HD200 - Displaying 4x3 media on 1080p display - Get cropped image or oval circles

[gordykeene]

I have a 1080p TV.
I have a brand new STP-HD200.
I have installed the latest firmware (as of 2010-Jan-20).
My SageTV server records Cable TV at 4x3.
I want to see the entire picture, at the original aspect ratio (so circles are not shown as ovals).

Presumably that means black bars will be added on the left and right sides. I'm okay with that.

If I did my math right:
1) A 4x3 image at 1080p is 1440 px wide.
2) The used width is 1440 px / 1920 px = 0.75.
3) Leaving the "black bars" to consume 1 - 0.75 = 0.25.
4) "Black bar width" scaled to SageTV range, 0.25 * 4096 = 1024.

From the above, I would expect that means I set blackstrip=1024,0

However, when I try the following

  advanced_aspect_ratio_extra_modes=4x3 Proper|blackstrip\=1024,0|cutstrip\=0,0|nonlinearmode\=0,0|scalingmode\=LetterBox|source\=2048,2048,4096,4096,FrontEdgeToCenter,FrontEdgeToCenter,Relative,Relative,Relative,Relative

It stretches the image and I don't get any black bars.

(I've searched these support pages, and it seems that some are content to either suffer with oval "circles," or lose the top and bottom of the images.)

Help?

[Fuzzy]

You shouldn't have to go through all this. Sage should keep the aspect correct whne in source mode. that said, there are a few setting that will affect this. One is Display Aspect Ratio (Settings -> Detailed Setup -> Multimedia -> Display Aspect Ratio Settings. This should be set to 16:9 (and you can verify it is working correctly by the circle drawn on the screen). If 16:9 doesn't work as a circle, AND you have a 16:9 display, then your display is scaling the image (make sure it isn't in any of it's zoom modes).

If Display Aspect is set correctly, and your Aspect Ratio Mode in sage is set to source, with not extra scaling options set (everything at 100%, 0 offset), then it should be displaying 4:3 video in a pillar-box. If it isn't, there may be an issue at the source. What is your source capture card and/or set-top-box?

[gordykeene]

Fuzzy, thanks for your response.

I checked the Display Aspect Ratio Settings as you suggested. It is set to 16:9, and the circle there really does look like a circle. I think the HD200's Display Aspect must be correct.

The HD200 is defaulting the aspect setting to "source," but in that setting, I am not seeing the piller-box for things recorded with a 4:3 source.

Here are my source recording details, let me know if you need anymore:

Machine:
Software: XP Pro SP2
Hardware: P4, 1.6 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB C:, 558 GB V: (video)
Recording:
Software:
SageTV Media Center Version 6.6.2.218
STV File: SageTV3.xml (Version 6.6.2.0 July 24, 2009)
All aspect ratios show Stretch: 100%, Offset: 0
Hardware:
Input 1: Hauppauge WinTV 418 Video Capture TV Tuner
Input 2: Hauppauge WinTV 88x Video Capture TV Tuner

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[paulbeers]

How are you connecting your HD200 to your television?

[gordykeene]

The HD200 is connected to the TV over HDMI.

[stanger89]

What does Sage report for the file format info for those recordings?

[gordykeene]

Here are an example formats taken from Sage's Recording Detail screen. (These were hand copied, so any typos are my fault, but I double checked them both).

Format: MPEG2-PS[MPEG2-Video/2.8Mbps 4:3 480x480i@29.97fps, MP2/256Kbps@48kHz Stereo]

Format: MPEG2-PS[MPEG2-Video/3.8Mbps 4:3 480i@29.97fps, MP2/384Kbps@48kHz Stereo]

[stanger89]

You might want to submit a bug report, so long as you have DAR set right and AR mode set to Source.