Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Grenache]

When I playback a recorded TV show it's not always showing the correct, broadcasted aspect ratio. In Video settings I have:

Aspect ratio correction: No correction
Aspect ratio mode: No change

But this doesn't seem to affect TV recordings, only other videos. When I right click in Display View the "Crop Edges" and "Override Aspect Ratio" are both set by default. I can of course change that, but it doesn't stick to the next show, where I have to change it again. Also, in Theater View I don't have the "Override…" option, only the different "Crop Black Bars..." options and the possibility to "Stretch", and none of them seems exactly right.

Is this related to the Aspect Ratio setting in Television Settings? Should I try to change this?

I'm rather confused by all these different settings of Aspect Ratio, but I don't recall changing anything or having this problem in some of the early releases of MC18 or at least not in MC17.

[JimH]

Are you using MC18 in client server mode, with Library Server?  Or just on a single PC?

[Grenache]

Are you using MC18 in client server mode, with Library Server?  Or just on a single PC?

My setup is client-server, but mostly I'm just playing from the server with a remote using Theater View. But you may be onto something, because my recent experiments with getting the aspect ratio right were done on a client using Display View.

I'm going to have another look at the settings on the server only to keep things separate.

[Yaobing]

Aspect ratio settings in TV is separate from other video settings.  I should one day change that.  For now, you need to set it in Television Options.  It should be set as "Source Aspect Ratio".  When playing a channel, you can change it for the session, using OSD.

[Grenache]

Yaobing, I've followed your directions and set AR to "Source Aspect Ratio" in Television Options and if necessary I'm now only changing AR using OSD. Unfortunately I'm still struggling to understand how it all works. Example:

If I play a recorded TV show originally broadcasted in 16:9 (most are here in DK) it appears "squeezed", meaning there are black bars to the left and right. I then use the OSD to go to AR. There's no "16:9" option (like in the Television Settings") so I choose "Stretch" which fillls the screen to the left and right, but also keeps it stretched to the top/bottom, so it doesn't look exactly right. This is not 16:9 format, but simply a stretching of the video to fill the screen (which in my case is a computer monitor that's not true 16:9).

If I go back to the Television Options and set AR to "16:9" most of my recordings show correctly, meaning in 16:9 format where it fills the screen out to the left and right, but leaves a small Black border on the top and bottom (still because the monitor is not completely 16:9).

(Edit: I've experimented some more, and this is not always true. Sometimes the AR is the same as when set to "Source Aspect Ratio".)

But - and here comes the bizarre part - if I now change the AR to another option in the OSD (which I shouldn't because it's showing correctly) and then want to go back by clicking "No changes", it doesn't change back to 16:9 but to a squeezed format described above with black bars to the left and right.

(Edit: This is not always the case either. With some recordings it works correctly, but I can't figure out when it does what. It's not consequent.)

I can't remember having these issues before the change of the OSD, but as these were only "cosmetic" (if I understand it correctly) this can't be true. Anyway, is there a reason why the AR options in the OSD are different than in the Television Settings? And why there's no "16:9" option?

Sorry to be so long, but all this is really hard to explain (and understand).

[Yaobing]

A couple of clarifications.  Firstly, the aspect ratio settings in TV are for viewing only.  They do not affect recording.  Recording is always done in the native aspect ratio. 
Secondly, the TV recordings are played just as other video files.  Adjusting aspect ratio of TV recording during playback is the same as adjusting the AR for other video files.

Aspect ratio adjustment during playback of video files (including TV recordings) is saved in the database, as part of "Playback Info" field, so the same AR setting will be used when you play the file again next time.

There are two ways of adjusting AR for video playback: right-click menu and OSD menu.

OSD menu is more concise, has less options than the right-click menu.  Maybe you can try right-click menu.  It is under "Window".  there are a lot of options under "Window", but first try "Override Aspect Ratio".  There you will find 16:9 option.

I can only think of one reason why a TV show that you expected to be 16:9 but is shown on screen with black bars on the left and right.  It is possible that the TV station is showing an old show that was letter boxed (16:9 show was padded with horizontal bars on top and bottom, to make it 4:3).  When such show is recorded, the result is really a 4:3 video, with the true image being sandwiched between bars on top and bottom.  That is why you ended up with bars on left and right when trying to show this type of video on a widescreen monitor.  The only way to fix that problem is to use Stretch option, or to use zooming.

[Grenache]

A couple of clarifications.  Firstly, the aspect ratio settings in TV are for viewing only.  They do not affect recording.  Recording is always done in the native aspect ratio. 

