HD300 video resolution for playing movies

[notverysage]

First day with the HD300 so bear with me. Playing around with movie files I've been able to get all of them to play on the HD300 but sometimes this requires manually resetting the video resolution. In the HD300 menu (i.e. turned on in player mode instead of extender mode) under Advanced Setup / Multimedia there is Output Resolution with a choice of a bunch of resolutions and then on the next row Native Output Resolution Switching with choice of Enabled or Disabled.

I have one ripped movie that is MPEG2-TS [VC1 1080i @ 29.97 fps and I could get the HD300 to play it correctly, but only by manually changing Output Resolution to match the movie.

Another movie is MPEG2-TS [H.264 1080p @ 24 fps and after watching the other movie I had to manually change Output Resolution again to get it to play, even with Native Output Resolution Switching enabled.

So my question is, is this a firmware issue, or is there some set of settings that will allow you to set 'em and forget 'em and have the HD300 figure out what to set Output Resolution at and just play the movie?

[notverysage]

I've submitted the following bug report:
Both the software (Sage V7 RC2) and the HD300 (beta firmware 20101005 0) are not selecting the correct video output resolution for playback of certain movie files. In the software, if you go to Videos / DVD/BD, click on a video, then click on View Video Detail it shows you the format of the video including resolution, e.g. MPEG2-TS [VC1 1080i @ 29.97 fps. When I try to play this video on the HD300, however, it doesn't play correctly because the HD300 is not using this format information available from the software to correctly set the HD300 Output Resolution. The workaround that I'm using at the moment for this example is to power off the HD300, power it back on, hit Enter to prevent it from logging on to the server, go to Advanced Settings / Mulitimedia / Output Resolution and manually reset Output Resolution to 1920 x 1080i @ 29.97 fps, then log back on to the server, go to Videos / DVD/BD and play the movie and now it works. But that's a lot of work - I'm wondering if either the SageTV software running on the server or the HD300 firmware can be modified to do all of this automatically instead of this cumbersome manual process. Thanks for any help.

[paulbeers]

You did set the native output switching in the Sage Extender setup and not just in the Sage Media Player setup right?

Found in Setup -> Detailed Setup -> Multimedia?

[PLUCKYHD]

What all resolutions did you setup in the extender default settings?

[notverysage]

OK, let me be more specific about what I am seeing (and I have reproduced this result several times with one particular movie). I am using HDMI to go from my HD300 to the TV. On the HD300 Video Output / resolutions that TV supports screen I left everything checked because my Sony Bravia KDL-40XBRS supports them all: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p24, 1080p. On the HD300 Advanced Setup / Multimedia / Output Resolution was initially set to 1920 x 1080p @ 59.94 and the next line down, Native Output Resolution Switching, is enabled.

With all this set, I logged on to my Sage server, went to Videos / DVD/BD, and selected a movie. This particular movie is MPEG2-TS [VC1 1080i @ 29.97 fps. When I attempt to play this movie using the HD300 in extender mode the result is (and again I have done this several times) it plays maybe a frame or two, then the screen goes dark and audio is either intermittent or quits altogether and I get a loud continuous tone.

I have a manual workaround for playing this movie. I power off the HD300, power it on again, hit Enter during the 5 second grace period to prevent it from logging onto the server, then go back to the Advanced Setup / Multimedia / Output Resolution setting and manually change it to 1920 x 1080i @ 59.94. Now I log back onto my Sage server, play the movie from there, and it works fine.

So maybe there is an issue with how Native Output Resolution Switching works or maybe it is related to the VC1 associated with this movie file. BTW I am not the only one having problems playing VC1 files. See this thread over in the Media Player forum: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50909

[Comitizer]

I believe you need to enable native output in the extenders interface as well. Also, you can switch res without a restart by using the video out button on the remote.

[sflamm]

First, did you update to the latest Beta Firmware? If not - then do.
Go to update screen and enter "Beta" on remote. Then install latest which as of today is 100610 firmware.

If you still have a problem, maybe it is the same one I experienced.

There are TWO DIFFERENT settings.

One is for the player... when not connected to the SageTV as an extender.
In those settings you need to specify both 16:9 and native output switching (if you want). Also specify your default output resolution here (no equivalent below) -- I use 1080p as the default.


The other is for the HD300 as an extender... go under "Detailed Setup" just like any software SageTV client. Here too are another set of settings that you need to specify your aspect ratio 16:9 and native output switching.

I found that native output switching is unnecessary - and slow. Because it has to return to the default resolution afterward... I've found all videos play fine without native output switching on...

[notverysage]

Originally Posted by sflamm

First, did you update to the latest Beta Firmware? If not - then do.
Go to update screen and enter "Beta" on remote. Then install latest which as of today is 100610 firmware.

