[mythtv-users] Playback looks at screensize not at monitor or windowsize

[Michael T. Dean]

On 06/14/2015 01:59 AM, Karl Newman wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 9:33 PM, Hika van den Hoven <hikavdh at gmail.com 
> <mailto:hikavdh at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Hoi Karl,
>
>     Sunday, June 14, 2015, 5:59:13 AM, you wrote:
>
>     > On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 12:12 PM, Michael T. Dean
>     <mtdean at thirdcontact.com <mailto:mtdean at thirdcontact.com>>
>     > wrote:
>
>     >> On 06/12/2015 09:42 AM, Karl Newman wrote:
>     >>
>     >>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 11:58 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>     >>>
>     >>>  and should not (ever--for anyone, even without Xinerama) set
>     the Playback
>     >>>> setting:
>     >>>>
>     >>>> Video aspect override
>     >>>> When enabled, these will override the aspect ratio specified
>     by any
>     >>>> broadcaster for all video streams.
>     >>>>
>     >>>> where, if (for anyone at all) it seems like "Video aspect
>     override" needs
>     >>>> to be set to get a proper display, you have misconfigured
>     something else
>     >>>> (like, for example, your X configuration for DPI/DisplaySize).
>     >>>>
>     >>>>  I dunno, I use this setting and it seemed to be the only way
>     I could get
>     >>> recordings to display correctly. My recordings are all 4:3 (from a
>     >>> PVR-500)
>     >>> and my TV is also 4:3, but I have to drive it with an HMDI to
>     Composite
>     >>> converter which looks like a 16:9 target to the computer. So
>     setting the
>     >>> aspect override to 16:9 is the only way video displays
>     correctly on the TV
>     >>> (otherwise it would squeeze and letterbox horizontally).
>     >>>
>     >>>
>     >> That just means you have X misconfigured.  If you're displaying
>     the image
>     >> on a physical display with a 4:3 aspect, you need to tell X to
>     use a 4:3
>     >> aspect.  I realize you're saying that the "autodetection" picks
>     up 16:9,
>     >> but you need to override that with an explicit setting because
>     it's wrong.
>     >>
>
>     > Any hints about how I'd do that? I searched around for setting
>     the aspect
>     > ratio on X but didn't turn up anything obvious. Maybe it just
>     assumes
>     > square pixels? If that's the case then I really do need that
>     setting in
>     > myth. Eventually it will be a moot point when I get around to
>     buying a new
>     > TV, but this is what I'm stuck with for now.
>
>     > Karl
>
>     I don't know if it will have effect, but you say your pixels are not
>     square. You can specify this in the Screen section with option "DPI".
>     I have: Option "DPI" "100x100". If you have displaysize specified in
>     your Monitor section, eg. DisplaySize 400 300, it should calculate the
>     DPI from that.
>
> Yes, I do have DisplaySize set in a 4:3 ratio, but I think the HDMI to 
> composite adapter mangles the picture unless it comes in a 16:9 ratio. 
> I guess I could put in a fake DisplaySize but that seems wrong.

More wrong than putting in a fake aspect ratio for MythTV?  Either way 
you're lying--one way to just MythTV (meaning other programs will 
display wrong) and the other way to X.

> Maybe the same amount of wrong as setting it in Myth?

Exactly.

Note, too, that DPI, DisplaySize, and many others are often ignored 
(and/or invalid--DPI is nvidia-specific) depending on what drivers 
you're using.  You may have to include things like IgnoreEDIDDPI or such 
to get the X drivers to listen to what you're saying.

What does:

xdpyinfo

give?

Mike