2015-03-18, 20:00
Hi,
I use Kodi to watch live TV, and some of the channels I receive are standard definition 'PAL' resolution at 720x576 pixels, mainly in widescreen.
My display is 1920x1080 and if I watch an SD channel that uses MPEG2 video encoding, the picture fills the screen as expected, with the pixel aspect ratio reported as 1.78:1.
However, if I watch an SD channel that uses MPEG4 AVC video encoding at 720x576 pixels, the picture has small black lines at the top and bottom when filling the screen, with the aspect ratio reported as 1.82:1.
I can manually change the video display with the Z button, but it'd be more useful if the video would automatically fill the screen so I don't have to use different modes for different videos.
However, the problem isn't completely clear cut because of the way the signal is handled by the broadcasters compared with the 'official' way in which the specification should work. The 1.82:1 reported by the MPEG4 AVC video is technically correct because in theory only the middle 704 of the horizontal pixels should be active, thus 704x576 should be expanded to 1920x1080 and the sides discarded. But most broadcasters fill all 720 pixels which means that you miss a little bit of the picture off the side by cutting the edges off, and expanding the 720x576 to 1920x1080 is more accurate.
In the example above, France 5 fills the full 720x576 so making that fill 1920x1080 would be the most accurate default.
Just wondered anyone's thoughts on this and if it could possibly be fixed, plus if so, in what way?
I use Kodi to watch live TV, and some of the channels I receive are standard definition 'PAL' resolution at 720x576 pixels, mainly in widescreen.
My display is 1920x1080 and if I watch an SD channel that uses MPEG2 video encoding, the picture fills the screen as expected, with the pixel aspect ratio reported as 1.78:1.
However, if I watch an SD channel that uses MPEG4 AVC video encoding at 720x576 pixels, the picture has small black lines at the top and bottom when filling the screen, with the aspect ratio reported as 1.82:1.
I can manually change the video display with the Z button, but it'd be more useful if the video would automatically fill the screen so I don't have to use different modes for different videos.
However, the problem isn't completely clear cut because of the way the signal is handled by the broadcasters compared with the 'official' way in which the specification should work. The 1.82:1 reported by the MPEG4 AVC video is technically correct because in theory only the middle 704 of the horizontal pixels should be active, thus 704x576 should be expanded to 1920x1080 and the sides discarded. But most broadcasters fill all 720 pixels which means that you miss a little bit of the picture off the side by cutting the edges off, and expanding the 720x576 to 1920x1080 is more accurate.
In the example above, France 5 fills the full 720x576 so making that fill 1920x1080 would be the most accurate default.
Just wondered anyone's thoughts on this and if it could possibly be fixed, plus if so, in what way?