Automatic Aspect Ratio Switcher by Nielm?

[Sambo555]

Does anyone know if the automatic aspect ratio switcher (original by nielm) is going to be upgraded to a sagetv7 plugin?

I used this all the time in v6. My 2 tuners always require different aspect ratios when viewing. I use an HD200 and can set the default ratio to fill which is fine for the one tuner but the other needs wide fill. It was so convenient to have it auto switch depending on what tuner taped the show.

It would be nice to have that plugin back. Either that or build the capability directly into sagetv v7.

[ke6guj]

+1. thats about the only plugin I'm missing from V6.

[blade]

I've been using the old v6 plug-in with v7 and it works sometimes and other times it doesn't. I'm surprised more people haven't been asking for this.

[tmiranda]

Blade,

I took a look at this and I think it can be ported reasonably easy. When you say sometimes it works and sometimes it does not, can you be more specific. I don't use it on a day to day basis so I'm not sure how it's supposed to work.

Tom

[blade]

tmiranda,

I'll use CSI Miami as an example. If I capture it from CBS using my HDHomeRun my setup automatically uses source since it's the default.

Captures of CSI Miami from A&E on my PVR-500 are always 4x3 and letterboxed. I have a custom resolution for my extender that crops the black bars from all sides so the image fills the entire screen with the proper 16x9 ratio. I've setup CSI Miami recorded from A&E on the PVR-500 to always use the custom letterbox ratio. So when I watch the show captured from that channel on that particular tuner it will automatically switch to letterbox and then return to source for other captures.

Sometimes the plug-in will switch to letterbox and fill the screen and other times the video still plays back using the default source setting. If I click options while the letterboxed video is playing it will show the ratio being used as letterbox even though it's not. If I select another ratio then return to letterbox it fills the screen as it should.

If you're willing to take a look at porting it I can do some more testing and try to determine in what circumstances it's switching correctly and when it's not.

[Rico66]

I'm using this from day one of v7 without problems. Behaves exactly the way as it used to be in v6. I wouldn't have upgraded to v7 otherwise.

[Sambo555]

tmiranda,

I just imported this in via the v6 old method to test it as well. It seems to work alright for the way that I use it. What I do is -

1. Default to fill ratio when -on any show, on any channel, on capture device 1
2. Default to wide fill when -on any show, on any channel, on capture device 2
3. Default to source ratio when -on any show, on channel MC2, on any capture device

With these 3 rules defined by me, the ratio that is selected when going to channel MC2 is source. When going to any other channel either fill or wide fill is selected depending on device.

From what I can see, I think it prioritizes the aspect ratios that the user defines and when it hits an aspect that fits, this is the one it uses. If no custom ones are defined than it has predefined general ratios (that user can also set) for tv shows, non-mpg tv files, dvds and imported videos.

The priority of custom ratios seems to be (1) specific show ratio (2) specific channel ratio and finally (3) specific device. Any or all 3 of these can also be combined in the definition of a ratio.

Don't know if you needed that much information on how I as a user see it working but if it helps in updating it then woohoo.

[blade]

Originally Posted by Rico66

I'm using this from day one of v7 without problems. Behaves exactly the way as it used to be in v6. I wouldn't have upgraded to v7 otherwise.

It's not working properly for me. For example I started watching Justified and it automatically switched to my custom ratio named letterbox. If I stop the show and then resume it the show is played back using source while the options menu shows the ratio being used is letterbox. I then selected Law & Order CI, which is setup to also use letterbox. It used source as well even though the options menu is showing letterbox for it as well.

Can those of you who aren't having problems stop the show and then select resume and see what happens? Also do you guys have it setup only by tuner or do you also have it setup by individual show? As I said above all of mine are setup by show, channel, and tuner.

It's possible something is out of whack on my system. I originally installed the aspect ratio plug-in a long time ago so it's been through several versions of Sage on my system.

[ke6guj]

sounds like it could be a Sage issue if the options screen is showing that the aspect ratio is set to letterbox, but that Sage is actually displaying it with Source as the AR.

[dgbruce]

I have added a manifest to the plugin repository that will allow the auto aspect ratio plugin to be installed via the plugin manager for SageTV7. It is not a port or modification... It downloads and installs the latest version (v1.3) made available by neilm.

As far as issues with the settings, if you have previously used the pluging with SageTV6 you may be better off deleting the old settings file. In testing I have done, I have only had problems when there was an existing settings file before installing the plugin. With a clean install, I did not have any issues.

[blade]

Originally Posted by dgbruce

As far as issues with the settings, if you have previously used the pluging with SageTV6 you may be better off deleting the old settings file. In testing I have done, I have only had problems when there was an existing settings file before installing the plugin. With a clean install, I did not have any issues.

What file does the plug-in store it's settings? At one time I knew, but it's been ages since I've even had to think about the plug-in because it just worked.

[Rico66]

I don't have any aspect ratios specifically set for shows, and I also haven't created new aspect ratios. I use it to map specific channels on specific tuners to the existing ratios (fill for HD channels on one tuner, 3:4 for SD channels on the same tuner, source for all channels on the 2nd tuner, source, for DVDs etc.). This all works fine, including stopping, resuming, channel changing.
I just installed the new plugin, and it seems to work fine as well.

[Rico66]

Originally Posted by blade

What file does the plug-in store it's settings? At one time I knew, but it's been ages since I've even had to think about the plug-in because it just worked.

I think it's custom_aspect_ratios.dat.

[ke6guj]

I'm having an issue where if I have the auto-aspect plugin enabled that comskip playback doesn't work. Disable the auto-aspect plugin and comskippign works again. re-enable autoaspect and no more comskipping.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by dgbruce

I have added a manifest to the plugin repository that will allow the auto aspect ratio plugin to be installed via the plugin manager for SageTV7.

I looked at doing this and it sort-of works, but it's not all peaches and cream. The import does not happen cleanly and it leaves a bunch of circular references in the STV. This may be why some people are having problems and some are not.

I'll try to take a look at fixing this as well as making the "look and feel" more compatible with Sage7.

[Sambo555]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

I'm having an issue where if I have the auto-aspect plugin enabled that comskip playback doesn't work. Disable the auto-aspect plugin and comskippign works again. re-enable autoaspect and no more comskipping.

I'm having the same issue with comskip after uninstalling the v6 stvi and reinstalling via the v7 repository.

I also tried seeing if my aspect ratios changed to the wrong ones on stopping and resuming shows but it returned to the correct ratios. So auto aspect ratio is still changing as expected for me.

[blade]

I uninstalled the v6 plug-in, deleted the settings files and installed via the plug-in manager. Comskip is working fine for me with the aspect ratio switching plug-in, but it's still not switching properly for me. It definitely needs some work for it to function properly with v7.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by blade

I uninstalled the v6 plug-in, deleted the settings files and installed via the plug-in manager. Comskip is working fine for me with the aspect ratio switching plug-in, but it's still not switching properly for me. It definitely needs some work for it to function properly with v7.

with more time in use, I'm finding that comskip works for some shows, and not for others. But so far the auto aspect ratio switching seems to be 100%.

[dwycoff]

Comskip is not working for me either with this plugin. Simply disabling the plugin and Comskip works. Think I will wait till someone takes a look at it.

[electronics4lif]

I am subscribed and eagerly waiting to see if some programming magic can be worked on this wonderful plugin.