Force 16:9 screen in TV (1 Viewer)

[Woggle]

Hiya,

When watching TV, there are times when the screen goes to 4:3 rather than 16:9 (particularly when watching things like Friends or Scrubs on E4).

I know that in MP Config. there is an option around scaling but which option do I need to choose?

Thanks

 

[igalan]

This all depends on the codecs you use for TV. If the codec you use for TV properly outputs the image using the reported aspect ratio of the stream, then you could use Normal, so it outputs using the reported aspect ratio, or Stretch if you want to fit the image to the screen even if it's 4:3 on a 16:9 screen.

Some TV stations broadcast 16:9 shows with black bars, so they can have the logo on the black area (not very clever, IMO). In this case the broadcast may actually end up being 4:3, so you have to use Zoom 14:9 to get a better aspect ratio, but there is little that can be done in this case. That may be your problem; look if the black bars are not perfectly black (or as black as your TV can go).

If the codec you use isn't aware of the aspect ratio (MPV, for instance), then you have to manually force the aspect ratio that fits better.

In my case I use the ATI Mpeg2 Video Decoder (installed on all ATI HD 4X and HD 3X video cards AFAIK). This one does output using the correct aspect ratio. In Media Portal I use stretch, so the image always fills the screen, I don't mind having some distorsion on 4:3 broadcasts, as long as it fits the whole screen.