DVD Playback on HD100

[reggie14]

I'm running Sage v6.3 and the 20080204 firmware on a SDTV. I just noticed that DVD playback isn't working quite right. Video playback starts out zoomed in, and even if I manually zoom out it looks like every time a new title starts it zooms back in. Also, somewhat related to that, the highlighting on the DVD menus doesn't work right either. It works when I use the Fill zoom mode, but when I use a different zoom mode (ie, source) the highlighted portion doesn't line up with the DVD menu buttons (the highlighted portion stays in the same spot).

Has anyone else noticed this? I think this is new to either the firmware or Sage 6.3, because I'm pretty sure it worked at one point.

[reggie14]

I probably chose a poor title for this thread... Can anyone confirm that they *not* experiencing this problem with aspect ratios and DVD menus? Do you have the extender hooked up to a 16:9 or 4:3 AR TV?

[gplasky]

I have my HD100 connected to a 42" Panny plasma 16:9 and all of my DVDs play correctly using the default aspect the HD100 is normally set for. (Depending on the movie it either fills the screen or does 2.35:1) The ones that I have left the menus for (few and far between) operate properly. I just rip them without any type of shrinking. Either the full disc or mostly just the main movie. They are all residing in their own video_ts folder on the server in a folder with the movie title for each one.

Are you converting them to another format?


Gerry

[reggie14]

I'm having problems with full-disc rips. What's interesting is that I don't seem to have similar problems with other imported videos or TV recordings.

But, it occurs to me that the problem could be related to SageMC. In fact, it seems quite likely, since I don't think I ever had this problem before I switched to SageMC. When I get home I'll have to try it with the stock UI.

[paulbeers]

Last night my wife and I watched a movie on my 30" widescreen CRT with no problems whatsoever via component. I only rip the main movie, so I can not comment on Menu highlighting.

[reggie14]

I just tried it out with the default STV and I have the same problems. It's definitely zooming in whenever a new title starts on the DVD. But, the extender still says it's using the 'Source' aspect ratio. I don't think I changed any settings that could be causing this. In fact, this is practically the first time I've used the default STV on the extender since I got a new Sage server. So, most of the settings should be their defaults.

Has anyone tried DVD playback with the HD100 connected to a 4:3 TV?

[gplasky]

Did you set the HD Extender for 480i? Do you have the resolution set properly in the SageTV STV settings? (Detailed Setup)

Gerry

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Did you set the HD Extender for 480i? Do you have the resolution set properly in the SageTV STV settings? (Detailed Setup)

I'm not quite sure what you mean. I have the display aspect ratio set to 4x3, the user interface theme is standard SDTV, and the video output was set to s-video during the initial extender setup. And the aspect ratio mode is set to source.

Is there anything else?

[gplasky]

I was talking about the initial setup. Look in the HD Extender Detailed setup and it should actually call out a resolution. Like mine is 1280 x 720.

Gerry

[reggie14]

I remember seeing something that talked about that in the manual, but I don't think it asks you to choose a resolution when you use s-video output. I think it only asks if you're using component or HDMI.

So, I'm pretty sure its set to 480i. But, I don't know what happens when you toggle video out on the remote when using s-video. I think I tried it right after I got the extender, and I think I just ended up with a black screen. I'll try it again when I get back, but I don't think that's the cause of my problems.

[reggie14]

Actually, the video out button doesn't seem to do anything when you're connected using s-video. But, the system status confirms the resolution is set at 720x480i.

[reggie14]

This is just a bump on this problem. Apparently one of the developers at Sage uses a 4:3 TV and hasn't had this problem. I'm not sure what his testing process consisted of, but I know I can repeat this problem with every widescreen DVD I've tried. Support thought it could be a ripping problem, but I don't see how that could be the case. Toggling through the aspect ratio modes *almost* fixes it. You'd think that if it was a ripping problem Sage would always display it incorrectly. Instead, Sage initially displays it incorrectly, then displays it mostly correctly on the second try (that is, after toggling through the zoom modes).

So, mainly I'm still looking for someone with a HD100 connected to a 4:3 TV that watches ripped DVDs (with menus).

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by reggie14

This is just a bump on this problem. Apparently one of the developers at Sage uses a 4:3 TV and hasn't had this problem. I'm not sure what his testing process consisted of, but I know I can repeat this problem with every widescreen DVD I've tried. Support thought it could be a ripping problem, but I don't see how that could be the case. Toggling through the aspect ratio modes *almost* fixes it. You'd think that if it was a ripping problem Sage would always display it incorrectly. Instead, Sage initially displays it incorrectly, then displays it mostly correctly on the second try (that is, after toggling through the zoom modes).

So, mainly I'm still looking for someone with a HD100 connected to a 4:3 TV that watches ripped DVDs (with menus).

