Firewire record

[Nate]

Alright guys, what is happening now is that I get a picture for the HD channels. The picture I get has black bars on the left/right of a 4:3 area. Insead of that area the picture is displayed with black bars on the top/bottom, as if a 16:9 picture was put into the 4:3 area. The result is worse than watching the non-HD version of the same channel! Is this Comcast's solution for denying our ability to record HD through firewire while still meeting the FCC regulations?

[ke6guj]

set up an aspect ratio that zooms in 133% horizontal and vertical and it should fit full-screen and look fine.

[Nate]

How would I set this up? Even with this, I don't think I will get HD resolution. The resolution would actually be lower than the non-HD version of the same channel.

[ke6guj]

YOu go into Setup>Detailed Setup>Multimedia>Aspect Ratio Mode and pick a mode like 4:3 or 16:9 that you want to use for your "postage-stamped" content. I use 4:3. Once you have that selected, then you go to Aspect Ratio Settings, the next box down. Set the Ratios to 133% to start with. Later on, you can adjust them to better fit your screen. YOu can also adjust the offset to move the entire picture one way or another.

With SageMC, you can access these aspect ratio settings in the options menu while watching a show, and adjust them on-the-fly.


Then, while watching TV, if you get a show that is postage-stamped, you can bring up your options menu and change your aspect ratio mode to 4:3 to zoom in and fill the screen. Normally you're probably gonna leave it on Source, and only switch to 4:3 when needed. When you are done with the postage-stamped show, you need to switch it back to Source, otherwise you will be watching everything zoomed in. Nielm made an excellent Ratio-changer plugin that will automate your aspect ratio modes depending on rules you set. It works on Sage V6 and SageMC builds 6.3.3c or lower.

As for if the resolution is less than SD, you'd need to do a little research on the actual broadcast. Look at the video info that Sage provides in the summary page for the show, see what resolution it is. Or run the video through gspot and see what info you get from it.

What shows are you seeing the postage-stamping? Everything, or just stuff that was a letterboxed SD show that was rebroadcast on the digital channel?

[Nate]

Thanks for the info on how to set up aspect ratios. I will play with this tonight! It sounds as if I could stretch 4:3 content just slightly to better fill my 16:9 LCD without the stretching being noticeable. I always wanted this!

I am seeing postage-stamping (nice term BTW) only on HD shows that I record through firewire. I recorded shows through firewire just fine for about 2 years, then Comcast updated their STB UI and firewire no longer worked. A few months later firewire works again, but the HD shows are postage-stamped.

I'm wondering if the STB is really outputting postage-stamp video or if it is elsewhere in the chain. I'll try gspot. If it is the STB, is there anything I can do?

The FCC mandates that Comcast has to provide a firewire connection. Does the FCC allow Comcast to output postage stamp video for HD channels?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by Nate

Thanks for the info on how to set up aspect ratios. I will play with this tonight! It sounds as if I could stretch 4:3 content just slightly to better fill my 16:9 LCD without the stretching being noticeable. I always wanted this!

Sure can. On my parent system, I have Source set to stretch the screen horizontally to fill the screen and stretch vertically around 110%. They lose a little of the top and bottom of the video, but it keeps the distortion to a minimum.

I'm wondering if the STB is really outputting postage-stamp video or if it is elsewhere in the chain. I'll try gspot. If it is the STB, is there anything I can do?

try gspot and see if you see anything that jumps out at you. If it is the STB, the only thing I could think of is to go into the setup and see if you can change the output resolution (480i,720p, or 1080i). I don't think it would make a difference, but you never know. Motorola boxes directions are, IIRC, turn off STB and then hold down Menu. You would then get a bios screen that you can adjust.

The FCC mandates that Comcast has to provide a firewire connection. Does the FCC allow Comcast to output postage stamp video for HD channels?

I dunno.