {
     semibold: Typeface,
     bold: Typeface,
     collection: FontCollection,
+    /// Shaped paragraphs, keyed by everything that shapes one ([`ParaKey`]).
+    ///
+    /// `Paragraph::layout` runs the whole shaper — HarfBuzz, line breaking, font fallback —
+    /// and the shell re-built every paragraph on screen from scratch EVERY frame, which on a
+    /// TV box is the largest CPU cost in the frame. Position is deliberately not part of the
+    /// key (`paint` takes it), so one shaped paragraph serves a string wherever it moves to:
+    /// a scrolling shelf and a screen transition both re-use it rather than re-shaping.
+    ///
+    /// `RefCell` because every draw path here takes `&self` and the console's shell is
+    /// single-threaded by construction (one render thread owns it on all three ABIs).
+    paragraphs: RefCell<HashMap<ParaKey, Cached>>,
+    /// The frame counter [`Fonts::begin_frame`] bumps — the cache's liveness clock.
+    frame: Cell<u64>,
+}
+
+/// The three paragraph shapes the console draws. A single tag rather than a loose
+/// `(TextAlign, Option<usize>)` pair because it is half of a hash key, and because those two
+/// were never independent — every call site picks one of these three.
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
+enum Para {
+    /// Centred, wrapping freely.
+    Centered,
+    /// Left-aligned, wrapping freely.
+    Leading,
+    /// Left-aligned, clamped to one ellipsized line.
+    Heading,
+}
+
+impl Para {
+    /// The paragraph style this shape asks for: alignment, and the line clamp if it has one.
+    fn style(self) -> (TextAlign, Option<usize>) {
+        match self {
+            Para::Centered => (TextAlign::Center, None),
+            Para::Leading => (TextAlign::Left, None),
+            Para::Heading => (TextAlign::Left, Some(1)),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Everything [`shape`] bakes into a laid-out `Paragraph` — change any of it and the shaped
+/// result differs, so all of it is in the key.
+///
+/// The floats ride as bits: the sizes and widths are all `k`-scaled, so they are never whole
+/// numbers, and `f64`/`f32` are not `Hash`. Bit equality is the right test anyway — the same
+/// `k` produces the same bits, and a different `k` must re-shape.
+#[derive(PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
+struct ParaKey {
+    text: String,
+    kind: Para,
+    weight: W,
+    size: u64,
+    max_w: u32,
+    /// ARGB, as `[a, r, g, b]`.
+    color: [u8; 4],
+}
+
+/// One shaped paragraph and the frame it was last drawn on.
+struct Cached {
+    para: Paragraph,
+    used: u64,
+}
+
+/// How many shaped paragraphs stay resident before the cold ones are dropped. A screen draws
+/// well under this; the ceiling exists for the library, where paging a large catalogue walks
+/// through thousands of titles and every one of them would otherwise be kept forever.
+const PARA_CACHE_MAX: usize = 512;
+
+/// Build and lay out one paragraph — the shaping [`Fonts::draw_paragraph`]'s cache exists to
+/// do exactly once per distinct key.
+///
+/// A free function rather than a method because the cache hands it a `&ParaKey` borrowed out
+/// of the map it is inserting into, which rules out holding `&self` across the call.
+fn shape(collection: &FontCollection, key: &ParaKey) -> Paragraph {
+    let (align, clamp) = key.kind.style();
+    let mut style = ParagraphStyle::new();
+    style.set_text_align(align);
+    if let Some(lines) = clamp {
+        style.set_max_lines(lines);
+        style.set_ellipsis("\u{2026}");
+    }
+    let mut ts = TextStyle::new();
+    ts.set_font_families(&["Geist"]);
+    ts.set_font_size(f64::from_bits(key.size) as f32);
+    let [a, r, g, b] = key.color;
+    ts.set_color(skia_safe::Color::from_argb(a, r, g, b));
+    ts.set_font_style(match key.weight {
+        W::Regular => FontStyle::normal(),
+        W::Medium => FontStyle::new(
+            skia_safe::font_style::Weight::MEDIUM,
+            skia_safe::font_style::Width::NORMAL,
+            skia_safe::font_style::Slant::Upright,
+        ),
+        W::SemiBold => FontStyle::new(
+            skia_safe::font_style::Weight::SEMI_BOLD,
+            skia_safe::font_style::Width::NORMAL,
+            skia_safe::font_style::Slant::Upright,
+        ),
+        W::Bold => FontStyle::bold(),
+    });
+    style.set_text_style(&ts);
+    let mut builder = ParagraphBuilder::new(&style, collection.clone());
+    builder.add_text(&key.text);
+    let mut p = builder.build();
+    p.layout(f32::from_bits(key.max_w));
+    p
 }
 
