Showing SageTV on a widescreen TV

[Franc]

Hi, still in my 15 day trial period and I must say I am impressed!
I have been a Showshifter addict for some years, but they went bankrupt, so I figured it was time for something new.

So I found Sage and also found out about the Placeshifter and client functionality which I really love, because it allows me to watch TV on my laptop anywhere in or near the house Although I have not yet figured out whether I need Placeshifter or the client (?)

Anyway, my question is about something else. I have my mediaPC (a shuttle with TV out - nVidia chipset - running XP pro) connected to my widescreen TV. Resolution set to 1024x768. With Showshifter, there is an option to tell it that your TV is widescreen, so it knows that 16:9 fills the screen, 4:3 adds borders left and right etc.

Sage, however, doesn't seem to have this option. So now, when I go through the different aspect ratios, fill fills the screen, as does 4:3, but 16:9 actually adds borders to top and bottom. It clearly thinks I am using a 4:3 display.

I have tried 'widescreen' resolutions like 1024x600 to make Windows show in widescreen, but that only makes the screen scroll left/right, which is of course unusable.

What am I doing wrong?

Any help appreciated.

Franc.

[Opus4]

I have no experience with widescreen TVs, but for this one:

Originally Posted by Franc

So I found Sage and also found out about the Placeshifter and client functionality which I really love, because it allows me to watch TV on my laptop anywhere in or near the house Although I have not yet figured out whether I need Placeshifter or the client (?)

It comes down to how you plan to use this client. Do you want the ability to connect to your SageTV server with your laptop while you are away from home? If so, get Placeshifter. It will still play the recordings over the LAN when you are at home.

If you have no desire to use the Placeshifter client while travelling, consider SageTVClient, since it has a few more options such as more selections to use other decoders & VMR9, and it should be able to play a local DVD.

- Andy

[Franc]

Thanks, I thought it was something like that. I do have a feeling however, that Placeshifter is a lot less stable than the client and that it puts a lot more stress on the actual SageTV 'server'. Is this true? I had some crashes while watching through Placeshifter. Although this might be caused by my tvcard (Leadtek). I am awaiting delevery of my Hauppage WinTV500MCE

[Opus4]

Is the Leadtek card a hardware or software encoder -- a software encoder puts a lot more stress on the server. If the server was crashing, it might be the tuner's drivers. I don't know of crash issues with the Placeshifter; if it keeps happening, report it to SageTV.

- Andy

[Franc]

The Leadtek is a software encoder, that's why I am getting the 500MCE (dual tuner and HW MPEG2 encoding). I'll do some tests with the new card when I get it, I am pretty sure it's the Leadtek causing the few problems I have (exept for the widescreen thing of course )

[paulbeers]

What TV do you have? I have two toshiba wide screen tvs and I have to set the "pic size" to Full in order to not have the bars.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Franc

Anyway, my question is about something else. I have my mediaPC (a shuttle with TV out - nVidia chipset - running XP pro) connected to my widescreen TV. Resolution set to 1024x768. With Showshifter, there is an option to tell it that your TV is widescreen, so it knows that 16:9 fills the screen, 4:3 adds borders left and right etc.

The simplest way is to just tweak the Sage aspect ratio settings smaller by about 25% on the horizontal, that would correct for the non-square pixels you're using. If you need more info, there have been a couple other threads about dealing with Aspect Ratio/Zoom settings.

[Franc]

It's a Philips widescreen TV. Nothing 'special'

Originally Posted by stanger89

The simplest way is to just tweak the Sage aspect ratio settings smaller by about 25% on the horizontal, that would correct for the non-square pixels you're using. If you need more info, there have been a couple other threads about dealing with Aspect Ratio/Zoom settings.

I am not sure I understand what you are saying here. The thing is that I am running VNC on the box to remotely control the PVR machine and when I set windows to any widescreen resolution, the pic sizes within SageTV are correct.
16x9 shows 'fullscreen', 4x3 adds borders to the left and right.
The problem is that on my TV screen, this res doesn't seem to fit, because it starts scrolling to the left and right.

[nielm]

You can get a good 'widescreen' resolution in an Nvidia's TV-out, but only at certain very specific resolutions... Go into the Nvidia display control panel /advanced resolutions and refresh rates, and choose something like 1280x720...

Nvidia cards support other resolutions on tv out by 'viewporting': where you get a scrolling view on a larger desktop, as you have already seen.

More info on aspect ratios, widescreen and sage here, and you may also find my auto-aspect ratio switching plugin useful

[Franc]

I have tried resolutions like 1280x720 and I get image, but the problem is (I think) that WIndows doesn't think it can fill the TV screen and makes the desktop larger than the TV screen, so I have to scroll. I think this is where the problem lies.

[blade]

Originally Posted by Franc

I have tried resolutions like 1280x720 and I get image, but the problem is (I think) that WIndows doesn't think it can fill the TV screen and makes the desktop larger than the TV screen, so I have to scroll. I think this is where the problem lies.

TV's are designed to have overscan. If you run at 1280*720 (720p) then some of the image will not be viewable. It's supposed to be that way. If you watch a show at that resolution you should see just as much of it as you would watching it normally through the TV's tuner.

If you want the desktop to fit the screen perfectly you'd have to run an odd resolution. For example I think I run something like 1152*668.

[Franc]

No, that's not what I mean I know about overscan.

What happens is that the windows desktop is actually something like 1.5 times as wide as my TC screen. When I scroll the mouse to the right, the desktop actually moves to the left until I reach the far right.
Windows tends to do that when the resolution you set it to, is ok for the graphics card, but too much for the screen (or TV in this case).
But in this case, the TV should be able to handle the wider image, so how do I tell Windows that?

[stanger89]

Is it an HDTV? What resolution are you running?

[Franc]

Nope, just a regular widescreen TV.
I tried 1280x720 and some other resolutions that are not 4x3.

[nielm]

Originally Posted by Franc

I have tried resolutions like 1280x720 and I get image, but the problem is (I think) that WIndows doesn't think it can fill the TV screen and makes the desktop larger than the TV screen, so I have to scroll. I think this is where the problem lies.

It's not windows , it's the Nvidia drivers: I know -- I also have TV-out from an NVIDIA card you really need to select an advanced resolution/refresh rate from the advanced section of the desktop control panel...
I use 1280x720@50Hz on a PAL Svideo-out to a 16x9 CRT, and I get square pixels with no viewport scrolling. It also seems to be better quality than other 'standard' resolutions. There are several other resolutions/refresh rates that may suit you better

[Franc]

Added that res and using it right now. I only see the right hand side of the screen when I scroll to it

[stanger89]

You could also try something like 848x480.

[nielm]

Did you select it from the dropdown in the Screen Res+Refresh rates / Custom Resolutions / Advanced Timing Dialog box? (see attached image)?

[Franc]

I hit the Add button and created both 1280x720 and 848x480

[nielm]

Don't add a new custom resolution, select one of them from the dropdown list in the advanced timings box (like in my screenshot).. I don't know why this works better -- possibly the timings need to be exact or something...