Toggle aspect ratios instead of using 4 buttons?

[Franc]

I was just wondering. Why do I have to waste 4 buttons to cycle through the 4 available aspect ratios?

Is it somehow possible to program 1 button that toggles through the 4 of them?
I'm using an IRMAN with an all-purpose remote.

Just wondering.

Franc.

[blade]

You can use the auto aspect ratio plugin and not have to press a button at all.

[pgitta]

Hmmm...but that doesn't answer the original question.

No one should take this the wrong way, because i'm sure everyone's intentions are good, but i've noticed quite a bit that when someone poses a question, rather than answering to it, many will just post why you don't need this or that, or you shouldn't do it that way anyway, etc.

The question was "Can one button be programmed for aspect ratio toggle. Not "what are my other options"

Just like the "when will we get a TiVo style FF/RW?" thread.

Answers:

"Sage's skip FF is WAY better than TiVo smooth FF."

"Use comskip and forget the FF/RW"

At least the reply could be something like "I'm not sure, BUT..."

[BobPhoenix]

OK then how about this one:

I don't believe so without getting into Studio and making changes to allow it.

BobP.

[pgitta]

much better...thanks

[blade]

Originally Posted by pgitta

Hmmm...but that doesn't answer the original question.

No one should take this the wrong way, because i'm sure everyone's intentions are good, but i've noticed quite a bit that when someone poses a question, rather than answering to it, many will just post why you don't need this or that, or you shouldn't do it that way anyway, etc.

The question was "Can one button be programmed for aspect ratio toggle. Not "what are my other options"

Just like the "when will we get a TiVo style FF/RW?" thread.

Answers:

"Sage's skip FF is WAY better than TiVo smooth FF."

"Use comskip and forget the FF/RW"

At least the reply could be something like "I'm not sure, BUT..."

Because I didn't know the answer to the original question. If I knew of a way I'd have said so. I believed it wasn't possible, but didn't want to give incorrect information. Personally I think providing an alternative is better than simply saying "Not possible". The aspect ratio switcher can be setup to change the aspect ratio for each show, channel, tuner, imported videos, etc.. If you're switching aspect ratios enough to map the commands to the remote, and there is not a way to consolidate it into one button then eliminating the need to manually switch them makes sense to me.

Same thing for the TiVo FF thread. The topic has been beat to death in the past. It's obviously not possible in Sage for whatever reason. I don't know the technical reasons why it's not supported, just that it's not. Which I stated in my response. I then mentioned comskip because it's a nice feature that helps get past the commercials. Once again there was not a way to do it in Sage. If you don't have to FF through commercials, you reduce the need to use FF. The less you use it the less you miss the smooth FF of TiVo. Again I don't see a problem with offering someone an alternative means to make their viewing experience better.

If it really bothers you so much, I'll make sure I don't waste your time by responding to any of your posts. I'd hate to point out a feature of Sage that you didn't specifically ask about. The last thing I would want to do is give you more options that might make using Sage more enjoyable.

[millers_35]

Originally Posted by blade

Because I didn't know the answer to the original question. I believed it wasn't possible, but didn't want to give incorrect information. Personally I think providing an alternative is better than simply saying "Not possible". The aspect ratio switcher can be setup to change the aspect ratio for each show, channel, tuner, imported videos, etc.. If you're switching aspect ratios enough to map the commands to the remote and there is not a way to consolidate it into one button then eliminating the need to manually switch them makes sense to me.

Same thing for the TiVo FF thread. The topic has been beat to death in the past. It's obviously not possible in Sage for whatever reason. I don't know the technical reasons why it's not supported, just that it's not. Which I stated in my response. I then mentioned comskip because it's a nice feature that helps get past the commercials. Again I don't see a problem with offering someone an alternative means to make their viewing experience better.

If it really bothers you so much, I'll make sure I don't waste your time by responding to any of your posts. I'd hate to point out some feature of Sage that you didn't specifically ask about.

Exactly, not flaming or anything just wanted to make a point. What kind of forums would we have if someone asked a question and everyone that replied simply replied "Yes" or "No"? They would be pretty useless with no information whatsoever. Therefore noone would learn anything.

Miller

[Franc]

Guys, cool down, no need to fight over this

It's just that over here we don't get too many widescreen shows so my TV is set to widescreen and I normally fill the image. However, sometimes we have a 'widescreen' image that contains the black borders.
In my case that would give me a very tiny picture unless I use one of the zoom functions of my TV. When the next show is 4:3 again, I have to reach for the TV remote, etc. etc.

I have now set the 16:9 setting to show 135% vertically to remove the black borders for those 16:9 shows so I have to switch aspect ratios a lot and I have only so much buttons on my remote
That's when I started wondering why I need 4 buttons for 4 ratios.

[jbuszkie]

Originally Posted by Franc

I was just wondering. Why do I have to waste 4 buttons to cycle through the 4 available aspect ratios?