 /// The Geist faces ride in the binary — the console must look right on a bare gamescope
@@ -574,6 +682,8 @@ pub(crate) fn build_fonts() -> Result<Fonts> {
         semibold,
         bold,
         collection,
+        paragraphs: RefCell::new(HashMap::new()),
+        frame: Cell::new(0),
     })
 }
 
@@ -641,50 +751,59 @@ impl Fonts {
         }
     }
 
-    /// `clamp` caps the paragraph at that many lines and ellipsizes what doesn't fit; `None`
-    /// wraps freely. A heading has to clamp — an over-long one used to grow DOWNWARD into the
-    /// screen's content, which is why both other clients pin theirs to one line.
+    /// Start a frame — the paragraph cache's clock. Anything not drawn on this frame or the
+    /// one before it becomes a candidate for eviction, so the live set is exactly "what the
+    /// last two frames drew". The shell calls this once per `render_in`.
+    pub(crate) fn begin_frame(&self) {
+        self.frame.set(self.frame.get().wrapping_add(1));
+    }
+
+    /// Draw a shaped paragraph, building and laying it out only the first time this exact
+    /// (text, shape, weight, size, width, colour) is asked for — see [`Fonts::paragraphs`].
+    /// `at` is the paragraph's TOP-LEFT, and is deliberately not part of the key.
     #[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
-    fn paragraph(
+    fn draw_paragraph(
         &self,
+        canvas: &Canvas,
         text: &str,
+        kind: Para,
         w: W,
         size: f64,
         color: Color4f,
-        align: TextAlign,
         max_w: f64,
-        clamp: Option<usize>,
-    ) -> skia_safe::textlayout::Paragraph {
-        let mut style = ParagraphStyle::new();
-        style.set_text_align(align);
-        if let Some(lines) = clamp {
-            style.set_max_lines(lines);
-            style.set_ellipsis("\u{2026}");
-        }
-        let mut ts = TextStyle::new();
-        ts.set_font_families(&["Geist"]);
-        ts.set_font_size(size as f32);
-        ts.set_color(color.to_color());
-        ts.set_font_style(match w {
-            W::Regular => FontStyle::normal(),
-            W::Medium => FontStyle::new(
-                skia_safe::font_style::Weight::MEDIUM,
-                skia_safe::font_style::Width::NORMAL,
-                skia_safe::font_style::Slant::Upright,
-            ),
-            W::SemiBold => FontStyle::new(
-                skia_safe::font_style::Weight::SEMI_BOLD,
-                skia_safe::font_style::Width::NORMAL,
-                skia_safe::font_style::Slant::Upright,
-            ),
-            W::Bold => FontStyle::bold(),
+        at: Point,
+    ) {
+        let frame = self.frame.get();
+        // ponytail: the key owns its text, so a HIT still costs one small `String` allocation
+        // where a borrowed-key lookup would cost none. Deliberate — it is a rounding error
+        // against the shape it replaces, and the alternatives (hash-only keys, `hashbrown`'s
+        // raw entry) trade a real collision risk or a dependency for it. Revisit only if a
+        // profile ever puts this line on the board.
+        let key = ParaKey {
+            text: text.to_owned(),
+            kind,
+            weight: w,
+            size: size.to_bits(),
+            max_w: (max_w as f32).to_bits(),
+            color: {
+                // The 8-bit ARGB the paragraph actually bakes, not the `Color4f` it came
+                // from — two float colours that round to the same pixel share an entry.
+                let c = color.to_color();
+                [c.a(), c.r(), c.g(), c.b()]
+            },
+        };
+        let mut cache = self.paragraphs.borrow_mut();
+        let entry = cache.entry(key).or_insert_with_key(|k| Cached {
+            para: shape(&self.collection, k),
+            used: frame,
         });
-        style.set_text_style(&ts);
-        let mut b = ParagraphBuilder::new(&style, self.collection.clone());
-        b.add_text(text);
-        let mut p = b.build();
-        p.layout(max_w as f32);
-        p
+        entry.used = frame;
+        entry.para.paint(canvas, at);
+        // Drop what the last two frames did not draw. Every entry still on screen is
+        // re-stamped above on the frame it appears in, so this only reaps strings that left.
+        if cache.len() > PARA_CACHE_MAX {
+            cache.retain(|_, c| c.used + 1 >= frame);
+        }
     }
 
