hi, i´ll first expose my setup:
- xbox 1.4 (focus video encoder)
- rgb video cable
- pal 50 hz sony trinitron tv (also compatible with pal60 and ntsc)
- xbmc 2005-03-08
now, if i calibrate my setup using pal resolution everything works fine.. (i of course use the calibration to set up the image to fill the entire screen, but i dont oversize it)
the problem is when i play ntsc material and the video changes to pal60. then the previous calibration is not valid, and the image looks oversized. for example i noticed this when watching ocean´s 12 opening credits, because titles were not completly shown. ("ocean´s twelve", appears at the left, but i only could read "ocean´s twel.." or so)
of course if i force the video to play in pal the previous calibration is valid and everything looks fine..except for i prefer to play videos in its original resolution/refresh.
so, is there any way to setup two different calibrations? one for pal and another one for pal60/ntsc, and make xbmc to use the correct one each time you play a video.
i know you can set up different profiles..but is not as easy as just doing that.
thanx in advance.
regards
(and again excuse my english)
ofcourse. press white while calibrating, or simply calibrate while you are playing a suitable video file that uses pal60.
thanx for the quick answer :p
i feel a bit idiot after now lol
but xbmc is growing up in such complex, big, and excellent program that makes hard to know every function it has.
again thanx a lot, and feel free to delete this topic.
regards
i have been testing out pal 60 to see if it makes any odds to picture quality..
however i calibrated it as described above but the ar is different to when i turn pal 60 off for the same avi file. i know the tv is going in to pal60 mode as it flickers. why would the ar change when using pal60?
i was also wondering when it is best to use “pal60” and “adjust frame rate”, and what advantages they give.
thanks for your time
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running cvs 08/03/05 on pal xbox with rgb scart output.
the ar will only change if you have calibrated the pixel ratios differently - ie if the "square" that you see in the pixel ratio stage is not truly square in both views. if it is, the output ar will be identical.
which is better between pal60 and adjust frame rate depends on the source to a certain extent.
29.97fps movies run best in pal60. 24fps movies run similar in pal60 as to when they're run with adjust frame rate on.
with adjust frame rate on, xbmc will play the movie faster (at 25fps rather than 24fps) in order to keep it in sync with the output refresh rate for pal (50 hz). this will make audio sound higher in pitch. it is how many pal dvds are generated from ntsc sources, anyway.
pal60 has a 60hz refresh rate, so frames of a 24fps movie are shown alternately for 2 fields then 3 fields. this gives a total of 24 frames displayed per second (2*12 + 3*12 = 60 fields = 1 second at 60hz). this is how the same material is shown on ntsc televisions.
now that you understand it, perhaps you might want to translate it into user-speak (rather than dev-speak) and add it to the online manual so that other users can benefit?
cheers,
jonathan
also, in some old pal tv 60 hz resolutions never gets a correct ratio. for example if you load a game using pal 60 some tv shows the game vertically oversized, because the tv itself doesnt adjust the new geometry the 60hz has.
for example, my old 14´ trinitron doesnt make that correction. luckly i know how to access to the hidden service menu, and i can modify the vertical size to a correct value, so i can play games in the correct aspect ratio.
on the contrary my newer 29´ trinitron wega does that correction by itself :p
quote jmarshall "now you understand it"
ok, so i think i get the bit about using a certain frame rate to fit in with a corresponding refresh rate, and if it doesn't you could get choppy play back (hence the implementation of the "adjust frame rate" feature).
quick question, what happens when you have both pal60 and adjust frame rate turned on? from what you have said i would assume it would be best to have adjust frame rate turned off when using pal60.
i will double check my calibration and then run a test on a 24/29.97fps avi. - i have now done this and it all seems to be correct, only thing i have done is set all the calibration screens 4:3 and 16:9 - the time before i played video and then calibrated.
a side note, the order of screen output formats is a bit odd, (i run xbmc in 16:9) go in to video calibration ->pal 16:9->pal60 4:3->pal60 16:9->pal 16:9->pal 4:3 then back to start. as you can seen pal 16:9 is in there twice.
adjust frame rate takes priority over pal60.
this is due to the fact that while 30fps material plays flawlessly on pal60, some people prefer 24fps material to be sped up and displayed on pal50.
as i said, please translate my words into user-speak and add to the online manual. it would be a great help for other users.
cheers,
jonathan
thanks for that.
would it not be a good idea if you enable pal60 and then enable adjust frame rate that it greys out pal60 to show it has been disabled?
i will update the manual when it is available again
well, adjust frame rate only applies to 24fps movies (if you are using pal) so pal60 should still be an option for 30fps movies.
and the online manual should be all go if you want to add/edit stuff
cheers,
jonathan