UI size resets after changing TV inputs (1 Viewer)

[mrceolla]

MediaPortal Version: 1.2.0
MediaPortal Skin: StreamedMP
Windows Version: Win7 64-bin
CPU Type: Xeon L5420
Memory: 8GB
Motherboard: SuperMicro X7DA8
Video Card: Nvidia 7950

Hello,

I still have a CRT HD TV so I need to adjust the UI size so that important parts don't get cut off by the overscan. That all works dandy but 90% of the time after I either turn off the TV or switch inputs on the TV, MediaPortal resets the UI size to full screen. A restart of MediaPortal fixes the problem.

Is there any way to prevent this from happening. It's rather inconvenient to have to close and restart MediaPortal every time.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mm1352000]

Hi Mike

This sounds more like an issue with the NVidia driver or the TV than with MP, although there is possibly an interaction with MP being full screen. Are you able to set the screen size in the NVidia driver control panel rather than in the TV?

mm

 

[mrceolla]

If I adjust the desktop size via nVidia then the video is scaled along with it producing undersirable results so this is not an option.

I don't know what you mean 'in the TV'. I can't manually adjust the screen size in my TV.

To me this seems more like an MP issue than a driver or TV issue because there should be no reason that MP needs to 'forget' its user interface settings just because the screen refreshes. Windows remembers its resolution just fine, so why can't MP remember its UI size settings?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again Mike

If I adjust the desktop size via nVidia then the video is scaled along with it producing undersirable results so this is not an option.

I don't know what you mean 'in the TV'. I can't manually adjust the screen size in my TV.

If you're not changing the desktop resolution/size and you're not adjusting the TV (I meant scaling adjustments like those that can/could be performed on most CRT computer monitors with the +, - and other buttons) then I'm a little confused about what you're actually doing.

Here's a guess: are you running MP in windowed mode (ie. you can see the desktop and MP is running as a window like other software) and adjusting the size and position of the window on the desktop to make it fit the visible area on the TV?

The thing that is the most confusing for me from your first post is this statement:

That all works dandy but 90% of the time after I either turn off the TV or switch inputs on the TV, MediaPortal resets the UI size to full screen.

That is confusing because my understanding is that MP wouldn't adjust its own size unless you are changing between full screen video and the textured user interface. Possibly what is more likely is that the TV rescans the input and automatically scales the image to match what it thinks is the visible area of its screen. Lots of CRT monitors work this way.

Windows remembers its resolution just fine, so why can't MP remember its UI size settings?

I'd like to answer this but best you explain exactly what you're doing in more detail else I'm guessing what you mean by "UI size settings".

mm

 

[mrceolla]

I apologize for being unclear. Perhaps this will help.

I'm using StreamedMP but I believe these steps are universal.

From Home Screen:

Setting -> Screen Set-Up -> UI Calibration

It is this setting that seems to 'reset'. Most days, the TV is turned off at night with MP playing recorded TV. In the morning, when I turn on the TV again and switch to the media center input (DVI->HDMI) I hear the Windows 7 sound of a device disconnect/reconnect (likely the TV). I see the MP recorded TV UI along with the task bar for a brief moment. Then maybe a second later the task bar is removed and MP consumes the full screen but the UI size settings are 'reset' to defaults resulting in UI elements inside my overscan area.

Does this make sense? I'm not making any size adjustments on the TV. I have a Sony KD-34XBR960 34" HDTV. Not a monitor. Most consumer TV's (at least CRTs) do not have any sort of resolution or size adjustments to change overscan effects so I'm not sure what you may think is happening in the TV itself.

I do not believe MP is in windowed mode. Even after the UI size 'reset' MP is still in full screen with no task bar or other Windows elements.

I do not adjust the Nvidia settings because then MP scales the video to fit in that new resolution instead of playing it in full 720p which is what I need video to be played at. I used to use this Nvidia method on my previous HTPC with Windows Media Center, but unlike Windows Media Center which seems to automatically switch to 'full screen' when playing video, MP does not and the resulting scaled video quality is poor. Besides, the whole point of the UI adjustment is to correct for this overscan problem.

It's late so I hope this wasn't a rambling mess. If anything else is still unclear please ask more questions. I'd love to eliminate this problem.

Thank you,
Mike

 

[mrceolla]

Ok, here are some logs.

I turned off the TV last night with MP playing recorded TV. In the morning, my home automation system turns on the TV then changes to an over the air DTV channel right away but is briefly on my HDMI input. Then I leave for work and the TV gets turned off. I never shutdown the MP machine nor do I let it go to sleep. I get home and the TV is turned on displaying the last DTV channel that was on. Later in the evening I switch back to MP to watch recorded TV. This is when I see the UI 'reset' itself to it's full size and certain UI elements are now cut-off by the edge of my screen thanks to my CRT HDTV's overscan. I have to exit MP and then restart it in order for the UI to return to its correct size.

After this happened today, I exited MP right away and gathered all log files via the Debug Mode tool. So you should notice a large period of inactivity from last night to earlier this evening.

Please let me know if you need any further information.

Perhaps this isn't a common problem with flat panel displays because perhaps no flat panel displays require UI size adjustments. But I can't be the only one experiencing this. Is there a simple setting I'm missing somewhere that would help prevent this?

Any help is much appreciated. This little problem is most annoying.

Thank you,
Mike

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again Mike

I'm starting to get to grips with what might be happening - I think the video card driver is triggering MP to think its resolution is changing when you change inputs on your TV and something is going wrong when that happens. You need to be more precise with your timing information though. Although I do see the large period of inactivity, there are 5 occasions on which the resolution of MP may have been reset:
17:04:22
17:11:29
17:45:16
18:06:04
18:06:05

I'm not able to correlate those with your description of what you did. I could assume that one or both of the last two were the problem, however similar resolution changes happen at other times.

Also, are you able to post the "ScreenCalibration****.xml" files from your MP config directory (open MP configuration, click "user config files" in the top left hand corner - files should be in there...).

mm

[Edit: actually, it may also help if you could set MP's debug level to "debug" and post fresh logs.]

 

[tourettes]

http://mantis.team-mediaportal.com/view.php?id=3353

 

[mm1352000]

Hi tourettes

I'm aware of that issue but I'm not sure that it is the issue here. Mike seems to be saying that it is only the overscan adjustments that don't get re-applied.

mm

 

[tourettes]

I'm aware of that issue but I'm not sure that it is the issue here. Mike seems to be saying that it is only the overscan adjustments that don't get re-applied.

Sorry, should have read the whole thread before posting. But in any case the root cause is probably quite same.