Video zoom not possible beyond 100% on Android TV
#1
When watching 21:9 movies on a 16:9 screen, I usually zoom in (without stretch) to make the movie fill the screen, cropping some horizontal video in the process. On one device (a Xiaomi Android TV box) this is not possible. I can zoom the video out so the rendering is possible, but the video has a maximal (in my case horizontal) zoom of 100%. I don't understand why this is the case.

Any tips on what defines this behavior or how to change it?
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#2
I have the same problem on my new box which has Kodi 18.0 Beta2 pre-installed. When 100% is reached in horizontal direction, it will start stretching in vertical direction until 100% is also reached in that direction.

On my old box (with I think had Kodi 16), is was possible to zoom beyond 100% and I used that feature often, so I really miss it now.

Is this a bug? Or a feature of newer Kodi versions? Or related specifically to my box? Zoom works nicely when <100% so zoom itself does work properly, just not beyond 100%.
 
I hope there is a solution for this!
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#3
(2020-03-31, 23:17)sam_vde Wrote: I don't understand why this is the case.

Double-check what the actual resolution of the video is.

It is possible that it is still a 16:9 video because black bars have been "burnt in" for whatever dumb reason.
If the video does have a 1920x800 resolution, or something similar, then there is a different cause.
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#4
Just to be clear: this is independent of the resolution of the video.

On my old box with Kodi 16, I could zoom in well beyond the boundaries of the movie, both in horizontal and vertical direction, while also maintaining the aspect ratio. So on a 21:9 movie I could zoom in, reducing some of the black bars above while sacrificing some the pixels on the right and left.

On my new box with 18.0, I cannot zoom in beyond the boundaries of the movie, i.e. all pixels are always visible. In case of a 21:9 movie, the zoom in horizontal direction stops at full screen. If I try to zoom in further, it only stretches in vertical direction, messing up the aspect ratio, until it is also full screen in vertical direction. 

So I would like to know if this is expected behaviour or not, i.e. has this functionality changed between Kodi 16 and 18.0? Or is it related to my specific box? Both old and new boxes are Amlogic based.
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#5
(2020-06-25, 19:02)Shrike Wrote: Just to be clear: this is independent of the resolution of the video.

On my old box with Kodi 16, I could zoom in well beyond the boundaries of the movie, both in horizontal and vertical direction, while also maintaining the aspect ratio. So on a 21:9 movie I could zoom in, reducing some of the black bars above while sacrificing some the pixels on the right and left.

On my new box with 18.0, I cannot zoom in beyond the boundaries of the movie, i.e. all pixels are always visible. In case of a 21:9 movie, the zoom in horizontal direction stops at full screen. If I try to zoom in further, it only stretches in vertical direction, messing up the aspect ratio, until it is also full screen in vertical direction. 

So I would like to know if this is expected behaviour or not, i.e. has this functionality changed between Kodi 16 and 18.0? Or is it related to my specific box? Both old and new boxes are Amlogic based.
CoreELEC still does this, so probably an Android issue.
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#6
(2020-06-25, 19:02)Shrike Wrote: So on a 21:9 movie I could zoom in, reducing some of the black bars above while sacrificing some the pixels on the right and left.

With a proper 21:9 video you should be able to zoom fully, and get rid of the top/bottom black bars entirely.
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#7
Thanks for the input guys! 

I have just tried booting with CoreELEC from SD card (includes Kodi v18.7) and in that case the zoom works as it should! Unfortunately, then I cannot use the other apps of the box so it is not really a solution for me, but now at least I know it can work with the hardware.

I wanted to try if it made a difference in Android mode if I update from Kodi 18.0 to 18.7 but he doesn't let me upgrade to a newer version (both via app store or manually with APK file don't work).

Btw: the box is a T95 Max plus.

Edit: still wondering is there is not a hidden config setting somewhere (hidden file or something) that governs this zoom behaviour. Because it is not broken, just different than what I want.
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#8
(2020-06-25, 21:11)Shrike Wrote: Thanks for the input guys! 

I have just tried booting with CoreELEC from SD card (includes Kodi v18.7) and in that case the zoom works as it should! Unfortunately, then I cannot use the other apps of the box so it is not really a solution for me, but now at least I know it can work with the hardware.

I wanted to try if it made a difference in Android mode if I update from Kodi 18.0 to 18.7 but he doesn't let me upgrade to a newer version (both via app store or manually with APK file don't work).

Btw: the box is a T95 Max plus.

Edit: still wondering is there is not a hidden config setting somewhere (hidden file or something) that governs this zoom behaviour. Because it is not broken, just different than what I want.

Yeah it seems Android specific then. Other installs do this just fine. I would even claim it used to work on that box.
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#9
I managed to install Kodi 18.7 now (needed to uninstall the pre-installed version first) but the zoom is still behaving in the same (bad) way.
But with CoreELEC and Kodi 18.7 it works fine. So indeed, something Android related.

If anybody with a T95 Max plus manages to get the zoom working as it should in Android 9 I'm very interested.
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#10
Of course this could still be a bug or incompatibility of Kodi with Android 9. Does this work well on other Android 9 boxes?
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#11
I have made two log files of my TV box (T95 Max+, s905x3 chipset, Android 9.0), booting from Android and booting from CoreELEC

Booting from Android (custom zoom not working properly): 
https://paste.kodi.tv/yogupayeve

Booting from SD-card with CoreELEC (custom zoom works as it should): 
https://paste.kodi.tv/fujiyaxewe

Perhaps this can give a clue what is going wrong in the Android setup and possible fix?

(sorry for the crosspost - both topics are about the same issue I think)
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#12
Just booted my Ugoos into Android to test this, forgot it had Matrix installed. However, using the Ugoos with Android 9 & Matrix the zoom works as expected. Not sure how helpful this is, but there you go Smile
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#13
UPDATE:

I found that I can "fix" this problem by changing these settings the Kodi Player:
"Allow Hardware Acceleration - MediaCodec (Surface)" --> Disable
"Allow Hardware Acceleration - MediaCodec" --> Disable

After I do this, the zoom works as it should. But the video is less smooth.
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#14
Yes. We don't support it on Android with Surface rendering. Not all platforms have all features. Especially those that do blackbox render.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
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#15
(2020-06-27, 08:13)fritsch Wrote: Yes. We don't support it on Android with Surface rendering. Not all platforms have all features. Especially those that do blackbox render.

Ah! That explains it then. What is the reason not to support it on Android with Surface rendering?
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Video zoom not possible beyond 100% on Android TV0