Television Aspect ratio

[No1Daemon]

Because of my kids I'm very familiar with this show - its definitely 4:3. There is no way it fills your widescreen without stretching it, or cutting the top/bottom off. It'll be doing one of these two.

Then how can I automatically stretch the image in GBPVR as well. I don't really care if it is stretched or not, just that it goes full screen like the others. This is the guts of what I am trying to achieve. I understand what you are saying about the aspect ratio, now I would like a solution similar to what is used in the satellite box to display the image in the same way. Is there an option or something that I can do this with.

[sub]

Try setting the following in config.xml:

<AspectRatioMode name="PillarBox" ratio="0,0,1,1" />

When you're in the 'auto' aspect ratio mode, it'll use the 'PillarBox' setting displaying a 4:3 video on a 16:9 screen. It wont work in all situations though, because some times 4:3 is adjusted to 16:9 prior to transmission (by adding the black bars instead of just transmitting it as real 4:3). A set top box would typically not handle this situation either - if you're never seeing any black bars on your set top box, then there is a good chance you've got that set top box set to '4:3 pan and scan' or '4:3 center cut' mode. You can probably see a similar effect by leaving GB-PVR in the "Center Cut" aspect ratio mode.

[stustunz]

just curious what connection to your tv are you using and what resolutiuon is the output of you video card set to

[No1Daemon]

Try setting the following in config.xml:

<AspectRatioMode name="PillarBox" ratio="0,0,1,1" />

When you're in the 'auto' aspect ratio mode, it'll use the 'PillarBox' setting displaying a 4:3 video on a 16:9 screen. It wont work in all situations though, because some times 4:3 is adjusted to 16:9 prior to transmission (by adding the black bars instead of just transmitting it as real 4:3). A set top box would typically not handle this situation either - if you're never seeing any black bars on your set top box, then there is a good chance you've got that set top box set to '4:3 pan and scan' or '4:3 center cut' mode. You can probably see a similar effect by leaving GB-PVR in the "Center Cut" aspect ratio mode.

Yes you are correct, my set top box is set to 4:3 pan and scan so is there anyway to imitate this in GBPVR?
Thats all a man wants to do. Settings the pillarbox aspectratio didn't make channel 6 go full screen. Just a bit larger I believe.

[No1Daemon]

just curious what connection to your tv are you using and what resolutiuon is the output of you video card set to

I am using an hdmi cable from pc to television and screen resolution is set to 1920 x 1080

[stustunz]

whats the model of your tv ?

[No1Daemon]

It is a Philips 32PF7320

[stustunz]

the tv must be resampling that signal down
not ideal did no lower resolutions work

[sub]

Yes you are correct, my set top box is set to 4:3 pan and scan so is there anyway to imitate this in GBPVR?
Thats all a man wants to do. Settings the pillarbox aspectratio didn't make channel 6 go full screen. Just a bit larger I believe.

To emulate your set top box's '4:3 pan and scan' you could use the 'auto' aspect ratio with settings something like this:

<AspectRatioModename="Fill"ratio="[SIZE=2]-0.05,-0.17,1.04,1.17[/SIZE]" />
[SIZE=2]<AspectRatioModename="PillarBox"ratio="0,0,1,1" />
[/SIZE]
I should point out though, what you're doing with your set top box (and trying to do with GB-PVR) is usually considered undesirable. ie, you have a widescreen tv but are never watching widescreen broadcasts on it. Instead you're telling it to watch 4:3 content stretched to fill your 16:9 TV, and telling it chop the sides off 16:9 content (and throw it away) and stretch the remainder to fill your 16:9 TV. In effect you're only ever viewing a 4:3 picture, and stretching it to fill your screen. (and losing a lot of resolution in the process)

I can understand why you want to do this - alot of people hate black bars, but if you want to get the best picture possible you'll need to think again about living with the black bars. The reality is that lots of shows were created as 4:3, so they're not going to fill your screen when they're displayed correctly. Doing this '4:3 pan and scan' is throwing away any benefit of the new widescreen transmissions that have started in the last few months in NZ.

I'm not trying to hassle you over it - just trying to help you understand what you're seeing.

[No1Daemon]

Understood. Thanks for your help sub, its really appreciated. I am actually hoping for a compromise of the 2 as I only want to stretch to fit the image when I am not viewing 16:9 displayed and the rest of the time fill the image to the outside of the screen.

So I was actually wanting a solution that would allow that.

If that is somethng that would be possible then add it to the wish list for the next version update perhaps.

In the meantime, I can get my wife to stop pissing me off about the black bars and stop harrassing both of you so you can get on with your lives.

Thanks again.