[Brian Hampton]

Hi,


Does anyone know of a software dvd configuration (preferably with Zoom Player) that will fill the screen with animorphic DVD's and letterbox the sides of the non-animorphic material automatically?


I use a 16:9 screen and this feature would eliminate the need to have 2 projector memories. I know this is how YxY was used back in the day but it was not automatic. Either you told YxY to play certain discs as 4:3 or you used a keyboard button to switch between the 2 formats. This switching it what I would like to avoid.


If I had a 4:3 screen the software could automatically display all material in the right ratio but I haven't found an equivolent solution for my 16:9 screen.


Thanks,


Brian

 

[Karnis]

TheaterTek has built-in YxY aspect ratio control. It reads the AR flag of the DVD and sets it automatically, and can be saved per disc.

 

[Brian Hampton]

Hey,


Thanks for the reply. I would like to stay away from the saving setting per disc approach. My intention is to simplify operation of my HT, maybe to the point where other family members could even use it. I don't want to build a library of special cases but rather just have everything automatic. It's cool that it can do that though and also cool it can remember how to start each disc without the menus or FBI screens and all that stuff.


So can I set up TT so that if I put in a disc like Goldeneye that has animorphic (movie itself) and non-animorphic (extras) content everything is displayed correctly without any intervention on my 16:9 screen?


Zp has extensive aspect ratio control and so does YxY but they both seem to rely on someone switching presets in the software rather than detecting the flags and making the adjustments automatically. I think maybe ZP does this but I have somehow overlooked how it is done.


Thanks and Good Luck,


Brian

 

[Karnis]

Quote:

Originally posted by Brian Hampton I would like to stay away from the saving setting per disc approach. My intention is to simplify operation of my HT, maybe to the point where other family members could even use it. I don't want to build a library of special cases but rather just have everything automatic. ______It is done automatically, no saving or anything like that needed. It does this seamlessly & transparently. TheaterTek is now easier to use than my Panasonic RP-91. The whole pupose of TT is to make the HTPC DVD operation as easy to use as possible, especially the WAF as the author is simpatico to this need. So can I set up TT so that if I put in a disc like Goldeneye that has animorphic (movie itself) and non-animorphic (extras) content everything is displayed correctly without any intervention on my 16:9 screen? ______Correct. Like I said, it reads the content flag and sets the AR for you. This works for menus as well as special content. ______You can also set custom ARs as well, for example, 4x3 zoom to remove side bars on 4x3 material, or (gasp!) anamorphic zoom to remove black bars on 2:35:1 DVDs.

 

[Brian Hampton]

Karnis,


Thanks again. Do you by any chance know the system requirements for TT? I looked around at Immersive and on the official TT website and couldn't find anything. I would like to know if TT supports Dolby Digital output via my outdated Aureal SQ1500 SPDIF port.


All,


If anyone knows how to get this automatic letterboxing of 4:3 material fuctionality from Zoomplayer, WinDVD, ATI DVD player, or PowerDVD could you let me know since I already have registered copies of those. I would think this would be something most people using a 16:9 screen would want and I can't imagine that most players haven't picked up on this need yet.


Thanks,


-Brian

 

[Blight]

Brian, there is NO WAY to do this on non-anamorphic letterbox content. You see, the DVD filters prevent access to the video data, so you can't access the video data to make distinctions between letterbox and fullframe.


The only "flag" as far as I know is between Anamorphic and non-Anamorphic.

 

[Brian Hampton]

Hey Blight,


Thanks for responding but I don't think we are on the same wavelength here.


I don't want to zoom non-animorphic letterbox titles.


What I want is to have a desktop resolution of say [email protected] Then I squeze this into a 16:9 shape with my projector. Then I set some aspect ratio in the software that will display animorphic titles using all the resolution (eg 720x480 in 16:9 shape) and display non-animorphic titles in the center of the screen (540x480 in 4:3 shape.)


Does this help?


I assumed this is what the "widescreen Animorphic" aspect ratio setting does but I don't think it works like that.


I think this is analogus to haveing you set top DVD player set to 16:9 mode all the time.


thanks,


Brian

 

[Karnis]

Blight:

There are 4 AR flags: 16x9, 4x3, 4x3 letterbox and 16x9 pan & scan.


Brian:

By "automatic letterboxing of 4x3 material", do you mean non anamorphic letterboxed movies like Titanic, Speed, The Abvss, True Lies, etc?

If so, this is one of the great advantages of TT. Once you define your 4x3 Letterbox aspect ratio, every DVD flagged as such will format correctly on your 16x9 screen, with top and bottom bars only, no side bars.

This way you can leave your PJ in 16x9 mode all thetime & not go to 4x3 mode. This is the way I doit with my 16x9 HDTV. One fixed screen aspect ratio (16x9) one resolution (1440x960i) and let TT adjust each DVD relative to my screen.

 

[Brian Hampton]

Hey,


Here's another attempt to explain what I'm looking for.


If I had a 4:3 screen and used the "Source Aspect Ratio" function then Zoomplayer would read the DVD flags and display animophic and non-animorphic content correctly without any intervention from me.


