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wkjoe · 2016-09-19, 22:23

Is there any reason why the skin interface zoom range (NOT talking about the video player zoom) is limited to -20% to +20% ?

Specifically, I would like to be able to zoom it to about -26% or -28% , which is what I would need when I am optically zooming my HTPC projector to fill a 2.35:1 movie screen so that the Kodi interface is still fully visible on my screen (when the projector lens is zoomed to fill a 2.35:1 screen on the left and right edges, it crops off the top and the bottom of the video field).

So, at a minimum I would like to see the zoom range expanded to -30% or so. But why stop there? Maybe there are reasons other users have to go higher or lower.

Therefore, I suggest changing the range to at least -50% to +50%. Or even -50% to +100% (half to double).

~~Ned Scott~~ · 2016-09-20, 04:09

You shouldn't need to touch the interface zoom in order to fill up the video on a screen. Ideally the skin will adapt to whatever ratio you have, otherwise you will be putting most of the skin buttons and menus outside of the visible area. You probably want to access the video calibration settings instead (Settings -> System -> Video output), then adjust skin zoom.

wkjoe · (This post was last modified: 2016-09-20, 04:27 by wkjoe.)

No, you have misunderstood what I wrote.

I have a 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio movie screen and a 1080p video projector with an optical lens that is capable of zooming in and out to make the projected image larger or smaller than the movie screen.

If I am watching a 16 to 9 aspect ratio 1080p video, then the projected image fits fully within my movie screen, with the top and bottom edges of the image touching the top and bottom of the movie screen, but the left and right edges of the image are inside the movie screen (creating vertical black bars, or more precisely, vertical unilluminated bars, on the sides of the movie screen).

When I am watching a movie that has a 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio, if I kept the same zoom setting on my projector as for a 16 to 9 video, then there are horizontal black bars at the top and bottom of my movie screen. Obviously, that is undesirable. So I use the zoom lens on my projector to expand the image on my movie screen so that the left and right edges of the projected image touch the left and right edges of the movie screen. This extends the top and bottom portion of the projected image PAST THE TOP AND BOTTOM EDGES OF THE MOVIE SCREEN, effectively cropping off the top and bottom of the image coming from my video card, but since the image coming from my video card has horizontal black bars at the top and bottom, this is exactly what I need to have the colorful part of the movie fully fill my 2.35:1 movie screen.

However, since Kodi normally uses all of the image to display its user interface, that means that the top and bottom of the Kodi user interface is not visible (cropped) when I zoom my projector lens to 2.35:1.

To compensate, I use the Skin interface ZOOM, and set it to -20%. This helps, but it is not enough, since there is still a little bit cropped off. I estimate that I need about -26% or -28% in order to have all of the Kodi user interface visible when my projector lens is zoomed to 2.35:1.

Fortunately, this should be one of the easiest feature requests ever to implement. I believe there is a line in the source code that has the limits set at -20 and +20. All a developer would need to do is change those numbers to something like -50 and +50 or -50 and +100.

Hopefully that is clear to you now. I think this is not an uncommon thing for people with video projectors to do. Several video projectors (I have one) even include a "lens memory" so that you can do this easily. Some Epson, JVC, and Panasonic projectors have lens memory.

If it is still not clear to you, here is another way to look at it. If I am watching a movie with a 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio, I want all of the Kodi user interface (eg., when you hit pause or menu or info while watching a video) to appear within the actual colorful part of the movie, NOT at all within the horizontal black bars at the top and bottom of the movie.

~~Ned Scott~~ · 2016-09-20, 04:29

Ah, I see. However, interface zoom is still not what you want to adjust to get that result.

You can actually what you want automatically with Kodi so that 16:9 videos are properly framed without any manual zooming (assuming there are no black bars encoded in the video). Calibrate Kodi's video output for the 2.35:1 interface using the over/underscan arrows and the square adjustment.

wkjoe · 2016-09-20, 04:39

No, unfortunately you still misunderstand. I don't know how I can possibly explain it any more clearly.

I am not trying to adjust where the video player plays the image of the video, which is what overscan/underscan adjusts. I am trying to adjust where the various text and overlays of the Kodi user interface appear on the video image, while leaving the actual video unchanged.

Please, if you cannot understand, just take my word for it that the Skin interface zoom is what I need to adjust. I have actually done it to -20%, as I already explained. It helps. I just need a little more, to -26% or -28%.

~~Ned Scott~~ · 2016-09-20, 08:03

I understand exactly what you're doing. You're using an optical zoom and losing video quality on your 16:9 videos. I'm not saying it doesn't "work" your way, I'm saying you're doing it wrong. Keep trying to use a hammer on a screw for all I care.

wkjoe · 2016-09-20, 16:10

Unfortunately, you still do not understand. I am definitely NOT "doing it wrong". There is no need for you to get hostile. How can I explain it more clearly?

No, I am not "losing video quality on 16:9 videos". I am using the full 1080 pixels of height on 16:9 videos (and the full 1920 pixels of width), with no scaling or distortion. Additional optical zoom is used for 2.35:1 videos, but since there are only 817 pixels of content vertically for 2.35:1 videos, I am not losing video quality on 2.35:1 videos either. I simply optically expand the image so that the 1920 pixels across and the 817 pixels vertically completely fill my 2.35:1 movie screen.

In fact, I am following the optimal procedure -- filling the screen with as many pixels as possible for both 16:9 and 2.35:1 videos. Again, as I said before, this is not an uncommon thing for people with projectors to do. That is why several high quality HTPC projectors have lens memory. Since you appear to be confused about how people with 2.35:1 movie screens tend to use lens memory with a HTPC projector, you may want to read up on the matter. I suggest avsforum.com for that -- it is where I first learned about it, years ago.

