[mythtv-users] Re: Setting overscan with PVR-350 TV out?

sdk sdkovacs at gmail.com
Tue Dec 7 02:30:47 UTC 2004


Dan,

I had been grappling with the same exact problem, even as of this
afternoon when I read your message. However, I have found a solution
that worked for me. I have a PVR350 with X enabled and am running KDE
window manager. I followed the instructions below (taken from
http://mythtv.info/moin.cgi/HardWare_2fVideoCaptureCards_2fPvR350_2fHintsAndTips
). I played with the settings to fit my NTSC TV. I hope it works out
as well for you as it did for me.


- Steve Kovacs

2. How do you resize the MythTV UI and playback overlay to fit the TV
screen when displaying X on the PVR-350 video output?

      This is one approach, based on a MythTV install created using
Jarod's guide [WWW]http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php. It does not
currently resolve the more general problem of the whole X session
fitting the TV screen.

      2.0. Fire up kcontrol:
            2.0.1. Go to Desktop->Panels->Hiding

            2.0.1. Set "Hide Mode" to "Allow other windows to cover the panel"
      2.1. In mythfrontend, go to Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> Appearance:
            2.1.1. Go Next to the second screen, "Screen settings"

            2.1.2. Check off the "Run the frontend in a window" box
                  Note: this step (2.1.2.) may not be necessary if you
are using a different window manager, such as [WWW]ratpoison. I found
it necessary for KDE, so that step 2.1.9. would reposition the GUI
properly. 2.1.3. Make sure "Use GUI size for TV playback is NOT
checked

            2.1.4. Restart the mythfrontend (if you are set up for
autologin, Ctrl+Alt+Backspace will restart the X server and log you
back into your mythtv frontend user+session)

            2.1.5. Return to the screen in 2.1.1.

            2.1.6. Play with the GUI width, height, X offset and Y
offset until you can just barely see the lower resizing corners and
edge of the upper window box.

            2.1.7. (optional) Enlarge the width and height by one step
(adds 8 to each count)

            2.1.8. (optional) Decrease the X and Y offsets by 4 to re-centre.

            2.1.9. The final settings for the NTSC TV used to write
this walk-through were as follows:
                  GUI width (px): 616

                  GUI height (px): 456

                  GUI X offset: 46

                  GUI Y offset: 4
      2.2. In mythfrontend, go to Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> TV
Settings -> Playback:
            2.2.1. On the 5th screen, "Hardware Decoding Settings",
make sure "Use the PVR-350's TV out/ MPEG decoder" is checked.

            2.2.2. On the 8th screen, "Overscan", adjust the
over/underscan percentages to your liking. This will resize the
overlay when you're watching TV or playing back video.
                  Vertical over/underscan percentage: 8

                  Horizontal over/underscan percentage: 8


> 
> I believe it cant be done by any other means than reducing the pixel count.
> IVTV can't do it at the moment but when it will be able to all it will do is
> reduce the pixel count as well so using things like ratpoison will achieve
> the same thing.
> 
> But if you really believe the PC software can do this for the 350 then that
> is interesting since maybe there is something that we've missed. However I
> have no idea how we would do this at the moment and I don't believe anyone
> else working on ivtv knows how to either.
> 
> John
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-users-
> > bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Dan Wilga
> > Sent: 06 December 2004 20:15
> > To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > Subject: [mythtv-users] Setting overscan with PVR-350 TV out?
> >
> > I would like to reduce the overscan of the PVR-350's TV out, because
> > the image is too large for my TV right now, and I can't see a lot of
> > X's output.
> >
> > I realize that I can set MythTV to run in a window, but that doesn't
> > help other X apps, or the desktop itself. I know I can run a program
> > like "ratpoison" to do reduce the number of pixels X makes use of,
> > but then I end up with even less screen real estate to work with
> > outside of MythTV. 720 x 480 is small enough already.
> >
> > I've Googled this topic extensively, and gotten responses ranging
> > anywhere from "you simply can't do that," to "this feature has been
> > in ivtv for some time now" (without any mention of HOW to actually do
> > it!) Playing with the modeline has no effect that I can see.
> >
> > So, if it can be done, how? I know it must be possible (maybe by
> > playing with the chip registers using ivtvctl?) because the PC
> > software has this option.
> > --
> > Dan Wilga                                         dwilga at mtholyoke.edu
> > Web Technology Specialist                     http://www.mtholyoke.edu
> > Mount Holyoke College                                Tel: 413-538-3027
> > South Hadley, MA  01075            "Who left the cake out in the rain?"


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