2.0.13: Video not filling screen

[rrussell]

Hi, all -

Setup:

VIA Epia M9000, using its SVideo-out
PVR250
256M RAM
Lotsa HD space
WinTV4 codecs

I've been running at 640x480 because, um, I don't remember, but recently switched to 800x600 to get more of the menu text on-screen. (It was overlapping some and being cut off at 640x480.)

I adjusted the overscan settings in Detailed Setup to get the menu and other various UI onto the screen correctly, but I've noticed that the video playback is surrounded on left, right and bottom by black space. (Only during recorded TV playback, not during DVD playback.)

I found the "Aspect ratio" and "I forget what it's called" settings in the Video section of Detailed Setup, and changed the stretch both horizontal and vertical from 100% up to 150% with no apparent change. Similarly, changing the vertical offset to 10, 20 or 50 did not move the picture down at all.

I'd really like to stay at 800x600, but not having the video fill the screen is a little bothersome.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[falchulk]

I assume you have adjusted the overscan in the via drivers to eliminate the 1 inch black border? I just want to make sure the desktop fills the entire TV before we try to troubleshoot in Sage.

[GbrNole]

you do have your aspect ratio set to fill rather than 4:3, right?

the zoom controls only really work for vga or dvi output in my experience.

[falchulk]

The zoom controls work perfectly on the via's svideo in 2.0. FYI, the aspect ratio's are just predifined zoom levels themselves.

[GbrNole]

well that's good news. i'm connecting high res via dvi now though so all is good

[rrussell]

I have the VIA drivers set up alright, though not to my liking - the desktop more than fills the TV screen, so some of the icons and the windows taskbar fall off the edges slightly. The adjustments available in the display control panel are either slightly too large, or WAY too small, so I'm opting for the larger.

IIRC, the Aspect Ratio is set to "source." I will try to do "Fill" and see how it goes. Thanks for that suggestion!

I was surprised when the additional stretch and offset settings had no effect, though.

[falchulk]

I had to use fill as well with my m10000 as well. Its a strange problem that was reported by others with diffrent hardware in a thread here recently.

[stanger89]

Might want to try Overlay if you're using Default, I have some problems with AR/Size using Default on my R9500.

[falchulk]

Default is overlay. VMR is not an option with the epia's. Its like watching a slide show.

[stanger89]

Default is VMR7, Overlay is Overlay, VMR9 is VMR9... at least for me on XP.

[falchulk]

Default is whatever sage detects will work best on your system. Trust me, I have a m10000. When VMR is selected its unuseable.

[kny3twalker]

I know this sounds weird but I get black bars on the right and left in Sagerecordings but the Guide it is fine
also full screen TV fine
If I enable 3d acceleration then the black bars are gone in Sagerecordings but
with VMR9 and powerDVD, it does not like 3d acceleration

[falchulk]

That does sound wierd. Are the black band where the Show info and progress bar should be? Thats the only thing on the video screen thats effected by the 3d accel option.

[rrussell]

FYI changing the aspect ratio to "Fill" from "Source" did the trick nicely.

Woohoo!!!

Thanks, everyone!

[rrussell]

Aaaaand... now I've played a DVD and things are screwy again...

Unfortunately, setting the Aspect Ratio to "fill" also has the result of filling the screen with DVD video, including movies that are supposed to be letterboxed. (Grr)

That's much more annoying than having a slightly too-small TV picture, so I had to put it back to "Source."

Dan, what're the chances of getting seperate Aspect Ratio settings for DVD playback versus TV Video playback?

[Edit]

BTW this is with 2.0.14 now - I upgraded last night. I can't decide whether or not I like the transparent menus...

[stanger89]

rrussell,
Have you tried other video renderers?

falchulk,
Just curious, if Default is overlay, then how do you select VMR, the only options in Sage are Default, Overlay, and VMR9. Also, which OS are you using?

According to MSDN VMR7 is the default renderer on XP.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ererfilter.asp
and Video Renderer is the default on 98, ME, NT, 2000 (which I think implies Overlay depending on Video Card).
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ererfilter.asp

To the best of my knowledge Default just uses the default renderer, Sage does no detection of renderer.

[falchulk]

Stranger, with VMR7 or 9, on the m10000, it's a still frame in any application, not just sage. It was this way in 1.4.1 and 2.0. Since default in sage works, I assumed it automatically switched to overlay.

[kny3twalker]

Yeah I am using XP and default and overlay look surprisingly similiar
But VMR9 also works just fine
is there anyway that Sage can just kill this default idea and add VMR 7 to the list?

[RenHoek]

Hi, Rob-
On my M10000000000000 setup, I had the X-ACT same problem. My "fix" was to use two spare buttons on my remote (One4All 6131) - one for "Fill" and one for "Source".

That works great, although others might not have two extra remote buttons sitting around....

-RenHoek

[rrussell]

HM hm hm hm. I'll have to look into that. All I have for a remote is the hauppauge silver, but I think I can forego a button somewhere on it.

Maybe I can rig it to toggle...