Forcing aspect ratio in analog recordings

[b00sfuk]

I notice in this post in the Hauppauge forums (http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/forum/showthr...r-than-4-3) that it is now possible to force the aspect ratio (from the default 4:3) in an analog recording made with SoftPVR/WinTV7. As NPVR uses the SoftPVR encoder is it possible to enable this so that recordings can be marked as 16:9 (almost all recordings are 16:9 nowadays and then auto aspect ratio will work). This tweak is a registry entry:

Code:

[COLOR=#333333]HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MainConcept (HCW)\MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Encoder\CaptureGenPCI.exe\[/COLOR][COLOR=#333333]Aspect ratio=3[/COLOR]

There is already a registry entry for this tweak in the NPVR subsection at:

Code:

[COLOR=#333333]HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MainConcept (HCW)\MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Encoder\NextPVR.exe\[/COLOR][COLOR=#333333]Aspect ratio=0[/COLOR]

but changing this to 3 has no effect on my PVR-150 setup. I'm using the latest SoftPVR drivers (from the latest WinTV7CD) though they are still a few years old.

thanks

[mvallevand]

I made a post on this http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...r-than-4-3 and in reviewing what I wrote I mentioned "newer" cards which the PVR-150 is not. A lot of HVR but no PVR on the supported cards list.

Martin

[b00sfuk]

Missed that original post, thanks again Martin. I read the the card list with the "e.g." as not being a complete list and with the PVR-150 using SoftPVR that the aspect ratio was (hopefully) coded by that in the resulting file irrespective of the HW decoder. Anyway not to worry, the default AR solution that sub provided does the job.

[sub]

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MainConcept (HCW)\MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Encoder\CaptureGenPCI.exe\Aspect ratio=3

That registry setting shouldnt do anything on a PVR150, which has a hardware MPEG2 encoder. The MainConcept video encoder is only used for soft encoding video from low end analog devices with no hardware encoder.

[johnsonx42]

I suppose you could try forcing the use of soft encoding on the PVR-150 by editing the AnalogDevices.xml entry. You'd have to decide whether getting the aspect ratio bit set right is worth giving up the hardware encoder.

[b00sfuk]

It's OK, I am happy as is. I guess I was also confused as I thought as the PVR-150 required installation of SoftPVR to work that it used it. Thinking of trying the analog software encoder of my Blackgold BGT3620 just to see what it provides. It would be nice to get rid of a card and I also get annoying slight thin black bars with the recordings on the 150 (the recording seems a little tall so to fit the whole recording the decoders put slight black bars either side). I'm reading that with todays CPUs the the benefits of a hardware encoder are minimal if at all. Thanks everybody.

[johnsonx42]

You need SoftPVR for any analog device, even one with a hardware encoder, because that also includes the .ts multiplexor. This way analog recordings just become digital transport streams the same as digital recordings, and NPVR can deal with them all the same way. Analog devices without a hardware encoder also need software encoders AND the .ts multiplexor.

[b00sfuk]

Thanks for the explanation, all makes sense now. As a result I've been playing with the software encoder on the Blackgold card and am getting some good results. The picture quality is better than the hardware encoder on the PVR150 and the CPU usage is not too high.

One thing that I need some advice on please is that the capture on the PVR150 is deinterlaced while the one though the software encoder is interlaced. There are plenty of options in the properties pages of the Mainconcept video encoder but I cannot seem to get them to work with NPVR. I've tried changing them in Graphstudio but cannot get them to stick (so I guess I need a custom graph but that it beyond me at the moment). I've also tried editing the registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MainConcept (HCW)\MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Encoder) where there is a "NextPVR.exe" subkey but changing deinterlace modes (or aspect ratio) here does not affect the recording (also tried renaming it NRecord.exe).

So is here any way to edit the encoder settings that have an effect on NPVR recordings?

thanks
Simon

[sub]

You can probably set them via the registry key mentioned above, but I dont know what the list of settings are

Code:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MainConcept (HCW)\MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Encoder\NextPVR.exe\Aspect ratio=0

[b00sfuk]

sub, thanks. The entries are all there automatically created but I can't seem to get them to work. I can assume then that the subkey should be NextPVR.exe (not NRecord.exe) and that I should persevere with tuning the settings. I read it that you are confirming that any changes in this registry key should be respected in recordings through NPVR? I can guess what the different values could be by comparing with the options showing in the encoder properties screens using GraphStudio.
I also remember in GBPVR that encoder graphs were produced by default and would have confirmed settings used but NPVR does not do this.

Thanks again.

Code:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MainConcept (HCW)\MainConcept (HCW) MPEG-2 Video Encoder\NextPVR.exe]
"Settings Version"=dword:00000003
"Set default values"=dword:00000000
"Video type"=dword:00000002
"Video format"=dword:00000000
"Profile"=dword:00000004
"Level"=dword:00000008
"GOP length"=dword:0000000c
"B-frames count"=dword:00000002
"Closed GOP interval"=dword:00000000
"Aspect ratio"=dword:00000000
"Frame rate"=dword:00000000
"Scene change detection"=dword:00000000
"Pulldown flag"=dword:00000000
"Bitrate"=dword:005b8d80
"Maximum bitrate (for VBR)"=dword:007a1200
"Minimum bitrate (for VBR)"=dword:001c9949
"Bitrate mode"=dword:00000000
"Quantization paramer for I-Frames"=dword:00000002
"Quantization paramer for P-Frames"=dword:00000004
"Quantization paramer for B-Frames"=dword:00000006
"Write a sequence header every GOP"=dword:00000001
"Write a sequence end code"=dword:00000001
"Write a sequence display extension"=dword:00000000
"Write a picture display extension"=dword:00000000
"Intra DC precision"=dword:00000001
"Chroma format"=dword:00000001
"Progressive sequence"=dword:00000000
"Progressive frame"=dword:00000000
"Top field first"=dword:00000000
"Repeat first field"=dword:00000000
"Motion search quality"=dword:00000011
"Motion search range"=dword:0000001f
"Halfpel search"=dword:00000001
"Deinterlacing mode"=dword:00000000
"Quantization scale type"=dword:00000000
"Intra VLC"=dword:00000000
"Scanning type"=dword:00000000
"Out sample size"=dword:000ea600
"Pad skipped frames"=dword:00000000
"Preview"=dword:00000000
"ClosedCaption"=dword:00000000
"Two-pass rate control mode"=dword:00000000
"Skip mode"=dword:00000000
"Prefiltering"=dword:00000000
"Calculate PSNR"=dword:00000000
"Online mode"=dword:00000000
"Offline mode"=dword:00000000
"constrained parameters flag (MPEG-1 only)"=dword:00000000
"Use Drop Frame timecode notation in GOP"=dword:00000000
"timecode of first frame"=dword:00000000
"Ignore frame interval"=dword:00000000
"VBV buffer size (* 16 kbit)"=dword:00000000
"macroblock quantization value"=dword:0000000a
"source primary chromaticity coordinates"=dword:00000005
"opto-electronic transfer char. (gamma)"=dword:00000005
"different flags e.g. FEATURE_AUTO_GOP_PLACEMENT"=dword:00000000
"Eg,Eb,Er / Y,Cb,Cr matrix coefficients"=dword:00000005
"use non-default intra quant. matrices"=dword:00000000
"use non-default quant. matrices"=dword:00000000
"put blank SVCD scan offset blocks in the video stream"=dword:00000000
"initial VBV-fullnes in %"=dword:00000019
"Padding limint int %"=dword:00000000