Redundant Display Aspect setting with Extender?

[TwistedMelon]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Anyway, I think we're back to talking about AR modes.

The AR mode discussion will go back to the correct thread now.

To "close" out this thread, I concur that Sage can't adjust DAR based on source.

Agreed, this thread can be considered closed because we simply have different needs/requirements. I'll follow up with Sage about these.

But at the same time, I don't see the value in it. I don't see pillarboxing 4:3 SD as a problem.

That's absolutely fair. Not everyone has the same equipment and not everyone has the same preference of how to watch video. The controls already in place offer a certain subset of controls that can cater to a great many desires. I have a few that it does not cater to and I hope that you respect the fact I have these wishes.

I also hope that you can see that even though you might not use an additional feature, having it can only be of value, not detriment, since the optional parameter would not remove nor alter any of the existing functionality for those that don't want to use it.

[Taddeusz]

I really don't understand your problem. If you tell SageTV you have a 4:3 TV it's going to format all video, to fit a 4:3 screen. Conversely, regardless of the output resolution, if you tell SageTV you have a 16:9 TV it will format the video for a 16:9 TV. If that means pillarboxing 4:3 video then it will do that. Video is not inherently either way or the other. It can be sized any way. Whether it is displayed correctly is dependent upon your playback and display devices. That's what the zoom mode on your TV is for.

Personally, I tried native video switching and my TV doesn't like it. So my HD100 is fixed at 1080i. Everything else whether it be 480i/p or 720p is scaled to fit and I use the HD100's aspect controls to adjust it if necessary. I personally like pillarboxing vs distorting the image so I generally don't need to adjust anything unless it is a letterboxed 4:3 video.

[stanger89]

I think the main issue is some confusion on functionality/terminology. Some playback devices and connections can pass Source format along to the display. For example I remember some displays had the capability to "auto squish" anamorphic DVDs (these were 4:3 TVs) but leave "normal" DVDs fullscreen.

I think what the OP is really asking for is this, assuming that the Sage extender passes this source format information over the video connection. To my knowledge Sage does not pass this info, thus the display always assumes SD (480i) is 4:3, and most everything else is 16:9, basic "square pixel" behavior.

Probably the other issue is that Sage doesn't have a 100% "true" native output method, it's more of an auto-output-matching logic.

That's really what I think my issure/confusion in this thread was. The OP was sort of focused on proposed solutions, while I was stuck trying to figure out exactly what the underlying problem was