[mknight]

i realize this is adjustable in the osd now, but it is now many steps to do something that was one step before. i used that function all the time and it is very dearly missed already.

[jeks]

i'm agree with you

[jmarshall]

1. why did you need to use this option many times.

2. the new method is more consistent with everything else. it is also more flexible.

3. assuming you movie is correctly encoded, why do you ever need/want to change the a/r or zoom amount?

4. if your movies are not correctly encoded, do they have black bars encoded into them?

5. the old method was limited. can you suggest what would make it better?

[deltop]

i think there are propably 2 groups of people out there, 1 group who never use zoom/stretch and another who use it quite often.

as i explained to you in another thread i use it alot to display letterboxed svcd's in 16:9 mode which is much more of a pain to do now. i tried explaing to my wife why she has to bring up the osd and zoom to 1.26 but she wasn't too impressed lol.

it is something i can live with, but if lots of people found the previous method handy perhaps something else needs to be considered? the thing is if you do use zoom or stretch your constantly having to bring up the osd and move a slider up and down to enable and disable it now. perhaps something along the lines of a configurable default setting for zoom and or stretch which can be enabled/disabled by a button?

i had little luck in getting mplayer to autodetect and crop the black bars. the -cropdetect option will give you the correct parameters to crop the bars but only after playing part of the video and checking it frame by frame. it's designed as an encoding option really.

[jmarshall]

a better way out for that situation, deltop, is to pick up the fact that there are black bars.

i'll investigate whether mplayer can do this or not, cause if it can, it'll solve that problem.

cheers,
jonathan

[deltop]

agreed it would be much more preferable

cheers.

[jmarshall]

just an update:

mplayer has commands to detect the crop, and commands to set a particular crop, so it looks like it'll be possible with a two-step thing.

i figure this will be an always on option (no point making it an option, as surely everyone will want it??) assuming it doesn't slow things down having to open the video file twice. note that we're currently doing this to detect ac3/dts plus a bunch of other stuff, so it won't slow down those files anyway. will have to see if the cropping function takes any cpu time from mplayer (it shouldn't).

should get on to it this weekend.

cheers,
jonathan

[chadoe]

i use(d) the zoom function quite a lot too. not for video's with black bars encoded in, but for those cinema aspect ratio movies. pressing a few time select and it would be fullscreen.
don't know excactly how it functions today but from what i've read it would be popping up the osd, selecting the correct submenu, selecting the correct slider, zoom zoom zoom until it is fullscreen?

[jmarshall]

charly:

the new zoom is a slider control as you have pointed out. the advantage is that you can select just how much you want it zoomed. disadvantage is that it takes a few more clicks to get it perfect for a particular movie.

i guess we need to discuss exactly what is needed so that it best works for everyone.

perhaps a combination of the instant zoom/stretch type options and the ability to set it precisely like it is now would be the optimal solution.

also, at the moment the settings are saved which perhaps is not the best thing. i think they should be reset before a movie plays to the defaults (normal on the old system). if that's combined with some fast-access zoom/stretch controls then i think it would be ideal.

i'm interested in hearing others opinions on how it should be implemented in the user interface.

cheers,
jonathan

[chadoe]

i guess we need to discuss exactly what is needed so that it best works for everyone. perhaps a combination of the instant zoom/stretch type options and the ability to set it precisely like it is now would be the optimal solution.

hehe yes, everybody wants something different so putting it all in would be best (although product designers would probably disagree about that) quick key's to zoom/stretch instantly and precise control through the osd.

also, at the moment the settings are saved which perhaps is not the best thing. i think they should be reset before a movie plays to the defaults (normal on the old system).

i agree, if someone always has to zoom or stretch it's probably not callibrated correctly.

[Nickman]

1.  why did you need to use this option many times.

i for one didn't use it all the time but sometimes.
i have a 4:3 tv and looking at a 2:35:1 movie on that is like looking on a white line in an ocean of black

so sometimes i use stretch or zoom deppending on video source to get a bigger picture.. wrong aspect ratio but atleast bigger picture.. or bigger picture and loss from the sides.

hopefully i'll get a hdtv projector later and an 16:9 tv so i don't have to use these anymore

[mknight]

stretch - i use stretch for those movies that a just a bit off in their aspect ratio. i have a 16x9 set i run in 720p. we have all seen vids that are supposed to be 16x9, but a just a tad off due to the crop and a need to keep the horizontal resolution and vertical resolution divisible by 16, or whatever the avi/codec requires. in these cases stretch makes the tiny (2-16 pixel) bars on top and bottom or sides go away without causing the actors to look anorexic or overly bloated.

zoom - yep, i use this for those shows that are encoded with the black bars as part of the video source mostly. but, i also use it for some 4x3 content that i would prefer to take up full screen rather than have vertical bars on the side. it depends on the video content, but this is often more comfortable to watch shows with the top and bottom cut off than bars on the side.

normal - well for everything else.

i like that the options are in the osd now for those that want to be more precice. but i would like to see the select button work like or have some similar functionality like before. here is my idea on how this might work for everyone.

the idea

when you press select it will zoom to fill either the vertical or horizontal resolution, which ever is lacking just like before, and a small zoom osd icon would pop up. pressing < or > will allow you to tweak the zoom in small increments /\ and \/ will allow you to change zoom in big increments. after 5 seconds of no button pressing the zoom icon goes away and <, > /\, and \/ go back to their regular functions skipping forward and back within a video.

pressing select again will instead stretch the image to fill the screen like before, and again same deal < and > will change aspect/stretch/pixel ratio in small steps /\ and \/ will change it in larger steps, 5 seconds of nothing and the stretch osd indicator drops and buttons return to their normal function.

the precise settings you make in the osd for pixel and zoom should be the global defaults, set them once for your situation. the ones you set while playing a video using the select button and <,>,/\, and \/ should be active only for the show you are watching.


lastly, in a related idea, my tv has a cool way of its own to deal with 4x3 content when upscaled to 16x9. this doesn't work when my xbox is running because the tv knows the xbox is sending 16x9 and this feature only works in 4x3 modes. anyway, most 16x9 tvs will stretch a 4x3 up to 16x9, but everything gets pretty squat in the process. some tvs also have the ability to "expand" the image too. what happens this is the middle 40% of the image is not stretched at all, or only slightly, but the outer 60% or so is increasing stretched to fill the space out to the edges. so in the center where the actors normally are, there is little or no stretching, but as you get closer to the left or right side there is more and more stretching until the edge. it works pretty well, and is a nice way to fill that dead space on the sides. i don't know if this is something that mplayer has the ability to do at all, but it would be a nice addition to see zoom/stretch/expand/normal if it is possible to throw in there.

[jmarshall]

thanks for the detailed suggestions mknight - will definitely take it into consideration. (if only more users thought about what they wanted + the implications of it as much!

just a quick notice regarding the aspect ratio stuff of movies. after having encoded many, many dvds myself, i often find that many dvds do not actually have one of the "standard" ratios. that's why i often wonder about the benefits of the stretch commands.

will take all you have said into consideration, though, and will continue to think about this issue.

i welcome suggestions from others.

cheers,
jonathan