Is it somehow possible to program 1 button that toggles through the 4 of them?
I'm using an IRMAN with an all-purpose remote.

Just wondering.

Franc.

If you are using girder I believe you can do this.. I currently do this to switch between recording, recording schedule and the tv guide with one button.

Otherwise this will have to be done with studio...

Jim

[blade]

Originally Posted by Franc

It's just that over here we don't get too many widescreen shows so my TV is set to widescreen and I normally fill the image. However, sometimes we have a 'widescreen' image that contains the black borders.
In my case that would give me a very tiny picture unless I use one of the zoom functions of my TV. When the next show is 4:3 again, I have to reach for the TV remote, etc. etc.

I have now set the 16:9 setting to show 135% vertically to remove the black borders for those 16:9 shows so I have to switch aspect ratios a lot and I have only so much buttons on my remote
That's when I started wondering why I need 4 buttons for 4 ratios.

That's pretty much what I do, except the switcher changes it for me. It allows you to tell it which of the aspect ratio settings to use for each recording and automatically changes it for you.

Most of my content is 4:3 so I have one of the ratios setup to handle that and it's used by default for all recordings.

For shows that are letterboxed the aspect ratio switcher changes to the 16:9 ratio that's setup to stretch the show to fill the screen both vertically and horizontally.

For imported videos the switcher changes to the source ratio. That's the only true 16:9 content I have.

[Humanzee]

What they really need is 5 ratios that we can configure, and name independantly. Then they also need to add a new command so that we can toggle through them with one button. I think the default names and behaviors of the current aspect ratios can be confusing. I have a 16:9 ratio tv, does that mean I should be using the 16:9 aspect ratio in Sage for all programing? Not neccessarily, as it can be set up for 16:9 content in SD or what about 16:9 content broadcast over HDTV but in an SD format so you have to set crazy amounts of overscan both horizontally and vertically.

Neilms automatic aspect ratio switcher is great but I think the whole area needs some improvement. I even recommended in one thread that we take aspect ratio data from the recording as detected by showanalyzer and use it to dynamically set an aspect ratio for your screen based on the media currently playing. But that never came together.

[pgitta]

*sigh*

It seems there is no way to convey even the slightest criticism, no matter how carefully

No one should take this the wrong way, because i'm sure everyone's intentions are good

without getting a

Originally Posted by blade

If it really bothers you so much, I'll make sure I don't waste your time by responding to any of your posts..

right back at you.

All I'm saying is, an attempt to state one way or another if you know the answer before adding other ideas would be helpful.

I never suggested not offering advice or alternatives. If that's what you thought, I can see why you're ruffled.

[MeInMaui]

The toggle aspect ratio capability is built into the Girder .gml file available (with installation instructions) from here. (The file is at the bottom of the page)

It works well. Unfortunately, I also don't know of any other way to do it outside of using Girder or editing in Studio. Girder does have a bit of a steep learning curve, but having the definitions for all of the SageTV commands available for download goes a long way toward easing the pain. Hope this helps.

Aloha,
Mike

[blade]

Originally Posted by pgitta

*sigh*

It seems there is no way to convey even the slightest criticism, no matter how carefully without getting a right back at you.

In this thread and the TiVo thread I was the one to offer alternatives. You made sure to bring up the other thread. Maybe I'm mistaken, but it seems the comment was directed towards me. If not it's a nice coincidence that the two posts that annoyed you the most were mine.

All I'm saying is, an attempt to state one way or another if you know the answer before adding other ideas would be helpful.

I thought it was pretty self evident that if someone posted an alternative, but didn't post an answer to the original question they didn't know. Maybe I'm giving people too much credit.

[pgitta]

Originally Posted by blade

In this thread and the TiVo thread I was the one to offer alternatives. You made sure to bring up the other thread. Maybe I'm mistaken, but it seems the comment was directed towards me. If not it's a nice coincidence that the two posts that annoyed you the most were mine.



I thought it was pretty self evident that if someone posted an alternative, but didn't post an answer to the original question they didn't know. Maybe I'm giving people too much credit.

I was not singling you out at all. I very much appreciated any advice given and did not mean to minimize anyone's contribution.

Perhaps there's just no tactful way to make this argument so I'll just let it go.

Sorry if I offended anyone.

[Opus4]

Here we go for a conclusion: No, there is no current built-in way to use a single command to toggle between the various aspect ratio modes. However, I do know that the feature has been requested in the past & SageTV is aware of it. Perhaps it will show up in a future version. In the meantime, the only solution would be some sort of customization that might have been mentioned above.

- Andy

[Narflex]

This feature is in V5.1.

[jbuszkie]

Ok.... How long do we have to wait for 5.1??

[polen]

Originally Posted by Narflex

This feature is in V5.1.

Any news on the progress of 5.1. A general time like "A week or 2" or "A month or 2 or 3"

Thanks,

Polen