4:3 zoom

[gianpieroizzo]

Hi all, I've a stupid problem, maybe someone of you already found a smart solution.
My HTPC with SageTV is attached to a 16:9 TV through a DVI-HDMI cable.
Many channels transmit 4:3 programs, so I correctly see two vertical black stripes.
Often the transimssion is a 16:9 movie, so I correctly see two horizontal black stripes.
With the old analogue SCART connection it was possible on the TV to zoom the image, obtaining a wonderful full 16:9 image. Now with the HDMI connection the zoom on the TV is disabled
Is there a way from SageTV to zoom the image ?

The best would be to have a "4:3 zoom" option added to the classic 4:3, 16:9, source and fill ones...

Please help me, my wife doesn't want to switch from the crap sky box to my fantastic HTPC, just because "this tv is worst, is smaller"

[waltraud]

I dont know if you can add a new aspect ratio. I think you cant.

But you can change the settings for the existing once. This can be set in Detailed Setup - Multimedia.

e.g. you could change the horizontal zoom factor for 16:9 to ~130% to get rid of the black bars.

PS: This will only affect video playback.

[gianpieroizzo]

Thank you, waltraud.
I'll try it as soon as I'll be back home, however I don't think it will solve completely my problems, because I'd like to cover all the cases:
- I receive some 16:9 channels, so I need to keep them as they are
- I have 4:3 channels transmitting 16:9 movies, this is the case exposed above where I want to zoom the image
- I have normal 4:3 channels, I would like to keep them as they are, i.e. with two vertical stripes.

And obviously the best would be to change the setting immediately when I select one channel in a dummy mode (imagine my wife with the remote control, she just want to push one, maximum two buttons...)

I'll keep trying

ciao
Gian Piero

[bialio]

I think you can probably get what you need with the 4 aspect ratios that Sage has. I have a similar situation (widescreen set with lots of 4x3 source), here's how I'm set up:

Source : Use this for 16x9 source (local HD)
Fill : Use this for 4x3 SD cable channels. I have it zoomed vertically about 120%. You loose some picture with this, but it's very watchable (the geometry is almost right) and takes up the full screen.
4x3 : I use this for HD channels that have pillar boxed 4x3 content. I zoom it horizontally so that it matches the Fill - basically a 4x3 picture partially zoomed so that it fills the widescreen and keeps the geometry fairly close.
16x9 : I use this for 4x3 channels that have 16x9 shows. This is zoomed in vertically and horizontally so that the 16x9 image fills the screen. A good way to set it up is pause on a movie like this and then adjust the aspect ratio.

There is an awesome plugin that switches aspect ratios automatically :
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14146

between the adjustable aspect ratio's and the auto switcher, I never have to mess with the aspect ratio. It's all done automagically.

btl.

[Taddeusz]

Maybe someone can fill me in as to why one would want to watch SD video chopped off or distorted? I would rather watch programmng as it was meant to be viewed. If it has to be pillarboxed so be it. I've always had the same attitude about watching wide screen movies on a 4:3 TV. I'd rather have the letterboxing with the black bars than miss pieces of the movie because they are being cut off.

[waltraud]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Maybe someone can fill me in as to why one would want to watch SD video chopped off or distorted? I would rather watch programmng as it was meant to be viewed. If it has to be pillarboxed so be it. I've always had the same attitude about watching wide screen movies on a 4:3 TV. I'd rather have the letterboxing with the black bars than miss pieces of the movie because they are being cut off.

I have a 16:9 TV. On the SD channels all the 16:9 movies are being broadcasted letterboxed. So I either have to zoom the picture using the TVs settings which causes parts of the SageTVs GUI to disappear off the screen or use Sages aspect ratio settings to fix it.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by waltraud

I have a 16:9 TV. On the SD channels all the 16:9 movies are being broadcasted letterboxed. So I either have to zoom the picture using the TVs settings which causes parts of the SageTVs GUI to disappear off the screen or use Sages aspect ratio settings to fix it.

Ok, that I do understand. That particular problem has annoyed me on my new widescreen computer monitor. I do most of my watching on my SDTV though.

[bialio]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Maybe someone can fill me in as to why one would want to watch SD video chopped off or distorted? I would rather watch programmng as it was meant to be viewed. If it has to be pillarboxed so be it. I've always had the same attitude about watching wide screen movies on a 4:3 TV. I'd rather have the letterboxing with the black bars than miss pieces of the movie because they are being cut off.

Black bars (either of the letter box or pillar box variety) can lead to a type of reverse burn in on displays that are susceptible to it - where the areas that are the black bars age at a slower pace, and have pixels that are brighter than the middle area of the screen. That's why most Wide TV's have some sort of non linear stretch mode - lets you fill the entire display, while keeping the geometry of the picture mostly correct.

btl.