If you still have a problem, maybe it is the same one I experienced.

There are TWO DIFFERENT settings.

One is for the player... when not connected to the SageTV as an extender.
In those settings you need to specify both 16:9 and native output switching (if you want). Also specify your default output resolution here (no equivalent below) -- I use 1080p as the default.


The other is for the HD300 as an extender... go under "Detailed Setup" just like any software SageTV client. Here too are another set of settings that you need to specify your aspect ratio 16:9 and native output switching.

I found that native output switching is unnecessary - and slow. Because it has to return to the default resolution afterward... I've found all videos play fine without native output switching on...

Thanks! I didn't realize there were two places to set resolution.

OK, here is my latest attempt:
I updated firmware on the HD300 to 20101007-0 which became available today.
Next, I went to HD300 Advanced Setup / Multimedia and set Output Resolution to 1920 x 1080p @ 59.94 and Native Output Resolution Switching to Enabled
Then I logged onto server and in the client interface set Output Resolution to 1920 x 1080p @ 59.94 and Native Output Resolution Switching to Enabled
Then I went to Videos / DVD/BD and selected a movie which is format MPEG2-TS [VC1 1080i @ 29.97 fps
It worked!, played fine (and this is the movie that was giving problems before).
Now here's where I had a problem.
I went back to Videos / DVD/BD and selected a different movie which has format MPEG2-TS [VC1 1080p @ 24 fps and attempted to play it
This failed - black screen and intermittent audio.

Just to be clear, my experience has been that I can get all of my movies to play if I first figure out what the format is and then go into the settings and force the output resolution to match what the movie is. All I'm saying is that it would be nice to be able to play different movies with different video resolutions without having to constantly fiddle with the settings.

[stanger89]

Just for grins, have you tried stopping playback before starting the next movie?

[paulbeers]

Just to be clear, not only are you selecting native output switching, but you are actually telling your extender to use all resolutions right?!?!

[notverysage]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Just for grins, have you tried stopping playback before starting the next movie?

Thanks. Yes, I have tried that and unfortunately no joy.

Here is a series of five things I did on the HD300 tonight, all in extender mode - 3 worked, one replicated the bug I reported earlier, and one is a new bug. At the start of this test both the HD300 / Advanced Setup / Multimedia and Sage interface / Setup / Detailed Setup / Multimedia menus had Output Resolution set at 1920 x 1080p @59.94 and Native Output Resolution Switching set to Enabled.
1 Watched part of the 1080i 29.97 fps movie mentioned in a previous post. Works fine.
2. Watched a recorded TV show (chase play) - works fine
3. (New bug) Went to Music / Playlists and tried to play a playlist with three podcasts in it. The video, which had been the menu with Music / Playlists, went to a dark screen and the audio cut out. Every few seconds a brief snippet of audio would play.
4. (Replicated bug reported earlier) Went back to Videos / DVD/BD and selected a movie which is 1080p @29.97 fps. The screen went black with intermittent audio.
5. Went back to Videos / DVD/BD and selected the same 1080i 29.97 fps movie as in #1 above. Works fine.

I tried to play the playlist mentioned in #3 above from the server PC and it works fine.

Next I went back to the HD300 and changed settings. On the HD300 / Advanced Setup / Multimedia menu I changed Output Resolution to 1920 x 1080p @ 23.976 and changed Resolution Switching to Disabled. Then I logged onto the Server.
In the server interface Setup / Detailed Setup / Multimedia / Output Resolution was already at 1920 x 1080p @ 23.976 and I changed Resolution Switching to Disabled.
With these changed settings the 1080p24 movie in #4 above plays perfectly. Then I went back to Music / Playlists and the playlist that wouldn't play in #3 above also plays perfectly.

I'm scratching my head and maybe you guys are too. Why the heck would playback of a music playlist depend on the video resolution setting? BTW I'm using HDMI from the HD300 to the TV for both audio and video with the audio output set at PCM because that's all my TV supports (I'm just using the TV speakers for audio).

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[notverysage]

Sage team rocks!! With V7.0.19 (released tonight) installed my HD300 now plays all of my movies. VC1 1080i@29.97, h.264 1080p@24, VC1 1080p@24, it plays 'em all. Yeah!!

But there are still a couple of bugs, the most serious being Music.
I changed the Output Resolution on both the HD300 and the Sage interface to the highest setting 1080p60 and enabled resolution switching both places.
From Music / Playlists when I tried to play a playlist the screen went black and audio cut in and out intermittently as before.
From Music / Albums when I tried to play an album the menu on the TV screen cut in and out and the audio was intermittent.

More minor bug, but still annoying: When playing movies titles (closed captioning) are turned on automatically. The Options button on the HD300 lets you uncheck the box next to titles to get rid of them but it would be nicer if you didn't have to do that.