HD200 masking top and bottom of 720p videos

[lewispm]

I have an HD200 that is displaying 720p videos with black bars on the top and bottom of the screen covering up parts of the picture.

The file is recording correctly. I have a Sage client on another TV and it displays the same file without the black bars. So it seems to be an issue with the HD200.

The 1080i videos all display correctly (without black bars), but all the 720p videos have the black bars. It worked fine until about 4 months ago, not sure what happened.

I have looked at the settings on the HD200 and cannot find the answer. I have tried to switch aspect ratio, but it just zooms the unmasked image, it doesn't uncover the masked part of the image or correct the problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

[BobPhoenix]

Have you set your aspect ratio mode to Source?

[lewispm]

Yes, the aspect ratio is on source, and I've cycled through them all, and they all seem to mask the same part of the video.

Its not the tv or the recording, I've narrowed it down to the hd200 playing a 720p source.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by lewispm

Yes, the aspect ratio is on source, and I've cycled through them all, and they all seem to mask the same part of the video.

Its not the tv or the recording, I've narrowed it down to the hd200 playing a 720p source.

The reason I asked was because you can use a custom AR to cause this and I wanted to make sure you were using one of the default AR's that "shouldn't" cause the problem. Your HD200 could be on it's way out but I have no idea that is really true or not. I don't remember that happening on my HD200s at 720p but I'm on clients now. Switched when SageTV was bought out. Didn't want to get stuck with extenders that die on me at an in opportune time like my HD100s did since I won't be able to get new ones.

[stanger89]

What's your output resolution set to? And display aspect ratio?

[lewispm]

Display aspect ratio is 16x9 and after switching it to the other selections it had no effect.

Where do I find the output resolution?

[stanger89]

Should be in detailed setup, should also show in system information.

[lewispm]

On System Info I have:

Display 1920x1080i@59.94 Window: 1024 x 576

What does this window (576) number represent?

That's the closest thing to "output resolution" in system info, and I don't see it in detailed settings.

I tried to "revert to sagetv 7 xml" but it still had the masked out area on the top and bottom. So I'm back at Gemstone, with no luck.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by lewispm

What does this window (576) number represent?

That's the resolution the UI is rendered at, it's normal.

Beyond that I'm not really sure, and I guess I'm not sure what you mean by "masked" either.

[lewispm]

To describe the masking :

When you watch a wide screen movie on a 4x3 tv, there is black space (bars) at the top and bottom of the screen because of the aspect ratio difference.

These black areas are there for me, but they cover actual parts of the video that should be displayed, since the aspect ratio is the same as the tv.

[mechling-burgh]

Under setup there is a setting to setup screen proportion 4:3, 16:9, 16:10 could have 16:10 selected instead of 16:9. This I believe would cause the black bars you describe.

[lewispm]

Originally Posted by mechling-burgh

Under setup there is a setting to setup screen proportion 4:3, 16:9, 16:10 could have 16:10 selected instead of 16:9. This I believe would cause the black bars you describe.

I've tried all those with no luck, and it only does it on 720p videos.

[lewispm]

Is there a factory reset I could do on the hd200 or is it still gonna pull my settings from the sage server?

[wayner]

Does this happen in standalone mode as well as extender mode? You could try updating to the beta firmware if available. It might help if you post a photo - take one on your phone and post it in this thread.

One way of getting rid of the settings for the extender is to delete the client properties folder. The file name will be based on the MAC address of the extender - you can find that on the bottom of the extender or usually through your router's DHCP clients page.

[lewispm]

Originally Posted by wayner

Does this happen in standalone mode as well as extender mode? You could try updating to the beta firmware if available. It might help if you post a photo - take one on your phone and post it in this thread.

One way of getting rid of the settings for the extender is to delete the client properties folder. The file name will be based on the MAC address of the extender - you can find that on the bottom of the extender or usually through your router's DHCP clients page.

I restarted in standby mode to check if it does it there as well, and it did. I then tried to update the firmware, and the beta firmware, but they were both up to date.

Then, as a last resort, I changed some settings while in standalone mode, and it worked!

There was a setting to "force HDMI" and I selected yes. There was also another aspect ratio setting, and I changed it as well. I'm not sure which one did it, but it works now in both standalone and server mode.

I used to have both outputs (HDMI and analog) active, so my guess is the "force HDMI" setting fixed it.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm not sure I would have gotten it fixed if you didn't point me to standalone mode.

[wayner]

Glad you got it resolved.