[Finished] ViewModeSwitcher for 1.4.0 (1 Viewer)

[kiwijunglist]

I found the GUI confusing

[X] Auto BB detect
[X] This rule enables black bar detection
[X] Maximun crop Overscan: 8 pixels

I think need some tool tips here, what is the difference between 'Auto Black bar detect' and 'enable black bar detection', they sound like the same thing.
Need to say what 'Maximun Crop' means...
Why are default profiles forcing 8-16px overscan for all videos? Is this overscan for BB detection or are we cropping 8 pixels from every video we display in MePo?

Also. The default 4:3 inside 16:9 and 16:9 inside 4:3 don't have BB detection enabled under their individual settings, so do they actually do anything?

EDIT: I think I understand how it works, is it so you can pass on BB detection to the other profiles, because you don't want to check for BB in any source that is 4:3 HD or anything source that is not 16:9.

 

[kiwijunglist]

PS. Videoswitcher is working great here, I removed all the overscan settings. It is correctly identifying 16:9 inside 4:3 even though i don't have either of the BB detection switches enabled (so not sure what they do here).

I havn't yet tested on 16:9 video in 4:3 frame without black bars, ie there is an AR tag in the video stream that compresses the video into a widescreen frame, I think this is called panavision or cinemascope or something like that. They use it on DVDs where the video is widescreen but is recorded as 4:3 onto the disc. Not sure if viewmode switcher will work out that this is not a 4:3 video even though it's pixel dimensions are 4:3.

With regards to non-linear stretch, the only situation in the default profile I could see for non linear stretch would be stretching 1.85:1 video. That would look fine with a stretch because it's really close to 16:9.

 

[kiwijunglist]

@Owlsroost

Added:

1.85:1 -> non linear stretch
1.85:1 inside 16:9 -> non linear stretch
21:9 inside 16:9 -> zoom 14by9

I figure if you have 21:9 in the default rule set, you should also have 21:9 inside 16:9 as it is not uncommon to have a bluray rip with encoded black bars.

Idea: Should you remove the height column and only have min + max width?

It would make the plugin simpler to configure and I can't think of any situation where height is needed. Because we are using AR ratios the min+max height is already derived from the min width / max AR + max width / min AR.

There are lots of resolutions that are not captured by the default rules because of the height column
eg. 21:9 720P = 1280 x 528 -> Doesn't fit in 21:9 HD or 21:9 SD rule
16:9 960x540 -> Doesn't fit in 16:9 HD or 16:9 SD rule

 

[wouter1971]

Works as designed! No problems seen sofar. One recommendation is better default settings then 14:9 on most. That gives better out of the box experience instead of some hardly noticeable 14:9 experience.
Thanks for the work Owlsroost. 4:3 in pillar boxes works great too. No need for IFC anymore for me.

No problem to have more than one set of 'recommended' settings files available - if you can post your settings for 16:9 and 4:3 screens I'll add the files to the 3rd post.

I don't like or use NonLinearStretch (I prefer some black bars to distorted pictures), but I know other people do....

I can only supply my recommended 16x9 settings:

 

[Owlsroost]

I've added the settings files from kiwijunglist and wouter1971 to the 3rd post - thanks for those.

Idea: Should you remove the height column and only have min + max width? It would make the plugin simpler to configure and I can't think of any situation where height is needed. Because we are using AR ratios the min+max height is already derived from the min width / max AR + max width / min AR. There are lots of resolutions that are not captured by the default rules because of the height column eg. 21:9 720P = 1280 x 528 -> Doesn't fit in 21:9 HD or 21:9 SD rule 16:9 960x540 -> Doesn't fit in 16:9 HD or 16:9 SD rule

Proper video (i.e. broadcast/DVD/Bluray/good camcorders) doesn't use weird vertical sizes, so if I had to choose I'd remove the width columns . So I think you need to keep both width and height selections - if you set min = 0 and max = 9999 it effectively makes that test a 'don't care' anyway.

You can't directly infer the height from the AR+width because a lot of video uses non-square pixels (e.g. both 50Hz 4:3 SD and 16:9 SD use 720 x 576 frame size, but the pixels are different shapes and non-square).

 

[kiwijunglist]

oh isn't the AR you are using derived from the Width / Height x Video_Internal_AR (ie square vs rectangular pixel) , all these values are known which means that you derive min width from height (or vice versa)

 

[Owlsroost]

oh isn't the AR you are using derived from the Width / Height x Video_Internal_AR (ie square vs rectangular pixel) , all these values are known which means that you derive min width from height (or vice versa)

For checking the 'normal' rules (the ones with +ve AR values) it uses the AR the player provides (which I think comes from the video decoder) - this is the 'display' AR i.e. the shape the picture should have on the screen. For checking the 'special' rules (the ones with -ve AR values) it works out the 'display' AR using the measured 'real' (without black bars) picture dimensions and the pixel AR.

I'm not going to change the settings - it's more flexible having both width and height parameters available, and as this discussion is demonstrating, some people think horizontally and others vertically

 

[Owlsroost]

I found the GUI confusing

[X] Auto BB detect
[X] This rule enables black bar detection
[X] Maximun crop Overscan: 8 pixels

I think need some tool tips here, what is the difference between 'Auto Black bar detect' and 'enable black bar detection', they sound like the same thing.
Need to say what 'Maximun Crop' means...
Why are default profiles forcing 8-16px overscan for all videos? Is this overscan for BB detection or are we cropping 8 pixels from every video we display in MePo?

Also. The default 4:3 inside 16:9 and 16:9 inside 4:3 don't have BB detection enabled under their individual settings, so do they actually do anything?

EDIT: I think I understand how it works, is it so you can pass on BB detection to the other profiles, because you don't want to check for BB in any source that is 4:3 HD or anything source that is not 16:9.

There are two modes for Black Bar detection - single-shot and continuous. If you tick 'This rule enables black bar detection' it enables a single-shot detection just after start of play (and after every channel change for TV). If you tick that and 'Auto BB detect' it will check for Black Bars every second. To reduce the confusion I'll try and link the controls.

' Maximum crop' means (if black bars are detected) that it will allow up to 12% of the 'good' picture to be cropped in order to maximise the black bar removal. Historically VMS always used 'minimum crop' so it never allowed 'good' picture to be cropped.

The 'Overscan' amount is always cropped off the edges of the picture - just set it to zero if you don't want it.

The main reason for having separate SD and HD rules is to allow for different overscan and black bar detection settings.

Also. The default 4:3 inside 16:9 and 16:9 inside 4:3 don't have BB detection enabled under their individual settings, so do they actually do anything?

No they don't (for those special rules), they are ignored. I might see if I can show them as 'don't cares' in that situation.

 

[kiwijunglist]

I'm not going to change the settings - it's more flexible having both width and height parameters available, and as this discussion is demonstrating, some people think horizontally and others vertically

ok thanks

There are two modes for Black Bar detection - single-shot and continuous. If you tick 'This rule enables black bar detection' it enables a single-shot detection just after start of play (and after every channel change for TV). If you tick that and 'Auto BB detect' it will check for Black Bars every second. To reduce the confusion I'll try and link the controls.

Can I suggest then

Auto BB Detect -> Continuous BB Detection
This rules enable black bar detection -> Initial Black Bar Detection

with first item having dependency on 2nd item being checked

 

[Owlsroost]

Can I suggest then Auto BB Detect -> Continuous BB Detection This rules enable black bar detection -> Initial Black Bar Detection with first item having dependency on 2nd item being checked

Yes, that's basically what I was thinking of doing (and your naming suggestions seem good, providing I can fit them in the available space).