Watching 2.35:1 Letterboxed

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

I have a few movies that are 2.35:1, when I play them on my T2, they stretched to 16:9.

I have the AV setting "Display content >16:9 as" set to "Letterbox", but it's still full screen.

I'm using "Dot by Dot" on the Sharp TV.

I've tried using a few different settings in MPEG4Modifier, but still displays Full Screen.

Any ideas? Apart from re-encoding with black bars top & bottom.

The Topfield had an "Aspect Ratio" tap which toggled various ARs, adding black bars, etc. So they displayed OK.

Thanks,

dRdoS7

[Gully]

Are you using Auto Resolution?

Other settings?

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

Are you using Auto Resolution?

Other settings?

No, not using Auto Res., I did try it again, though, didn't make any difference. The constant "black-outs" when changing channels made me disable that one the first time I had used it!

Are there any other settings that would make it letterboxed?

Do yours display correctly?

Thanks,

dRdoS7

[Gully]

No, not using Auto Res., I did try it again, though, didn't make any difference. The constant "black-outs" when changing channels made me disable that one the first time I had used it!

Are there any other settings that would make it letterboxed?

Do yours display correctly?

Yes fine here so I think it might be Auto Resolution that you need. You can change a setting for when the "black-outs" happen.

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

No, not using Auto Res., I did try it again, though, didn't make any difference. The constant "black-outs" when changing channels made me disable that one the first time I had used it!

Are there any other settings that would make it letterboxed?

Do yours display correctly?

Yes fine here so I think it might be Auto Resolution that you need. You can change a setting for when the "black-outs" happen.

I found, that changing the "Display 4:3 as" setting changed the 2.35:1 from displaying full screen to letterboxed.

Seeing > 16:9 movies were incorrect, I wondered if a 4:3 movie displayed correctly, so I played a few, and they were stretched. I changed the "Display 4:3 as" setting to "Pillarbox", I think it was "Just Scan" before. So the 4:3 is now correct.

I then played a 2.35:1, it was correct too. Still set to "Letterbox". WT?

Now, this the first time I have found the transparent GUI handy! I changed the "4:3" setting, and the 2.35:1 movie changed aspect ratio. Cycling through the ">16:9" settings had no effect.

Here's the MediaInfo for the file:

Width: 720 pixels
Height : 304 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1

Still not using "Auto Resolution". I'll stick to 1080.

dRdoS7

[simoncasey]

Did you find that once you fiddled with the setting you got it right for both widescreen and 4:3. That rings a bell and is similar to a bug I raised a year ago.

[netmask]

Hi,

I have a few movies that are 2.35:1, when I play them on my T2, they stretched to 16:9.

I have the AV setting "Display content >16:9 as" set to "Letterbox", but it's still full screen.

I'm using "Dot by Dot" on the Sharp TV.

I've tried using a few different settings in MPEG4Modifier, but still displays Full Screen.

Any ideas? Apart from re-encoding with black bars top & bottom.

The Topfield had an "Aspect Ratio" tap which toggled various ARs, adding black bars, etc. So they displayed OK.

Thanks,

dRdoS7

If the movie was filmed 2.35:1 then there should be black bars top and bottom. Otherwise you have to cut off side information and enlarging to 16:9 to fill the screen.

You could use uncropMKV to reinsert the black bars if the encoded file has had the black bars cropped?

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

If the movie was filmed 2.35:1 then there should be black bars top and bottom. Otherwise you have to cut off side information and enlarging to 16:9 to fill the screen.

You could use uncropMKV to reinsert the black bars if the encoded file has had the black bars cropped?

Usually, no black bars. I guess this saves space when encoding. These aren't ones I've done, and I'd rather not have to do anything to any files, unless there's no other option!

Anyway as it stands, it's being displayed correctly now, with black bars.

Did you find that once you fiddled with the setting you got it right for both widescreen and 4:3. That rings a bell and is similar to a bug I raised a year ago.

Yes, and I'm going to check my wife's T2, see if it's the same too. Is your name Quasimodo? It does sound like a "bug".

dRdoS7

[netmask]

If there are no black bars on a video that is supposed to be 2.35:1 then it has been reencoded down to 16:9 ie part of the image, left and right have been cut off. If you fit a rectangle 2.35:1 within a TV screen that is 16:9 then you must have black bars top and bottom. Some encoders crop the bars off in the mistaken belief it makes the file significantly smaller. That's why programs like uncropmkv exist. Depending on source some movies have been made available to stations and markets in 16:9 format. Some movies are shot 'open frame' with the essential activity centred so that 2.35, 16:9 or even 4:3 can be released.

Same goes with sound. Dialog is deliberately centred these days to avoid sound delays in large auditoriums. Gone are the days of early CinemaScope when you could have dialog hard left and right.

[simoncasey]

It's not an issue with the file the, issue is that the setting for how the T3 deals with <4:3 files seems to affect movies with a 2.35 ratio, ie resizing it to fit 16:9. I've seen the same thing before myself.

