[vdr] xineliboutput: viewing 16:9 content on 4:3 output device

[Ian Bates]

Torgeir Veimo wrote:

>> So (finally) a direct question: how do people with 4:3 output devices
>> and vdr with xineliboutput configure their boxes?
> 
> (shameless plug) Did you actually try softdevice?

Dear Torgeir,

Nothing shameless about the plug!  Yes, I have tried softdevice (recent 
CVS and recent SVN of ffmpeg).  It is actually what I use for viewing 
streamed TV (from my main VDR) on my not-so-perfect laptop LCD.  The 
crop to 4:3 feature works in the way I hoped (4:3 shown as is, 16:9 
cropped to show central 4:3 portion).

However, as most things in life, there are some things that do not work 
as I would like for main TV viewing:

1.  The default deinterlace options, IMHO, do not compare to the tvtime 
plugin available using  xineliboutput (compare fast-action streams such 
as tennis, snooker and football)

2.  I cannot watch HDTV content, which I am able to do with the 
xineliboutput plugin.

For sure the deinterlace is of more importance than viewing HDTV (why 
would I want to do that on a standard CRT in any case?  Proof of concept 
and anticipation of a future TV upgrade is the answer).

Both xineliboutput and softdevice, as many users I am sure will testify, 
  are good pieces of software.  However, for my use, both have their 
pros and cons.

I usually explore as many configuration options as I can, but please if 
there is something I have missed that will allow me to have,

1.  Excellent deinterlacing
2.  Watchable HDTV/H264
3.  16:9 cropped to 4:3

then please let me know!


In the mean time I am looking at the patch Darren Salt brought to my 
attention for xine-lib, and the xine post plugin 'expand' (with special 
attention to Reinhard Nissl's center_cut/crop_out mode') to see if I can 
hack something for xineliboutput, re cropping 16:9 to 4:3.  Noone hold 
their breath though.

Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions.  More welcome too.


Kind Regards,


Ian.