I've got the BSG season 1 DVD (it's in 16x9 format) ripped and it plays just fine on the 4x3 TV in the bedroom - although I think I had problems with the initial menus so I bypassed them. But once the video is playing I can go to the menus just fine and navigate arround.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I've got the BSG season 1 DVD (it's in 16x9 format) ripped and it plays just fine on the 4x3 TV in the bedroom - although I think I had problems with the initial menus so I bypassed them. But once the video is playing I can go to the menus just fine and navigate arround.

I just tried ripping my BSG S1 disc (disc 1, to be exact). The actual video isn't zoomed in, but the main DVD menu still is. As before, I can toggle through the zoom modes to get it zoomed out, but then the menu highlighting is broken.

I tried starting the video, then backing out to the DVD menu. It zoomed back in.

What sort of problems did you have with the menus?

[deanm]

Hi reggie14

I can confirm that I am having the same problems as you are. The DVD plays fine but the main menu zooms in. If you change the zoom it looks like the menu highlight stays at the original zoom size. Everything works ok but it’s a bit off putting.

I should also mention that I am using PAL DVD on the NSTC HD extender. I will try a ripped NSTC disc tonight.

Dean.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I just tried ripping my BSG S1 disc (disc 1, to be exact). The actual video isn't zoomed in, but the main DVD menu still is. As before, I can toggle through the zoom modes to get it zoomed out, but then the menu highlighting is broken.

I tried starting the video, then backing out to the DVD menu. It zoomed back in.

What sort of problems did you have with the menus?

First let me note that I'm still on the 12/26/2007 firmware. The problems I usually have with menus is not so much with the menu itself but with the lead in video/FBI warning. It will lock up and never get to the menu. I have to use the stop button and re-rip. Some times I can just skip that and go directly to the main menu but in this case I believe I had to skip directly to video. Once there I can bring up the DVD menu with the "DVD menu" command in the OSD. It looks normal and I can navigate fine. I have a few movies ripped to HD currently and the menus on half of them work perfectly - like Terminator 3 for example. I'll look tonight and verify that I'm not getting the zoom affect on a DVD player with BSG 1 and Terminator 3 tonight but it didn't LOOK like anything was missing.

[reggie14]

It often doesn't look weird, since it appears most 16:9 DVDs have menus that look perfectly fine zoomed in.

Somebody suggested to me that it might be normal for widescreen menus to start zoomed-in on a 4:3 TV. My standalone DVD just broke so I can't try it out with that one. Does anyone know if that's true?

Thanks for responding, deanm. I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed this.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by reggie14

It often doesn't look weird, since it appears most 16:9 DVDs have menus that look perfectly fine zoomed in.

Somebody suggested to me that it might be normal for widescreen menus to start zoomed-in on a 4:3 TV. My standalone DVD just broke so I can't try it out with that one. Does anyone know if that's true?

Thanks for responding, deanm. I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed this.

I can now confirm that a standalone DVD player shows about 25% more sides approximately than the STX-HD100 does for me. I haven't watched a DVD in the player for so long I didn't notice the menus being chopped by about 12% on each side from the looks of it. Also was some from top and bottom but couldn't guestimate it well.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I can now confirm that a standalone DVD player shows about 25% more sides approximately than the STX-HD100 does for me. I haven't watched a DVD in the player for so long I didn't notice the menus being chopped by about 12% on each side from the looks of it. Also was some from top and bottom but couldn't guestimate it well.

So your standalone DVD player zooms in on the menus as well, but not as much? That actually makes a lot of sense. It looks like all my DVD menu's are set up such that you should be able to zoom in on them without chopping off anything important. But, I first noticed this problem when I watched a DVD where I couldn't read some of the DVD menu options, or the FBI warning screen, because the edges were cut off.

So, I think you just pin-pointed the problem going on.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by reggie14

So your standalone DVD player zooms in on the menus as well, but not as much? That actually makes a lot of sense. It looks like all my DVD menu's are set up such that you should be able to zoom in on them without chopping off anything important. But, I first noticed this problem when I watched a DVD where I couldn't read some of the DVD menu options, or the FBI warning screen, because the edges were cut off.

So, I think you just pin-pointed the problem going on.

I don't believe the standalone is chopping off anything at all but I don't know for sure. My TV chops the standard 5-10% on all edges and I am assuming anything missing from the standalone is due to that. I do not see any loss of text on the menus on the HD100 for any DVD that I've displayed a menu for yet however it does put them much closer to the edge of the set than on the standalone. As a guess I would say it is a 720 to 640 thing. Namely the DVD is calculated to be 720x480 and the HD100 is displaying the 640 middle pixels of that. But someone will tell me now that is impossible so I'm probably wrong here. But 640 is 88.9% of 720 and that is about what it looks like it is missing on my T3 DVD.