Sadly, a 4:3 screen is too big in my case so I have a 16:9 screen and I'm looking for a mode that will read the flags and fit everything correctly within that 16:9 shape. So, animorphic titles would just be displayed with all the resolution or "full screen" so to speak and non-animorphic titles would be fit into the center of the screen automatically.


What Karnis mentions about refitting a non-animorphic widescreen title correctly is neat. I would be interested in that too. But, that would be more than what I'm currently looking for.


I hope this is clear and I understand how it can be confusing.


Karnis,


I had no idea that there were flags on DVD for non-animorphic widescreen titles. I would be super surprized if such flags were used correctly. And I do wonder what 16:9 pan and scan could mean. Is that where the image in paned vertically cause that would be hilarious.





Thanks,


Brian

 

[Karnis]

Brian:

We crossed posts, read my last post.

Sounds like TT is the answer to what you're looking for.

 

[Mad Chemist]

Quote:

Originally posted by Blight Brian, there is NO WAY to do this on non-anamorphic letterbox content. You see, the DVD filters prevent access to the video data, so you can't access the video data to make distinctions between letterbox and fullframe. The only "flag" as far as I know is between Anamorphic and non-Anamorphic.

The aspect ratio of every DVD I've played with the TT has been displayed correctly and automatically with my ISCO II.

 

[Blight]

I'm not talking aspect ratio, I'm talking auto-cropping.


But that's besides the point. I've went over the spec again, and it does appear to be a Letterboxed flag, regardless of the Anamorphic AR.


The question is, what to do with this information... Frankly, i'm not entirely sure what Brain wants. In ZP you can unsquish the image by setting the source relative stretch setting, I think it should be set to 33.333% if you're getting a squished image on a 16:9 screen.

 

[Karnis]

Brian:

Consider yourself super-surprised. All the titles I mentioned format themselves correctly to the non anamorphic 4x3 letterbox AR I setup. It doesn't crop the image, rather, scales it correctly relative to your screen and predefined AR. The only exception is Titanic, which is incorrectly flagged as 4x3.

The 16x9 pan & scan flag is typically used for menus and FBI warnings, things like that.

 

[Blight]

There isn't anything TO scale, letterbox is just listed as 4:3 and shown as such. There are only 2 aspect ratios for DVDs. The question is, should I do something more, like blank the Video Encoded black bars (which aren't always really black)?


I think brian wants something else entirely though.

 

[Blight]

Sometimes I think we should populate #HTPC on efnet or something, it would make these conversations easier.

 

[Karnis]

Hi Blight:

You are correct in saying there are only 2 aspect ratios for DVDs: 16x9 and 4x3. But there are the 4 flags I mentioned earlier. This is how my Panasonic progressive scan RP-91 DVD player works as well: When it reads a 4x3 flag, it places bars on the side to fit it on a 16x9 screen. When it reads the 4x3 LBX flag, it scales the image to fit the non anamorphic lbx to fit on a 16x9 screen with no side bars, so it looks ultimately like an anamorphic DVD.

If I read Brians' posts correctly, this is what he's trying to do. Leave his screen in 16x9 mode and have all DVDs, anamorphic, 4x3 and 4x3 LBX to display correctly and automatically, without the use of YXY-type hotkeys to switch.

 

[Blight]

Well, not having a 16:9 screen may be confusing me. If you're familiar with Zoom Player, is it the same like setting the Anamorphic Aspect ratio for 4:3 content? (it basically stretches the video 33.333%)


If so, what you're saying is. If the 4x3LBX flag is detected, the image is automatically stretched vertically 33% so that the 16:9 display devices squashes it back to the correct aspect ratio?

 

[Blight]

Isn't the difference between 4:3 and Anamorphic just 33% height stretch. I'm pretty sure it is. So just stretching the image should do it. I guess I'll add a setting and ship it out with the next beta.

 

[Blight]

Argh, it's 3:35am and my mind is going bad.


What you're describing is already done in ZP by the Anamorphic AR setting.

ZP auto-compensate for anamorphic content and sets it back to 4:3 display, and setting the AR to Anamorpic makes sure that both 4:3 and Anamorphic content are stretched to match. The only problem is actually true 4:3 content in this mode. hmmf, I guess I'll have to think about this in the morning when my mind is clearer.

 

[Brian Hampton]

Hey Blight,


Thanks much for your early morning efforts.


I'm really sorry for all the confusion.


I do think this is something that not only I would want but anyone using a 16:9 screen.


Here's what I meant in 13 words...




Animorphic material is played full screen unaltered, non-animorphic material is compressed horizontally 33%.





This way on a 16:9 screen all things are displayed correctly automatically. The opposite of the way things are done on a 4:3 screen.



Karnis is refering to this and a third mode in which non-animorphic widescreen titles would be left alone horizontally and streched vertically 33%. That would be cool and it sounds like TT does that, but for now, thats more than I'm looking for.


Even if this never makes any sense to anyone but me and Karnis, You certainly deserve an A for effort and then some. I'm in California so it's a whole different time zone as you're well aware. I would feel really bad if I thought I was keeping you up to all hours of the night with silly requests. I believe in you and your product and I'm glad to have contributed in a small part to it.


Good Luck and Thanks,


Brian