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More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: trentino on January 17, 2007, 12:10:29 am

Title: DVD aspect ratios / expand image question
Post by: trentino on January 17, 2007, 12:10:29 am
Hello - quick question I'm hoping someone can chime in on. 

I have a widescreen plasma and am using Media Center 12 for DVD playback.  I have "Use Video Mixing Renderer 9" enabled.

I think Media Center usually plays my DVDs at the proper aspect ratio but I'm used to other DVD player programs allowing me to manually tweak the aspect ratio -- or have a setting something like "use native aspect ratio."  I can't find any aspect ratio settings in MC12 except for "Expand Image" under "DVD Options" when I right-click the playback image.  When I look at "Expand Image" it's set at 1.33.  In "Expand Image" I can manually select the aspect ratio of my DVD (1.85 for example) but this just seems to zoom the image a bit? 

So my questions...
- Are there aspect ratio options that I'm missing?
- When should "Expand Image" be used and should I be concerned that it's set at 1.33 when I have a 16x9 tv?

Thanks everyone,
Trent
Title: Re: DVD aspect ratios / expand image question
Post by: Yaobing on January 18, 2007, 03:48:28 pm
- Are there aspect ratio options that I'm missing?

No. Expand Image is all you have.
MC keeps the original aspect ratio of the movie.

Quote
- When should "Expand Image" be used and should I be concerned that it's set at 1.33 when I have a 16x9 tv?

No. It is OK to leave it at 1.33 although you could use other settings. What you do not want to do is to use a wider setting than the movie itself.

You use "Expand Image" to tell MC what monitor / TV you have. If you tell it you have 1.33 monitor (even if it is wrong) MC would display the entire width of the movie, and will not crop any part.

If, however, you choose 2.35 ratio while playing a 1.78 movie, MC would crop the top and bottom of the movie so the image would fill the entire 2.35 monitor (if such monitor exists).
Title: Re: DVD aspect ratios / expand image question
Post by: trentino on January 19, 2007, 08:50:29 pm
Thanks for your response Yaobing - I really appreciate it.

Trent