AspectRatioMode doesn't seem to work right

[Lone_Stranger]

I have a JVC 65" 4K TV (Model DM65USR) that I use as a TV monitor connected via HDMI along with a just-built new computer running an ASRock Z170M Extreme4 LGA 1151 with Windows 7. With this rig, Windows wants it to be set at a resolution of 3840×2160 (recommended). However, if I attempt to use that resolution, I cannot read any text on the screen. So, I manually set resolution to 1920x1080, and that allows me to see text clearly. My problem is that NPVR doesn't seem to handle resolution adjustments correctly.

Some of the channels that I watch have recently changed from 1080 to something much less. It appears that they are either Letterboxed or Pillarboxed at 480, instead of 1080. This results in a picture that is basically shrunk with a black border all around (sorry, I don't know the right terms). In the past, I'd simply hit F7 to change the AspectRatioMode which resulted in a full sized picture, albeit at lower resolution. This has worked well for the last 6 months or so, with the old rig.

But, with this rig, and the change made by Brighthouse, the result is less than full-screen with any F7 attempted option. And, it appars to be non-linear. It appears that the top half of the screen responds correctly (linerarly), but the lower half of the screen stays compressed (non-linearly). I'm probably not describing it correctly.

I know, it sounds wierd, but I thought it might be worth a shot with sub. Maybe he has seen something like this before. Any ideas?

[sub]

You'll probably need to post some screenshots so we can see what you mean.

The situation can be complicated by cable companies that include the black bars as part of the picture.

[Lone_Stranger]

Sub, thanks for looking into this.

The attached photo's describe what I'm faced with:

1) The original video as displayed by NPVR (obviously a letterbox version of a 16:9)

2) Example of the result after using F7 to remove letterbox

3) Example showing that your On-Screen-Display is not bound by whatever is limiting it

I can change all of the X/Y values, except one. It appears that anything over +1.1 for the Y-axis is ignored. My guess is that you have a hard-coded Y-axis limit set somewhere, and I've exceeded it.

[HarryH3]

Some cable companies send two different versions of the same channels. One channel is the HD version, for those with proper HD televisions. The other channel is a screwy, scaled-down version of the same feed, intended for use by those that are still watching on 4:3 televisions. Your first pic appears to possibly be one of those channels intended for a 4:3 screen. Are you sure you're tuned to the HD version of the channel?

For example, I'm on Comcast here. I can get the 4:3 version of the Food Network on channel 52 (and it looks like crap!), but the HD version of the Food Network is on channel 652.

Just a thought...

[sub]

Yeah, it does look like it might be the standard def version of these channels. Kind of hard to tell though, even from screens. Might need a short sample recording from this channel to tell you more definitively.

[Lone_Stranger]

My cable provider, Brighthouse, does indeed offer two versions, a high def and standard def version. But, the HD version of this channel is not available using NPVR (it's not in my channel map, I don't know why). In order to watch these programs, I must use the SD channel letterbox version along with F7 to allow a full screen experience. Been doing this for months.

My problem is not with what channel I'm using. It's with the aspectratiomode via F7. It no longer works to fill the screen, when removing the letterbox.

<AspectRatioMode name="Remove LetterBox">0,-0.125,1,1.125</AspectRatioMode>

With my new rig the 4th parameter (1.125 above) is effectively ignored - I believe it has hit a limit. As stated previously, it's a very high-end rig with 3840x2160 resolution. I can vary that 4th parameter from 1 to 1.65 and the screen does not change, while the other 3 result in normal changes.

With my old system running with an ATI R7 video at 1920x1080, I had no problems.

[sub]

Some of the video renderers don't support numbers less than 0 or greater than 1. Your old system was probably using a different video renderer than your current system.

[Lone_Stranger]

I am using the same Micro$oft DTV-DVD/MPEG2 decoder on both systems, and both are Win7. The "Remove LetterBox" mode works fine for both plus and minus ranges on the old system (using your sample numbers), and also wok for 3 axis, but not on the 4th, on the new box.

You can try it with the attached clip, if you like - but I doubt that it'll fail unless you have a high-end rig like mine. Perhaps you'll need my hardware as well - I dunno.... Tell me where to go and what to do and I'll try to comply

[sub]

Video Renderer. ie, EVR/VMR9/VMR7 etc. Not video decoder.

[Lone_Stranger]

Here's the clip. I had to read what files types were acceptable, and maximum file sizes.