2007-11-07, 06:02 AM
Hi all;
2 parts that are kind of related, regarding working with my kind-of-low-end setup:
1)
The LCD TV I got is a bit on the low end, 16:10 (not 9) and it doesn't support 4:3.
If it's a good quality signal the stretch watching regular TV (analog cable input) doesn't bug me, if I need to I go to LiveTV mode in GBPVR and put it in pillarbox.
Same thing for DVDs. I usually rip them to the HD so I can treat the output as needed with GBPVR depending on if it is widescreen or not.
I'm not sure what to do with things like the Harry Potter movies. Goblet of Fire is weird. It's supposedly widescreen 2.35:1, but no matter what I do it doesn't "look quite right". Pillarbox gives me the side pillars, but the movie itself has black bars on the top already, the picture looks proportioned properly but it's not using nearly all the real estate, bars all around. If I do "full" it looks proportioned pretty well but I lose a little data on the L and R.
Other (most) 2.35:1 movies look fine, like 1972 "Hopscotch"/ Walter Matthau which per the info is also 2.35:1 widescreen, it looks fine on "full" and I don't seem to lose any data. What is up with that?
And, can I tweak the pillarbox/ etc settings somehow to provide best results for my display in case of watching both 4:3 and 16:9 content? If so, what exactly to do?
Usually I can get it set so that really it's fine/ not enough off to be annoying. But the HP movie bugs me. It might be noticable on others, too, but that's the one I first noticed this with.
Thanks for thoughts/ explanations, even if there isn't a fix for the hardware I have.
2) working with the hardware/ what could I change cheaply for better results?
The TV is Olevia LT23HVX 1024x768 max via d-sub from the computer; the TV has s-video + composite input (choose one, you can't have both hooked up) and component input also. Actual pixel count on the TV is higher but that's all it supports really for input resolution on the d-sub. PVR-350 is in the mix also.
I tried using the s-video out from the 440 or 350 at one point (gbpvr) but there may have been some overlay issue or some other reason I didn't stick with it (hmm.. convenient to have computer on d-sub and DVD on composite perhaps, else I'd have to manually switch cables by hand or with a switch box). I seem to think is had some issue with stutter or audio sync though.
Is there a different graphics card that would perform better, or a different configuration of what I have that theoretically makes more sense? I'd like to use the component input on the TV but I don't have anything at present that generates that, and I hadn't seen anything cheap that did that to buy for the computer.
Right now I have the HTPC going to the d-sub input on the TV, DVD player going to the composite. The s-video is unused as having composite in use removes it from the mix, and component input is idle 'cos I cannot feed it.
Thanks for help!
2 parts that are kind of related, regarding working with my kind-of-low-end setup:
1)
The LCD TV I got is a bit on the low end, 16:10 (not 9) and it doesn't support 4:3.
If it's a good quality signal the stretch watching regular TV (analog cable input) doesn't bug me, if I need to I go to LiveTV mode in GBPVR and put it in pillarbox.
Same thing for DVDs. I usually rip them to the HD so I can treat the output as needed with GBPVR depending on if it is widescreen or not.
I'm not sure what to do with things like the Harry Potter movies. Goblet of Fire is weird. It's supposedly widescreen 2.35:1, but no matter what I do it doesn't "look quite right". Pillarbox gives me the side pillars, but the movie itself has black bars on the top already, the picture looks proportioned properly but it's not using nearly all the real estate, bars all around. If I do "full" it looks proportioned pretty well but I lose a little data on the L and R.
Other (most) 2.35:1 movies look fine, like 1972 "Hopscotch"/ Walter Matthau which per the info is also 2.35:1 widescreen, it looks fine on "full" and I don't seem to lose any data. What is up with that?
And, can I tweak the pillarbox/ etc settings somehow to provide best results for my display in case of watching both 4:3 and 16:9 content? If so, what exactly to do?
Usually I can get it set so that really it's fine/ not enough off to be annoying. But the HP movie bugs me. It might be noticable on others, too, but that's the one I first noticed this with.
Thanks for thoughts/ explanations, even if there isn't a fix for the hardware I have.
2) working with the hardware/ what could I change cheaply for better results?
The TV is Olevia LT23HVX 1024x768 max via d-sub from the computer; the TV has s-video + composite input (choose one, you can't have both hooked up) and component input also. Actual pixel count on the TV is higher but that's all it supports really for input resolution on the d-sub. PVR-350 is in the mix also.
I tried using the s-video out from the 440 or 350 at one point (gbpvr) but there may have been some overlay issue or some other reason I didn't stick with it (hmm.. convenient to have computer on d-sub and DVD on composite perhaps, else I'd have to manually switch cables by hand or with a switch box). I seem to think is had some issue with stutter or audio sync though.
Is there a different graphics card that would perform better, or a different configuration of what I have that theoretically makes more sense? I'd like to use the component input on the TV but I don't have anything at present that generates that, and I hadn't seen anything cheap that did that to buy for the computer.
Right now I have the HTPC going to the d-sub input on the TV, DVD player going to the composite. The s-video is unused as having composite in use removes it from the mix, and component input is idle 'cos I cannot feed it.
Thanks for help!