[mythtv] Preview release 1 of the new theme G.A.N.T.

[Bruce Markey]

David Engel wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 16, 2003 at 03:24:07PM +0100, Oscar Carlsson wrote:
> 
>>David Engel wrote:
>>
>>>in the standard TV viewing area?
>>
>>What do you mean by that?  I mean, of course you have to setup the
>>overscan settings of Myth so that you see the whole window?
> 
> 
> I forget what the proper terms and specs are (I think Bruce knows),
> but the guidelines go something like this.  Anything you want to
> always be visible (i.e. critical information) should be at least 10%
> of the screen size in from the borders and anything else you would
> like to be visible (i.e. border/framing graphics) should be at least
> 5% in from the borders.

The "action safe" area is 5% and the "text safe" area is 10%
in from the edges in an NTSC broadcast. Back in the days when
TV screens were spherical and cowls were curved and rounded,
broadcaster needed to be sure that viewers could see all the
text that they printed on the screen.

These days, screens are flatter and edges straighter so now I
think things like news tickers are outside of text safe but
still within action safe.

For 800x600 it would be best if all text could be a minimum of
30 pixels from the top and bottom and 40 pixels from either
edge. Since MythTV users need to see as much of the X display
as possible, it can be assumed that they've adjusted for minimum
overscan so some more cheating may be okay. However, I think
text within 20 pixels of the edge is probably not a good thing.

--  bjm