[mythtv-users] Widescreen

Barry Davis bdavis at elipsan.com
Thu May 29 20:01:53 EDT 2003


I think Matt said he was from the UK, so you're wrong about cable only 
doing 4:3 - here its both.
Not all widescreen TVs do the same. Mine doesn't do that strange gradual 
stretch you've mentioned.
I can have 4:3 with grey side boarders, 16:9 wide screen - where 4:3 
input becomes screeched, 'cinema' where the top and bottom are cut off a 
little - hardly noticeable as most UK 4:3 transmission has a black 
boarder top and bottom, and 'subtitle' which is like 'cinema' but 
shifted up the screen a bit so that you can still read subtitles.

Allen T. Gilliland IV wrote:

>I have a widescreen tv and although I haven't hooked
>it up to mythtv yet ... here's some info:
>
>first of all ... all widescreen tvs come with a number
>of "format" options which allow you to control how the
>signal is displayed.  Usually this includes "normal",
>"stretched", "4:3".  "normal" is what you use for
>anamorphic dvds, and with tv broadcasts it widens the
>entire picture.  "stretched" widens a tv broadcast by
>leaving the middle part of the image unchanged and
>gradually stretching the edges of the image on the
>sides.  "4:3" just has black bars on the sides of the
>screen and displays tv broadcasts without changing
>them.
>
>Personally I can watch tv in "normal" mode just fine. 
>It is obviously a little bit distorted, but you get
>used to it.  I don't care for "stretched" ... it has a
>kind of weird wavy effect on the edges.  And of course
>"4:3" is fine if you don't mind the black borders.
>
>That being said you should have no problems connecting
>mythtv in either "normal" or "4:3" mode ... at the
>very least "4:3" will act just like a normal tv.
>
>I'm not really sure how you were going to get any
>actual widescreen recordings anyways ... everything
>that is broadcast over cable is 4:3 anyways.  And like
>others have said ... mythtv doesn't handle widescreen,
>so everything is just rescaled to 4:3 for you no
>matter what res you are playing.
>
>When all is said and done I would recommend the
>widescreen tv.  As hdtv continues to become the
>standard you will want to have a widescreen
>television, and its guaranteed that mythtv and tivo
>will adapt for those changes.  I'm sure you'll be
>kicking yourself later when everything is widescreen
>and you bought the standard tv and have to watch
>everything letterboxed.
>
>-- Allen
>
>--- matt at mattmarsh.net wrote:
>  
>
>>>hm? Analog TV -> digital TiVo -> analog S-Video ->
>>>      
>>>
>>digital MythTV -> 
>>    
>>
>>>analog S-Video or analog VGA -> digital LCD? I hope
>>>      
>>>
>>you don't expect any 
>>    
>>
>>>picture/audio quality to remain. 
>>>      
>>>
>>hehe, it's not quite as bad as that, it's actually
>>just
>>Analog TV -> digital TiVo -> digital MythTV ->
>>analog S-Video/VGA -> digital LCD
>>(I'm going to use the MythTiVo plugin to MythTV to
>>playback the recording 
>>from the TiVo over the network)
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Why not replace the TiVo with MythTV? 
>>>That's what it's for.
>>>      
>>>
>>That would be fine, but then I'd need to build two
>>MythTV frontend boxes
>>in order to play back to two different TVs and I
>>can't afford that...
>>Money always limits some things...
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Better go digital DVB or analog TV -> digital
>>>      
>>>
>>MythTV -> digital DVI -> 
>>    
>>
>>>computer LCD
>>>      
>>>
>>The last step using DVI to a computer LCD would be
>>nice, but I can't
>>really find a nice looking computer LCD which would
>>look as good as
>>a TV in the bedroom... picky I know... but...
>>Of course if I go that route I'd have to put a TV
>>tuner card in the box
>>too which I wasn't going to bother doing as it is
>>only going to be used
>>as a MythTV frontend.
>>
>>    
>>
>>>>In which case maybe I'll have to go for a 4:3
>>>>TV instead. I would prefer to use a widescreen
>>>>if possible, but if I have to go to 4:3 then
>>>>it's not the end of the world.
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>Unless you use DVB, almost all TV is 4:3 anyways.
>>>      
>>>
>>OK, movies are often 
>>    
>>
>>>sent with black bars. If you hack MythTV, I guess
>>>      
>>>
>>it should be possible 
>>    
>>
>>>to resize the player window, then, like I
>>>      
>>>
>>suggested. Somebody will have 
>>    
>>
>>>to implement that, though. And the resolution is of
>>>      
>>>
>>course not as good 
>>    
>>
>>>as if it were broadcasted as 16:9.
>>>      
>>>
>>>>If it can't play 16:9 MPEGS correctly, how does
>>>>it get on with DVDs in widescreen formats? Do
>>>>they work well or look dumb?
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>MythTV (the TV module) can't play DVD at all. You
>>>      
>>>
>>can start an external 
>>    
>>
>>>player from a Myth button, e.g. Xine or Ogle.
>>>      
>>>
>>Yeah, well that's what I was meaning really... I
>>suppose what I'm asking
>>is, if I launch Ogle for example, will it size it to
>>fill up the screen?
>>And if so, I guess that will make a 16:9 movie look
>>bad?
>>
>>    
>>
>>>>This is why widescreen TVs generally do more
>>>>clever stuff than just stretching... they tend
>>>>to stretch them wide to fit the screen, and
>>>>then stretch them high too, but not by as much
>>>>but still it is then higher than the screen, so
>>>>it chops a bit off the top and the bottom. You're
>>>>left with something which looks reasonable.
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>uh, that's like intentionally messing up the
>>>      
>>>
>>picture.
>>
>>Well maybe, but that's what widescreens do in order
>>to deal with the
>>broadcasted 4:3 analog TV. And at least the
>>implementation of that on
>>my Sony widescreen TV looks fine.
>>
>>Matt
>>
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>>mythtv-users at snowman.net
>>
>>    
>>
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>
>
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