     /// Centered, wrapping paragraph with `y` as its TOP edge (shaping + CJK fallback).
@@ -700,8 +819,8 @@ impl Fonts {
         y: f64,
         max_w: f64,
     ) {
-        let p = self.paragraph(text, w, size, color, TextAlign::Center, max_w, None);
-        p.paint(canvas, Point::new((cx - max_w / 2.0) as f32, y as f32));
+        let at = Point::new((cx - max_w / 2.0) as f32, y as f32);
+        self.draw_paragraph(canvas, text, Para::Centered, w, size, color, max_w, at);
     }
 
     /// [`centered`](Self::centered)'s LEFT-ALIGNED twin: `x` is the text's left edge, `y` its
@@ -719,8 +838,8 @@ impl Fonts {
         y: f64,
         max_w: f64,
     ) {
-        let p = self.paragraph(text, w, size, color, TextAlign::Left, max_w, None);
-        p.paint(canvas, Point::new(x as f32, y as f32));
+        let at = Point::new(x as f32, y as f32);
+        self.draw_paragraph(canvas, text, Para::Leading, w, size, color, max_w, at);
     }
 
     /// A screen's heading: left-aligned at `x`, top edge at `y`, clamped to ONE ellipsized
@@ -743,8 +862,8 @@ impl Fonts {
         y: f64,
         max_w: f64,
     ) {
-        let p = self.paragraph(text, w, size, color, TextAlign::Left, max_w, Some(1));
-        p.paint(canvas, Point::new(x as f32, y as f32));
+        let at = Point::new(x as f32, y as f32);
+        self.draw_paragraph(canvas, text, Para::Heading, w, size, color, max_w, at);
     }
 
     /// A single shaped line, middle-ellipsized to `max_w`, drawn at a baseline. For
@@ -770,8 +889,12 @@ impl Fonts {
         let ell_w = font.measure_str(ell, None).0;
         let mut fitted = String::new();
         let mut used = 0.0f32;
+        // The char goes onto the stack to be measured, not into a fresh `String` per character:
+        // this runs for every over-long title on screen, every frame, and the allocation was
+        // the bulk of it. `encode_utf8` writes the same bytes `to_string` would have.
+        let mut buf = [0u8; 4];
         for ch in text.chars() {
-            let cw = font.measure_str(ch.to_string().as_str(), None).0;
+            let cw = font.measure_str(&*ch.encode_utf8(&mut buf), None).0;
             if used + cw + ell_w > max_w as f32 {
                 break;
             }

docs-site/content/docs/client-settings.md

@@ -252,6 +252,16 @@ the route where there are no face buttons to press, such as an Android TV remote
 names whichever your device has; the Apple TV carries it in ordinary Settings next to **Show it**
 instead, so it's reachable from the Siri Remote.
 
+**Reduce interface resolution** — *default: off.* Android only, in the controller-optimized
+settings. Draws the menus at 1080p and lets the display scale them up, instead of drawing at the
+panel's own resolution. Text goes a little softer; the interface gets much smoother. It is for 4K
+televisions and projectors, whose graphics chips are built to decode and composite video rather
+than to draw a moving interface, and are far slower than the ones in phones — at 4K every part of
+the interface costs four times what it does at 1080p, on hardware nowhere near four times faster.
+A premium 4K box is *more* likely to want this than a cheap 1080p stick, which never had the extra
+pixels in the first place. Nothing about a stream changes: picture quality is
+[**Resolution** and **Bitrate**](#video), and this is the interface only.
+
 ## Overlay
 
 **Statistics overlay** — *default: Normal.* Four tiers — Off, Compact, Normal, Detailed — each a