CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

This may be common knowledge but I haven't seen it mentioned before on the forum before so I thought I would throw it out there.

I'm experimenting with CIH on my G70 and have setup 1920x800p as the resolution, I have a collection of BD rips in my media center library and because they are all ripped at 1920x1080 regardless of the aspect ratio they are all pillarboxed when they play. This is fine for 1.33:1, 1.78:1, and works well enough for 1.85:1 but makes a mess of the 2.35:1 and 2.40:1 films as they are letterboxed within the pillarbox.

Zoom number two in media center takes care of this wonderfully as it zooms the image so 1920 is pixel perfect and the extra ~380 lines are zoomed off the image area.

I'll play with it a little more but assuming I don't find any additional complications I may be going to a CIH setup shortly!

Erik

MikeEby · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 5237 Location: Osceola, Indiana

Thanks Erik...That's interesting to know. Vista Media Center didn't like a 2:35 AR at all. The display was scrammed and mess up, unwatchable. It's good to know Windows 7 MC works well.

What are you installing for filters with WMC? I always play with MPC-HC but don't mind trying something new. One issue I had with WMC was I could never get chapter support to work with MKVs. They worked fine with MPC-HC. Not a deal breaker but it would be nice if they worked.

Also do you have a masking system installed on your screen for scope pictures. I've found it makes a HUGE difference.

I tried 1920x800 a while back but AR controls were far too cumbersome when I tried to use PowerDVD so I gave up.

MPC-HC has decent zooming too, I might setup a custom res and see how it looks.

Couple other questions.

How are you handling materal that's 1:78? Are you changing resolutions back to 1080p?

Do subtitles appear ok?

Also how does a 1:1 pattern look at 1920X800p.

Are you running 60HZ refresh or film rate multiples?

Mike

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

Mike,

I honestly couldn't tell you which filters I am using with WMC, I set everything up months ago and haven't touched it since. I remember installing Sharks007 codec pack and I know that FFDshow audio decoder and Haali splitter are running when a MKV is playing.

I do not have a masking system installed right now but have had one in the past and agree that it makes a huge difference. If I end up doing CIH I'm planning on running a curtain system!

Right now I'm just playing around with the CIH so I haven't decided how to deal with 1.78:1 content, If I decide to stay with the CIH I'll just run it pillarboxed within the 1920x800p area, I know it's not the best for tube utilization but I have 11k hours on my G70 and the tubes show enough wear that I'm not worried about causing some more uneven wear.

Subtitles should appear fine if they are within the image area, If you use subtitle shift when creating your MKV you should be just fine.

I'll be happy to post a 1:1 if you can post up a pattern to use, I would use Nokia test but it doesn't seem to work with Windows 7 x64 regardless of compatibility settings?

I'm running 60hz right now but will be experimenting with 72hz when I have a chance.

Erik

MikeEby · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 5237 Location: Osceola, Indiana

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

Yes I use MediaBrowser for my front end. It works fine with the wider AR, the only issue (and this is pretty nitpicky) is that the fan art is stretched to fit and not cropped or zoomed.

Thanks for the testpattern program. It works great, I'll grab my camera and snap some shots when I have a chance.