Resolution Conflict - 42" 720p Plasma
#1
I currently have my desktop connected to my 42" plasma television over HDMI and have the resolution set to 1024x768 (native). XBMC automatically picks this up and everything looks great...until I play a video file. Most of my television shows are 720p so I get HUGE black bars. These videos played normally (filling the entire screen) when they aired originally -- how do I get them to look the same way in XBMC?

I tried changing the desktop resolution to 1280x720, but then I get huge black bars all the way around my desktop (and then, consequently, in XBMC), so that solution doesn't seem to work (and it's not ideal since that resolution is not native to my television). I've heard some users installed VidRes to alter the resolution of the desktop when opening XBMC, but is there a setting I'm overlooking that could help me out? Thanks!
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#2
Set the pixel ratio in system->video output->video calibration.
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#3
Yep, pixel ratio should be 1.333 Smile
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#4
Just for info your PC expects square pixels in which case 1024x768 is a 4.3 resolution only 42" plasmas with that resolution have rectangular pixels making it 16.9 resolution

As above 1.3333 will solve the problem Smile
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#5
I'm curious, because I have the same issue... Can someone help enlighten me, too?

Setting 1.33 pixel ratio did fix the black bars issue I was experiencing (same as theicemonkey), but when I toggle through the aspect/zoom ratios in xbmc, "original size" now displays the video with black bars around the whole picture. I would expect "original size" to take up the full screen (i.e., the file is 720p, my tv is 720p, so there shouldn't be a difference).

I am just learning, unfortunately, that 720p != 720p != 720p. Apparently, 720p is actually 1280x720, and the max resolution on my 42" plasma is 1024x768... so it's not technically 720p? How is that the same thing? What is my tv (or xbmc) doing with the extra 256 pixels of width? I take it the 1.33 means that the 720 of the video is being stretched up to fill the 768? Or am I just confused?

Something er' other to do with pixel field? Can someone point me to a source where I can educate myself so I can quit feeling like a complete moron and move on to feeling like I got ripped off by skimping on a cheaper tv that doesn't display true 720p?

Sorry to thread-jack, sorta.

(Running xbmc-live on a dedicated htpc < zotac GeForce 9300, 2.8 c2d, output over hdmi > to a 42" Insignia plasma.)
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#6
The view mode "Original Size" means exactly that XBMC will display the image at the exact size of the original file so anything that is less than your screens resolution of 1024x768 will have boarders all round

Your graphics card is down scaling the 1280x720 image to 1024x768 so your still seeing the whole image just at a different resolution

The aspect ratio of 1024x768 is 4.3 when the pixels are square which is what a graphics card always expects it to be but 42" plasmas with a resolution of 1024x768 don't have square pixels they have rectangular pixels they are wider than they are tall which gives the screen its 16.9 resolution this means everything displayed gets stretched in width setting 1.33 accounts for this and stretches the picture in height so when its displayed on your screen it now looks correct
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#7
Some videos have a 16:9 image letterboxed in a 4:3 video, in that case, you can use the zoom control in the video settings dialog to get rid of the black bars.
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#8
Depending on your plasma you may be better off setting your desktop resolution at 1280 x 720 or 1360 x 768. On my Panasonic plasma's it looks as good as the native resolution and saves on rectangular pixel hassle.
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#9
nokmond Wrote:Depending on your plasma you may be better off setting your desktop resolution at 1280 x 720 or 1360 x 768. On my Panasonic plasma's it looks as good as the native resolution and saves on rectangular pixel hassle.

I've set up a Panny and text, cover art and the GUI are nowhere near as clear using any other resolution than the native resolution which is pixel perfect
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#10
Thanks, >>X<<, I think your explanation comes the closest to what I was looking for. I did buy a complete bottom-end, budget TV (I'm a grad student and it was a replacement for a recently defunct tube tv), but I still wish I had known all of this then. I would have sought out a unit that displayed 1280x720 natively so I get the whole picture in original aspect ratio with no scaling. I guess if I were really looking for the best picture possible, I would have opted for a 1080 anyway, but still.

nokmond, my tv's max resolution is 1024x768. I've fooled around with other resolutions it does display, but nothing looks even remotely as clear and sharp as its native resolution.

Thanks for the info, chaps.
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#11
fargone Wrote:Thanks, >>X<<, I think your explanation comes the closest to what I was looking for. I did buy a complete bottom-end, budget TV (I'm a grad student and it was a replacement for a recently defunct tube tv), but I still wish I had known all of this then. I would have sought out a unit that displayed 1280x720 natively so I get the whole picture in original aspect ratio with no scaling. I guess if I were really looking for the best picture possible, I would have opted for a 1080 anyway, but still.

nokmond, my tv's max resolution is 1024x768. I've fooled around with other resolutions it does display, but nothing looks even remotely as clear and sharp as its native resolution.

Thanks for the info, chaps.

As long as your sending the native resolution so the image isn't being scaled twice then I very much doubt at 42" you would be able to see a difference between the two resolutions
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Resolution Conflict - 42" 720p Plasma0