REQUEST: Buitl-in ZOOM feature for 4:3 sources.

[derelicte1]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Everything you describe would need to be done in the decoder, the decoder would need to analyze the file, determine the aspect ratio, the used/active aspect ratio, on the fly, and then zoom/crop/stretch based on this computed aspect ratio.

I'm not aware of any decoders that can do that. I don't think even Theatertek with it's awesome AR control can do that.

Forget about the automatic aspect ratio detection for now. All I want is the non-linear stretch. This can be done outside of the decoder (mce does it this way).

[jbarr]

Originally Posted by derelicte1

Actually I want both. The non-linear stretch for sd material and no stretch for hd material.

Cant this be done? I don't know. The searching I did about this turned up it wasn't a zoom mode sage featured. I believe you can only do linear (equal) stretching in either dimension. Maybe you have to see it to understand how it works.

I'm still looking for a good example with three circles to show what is being done.

When done correctly, it works very well and is not noticeable.

www.trbarry.com/Displaying_4x3_on_16x9.htm

OK, I see. I guess I'm not using mine in the same way. I'm apparently viewing things "more simply"...

• I always keep the Aspect Ratio mode set to "Source" for all SD and HD playback. SD always displays pillerboxed, and HD displays how it is broadcast (either full-screen or pillerboxed.)

• I never mess with or use the 4x6 or 16x9 modes.

• When I see an SD show that is both pillerboxed and letterboxed, I simply use a re-mapped button on my remote switch to the "Fill" mode. I configured the "Fill" mode to stretch the image to remove both the pillerbox and letterbox, keeping the proper aspect ratio. There are the occasional wide-screen movies where the letterbox is much higher, so I still see some letterboxing in "Fill" mode, but the image is properly stretched to fill the screen horizontally, and the aspect ratio remains correct.

Beyond that, I didn't realize that there were other "stretch" possibilities.

[debennett2]

You say you have a button that you assign to "fill" mode. I could probably live with that at least in the interim although an automatic (configured by user) thing would be a god-send. What do you do once you switch to a channel that doesn't need the fill option? Do you have to hit another button for "source" mode? Just trying to understand before I make my wife quit catching up with her soaps. Thanks.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by debennett2

You say you have a button that you assign to "fill" mode. I could probably live with that at least in the interim although an automatic (configured by user) thing would be a god-send. What do you do once you switch to a channel that doesn't need the fill option? Do you have to hit another button for "source" mode? Just trying to understand before I make my wife quit catching up with her soaps. Thanks.

Starting in v6, sage now has added a command to the core for cycling through the aspect ratios. Before v6, I had a button set up to cycle the aspect ratios using Girder. As suggested above, I have the 'Fill' aspect ratio set up as a zoom mode and I just have the 'Toggle Aspect Ratio' command mapped to a convenient remote button. When something doesn't look right on the screen, we just cycle through the AR modes until it does look right.

Aloha,
Mike

[jbarr]

debennett2, what MeInMaui said.

I re-mapped the red "mark as don't like" button on my Hauppauge remote to cycle the AR's. And when I switch to another show that is SD pillerboxed, it's just a matter of hitting the button to cycle back to the "Source" mode--simple and quick.

Now, my only feature request would be to be able to define what AR's you can cycle through. I only use the "Source" and "Fill" modes, so it would be nice to be able to remove the other two from the cycle.

[debennett2]

Now, my only feature request would be to be able to define what AR's you can cycle through. I only use the "Source" and "Fill" modes, so it would be nice to be able to remove the other two from the cycle.

I could PROBABLY live with having to hit a button (although I don't know why we can't make the automation part of the core) but I would also like to see the ability to limit what sources are available to toggle through.

[jbarr]

Originally Posted by debennett2

I could PROBABLY live with having to hit a button (although I don't know why we can't make the automation part of the core) ...

I'm all for automating things to make the viewer experience more seamless and more enjoyable. But while I'm certainly no programming guru or video guru, it seems to me that it could be a huge undertaking to try to introduce such automation. Unless the program meta data contains some flag or field that specifies exactly what the "perceived" format is, I would think it would require some intelligent signal processing ala ShowAnalyzer to determine the format.

My only concern with automating such a feature is in the new content that networks are now adding (mostly advertising) "outside" the boundaries of the letterboxed frame (but still within the SD frame.) And unfortunately, it's not always advertising--what about things like severe weather alerts and such? (Granted, if you are time-shifting, that information would be typically moot.) Specific to the advertising content, my wife and I simply ignore it, but I could see some viewers feeling "cheated" because it is being cut off.

Oh, and as mentioned in other threads, maybe this would be more useful as an add-on instead of core? (Sorry to open THAT can of worms again!)

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by debennett2

(although I don't know why we can't make the automation part of the core)

We can't make anything part of the core. Only the Sage devs can do that.

But there's an awful lot we can do ourselves through add-ons. Given a choice between (a) lobbying the devs for new features and hoping they eventually get around to the one I want, or (b) using an add-on (or writing one myself) and getting what I want right now, I much prefer option (b).

And as ToxMox said in post #10 on this thread, an add-on for automatic aspect ratio switching already exists:

http://tools.assembla.com/sageplugin...duleAutoAspect

It works by training rather than by analyzing the video content, but once you get it trained it's just as automatic (and a lot less CPU-intensive).