Aspect Ratio

[Mach1na]

Is there any way to stop widescreen DIVX files being stretched to fill up the TV screen? I am using MVP H3 and the only things I can find by searching are trans2mvp.bat and xprocess. I believe that trans2mvp got caught up in zproccess and zprocess will not work for me.

Anything else I can do?

[sub]

GB-PVR has no control over the aspect ratio used on the MVP.

Pretty much the only thing you can do is try to follow those instructions other users have posted for using trans2mvp.bat for scripting it. This is not supported me though.

[zehd]

Is there any way to stop widescreen DIVX files being stretched to fill up the TV screen? I am using MVP H3 and the only things I can find by searching are trans2mvp.bat and xprocess. I believe that trans2mvp got caught up in zproccess and zprocess will not work for me.

Anything else I can do?

ZProcess is based on the math that we came up with in the fourm thread surrounding the Aspect ratios and Trans2MVP.

Make sure in the Config.xml, <MVPTranscodeUsingFFMpeg> is set to 'true' for Zprocess to work. If it's false, GB-PVR will look for Trans2MVP.bat.

If it's 'true', The Trans2MVP.bat will not be involved...

[Mach1na]

I'm doing a clean install to see if that helps. If I'm right gbpvr uses the Hauppauge software to play Divx files and the Hauppauge services should be set to manual.

If ZProcess is installed do these processes need to be disabled because ZProcess is taking care of the Divx?

[4zm4r3d02]

I'm doing a clean install to see if that helps. If I'm right gbpvr uses the Hauppauge software to play Divx files and the Hauppauge services should be set to manual.

If ZProcess is installed do these processes need to be disabled because ZProcess is taking care of the Divx?

To use GB-PVR to stream video to the mvp, the Hauppauge services must NOT be running. You can disable them (the safest way) or set them to manual, using the "services.msc" management console.

It has nothing to do with the program that is sending the stream to the mvp. It has to do with the hardware/software on the mvp. If you use the Hauppauge MediaMVP Content Service, it will still magnify the video.

In order to get widescreen videos to display in letterbox format on a 4:3 TV connected to an mvp, you must transcode it to one of the "standard" sizes, adding padding on the top, bottom, and sides.

For example, I have some episodes of Lost that I "obtained" that are xvid encoded avi files, with "widescreen" dimensions of 608x336. To get them to play on my mvp, I use the following command line for ffmpeg.exe:

Code:

ffmpeg.exe  -i "inputfilename.avi" -target ntsc-svcd -ar 48000 -ab 192 -ac 2 -aspect 4:3 -s 608x336 -padtop 72 -padbottom 72 -padleft 40 -padright 72 "outputfilename.mpg"

This results in a 720x480 file, which the mvp "likes". I use svcd format because, to my eyes, they look just fine on my tv, and the bitrate doesn't tax my pc or network too much. I use 48000 audio so that I can burn them to dvd, if I decide to keep them. The padding on the sides is not symmetric; I have to do it that way to get those files to display centered on my mvp and tv.

You will need to experiment to see what looks good to you on your tv, and may have to change values for different source files. The ZProcess utility can help you with that.

[Mach1na]

Hi,

Does that mean you transcode and then watch the resultant file, or does it do it like ZProcess which is plays the movie as the PC transcodes in an almost transparent manner?

[4zm4r3d02]

Hi,

Does that mean you transcode and then watch the resultant file, or does it do it like ZProcess which is plays the movie as the PC transcodes in an almost transparent manner?

I transcode in advance, since my pc doesn't have enough power to transcode and stream to the mvp on-the-fly.

I only need to do this on files I have downloaded, of course, as GB-PVR and my Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 record in mpeg2 format.

[zehd]

Hi,

Does that mean you transcode and then watch the resultant file, or does it do it like ZProcess which is plays the movie as the PC transcodes in an almost transparent manner?

If your computer is not powerful enough to transcode a good quality image on the fly and do it quickly, then you should trasncode first, watch video later.

You do not want to have the Hauppauge services running at the same time as you use GB-PVR.