aspect ratio mediamvp playing tv from pvr-350 problem

[rnewman]

Using sagetv V6.0.14

If I setup mvp for 4:3 aspect ratio then
mpg movies (full screen or wide screen) plays great
BUT
watching TV from pvr-350 looks wide screen but really only cuts off band on top and bottom (does not stretch horizontal)

If I setup mvp for 16:9 aspect ratio then
watching TV from pvr-350 plays great
BUT
mpg movies (full screen or wide screen) are stretched out vertically.

Is there a separate ini /setup for tv tuner *(or different sources) to play on sagetv ???

Thanks,
Ray

[rickgillyon]

I think whatever you record, recordings on a 350 are marked 4:3 even if they are 16:9. As that aspect is passed through to the MVP, a 16:9 marked as 4:3 will play 4:3. Is that what you're seeing?

[AngelofDeth]

"I think whatever you record, recordings on a 350 are marked 4:3 even if they are 16:9."

Isn't this the case of all Hauppauge analog encoders? I know all my shows that I encoded are reported to be 4:3. Also, it sounds to me like he is saying the MVP is playing them where they "look" widescreen, but arn't. If all the recordings were marked 4:3, this shouldn't be so... ?

Im not sure if its possible in the stock stv, but in SageMC you can edit the aspect ratio, and if you set it to 16:9 will crop the top and botton of the video so it looks widescreen/letterboxed.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

Isn't this the case of all Hauppauge analog encoders?

Absolutely, so if you record a 16:9 source on the Hauppauge it will look crappy on the MVP, no way to switch AR at will like on the client. And you can't change the AR on the MVP in any useful way whatever STV you're using (I tried it). If you're using Hauppauge analogue, any 16:9 recordings will look bad...I even took it up with support, and was assured there was no answer, it's down to the limitations of the card and the mvp.

[AngelofDeth]

What kind of 16:9 recording are you taking about? Generally with these hauupauge cards you are recording a cable, satellite or ota signal... I have never seen anything recorded over satellite not play properly on the MVP.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

What kind of 16:9 recording are you taking about? Generally with these hauupauge cards you are recording a cable, satellite or ota signal... I have never seen anything recorded over satellite not play properly on the MVP.

In my case it was cable from a STB. The STB has separate settings as to whether you want your video always 16:9 with bars on 4:3, always 4:3 with bars on widescreen transmissions, or video only which means it gives you the video only with no bars. If you choose not to have the bars, you just get the video which might be either format, but the card marks all the MPGs as 4:3 irrespective of the actual analogue stream. This leads to problems on the MVP where it always seems to obey the stream's AR (often incorrect).

[AngelofDeth]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

In my case it was cable from a STB. The STB has separate settings as to whether you want your video always 16:9 with bars on 4:3, always 4:3 with bars on widescreen transmissions, or video only which means it gives you the video only with no bars. If you choose not to have the bars, you just get the video which might be either format

Hmm. That sounds like the normal setting for all STBs. IE you get whatever the content was intended as. If I record a widescreen program, and play it via the MVP, it plays as you would expect it to.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

Hmm. That sounds like the normal setting for all STBs. IE you get whatever the content was intended as. If I record a widescreen program, and play it via the MVP, it plays as you would expect it to.

All the STBs I've seen here in the UK (Sky, Telewest, NTL) have defaulted to 4:3 output, with bars on widescreen stuff or chopped to 4:3 depending on the broadcast. The STB outputting just video (real widescreen) seems to be fine to TV, because the TV can tell it's widescreen or not and adjusts (my Sony Does anyway). But if you set Sage Client to "Source" AR, it will treat it all as 4:3, as that is what the card records in the MPG. This is fact, and has been confirmed with Sage Support.

Perhaps you have a different card, or have found a way of getting around this problem? Or you are outputting 4:3 widescreen, i.e. always widescreen but with black bars added to make it 4:3 AR? Check the recording details from one of your files from an analogue source, should tell you its aspect ratio.

[rnewman]

It was weird.
I finally found a great vob to mpg2 converter that worked
with all players on my pc and mediamvp (AVS Video Converter)
so all reference to movie wide screen and full screen are using this
converter.

On my pc wide screen movies and fullscreen played great with 4:3.
BUT
on mediamvp I can only watch tv with 16:9.

However I deleted v6 and installed v5 and every source plays correct.
(but I see there is no aspect adj for mediamvp)

my needs are for 2 dual tuners and 4 mediamvp having access to ANY one of
these four tuners for recording and playing of recorded files.
I hope v5 can do this. So far I am not having luck with pvr-500
1st one shorted pci bus, 2nd one 50% snow.
Have to wait until I can get good tuners.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Ray

[rnewman]

After
reformating hard drive,
installing only drivers for pvr-350
installing sage v5,
I discovered my monitor had severe overscan
now I installed sage v6.0.15 and
it works correctly on both full screen and wide screen mpeg movies
it works ok with tuner
AND
it actually looks like it shrinks my monitor's overscan.
So I would guess old drivers/software for pvr-350
were modifing sage drivers.
So it looks like a hit.
Thanks all!
Ray

[rnewman]

returned all three PVR500
Installed AVerTV purity-3d mce 500
Works straight away.
Ray