[mythtv-users] clipped video from PBS

Rod Smith mythtv at rodsbooks.com
Fri Dec 11 00:40:00 UTC 2009


On Thursday 10 December 2009 05:36:28 pm Jerome Yuzyk wrote:
> I don't know if this has to anything to do with under/overscanning, but
> many of the programs on the 2 PBS stations (Detroit and Spokane) I get
> over Shaw cable are clipped on the left and right, maybe top and bottom
> too, but I know titles are clipped on shows like Frontline and Nova. No
> other stations seem to do the same, and my setup is VGA out to a 17" CRT.
>
> But, is there something I need to do for these stations?

What's the input format? NTSC SD, ATSC SD, or ATSC HD? In my area, Cox carries 
the feed from WGBH Boston in all three formats, and for the SD formats, 
they're inconsistent about whether they letterbox the signal or crop the 
sides. One day they'll do one and the next day they'll do the other. When 
they crop, the right or left sides of some titles and other elements 
sometimes get cut off, but their tops and bottoms are OK. If this is what 
you're seeing, you could contact your cable company and tell them you'd 
prefer a letterboxed format to cropped full-screen in 4:3 format, and give 
your reasons. Alternatively, you could add a digital tuner and record the HD 
signal (if you get it). If your CPU and/or GPU are fast enough, you can watch 
HD on an SD or other 4:3 set, and then you get control of what's cropped by 
using MythTV's zoom and format features. If your CPU isn't fast enough, you 
can transcode HD content to SD format, although that will take hours on a 
slow CPU.

-- 
Rod Smith


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list