Need exact aspect ratio settings

[null_pointer_us]

I have SageTV 5.0.4 Client running on Windows XP. The video card is an ATI Radeon 9250 SE, and rendering is set to VMR9 IIRC. The TV is a widescreen model running off PC input (i.e. D-SUB) on a 1:1 pixel ratio at a resolution of 1366x768. Right now I am only interested in SDTV. 4:3 recordings display fine, but 16:9 recordings display way too small w/ black bars on all four sides.

Sage has four options for aspect ratio, and none of them would scale the 4:3 recording format to display the (letterboxed?) 16:9 SD movie. I would like to set the 16x9 aspect ratio so that it properly scales SD widescreen movies. I have tried 100% H, 165% V, but although it nearly fills the screen perfectly, the images are distorted (too wide), and the whole thing is terribly pixelated.

1. What are the correct scaling percentages for widescreen SDTV, given that I have square pixels and no overscan w/ 1366x768 Windows desktop resolution?

2. Is there a better method of upscaling than simply stretching the video? Could I find/buy a higher quality decoder for this? The recordings are in MPEG-2 format @ Standard DVD quality setting from a Hauppauge PVR-500.

[Polypro]

I have my NVIDIA decoders set up for "Anamorphic/Widescreen" and my "Fill" ratio at 105%H/105%V. This gives me full screen 4:3 SDTV. When I have Letterboxed SDTV (like Conan Obrien), I switch to my "16x9" setting of 105%H/135%V...and get full screen. Some distortion is natural. I don't notice it. I did have to adjust the H/V offset a little for my setup. I do that by setting something like 95%/95% and then get even black borders on all sides.
TV is a 1920x1080 LCD with my VGA card set to 1920x1080...the desktop is a perfect 1:1

P

[blade]

This post by stanger should explain most everything. Basically you should need to use the 16*9 aspect ratio with around 125-133% zoom.

If you want to check it, use the 4*3 setting in Sage and keep stretching horizontally until it fills the screen. That will give you how much the video is being stretched horizontally to fill the screen and you can apply that amount vertically to keep the ratio correct or at least close. For example if it takes 127% horizontal for the 4*3 setting then you could use 16*9 with 100% horizontal and 127% vertical.

[null_pointer_us]

Originally Posted by jds23

I am curious, why are a couple of you using Analog connections? Maybe you have opted to use the digital connections for something else? But IMO that seems a bit strange. But then again, maybe I am missing something....the 9250 does have a DVI output that adapts to a VGA D-sub correct??

My TV does not support digital PC input. The TV insists on overscanning and image-processing everything that comes in from the DVI/HDMI inputs, making it unsuitable for PC activities such as web browsing. Normally, I would prefer the digital, but right now a D-SUB connection with a good cable does the trick.

[null_pointer_us]

I just want to thank Polypro and blade for their help. I set the 4:3 to 105%/105% H/V adjustment (to eliminate noise along the top of the screen) and the 16:9 to 100%/135% H/V adjustment (to deal with the occasional letterboxed movie). Using the Cyberlink decoder instead of the Sage decoder eliminated all the blockiness associated with the scaling.

That covers most of the family's complaints, but I'm still not sure how to deal with the fact that now we've got six remotes:

1. The TV remote (used to switch between different sources).
2. The VCR remote (doesn't work with any "universal remotes").
3. The DVD remote (doesn't work with any "universal remotes").
4. The HDTV STB remote (I have no HD through Sage yet...).
5. The Sage TV remote (doesn't work with anything else).
6. The receiver remote (swallowed by a temporal anamoly).

I have a universal remote and a USB-UIRT somewhere, so I'll have to see what I can do with them.

[Polypro]

Harmony

Glad you got it worked out.

P