[mythtv-users] Transcode script for pillar boxed SDTV broadcasts on HDTV

[Steve Greene]

On Tue, 2007-05-29 at 15:17 -0400, Patrick Wagstrom wrote:
> Steve Greene wrote:
> > Everyone has probably seen pillarbox broadcasts on HDTV.  Because of the
> > upsampling, they are still better than the analog broadcasts.  Does
> > anyone have a script to eliminate the pillar box and create DVD-ready
> > files?  Are the developers working on a solution for MythDVD?
> 
> see ticket 2581 for something quite related
> 
> http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/2581
> 
> I'm partial to this, because I wrote the patch and filed the bug. 
> Basically, it allows you to define multiple transcoders that have a set 
> aspect ratio.  For example, if you set the transcoder to be 4:3 ratio 
> and if it gets 16:9 input, it will just take the middle portion of the 
> screen and cut off the pillarboxes.  If it's 4:3 input, it leaves the 
> ratio unchanged.  Likewise, it works in reverse and can compensate for 
> letterboxed content broadcast in 4:3.
> 
> The videos are then transcoded just like any other video is transcoded 
> within MythTV.  Just flag the commercials, then tell it to transcode 
> using autodetect[1].  So, if DVD export works for MPEG4 on your system, 
> then you'll get the correct aspect ratio.
> 
> I've been using it for the last 8 months on my system and my analog 
> tuner is now idle most of the time, the SD over HD is just better.
> 
> Of course, as a downside, not everything is exposed in the UI, but it's 
> a start.  I utilize a cronjob that periodically goes and changes the 
> transcoders for shows that I know to be pillorboxed.  For other 
> programs, I need to go in by hand and do some SQL hackery, but I can 
> share the script if folks want it.  Here's hoping that mentioning it 
> will give the patch another kick for the devs and other folks to look at it.
> 
> --Patrick
> 
> [1] Provided you've run the script I mentioned later in this email. I 
> tried to hack up a UI that allows you to actually pick your transcoder, 
> but at the time the transcoders were hardcoded and each had separate 
> functions in the source.  It burned my eyes and I figured I could do it 
> with a shell script faster.

Thank you!  This is just the kind of functionality Myth needs built-in!
Is the patch run against myth-plugins or mythtv?  I hope it makes it in
for 0.21.

Steve