4.2.2 Homerun recording resolution

[kirschey]

I installed 4.2.2 about a week ago and since the recordings from my HD homerun prime now have black bars. Everything else is normal/better. I attached a picture.

Thank you.

[sub]

You'll always get whatever resolution content the HDHomeRun Prime is sending (ie, nothing along the way is transcoding the video to add black bars or anything, so it's pretty much a copy of what the cable company is sending).

The usual reason for black bars on all four sides is that you're watching a 4:3 channel, and they're trying to broadcast a 16:9 show, so they add black bars top and bottom prior to transmission (known as "pillarboxing"). By the time the picture arrives at NextPVR, it's just a 4:3 video, and when NextPVR needs to display a 4:3 picture on a 16:9 monitor, it has to add black bars to the left and right. Thankfully it's pretty rare these days, with most channels transmitting real 16:9 channels, rather than this "pillarboxed" bullshit. Depending on the video renderer you're using, pressing F7 might get you a "remove pillar box" aspect ratio mode, which can remove the black bars from the top/bottom, effectively giving you fullscreen 16:9 playback in NextPVR.

[kirschey]

I don’t believe this is the case as this never occurred prior to 4.2.2 even on 4.2.1 it was perfect picture. This is new.

[sub]

When NextPVR records from an HDHomeRun Prime (or any digital tuner really), you just get a copy of whatever the broadcaster is sending. Neither the HDHomeRun or the NextPVR includes any logic to transcode to another format before saving.

If you want to supply a short sample recording, I'll confirm if my diagnosis is actually the case or not.

[kirschey]

I did the test and you are right. What I did on my version of NPVR years ago was redirect the HD channels ie 502 to 02 504 to 04. It seems these are not properly redirecting although I did check the channel setup in the setting and it does not appear like anything has changed.

[sub]

Probably an easy fix, of deleting the standard-def 02/04 channels, and renumbering the high-def 502/504 to 02/04.

[kirschey]

Where are you suggesting, in the channel mapping or somewhere else? Thank you again!

[kirschey]

I realized I was mistaken, what is really going on is NPVR is not playing the recording full-screen.

[sub]

Where are you suggesting, in the channel mapping or somewhere else? Thank you again!

It sounded like you were saying that you previously getting the 502 highdef version of the channel as channel 02. So just go to the Settings->Channels screen, delete the standard def 02 channel, double click 502 (so it shows the Channel Details) and change the number to 2.

[sub]

I realized I was mistaken, what is really going on is NPVR is not playing the recording full-screen.

What is happening is:

You're receiving a 4:3 picture (ie, square-ish). For NextPVR to be able to show that picture on your 16:9 window (ie, rectangle), it puts the picture in the middle of the rectangle, with black bars on the left and right. That is absolutely the normal and correct thing to do.

The problem is happening because your broadcaster has put black bars in the top/bottom of each of those 4:3 frames (ie, pillarboxing). NextPVR has no idea that is the case - there could be anything in those square-ish video frames, and NextPVR is doing what it has to, to show the entire square-ish video frame in the middle of rectangle window.

The best fix is to use the proper HD 16:9 version of the channel instead. The alternative fix is to press F7 a few times until you get to the 'remove pillarbox' aspect ration mode.