Widescreen Question

[sub]

Live TV and recordings come through just fine in 4:3 aspect ratio with black bars on the sides - problem is, they're not centered in the TV itself (one side black bar is thicker than the other).

Just a guess, but this is probably related to the picture itself. Often with analog transmissions there is black bars at the left and right of the picture which is normally hidden by the overscan when you view it on a regular 4:3 tv. When this is centered in a 16:9 screen, you can see the entire thing. These bars arnt always symetrical, so the black bars maybe slightly bigger on one side.

These bars wouldnt be very large though, and may vary from channel to channel. Does that sounds like what you see?

[SickBoy]

No, that doesn't sound like it - it's the same width no matter the channel and also comes through on recordings....

[sub]

Post a screenshot so I can see where it's positioned.

[SickBoy]

Here ya go.... dirk....

[sub]

Sorry, I dont really know. Nothing springs to mind.

Its probably something to do with the decoder you're using or something similar.

[SickBoy]

Are there specific resolutions that the "16:9" mode works with? Right now my setup is at 1360x768....

I was using some older InterVideo decoders - I updated to some more recent PowerDVD decoders (PowerDVD XP 4.0 - probably not too recent but I don't think Ihave anything newer). It fixed the centering issue but the onscreen display isn't working correctly during playback now...

Is there a good set of free software decoders somewhere? Ones that work well?

[sub]

Are there specific resolutions that the "16:9" mode works with? Right now my setup is at 1360x768....

GB-PVR entirely ignores the resolution. When you have the TV Shape set to 16:9 and you try to play some 4:3 content, then it applies the "PillarBox" aspect ratio, which is defined in config.xml as:

<AspectRatioMode name="PillarBox" ratio="0.08,0,0.92,1" />

The ratio 0,0,1,1 represents the fullscreen (where 0,0 is top left and 1,1 is bottom right).

If its not showing in the right place, then its was most likely due to a decoder trying to do its own aspect ratio control rather than letting GB-PVR do it.

I was using some older InterVideo decoders - I updated to some more recent PowerDVD decoders (PowerDVD XP 4.0 - probably not too recent but I don't think Ihave anything newer). It fixed the centering issue but the onscreen display isn't working correctly during playback now...

By default the Cyberlink decoder is not compatible with VMR. Google for 'Cyberlink EnableVMR9' to find details of the registry settings you need to add.

[liteswap]

Yes I have a similar problem: also a Hauppauge PVR500 but connected via HDMI running at 1280x720 to a Sharp LCD TV.

When playing back video, GBPVR itself is correctly sized to the screen -- ie the OSD elements fit the screen exactly -- but the video image itself is offset to the right and bottom by about one inch. There's no more off-screen image available to the TV if I manually resize the image using the TV's controls, if you see what I mean.

I'm using the nVidia decoder, set to anamorphic, h/w acceleration off (as turning it on doesn't seem to lower CPU significantly and seems to make the system more unstable). GBPVR config and the nVidia decider are set to VMR9.

Thoughts, please? Thank you.

[sub]

Sorry, I dont know. Nothing springs to mind.

[liteswap]

Thanks for the swift response sub. Perhaps you could help with a (maybe related) problem, which is that, when I do enable the nVidia decoder's h/w acceleration, the video image, not the OSD, is shoved up into the top left-hand corner, while the remaining three-quarters of the display area is coverd in horizontal bars and bits of visual rubbish.

Thanks again.