Aspect Ratio Problem

[Evil_Attorney]

I had to reinstall XP and now I can't get the aspect ratio working correctly on my system. I have a 16:9 TV connected to an NVIDIA 6800 via DVI at 720p. Sage is set for a 16x9 screen and is set to "Fill". Before the reinstall, both HDTV and DVD's filled the 16x9 screen. Now the HDTV fills the screen but all anamorphic DVDs are window boxed with bars at the top and bottom. I'm using the latest Nvidia purevideo codecs, but have tried the sage codecs and cybervideo codecs too with no luck. Also, WMP and PowerDVD also play DVD's with the letterbox. Purevideo recognizes DVD's as anamorphic, but it's almost as if windows thinks I'm running a 4:3 resolution.

Since the Nvidia Purevideo codec plays HDTV in full 16x9, I suspect there are some other DVD settings that are messing up the anamorphic widescreen settings. The only real difference in my system from before the reinstall is that I now have the newest nvidia card driver installed.

Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

[Taddeusz]

Is the video distorted at all? The reason I ask is that most DVD's are not actually full anamorphic 16x9. They still have small black bars on the top and bottom because there are some movies that are 2.35:1. This is wider than 16x9 so you will still get black bars unless you use zoom mode on your TV to crop it.

I personally can't stand watching stuff that's all distorted. One of my friends watches SDTV channels all stretched out to fit the wide format but then everything looks fat. I'd rather see bars on the sides than watch stuff all stretched out.

[Evil_Attorney]

It appears that the main movie I was using to test this is 2.35:1 (Last King of Scotland). I will test some true 16x9 movies tonight.

However, in my old setup, all movies, no matter the size, would be stretched to fit on the screen when the "fill" mode was activated. I thought that this was the purpose of "fill"...to fill the screen.

[millers_35]

Are you using Overlay or VMR9? I know when I use Overlay I am unable to use "Fill".

Miller

[Evil_Attorney]

I generally use overlay, but tried VMR9 too. Both had the same result. I don't think this is a sage problem since PowerDVD, WMP and Nero DVD player all play the movie with bars at the top and bottom.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by Evil_Attorney

It appears that the main movie I was using to test this is 2.35:1 (Last King of Scotland). I will test some true 16x9 movies tonight.

However, in my old setup, all movies, no matter the size, would be stretched to fit on the screen when the "fill" mode was activated. I thought that this was the purpose of "fill"...to fill the screen.

In the case of a 2.35:1 film the actual video is 16:9 but it will have black bars on the top and bottom. Kind of letterboxed but not. Since the black bars are part of the video the fill mode will fill out the 16:9 video but because the film is 2.35:1 you will still get black bars.

I realize that part of the novelty of getting a wide screen TV is to get rid of the black bars but the reality is that most films aren't done in 16:9. To make matters even more confusing I believe most TV's are actually 16:10.

[Evil_Attorney]

I tried two movies yesterday. Last King of Scotland, which is 2.35:1, and This Movie is Not Yet Rated, which is 1.85:1 (just looked that one up). Both had black bars. Before my reinstall, I watched TMINYR and Sage DID NOT show black bars. In fact, Sage never showed black bars for any movie when in fill mode. I've had a 16x9 TV with Sage for almost a year and a half. Before my reinstall I could flip between 4:3, 16x9 and full in Sage to get different pictures. However, there is no difference between 16x9 and full with any DVD's now. It's possible that my system is working as it should now and the old install wasn't working correctly.

Maybe I had some filter on my computer before that would stretch the DVD picture, no matter what the ratio? I did some searching and other people appear to be having aspect ratio problems with the 9x.xx NVIDIA drivers.

[GKusnick]

Sage has configurable horizontal and vertical stretch factors for each of the four aspect ratio modes. Maybe you had your Fill mode set to stretch vertically and forgot to re-configure that after reinstalling.

Be aware, though, that if you set it so that 2.35:1 content fills the screen vertically with no visible letterboxing, then true 16x9 content (which doesn't need letterboxing) will also be stretched, losing part of the picture off the top and bottom of the screen.

You best bet is to configure one mode (Fill, for instance) for 2.35 content, and another mode (16x9 would be a logical choice) for true 16x9 content. That's assuming of course that you really want the 2.35 image distorted in order to hide the letterbox bars. Me, I'd rather look at the bars.

[Taddeusz]

Yea, I hate to see a distorted picture. Even when I get an HDTV I'm going to leave it set to Source. That way both 4:3 and 16:9 content look correct. I'd rather see the bars on the sides watching 4:3 content. I really think it looks ugly when people watch 4:3 stuff all stretched out.

With 2.35:1 movies though you're never going to get the black bars to go away because that's how the film was made. Then the film was mad to conform to 16:9 which puts black bars IN the video. The only way you can get rid of them and not distort the picture is to do something like pan & scan and chop the sides off to fit to 16x9. There's just no way around it.

[GKusnick]

The only time I use those stretch settings is for 16x9 content that's been letterboxed for broadcast in 4x3, so you get bars all around on a 16x9 display. Then I stretch both horizontally and vertically by the same factor to get rid of all the bars without distortion.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

The only time I use those stretch settings is for 16x9 content that's been letterboxed for broadcast in 4x3, so you get bars all around on a 16x9 display. Then I stretch both horizontally and vertically by the same factor to get rid of all the bars without distortion.

I would do the same thing in that case.