[ViX_Misc] No 4:3 display option in menus.

[scanline]

Hi, I've just bought an Octagon SF228 with OpenVIX 5.0.027 preloaded.

I've got it connected to an old 4:3 bedroom TV over SCART, but I can't see a 4:3 display option anywhere in the Vix/Enigma2 menus.

Everything is being formatted to 16:9:
- 4:3 channels have pillarbox bars added at the side*
- 16:9 content is passed through with no option to add letterboxing (or pan&scan the centre region) so most channels are stretched vertically.
- WSS (widscreen signalling command) is being sent out on the SCART but the TV is too old to recognise it (confirmed with another TV in the house).

*I'm aware that some broadcasters pre-pillarbox 4:3 content, but I'm referring to native channels.

 

[cactikid]

i have 2 choices on an older image,

display 4;3 content as pillarbox
display 16;9 content as letterbox
is pan and scan or zoom in use?

 

[scanline]

i have 2 choices on an older image,

display 4;3 content as pillarbox
display 16;9 content as letterbox
is pan and scan or zoom in use?

Hi,
I have these options:
Display 4:3 content as:
-- Just scale
-- Pan&Scan
-- Pillarbox

Display >16:9 content as:
-- Just scale
-- Pan&scan
-- Letterbox

^ the second is confusing since ">16:9" would normally mean greater than 16:9, eg. 2.40:1 cinemascope. But the help-text at the bottom seems to say it's for 16:9. But either way, none of the 16:9 options seem to change the output for 16:9 channels

The 4:3 options do change the output for 4:3 channels - the pillarboxing can be removed with 'just scale' so the proportions appear correct.

The interface menus and fonts are still stretched though.

 

[cactikid]

sorry should have said check your tv settings are off and not adjusting picture .

 

[scanline]

sorry should have said check your tv settings are off and not adjusting picture .

The TV is old enough that it doesn't have any picture format settings!

I've logged in over SSH and had a look in /proc/stb/video/

The policy and policy2 settings seem to relate to the 4:3 and 16:9 UI aspect ratio options - changing the UI options changes the values they return.

There are also a couple of extra parameters in the same directory; aspect, aspect_choices
aspect = 16:9
aspect_choices = 4:3, 16:9, any

There doesn't seem to be any way to set aspect to 4:3 in the UI and I'm not sure how to do it over SSH (without breaking things).

--

Ah! Got it
- first the value "4:3" needs to be written to the aspect setting:
echo "4:3" > aspect
- then toggle the ">16:9" UI option back and forwards to refresh

Now 16:9 channels are properly letterboxed (and can be pan & scanned if set).

But the setting is lost after restarting the GUI or a full reboot.

EDIT:
Ack. The setting is reset on every channel change.

So there's probably a setting buried away somewhere or 16:9 might be hard-coded into the Vix image. Hopefully not the latter.

At least the hardware is capable.

The only issue now is the UI and fonts are still distorted. Maybe the Vix developers decided to standardise on 16:9, since supporting both formats would cause extra complexity for the skins and UI layouts.

Next step - try and find the UI renderer and skin configuration.