Small black bars, 1 tuner, changing channels across muxes

[quenthal]

No signs of this issue at all in the logs, so I try to describe it as well as I can.

If only one tuner is available and I change channel from one mux to another TV Client doesn't recognize aspect ratio correctly.


For example when I change to completely different mux and channel, chance is that TV Client adds thin black bars no matter if the channel is currently using 4:3 or 16:9.

After changing the channel it is correct for an instant, but then it happens. These black bars and small squishing of picture follows until I either restart client or change channels within same mux and hope to find one using different aspect ratio.

[kkendall]

TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: MP/TVserver 1 RC1
MediaPortal Skin: BlueTwo
Windows Version: Vista
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 775 1333FSB 2.66Ghz 4MB
HDD: 2x Samsung spinpoint 500GB
Memory: 2x Kingston DDR2 ValueRAM 1GB 667 CL5.0
Motherboard: Asus P5K
Video Card: ASUS EN7300TC256/TD
Video Card Driver:
Sound Card:
Sound Card AC3: AC3 and DTS: S/PDIF
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: FloppyDTV
1. TV Card Type: DVB-C
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card: Hauppauge PVR500
2. TV Card Type: analog
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider: CAIW
HTPC Case: Silverstone LC17b
Cooling:
Power Supply: ANTEC
Remote: Microsoft MCE 2005 remote
TV: Philips
TV - HTPC Connection: Composite


I can confirm sort of the same problem here!
When I change from a HD channel to a normal DVB-C channel it adds 2 thin black bars on top and on the bottom... I don't know anything about muxers or stuff like that, I just noticed this.
When I stop tv and start again, it's gone. One changing channels from HDTV DVB-C to SDTV DVB-C gives small black bars

[vlukinius]

Do you mean you get "distorted" picture with none circular circles? Like when you stretch 4:3 to 16:9 with black over and under the picture. But you do have a 16:9 tv and watch 16:9 content.

It is really hard to try to explain it. May have to make a picture...


This is how it is show to me.

[Paranoid Delusion]

That is definately codec related, why it is not using correct aspect ratio on channel change i cannot say.

Which codecs are being used, PowerDVD 7\8 seem to be the best for giving correct aspect.

[kkendall]

Originally Posted by vlukinius

Do you mean you get "distorted" picture with none circular circles? Like when you stretch 4:3 to 16:9 with black over and under the picture. But you do have a 16:9 tv and watch 16:9 content.

It is really hard to try to explain it. May have to make a picture...


This is how it is show to me.

This is exactly how it is showing with me!
But I've noticed it only occurs sometimes, like about 25%. And it also occurs when changing from one normal SD DVB channel to another, so it stays with the same codec, but aspectratio changes after channelchange. This can be gone after changing back the channel...really weird...

[vlukinius]

I have it all the time and I use ffdshow atm. Will have a look at the codecs.


Is there any information on what codes are best for what (video/television) somewhere?
I find it hard to find codec information.

update:

Tried the mpv did not work.
Downloaded powerdvd and that one seamed to work. I have to go to zoom to get a full screen view.

[TritonT]

The aspect ratio bug has existed since 0.2.3.0, I reported it in December last year. PureVideo used to work fine then after a particular SVN started exibiting the bug. PowerDVD 7 did not show the bug (stopped using it 2 months ago), but PowerDVD 8 does. Which means there's no decent codec which does not show it now.

Here in UK land I see it happening mainly when changing away from Channel 4 and Five. I originally thought it was due to AFD flag handling in the codec, but to be honest I have no idea now.

[vlukinius]

The power dvd codec works for me. But I dont get the full screen used. I mean maximized without changing the aspect ratio. That is what I want. Max picture without changing the content other then the size.

[kkendall]

Originally Posted by TritonT

The aspect ratio bug has existed since 0.2.3.0, I reported it in December last year. PureVideo used to work fine then after a particular SVN started exibiting the bug. PowerDVD 7 did not show the bug (stopped using it 2 months ago), but PowerDVD 8 does. Which means there's no decent codec which does not show it now.

Here in UK land I see it happening mainly when changing away from Channel 4 and Five. I originally thought it was due to AFD flag handling in the codec, but to be honest I have no idea now.

Yes, I experience it sometimes with PowerDVD 8 and sometimes with Purevideo. It seems that some channels give this effect more than others. I have no idea what causes this seemingly random effect.

From what I saw yesterday, it seems that when you watch tv fullscreen (16:9) and you set it to 4:3 letterbox, this gives the same effect!
So it seems that sometimes when going to another channel it changes the aspect ratio from full screen 16:9 (Aspect ratio: Normal) to 4:3 letterbox...again, at random.
EDIT: When the aspect ration changes after channelswitch, the Aspect ratio still says "Normal" but it's clearly a 4:3 letterbox on a 16:9 widescreen tv, so you can't, say, change it back to "Normal" because it already says it is.

Has this been posted as an official bugreport?