DVD aspect ratio - General Knowledge Question (1 Viewer)

[the_drewster]

Hi,

Here's a general question.

I'm having to change the aspect ratio for dvds dependant on which dvd is playing. I'm assuming "Normal" mode renders a picture is how the director intended, widescreen. But Normal renders a small picture on my tv, ace quality but too small to view. So, (again assuming) using Stretch, stretches the Normal mode picture to fit to the TV screen, thus not losing any picture edges due to cropping.

The question is, (yet again assuming that picture quality is lost as a result of stretching), would changing the original resolution output by the PC provide a larger picture in Normal mode, so that Stretch mode is not needed and picture quality is not lost?

Thanks

 

[Darre]

Normal viewmode should fill your screen depending on the source format. ie 16:9 would fill a 16:9 screen, while 4:3 would fill it vertically and leave some black bars on each side. To me it sounds like you are using "original source format" and that results in the file beeing played in its original res, which would be a little stamp in the middle of the screen for most 720p users.

I don't fully understand what you are asking for, but hopefully my answer helps you ^^

 

[the_drewster]

Normal viewmode should fill your screen depending on the source format. ie 16:9 would fill a 16:9 screen, while 4:3 would fill it vertically and leave some black bars on each side. To me it sounds like you are using "original source format" and that results in the file beeing played in its original res, which would be a little stamp in the middle of the screen for most 720p users.

I don't fully understand what you are asking for, but hopefully my answer helps you ^^

Yes, you're right. The TV is set to 720p and using "original source format" would explain why Normal differs from movie to movie.

So first things first, under what setting is "original source format".

Secondly, does it not defeat the idea of HDTV if playing the original res results in a tiny stamp. Does this mean that to fill my screen to 16:9 I would lose picture quality.

Thirdly, am I right in assuming that an HD picture will only become apparent if the source being played is HD, like a blue ray disk, or an HD mkv file?

And lastly, do I need a special codec to play HD files, and if so, does MediaPortal have any bundled with it, or should I be searching for others?

Many thanks

Drew

 

[Darre]

First: In MP config under DVD settings(for files on your hard drive you have to do it under movie settings) you can select the different "zoom modes". You enable the ones you want.

second: Playing a low-quality video is not going to look great on a big screen. However different codecs will do a better/worse job with it. "Original source format" is _not_ the default zoom in MP, its rarely usefull, but sometimes I use it with 720p material. Normally I use normal, as that will fill the screen best.

thirdly: You will only get HD picture from HD sources - yes. But you can use (amongst others) FFdshow to upscale the video and get a somewhat more crisp image.

lastly: Yes you will need some sort of codec able to decode it. Depending on what its encoded with. Many different codecs will do this for you, the most popular ones are cyberlink($), coreavc($) and FFdshow which is free =) All of these decode h.264/x.264 content, but you get HD files in .mov and xvid format as well. FFdshow decodes both h.264 and xvid(and alot more)

Someone recently posted a very good codec guide enabling playback of most files, and it was also linked to a good upscaling guide for FFdshow. One of the best versions is called tryouts ffdshow(google).


edit: btw you could find alot of info on how to configure MP(and even FFdshow) in the wiki. You find it on the front page.

 

[the_drewster]

There's no 16:9 under Movie settings! I've ripped all my dvds to disk. Hows come there's no 16:9?

 

[Darre]

Well if the movie is 16:9 you should only have to select "normal" zoom mode and it will fill your 16:9 screen perfectly.