Aspect ratios

[Alconja]

Hi all,

So I'm running MP on a 4:3 TV and had some aspect ratio questions. The problem is that the DVB-T signal for some programs on some stations is transmitted in strange aspect ratios (this is for Australian digital - not sure if its the same else where). Basically it seems that some stations are transmitted in full widescreen (2.39:1), but some shows are only recorded in 16:9 widescreen (1.78:1) or even 14:9 (1.55:1). So basically you end up with a situation where the stations are actually transmitting vertical black bars at the left & right.

I've made a diagram to show you what I mean... The red box is the actual transmition in 2.39:1, and the tv program is the grey circles in the blue 1.78:1 box (the green box is 1.55:1). The yellow box is the actual viewing area.

So basically the problem is that pan & scan chops too much off at the sides, zoom, stretch, normal & original all just fit the full transmitted width & stretch it vertically, therefore leaving you with both a stretched image (which i hate) and vertical black bars at the left & right. Letterbox looks good if the show is using the full width of the transmition, but if you have one of these shows in 16:9 or 14:9 then you end up with a black border all the way around.



Ideally there'd be a zoom mode (or two) that result in the last two versions in my diagram, where you partially zoom whilst maintaining the aspect ratio of the source. so that you can fit the 16/14:9 image in the 4:3 viewing area with a little bit of cropping (in these cases just black bars anyway) and a little bit of letterboxing.

I'm guessing the problem is that most people run 16:9 displays (& no its not really an option to just go buy a new tv ) and therefore most the aspect ratio stretches are used there (I'm assuming zoom, stretch, normal and original actually do something different when running 16:9).

I was hoping that the new 14:9 ratio that's been added in 0.2.0.2 would help, but it still squashes the source image into a 4:3 shape (i.e. everything is vertically stretched) & then just zooms in a bit on that.

Sorry for the long read, thanks for anyone who made it all the way through & have some solutions/ideas for me (maybe i'll just need to get my hands dirty in the C#).

[Javelin]

I am using Cyberlink Decoders from Power DVD 6. If you have these decoders installed you can select them in the setting section. They seem to be able to display/correct all aspect ratios for Aus.