[netmask]

Is it related to your TV? On my setup regardless of the aspect ratio of the film wherever I have it stored plays back via my T3 to my Samsung correctly. ie 4:3 has large pillars either side, a 16:9 fills the screen and 2.35 or even a 3:1 shows with black bars top and bottom.
Samsung set on 16:9

T3
Resolution automatic off
mode 1080i
display 4:3 pillabox
display16:9 letterbox

I'm clearly not understanding the problem?

[simoncasey]

Try playing a 2.35 movie and then changing the 4:3 display setting. It seems to affect 2.35 as well where's changing the 16:9 seems to make no difference.

[netmask]

why would you do that?
I select a movie from my network folders and it doesn't matter what it's aspect ratio is it just plays correctly, I don't have to intervene or do anything.

[simoncasey]

Sorry, I thought you were asking about how to reproduce the bug. The settings you have are the same as mine and work. The bug is that if you change the 4:3 display setting, it also seems to affect the way 2.35 movies are displayed, whereas the setting for >16:9 seems to do nothing for a 2.35 movie.

[MrQuade]

No, not using Auto Res., I did try it again, though, didn't make any difference. The constant "black-outs" when changing channels made me disable that one the first time I had used it!

Not that I have a solution for your aspect ratio issue, but just thought I might chime in on this.

As Gully hinted at earlier, you can have multi resolution mode enabled, and also avoid the re-sync when changing channels, as long as you have set it up right.

You just need to ensure that 576i50, 720p25&50 and 1080i50 modes all output at the same resolution and framerate. Those cover off all of the FTA channels (you probably want to set those resolutions to output at 1080i50 on a T3 and 1080p50 on the T2/T4). You are then free to customise all other resolutions however you want.

As long as all the FTA channels are set to output at the same resolution and framerate then you don't get any blanking when changing channels.

[simoncasey]

No, not using Auto Res., I did try it again, though, didn't make any difference. The constant "black-outs" when changing channels made me disable that one the first time I had used it!

Not that I have a solution for your aspect ratio issue, but just thought I might chime in on this.

As Gully hinted at earlier, you can have multi resolution mode enabled, and also avoid the re-sync when changing channels, as long as you have set it up right.

You just need to ensure that 576i50, 720p25&50 and 1080i50 modes all output at the same resolution and framerate. Those cover off all of the FTA channels (you probably want to set those resolutions to output at 1080i50 on a T3 and 1080p50 on the T2/T4). You are then free to customise all other resolutions however you want.

As long as all the FTA channels are set to output at the same resolution and framerate then you don't get any blanking when changing channels.

That's good to know about autores as it was annoying me too.

dRdoS7's issue with getting 2.35 movies to show in letterbox at 16:9 was resolved by changing the 4:3 setting to pillarbox

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

It's solved, as I posted earlier: it's due to the fact that changing the ">16:9" setting had no effect, and the "4:3" did.

The movie in question is 2.35:1, it never was 16:9, it was being stretched to 16:9. The above setting fixed that, and it now has black bars top & bottom.

Thanks,

dRdoS7

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

Just revisiting this issue, but for a different reason.

I noticed that I was getting thin black vertical bars on most (all probably) SD channels. It's only noticable/visible in the day time: I was watching the Tests and saw them.

It's wider on some channels, narrower on others.

It's not 4:3 shows zoomed a bit to fit 16:9 better.

It's not related to the display, because the GUI stays the same, only the picture varies.

If I change "Display 4:3 as" setting, then no black bars.

Then, later, I played a 2.35:1 movie, of course, now it's wrong: it displays full screen instead of being "Letterboxed".

I looked back to the post where the 2.35:1 movie was OK, and it was night, so I probably didn't see the black bars on the side when I went back to live TV.

So, it appears I can have one or the other, but not both, correct at the same time.

I have BW output set to 1080p, my display is on "Dot by Dot".

I hadn't changed any display settings, I did switch from "official" to "beta" a few weeks (or 3, or 4) ago.

This is from an earlier post in another thread:

OK, after playing around with my settings, I found that the setting on the BW for 4:3, when set to "Letterbox" is what gave me the black bar "Pillarbox" on SD content, when using "Dot by Dot" on my Sharp TV.

I set it to "Just Scale", and it looks exactly the same as the screenshot via "openwebif".

"Pan&Scan" also removed the bars, but expanded the screen upwards at the same time.

Glad to have it looking correct.

I think I meant "Pillarbox", when I typed "Letterbox" .

I checked my Toppy, which is also set to output to 1080p & Dot by Dot, and it's fine.

Did you find that once you fiddled with the setting you got it right for both widescreen and 4:3. That rings a bell and is similar to a bug I raised a year ago.

Did this get into bitbucket as an issue? I did a search, but couldn't find anything.

Switching settings would be easier if there was a way to do it without having to go into the menu (and then press exit several times).

I may have to live with it. No else is seeing this?

dRdoS7

[simoncasey]

Yes, I believe it is a bug. There's also another similar bug where 1.85:1 movies always get resized irrespective of the settings.
Trying to get anybody else to agree that there are a few bugs there so it gets fixed seems to be a harder task.