That's been my understanding all the time, but I was thinking about experimenting with it, so good to get that straight.

Aspect ratio adjustment during playback of video files (including TV recordings) is saved in the database, as part of "Playback Info" field, so the same AR setting will be used when you play the file again next time.

Oh, I see... That's why I thought I was getting different results when I played the same show again after changing the AR in the Television settings. My bad...   

There are two ways of adjusting AR for video playback: right-click menu and OSD menu. OSD menu is more concise, has less options than the right-click menu.  Maybe you can try right-click menu.  It is under "Window".  there are a lot of options under "Window", but first try "Override Aspect Ratio".  There you will find 16:9 option.

I know, and I really like the logic behind the way right-clicking works. I often use "Override Aspect Ratio" when I'm on my desktop, but unfortunately I can't use it in Theater View with my remote. I really wish the same thing would be possible in Theater View, as most of my recordings aren't showing correctly and my best option is "Stretched" which isn't exactly giving me "16:9".

I can only think of one reason why a TV show that you expected to be 16:9 but is shown on screen with black bars on the left and right.  It is possible that the TV station is showing an old show that was letter boxed (16:9 show was padded with horizontal bars on top and bottom, to make it 4:3). 

I've gone through most of my recordings, and this isn't the case. They're all recent shows broadcasted in HD. What I've found out, though, is that if I FFW the shows appearing initially in "4:3", they expand automatically to "16:9" at some point, usually a couple of minutes into the show! However, if I choose just to watch them normally they stay in "4:3" all the way through. There's a good possibility that I've set some settings incorrectly, but even in this case, this behaviour seems a bit strange.  ?

This isn't a serious problem, but during my experiments with aspect ratio I've been questioning my sanity, so I'll be happy if you could have one more look at it, Yaobing. 

[Yaobing]

I've gone through most of my recordings, and this isn't the case. They're all recent shows broadcasted in HD. What I've found out, though, is that if I FFW the shows appearing initially in "4:3", they expand automatically to "16:9" at some point, usually a couple of minutes into the show! However, if I choose just to watch them normally they stay in "4:3" all the way through. There's a good possibility that I've set some settings incorrectly, but even in this case, this behaviour seems a bit strange.  ?

One possible explanation is that the recording was started a couple of minutes earlier than the program time and the program at the time recording started was 4:3.  With live TV this is not a problem because we periodically check for changes.  I am not sure why FFW would make a difference though.

[Grenache]

One possible explanation is that the recording was started a couple of minutes earlier than the program time and the program at the time recording started was 4:3. 

No, this is not the case. Most of my recordings start a couple of minutes early (set so in the TV settings), but then it's often commercials or teasers, all broadcasted in 16:9. And it's the same thing for recordings that start some minutes into the show (and that I promise I haven't watched a tiny bit of before, so MC hasn't made track of any AR). Some shows just begin for example 10 minutes in (in 4:3 format), but when I click once on the right arrow (FFW) or left arrow (FBW) it switches to 16:9.

With live TV this is not a problem because we periodically check for changes.  I am not sure why FFW would make a difference though.

You misunderstood me - it's has nothing to do with live TV. This is always showing correctly. It's when I play back recorded TV. If I don't push the FFW (or FBW) button and just let the recording run to the end, it doesn't change from 4:3 to 16:9. One push on the right/left button and it shifts.

I've checked the AR in the OSD, and for a show appearing in 4:3 the AR is set to "Crop edges" (and again, I've never watched it or even started it before). When I go out of the OSD, push the right arrow once (and the AR changes to 16:9) and then check the AR in the OSD it's now set to "No changes".

As I said, this isn't in anyway major, but it nonetheless doesn't seem to be normal behaviour.

[Yaobing]

I assume the recordings are done in JTV format.  Please email me the following files associated with a recording that displays this behavor:

Find the jtv file on your hard drive.  Copy these files from the same folder: the *.jtv, *.jtf, *.jts, and *-0.jts.cnk.  There are many files with extension cnk, I only need one that ends with "-0.jts.cnk".  Zip these files up and email to me.  yaobing at jriver dot com

[Grenache]

Unfortunately I can't do that. All the "-0.jts.cnk" files are 219.727 KB and my Outlook Exchange Server won't let me exceed 20 MB. G-mail isn't much better with a limit at 25 MB. What to do?

[Yaobing]

Let's skip the cnk file for now.  Just email me the other files.

[Grenache]

You've got mail. If you can't reproduce it without the cnk-file, I can make and mail you a short recording.