Problem with 720p movie on 22" display

[wasil]

Hi,

Im trying to play a Blu Ray movie (720p) on my Samsung 22" with an ATi HD 4850 gpu.

The thing is that my monitor resolution is set as native resolution which is 1650x1050 but the movie that im trying to play is 1280x720.

Now obviously the movie will upscale to fit the resolution but it takes only about 50% of the 22" screen which leaves alot of thick black lines/border!!

So my question is that what can I do to increase the display area and fit more of my screen with it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[neon neophyte]

its all about what video player you use, and the settings on that video player. many video players allow you to CROP the video image to fit your aspect ratio. similarly theres often a ZOOM feature.

what software are you using?

 

[wasil]

its all about what video player you use, and the settings on that video player. many video players allow you to CROP the video image to fit your aspect ratio. similarly theres often a ZOOM feature.

what software are you using?

Im using VlC media player.

If I manually change the aspect ratio, then the movie stretches and becomes out of proportion.

Is there any other way around besides using crop/zoom? what if I set my resolution to something like 1280x800?

 

[neon neophyte]

did you crop the aspect ratio to "16:10"

thats what your monitor is.

 

[wasil]

did you crop the aspect ratio to "16:10"

thats what your monitor is.

I just tried to change the aspect ratio to both 16:9 and 16:10.

Dint try cropping, but wouldnt I be losing too much of the video?

 

[neon neophyte]

nah, you wouldnt lose much from 16:9 (native aspect of the movie) to 16:10 (native aspect of your monitor.)

 

[wasil]

nah, you wouldnt lose much from 16:9 (native aspect of the movie) to 16:10 (native aspect of your monitor.)

ok, so if I crop to 16:10 will it go "full screen"?

I cant test right now, im at work. But will try once I reach home.

 

[neon neophyte]

yeah it should, assuming the video is 16:9.

lots of movies have more extreme ratios tho, extreme wide screen. in that case, you wouldnt get a fullscreen persay. but you would be closer to it.

 

[wasil]

yeah it should, assuming the video is 16:9.

lots of movies have more extreme ratios tho, extreme wide screen. in that case, you wouldnt get a fullscreen persay. but you would be closer to it.

Cool, I'll try it.

thanks man.

 

[rockyjohn]

Im using VlC media player.

If I manually change the aspect ratio, then the movie stretches and becomes out of proportion.

Is there any other way around besides using crop/zoom? what if I set my resolution to something like 1280x800?

What other way could there be? I assume when you say your picture will scale up that one dimension of the picture is showing accross the full screen. Given that. either you crop the larger dimension to make picture larger or you stretch the smaller dimension thus distorting the picture. Or you purchase a larger screen.

 

[wasil]

Ok, I just tried the crop feature. Well, it works but cuts too much of the video for my liking.

@rockyjohn

Its just that I though that I could enjoy 720p on a 22" "full screen" and not only 60% of it.

Anyway, if there's anything else I can try, please do let me know.

 

[rockyjohn]

In my last post, I stated my assumption, based on what you reported, that your movies were being scaled up so that one dimension - preumably width - completely filled on your screen. You did not say that was wrong in your last post, but you did say you were seing only 60% of picture and I don't know how that could happen if you were getting full width on your screen.

I am guessing that your monitor is the more common 1680x1050 rather than 1650x1050 - although the difference is not large. This is a 16:10 aspect ratio - about the same as TV. When you watch a 16:9 video it should fill most of the screen if your video card is scaling correctily.

My screen is also 1680:1050 . I watch Netflix movies all the time, for instance, and only have about a 1/2 inch black bar top and bottom. It does not take much to change a 16:9 movie to play on a 16:10 screen. The 16:9 aspect ratio calculates to a width of 178% of the height. My 22" screen is 18.7 in x 11.7 in. If I play a 16:9 movie, its height on my screen will be 18.7 in divided by 178% = 10.5". 11.7" screen minus 10.5" picture = .6" top and bottom.

So you apparently are having some problem with how your media player or video card are scaling things.

Also - you aspect ratio is about the same as a TV - they run cropped movies all the time that are still very watchable. They may have better cropping - that is they may intelligently crop keeping the best parts whereas any automatic cropping is likely to keep the middle of the picture always - but it still should be very viewable. I think you have some other things going on.

Is your media player functioning as blu-ray DVD player feeding data to your 4850 card which then drives the monitor? Are you sure your 4850 is blu-ray capable? Can you play a regular movie in a DVD player and if so how does it display on screen? Can you play a regular movie in your media player and how does it display?

 

[wasil]

In my last post, I stated my assumption, based on what you reported, that your movies were being scaled up so that one dimension - preumably width - completely filled on your screen. You did not say that was wrong in your last post, but you did say you were seing only 60% of picture and I don't know how that could happen if you were getting full width on your screen.

I am guessing that your monitor is the more common 1680x1050 rather than 1650x1050 - although the difference is not large. This is a 16:10 aspect ratio - about the same as TV. When you watch a 16:9 video it should fill most of the screen if your video card is scaling correctily.

My screen is also 1680:1050 . I watch Netflix movies all the time, for instance, and only have about a 1/2 inch black bar top and bottom. It does not take much to change a 16:9 movie to play on a 16:10 screen. The 16:9 aspect ratio calculates to a width of 178% of the height. My 22" screen is 18.7 in x 11.7 in. If I play a 16:9 movie, its height on my screen will be 18.7 in divided by 178% = 10.5". 11.7" screen minus 10.5" picture = .6" top and bottom.

So you apparently are having some problem with how your media player or video card are scaling things.

Also - you aspect ratio is about the same as a TV - they run cropped movies all the time that are still very watchable. They may have better cropping - that is they may intelligently crop keeping the best parts whereas any automatic cropping is likely to keep the middle of the picture always - but it still should be very viewable. I think you have some other things going on.

Is your media player functioning as blu-ray DVD player feeding data to your 4850 card which then drives the monitor? Are you sure your 4850 is blu-ray capable? Can you play a regular movie in a DVD player and if so how does it display on screen? Can you play a regular movie in your media player and how does it display?

You are correct, that is indeed my resolution.

Ati HD 4850 is capable of high definition, but now I think the problem is in the video file itself. To be honest, the movie is a downloaded one and I just checked and its has a resolution of 1280x548. So technically it isnt "720p" and hence why im having the think edges.

BTW, regarding the 60% thing, just to clarify, I meant 60% of the height of the 22" screen.

So I think the problem lies with the video file itself....

 

[rockyjohn]

I have never heard of video in that resolution - that is like 16:6.8 aspec ratio. But if you do the math as shown on last post - this should give you a picture about 8" high with 1.8" border each top and bottom and a picture on about 68% of your screen.

GIGO

BTW a rectangular picture that is 60% of the height of the screen will fill 60% of the area of the screen - that's Murphy's Law times Says Law divided by the second law of thermodynamics, as revised by Holcroft Covenant and assuming no argumentum ad hominen, only lorem ipsum.