[mythtv-users] HDPVR HD Recordings are in 4:3 format
Karl Newman
newmank1 at asme.org
Fri Dec 13 16:25:52 UTC 2013
On Fri, Dec 13, 2013 at 5:41 AM, Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com>wrote:
> On 12/13/2013 12:07 AM, Karl Newman wrote:
>
> On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 7:16 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>
>> On 12/12/2013 08:05 PM, Karl Newman wrote:
>>>
>>> On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 12:36 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>>>
>>>> FWIW, there is no reason anyone in the world should ever set the Video
>>>>
>>>>> Aspect Override setting--except for the never-gonna-exist-in-reality
>>>>> person
>>>>> who has 100% of all video sources providing incorrectly-encoded video
>>>>> that
>>>>> gives the wrong aspect ratio information, or you've misconfigured X
>>>>> such
>>>>> that it's telling MythTV the display is using some incorrect aspect.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have to use the Video Aspect Override setting to force my 4:3 videos
>>>>
>>>> recorded on a PVR500 to display correctly on my 4:3 CRT SDTV because
>>>> it's
>>>> passing through an HDMI->Composite converter that is accepting a 720p
>>>> signal. (Without the override they are squashed horizontally). I tried
>>>> other video mode settings in X (thoroughly) but the aspect was still
>>>> wrong
>>>> so this is what I stuck with. It causes no other issues for us, though,
>>>> so
>>>> it's no problem.
>>>>
>>>> This sounds like you have your recording profile set up to use 4:3 but
>>> are
>>> sending 16:9 to the PVR-500, so you've been using the "ignore the
>>> recording's specified bitrate" to work around the fact that you're
>>> encoding
>>> it incorrectly (i.e. 2 wrongs to make a right). It should also mean that
>>> any properly-encoded widescreen video will display incorrectly on your
>>> system.
>>>
>>> No, the PVR-500 is still recording 4:3.
>>
>
> That doesn't seem to be what you're saying, below.
>
>
> This problem only occurred when I
>> switched hardware such that I no longer had a native TV-out and had to use
>> the HDMI->Composite converter. I'm not sure if the default HDMI EDID modes
>> even have a 4:3 option (but it doesn't really matter because the 720p
>> looks
>> best with this converter).
>>
>
> If the converter is doing 720p output, why do you say the PVR-500 is
> recording 4:3? I've never seen 1280x720 video (pixel aspect ratio of 16:9)
> marked with a display aspect ratio of 4:3--and the Composite cable doesn't
> even support carrying aspect information (with the exception of the
> wide-screen signalling (WSS) flag--but I think that's only even
> used/recognized in a very small number of areas in the world, and not by
> MythTV). If it's really 720p output, it's almost definitely 16:9 format.
> Now, it's possible that your STB is outputting 4:3 and your converter is
> stretching the 4:3 input to 16:9 (making people short and fat/making
> circles into horizontal ellipses) and breaking the aspect ratio or that
> your STB is stretching the 4:3 to 16:9, at which point recording as 4:3
> would "unstretch" the video and put it back to the right aspect (another 2
> wrongs to make a right--but only if the video is output at 4:3, as it would
> break if you ever sent out 16:9 widescreen from the STB--but in this case,
> the 2 wrongs may actually be the best option if you have to use a 720p
> (versus a proper 4:3) output from the converter), but you really need to
> give information on the configuration of the inputs and outputs of all the
> pieces that handle the video for me to know exactly what's going on.
>
>
Sorry, I just realized that I wasn't clear. When I say I switched hardware,
I meant my motherboard died and had to be replaced, and I lost my built-in
TV out (new MB has HDMI & VGA only). There has been no change to the STB
feeding the PVR-500. The converter changes the HDMI output of my computer
to the composite input of my TV.
Anyway, it's strictly a display issue because it
> happens with old recordings as well.
>
Well, if that's the case, then you have X misconfigured and you're abusing
> the "Video aspect override" setting to make it appear correctly--the 2
> wrongs to make a right approach. See
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Display_Size (Or you have Xinerama enabled
> and your "Monitor aspect ratio" setting is incorrect.)
>
It's entirely possible that X is misconfigured, but I fought with it for
quite a while and even to get it to stay in 720p I have to issue a xrandr
command in my .xsession script because I couldn't force the preferred mode
in my xorg.conf (it used to stick, but an update to X broke it). Hmm... I
just looked up man page for xrandr and I see there's a --fbmm option that
can set the display size, so I'll look into that. Maybe if I set that I can
get rid of the override and have everything work right.
> FWIW, one of these 2 issues is almost definitely the problem the OP,
> Scott, is facing, also.
>
>
> I don't record any 16:9 content, but
>> some DVD rips do display incorrectly (16:9 fills the screen when it should
>> be letterboxed instead). We use videos infrequently, though, and it
>> doesn't
>> really bother us. The problem will go away when we buy a new TV, but we're
>> not in any hurry...
>>
>
> Still, the "Video aspect override" setting is /always/ saying to ignore
> the display aspect ratio encoded in the video and to use the one you've
> selected, instead. By definition that means that if you have to set the
> "Video aspect override" setting (on a system with a properly-configured X
> display) you have improperly-encoded video. (And if you have to set the
> "Video aspect override" setting and you're certain the video is properly
> encoded, you have a misconfiguration of X or you have Xinerama enabled and
> you haven't told MythTV the "Monitor aspect ratio".)
>
> The "Video aspect override" setting shouldn't exist and only provides a
> way for people with broken configurations to make it seem like things
> aren't broken without actually fixing the brokenness. It only adds to
> confusion when users are configuring their systems, especially when it
> makes a broken configuration seem to work.
>
Yep. The "brokenness" in this case is primarily due to my HDMI->Composite
converter, but I'm able to get it to work well enough for now. There comes
a point where you've fought enough with arcane config files and arbitrary
package changes and you just want it to fricking work.
Karl
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