Anyway, as I stated several times already, I am not looking for Kodi to do anything to the video image (since I already have handled that perfectly using the optical zoom on my projector). I am just looking to change the position of the Skin interface text and overlays. That is exactly what the Skin interface zoom does, and I am using exactly the right control to do what I need to do. The only problem is that I need about -26% to -28% of zoom, and Kodi is currently artificially limited to no less than -20%.

**Memphiz** · 2016-09-20, 18:16

No clue which platform you are using. Search settings.xml (which either is in the bundle on osx and ios or it is in the roaming folder %APPDATA% i guess on windows). Search for "lookandfeel.skinzoom" in that file - there you will find a "constraints" block where the min and max is set to 20. Adapt as you need it. If this works give feedback.

~~Ned Scott~~ · (This post was last modified: 2016-09-20, 18:33 by Ned Scott.)

Jebus Tapdancing Crickets, I know what you are doing. I've done it before.. The GUI/skin zoom (I said optical zoom before by mistake, but I wasn't talking about your projector's lens) should not be used for doing that. That is retarded. Kodi can automatically stretch your 2.35.1 content so that it uses all of the resolution of the projector. The only thing you should need to do (to switch between the two aspect ratios) is press the button on the projector, and not anything in Kodi.

wkjoe · 2016-09-20, 18:45

(2016-09-20, 18:16)Memphiz Wrote: No clue which platform you are using. Search settings.xml (which either is in the bundle on osx and ios or it is in the roaming folder %APPDATA% i guess on windows). Search for "lookandfeel.skinzoom" in that file - there you will find a "constraints" block where the min and max is set to 20. Adapt as you need it. If this works give feedback.

I am running Kodi on Windows 10.

I searched for settings.xml and there were a whole bunch of files by that name in the various Kodi directories. I guessed that the one I needed was:

Program Files (x86) \ Kodi \ system \ settings \ settings.xml

I found the skinzoom block and changed it to what I needed, and it worked! Thank you!

I suspect that there is a better way to do it than editing the Kodi program files. I did search the Users AppData \ Roaming \ Kodi directory for the file, but I did not find it. Maybe there is a User file that I can copy the block of settings into to override the global settings for that user, but I don't know how to do it.

Anyway, thank you again for helping! That was exactly what I needed.

Gracus · 2016-09-20, 18:47

Kodi on other thing than 16:9 AR screens is just a pain in the ass

Just one solution: deal with it and wait for a fix in Kodi v30 or v40 maybe (and only if 16:9 is not the standard thing anymore)

wkjoe · (This post was last modified: 2016-09-20, 18:53 by wkjoe.)

(2016-09-20, 18:32)Ned Scott Wrote: Jebus Tapdancing Crickets, I know what you are doing. I've done it before.. The GUI/skin zoom (I said optical zoom before by mistake, but I wasn't talking about your projector's lens) should not be used for doing that. That is retarded. Kodi can automatically stretch your 2.35.1 content so that it uses all of the resolution of the projector. The only thing you should need to do (to switch between the two aspect ratios) is press the button on the projector, and not anything in Kodi.

No, you are still very confused. You just don't know what you are talking about. You really need to calm down and read what I wrote. I explained as clearly as possible. It is impossible for Kodi to scale a 2.35:1 movie so that it fills my 2.35:1 movie screen, since the left and right edges of the projected image are normally inside the movie screen, since the projector projects a 16:9 image. The only way to fill a 2.35:1 movie screen with an image projected by a 16:9 projector (which is basically all HD projectors) is to use the zoom lens on the projector to make the projected image larger than the movie screen, thus cropping off the top and bottom of the expanded 16:9 image.

But you don't need to spend any more time trying to understand it. Thanks to Memphiz, everything is perfect now!

wkjoe · 2016-09-20, 18:58

(2016-09-20, 18:47)Gracus Wrote: Kodi on other thing than 16:9 AR screens is just a pain in the ass

Just one solution: deal with it and wait for a fix in Kodi v30 or v40 maybe (and only if 16:9 is not the standard thing anymore)

Not at all. Everything is great now that Memphiz pointed me to the setting that I need to change to allow the skin interface zoom to go below -20%.

Now, at a skin interface zoom of -27%, all of the Kodi menus and overlays are show within the bounds of 817 vertical pixels that comprise the content of a 2.35:1 movie. This means it is all visible on my 2.35:1 movie screen when I have the projector zoomed for a 2.35:1 movie. When the projector is zoomed for a 16:9 video, the interface is still visible. The menu overlays, of course, do not fill the screen completely in 16:9, but that is not a problem. I care about the video filling the screen, but for the menu overlays, all I care is that they are visible.

**Memphiz** · 2016-09-20, 21:56

And the difference between a tv with 2.35:1 and a screen with 2.35:1 where you project (!) a 16:9 image to is the key difference here. What wkjoe did can't be done with a 2.35:1 TV because the optical zoom component is not available there. @wkjoe we could change that setting range by default in kodi but i think you are the only user here which benefits from it ...

~~Ned Scott~~ · 2016-09-20, 22:06

(2016-09-20, 18:52)wkjoe Wrote: thus cropping off the top and bottom of the expanded 16:9 image.

In other words, your videos are encoded with the black bars? Because I did comment on that:

(2016-09-20, 04:29)Ned Scott Wrote: You can actually what you want automatically with Kodi so that 16:9 videos are properly framed without any manual zooming (assuming there are no black bars encoded in the video).

Had you clarified that I would then tell you to use the Pixel Ratio adjustment (in the on-screen video settings during video playback) to compensate for the bars, which is a slight hassle, but still makes more sense than using the freakin' GUI zoom setting.

So yeah, nuts to you. Don't you tell me I don't know what a damn anamorphic lens is..