[mythtv-users] Re: Vertical letter boxes on playback (Epia M10000)

[Chris Pinkham]

> Currently, I'm using a screen resolution of 720x480, but I have tested
> using both 800x600 and 640x480 with the same results.  The video is
> being captured but a PVR-250 with an aspect ratio of 4:3.
> 
> DisplaySize: in my current XF86Config, (which I copied from the Gentoo
> EPIA howto yesterday (http://www.alterself.com/~epia)) I don't have this
> set - so if there's a default, that's what I'm using.  In my previous
> XF86Config, I was using the follow:
> 
>     DisplaySize 183 123 # yeilds approx 100x100dpi font resolution @ 720x480 
> 
> Both configurations seem to yield the same (disappointing) results.
> 
> As a side note, I wiped out all traces of X last night on the machine
> and re-installed the xfree-epia-4.3.99.902-r5 ebuild, as well your
> libddmpeg but the problem persists.
> 
> -Brent

The problem is the 720x480.  That's a 1.5:1 aspect ratio and since it's
greater than 1.4, the current display code assumes you have a 16:9 ratio
screen so it's adding in the huge black bars and making your image square
(or worse taller than wider).  Try setting your Displaysize to 164 by 123.
That's assuming your display is really 4:3 or is it really 183 by 123?
I've got code that will be going into CVS to try to minimize the problem
you're seeing, but if your displaysize is incorrect you will still see
some black bars they will just be smaller than the ones you're seeing now.

-- 

Chris