Aspect ratios incorrect on TV

[dehalley]

I'm just going to ramble on and describe my problem. I'll provide a little technical info at the bottom. Please let me know if you have the solution.

I stream videos from a wide variety of sources: I rip DVDs, I snatch from Youtube, I download from Usenet, I get sent videos from friends. The formats are most often mkv, avi, or mp4. When I verify the videos on my PC (with a variety of players) the picture looks perfect. However, when I stream them to the TV, the aspect ratio is often messed up. My TV only has a couple of settings for aspect ratio, and sometimes, none of them are very good, so I wind up trying to watch a screenfull of suddenly obese characters, or the ends of the picture are chopped off. Since the videos display perfectly on my computer, something must be screwed up during the transcoding or streaming. However, I don't see what changes I might make to the Mezzmo settings that would affect this (you should excuse the expression) aspect of the problem.

Does someone know the secret? Thanks,

Don

Computer: Dell Studio XPS 9100
Processor: Intel Core i7 960 @3.20GHz
Memory: 8 GB
OS: Win7 64-bit
Mezzmo: 3.0.2.0
TV: Sony Bravia KDL-40HX800
Connection is Wi-Fi

[Paul]

Hi Don,

When the video is playing on your Bravia, press the Options button on your remote control and go to the Picture settings. Check & try changing the Auto Wide settings and Size settings to see if your Bravia is stretching your videos.

If no better, then please post the FFmpeg information on the video you are streaming. To do this, right-click on the video in Mezzmo and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'. Also post the device profile you are using for your Bravia in Mezzmo. Go to the Media Devices dialog to check this.

[dehalley]

Thanks for the quick reply. The Bravia I have only really lets me choose from between 4 settings. Many times, I can find one that works OK, other times, not. In any case, since the original video plays perfectly on my computer, it seems to follow that the transcoded version ought to do so on my TV, and I really shouldn't have to search for a viewing setting with every video.

Here is the FFmpeg info for a video I downloaded from the Internet:

ffmpeg version N-46003-gfa48da1 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on Oct 25 2012 12:37:27 with gcc 4.6.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-zlib
libavutil 52. 0.100 / 52. 0.100
libavcodec 54. 69.100 / 54. 69.100
libavformat 54. 34.100 / 54. 34.100
libavdevice 54. 3.100 / 54. 3.100
libavfilter 3. 20.105 / 3. 20.105
libswscale 2. 1.101 / 2. 1.101
libswresample 0. 16.100 / 0. 16.100
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'C:\Users\Spidey\Videos\Movies & TV\Drama\Vegas - s01e04 - (Il)Legitimate.mkv':
Metadata:
creation_time : 2012-10-23 18:32:44
Duration: 00:44:04.22, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2834 kb/s
Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1280x720, SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 47.95 tbc (default)
Stream #0:1: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), s16, 384 kb/s (default)
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 41, 100
---> Frame rate: 23.98
---> Aspect ratio: 16:9

This plays perfectly on my computer screen, but none of the TV's settings work - best I can do is lose the outer edges, and the characters are still horizontally stretched.

Here is the FFmpeg info for a video I ripped myself and compressed from a DVD:

ffmpeg version N-46003-gfa48da1 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on Oct 25 2012 12:37:27 with gcc 4.6.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-zlib
libavutil 52. 0.100 / 52. 0.100
libavcodec 54. 69.100 / 54. 69.100
libavformat 54. 34.100 / 54. 34.100
libavdevice 54. 3.100 / 54. 3.100
libavfilter 3. 20.105 / 3. 20.105
libswscale 2. 1.101 / 2. 1.101
libswresample 0. 16.100 / 0. 16.100
[avi @ 003fb600] non-interleaved AVI
Input #0, avi, from 'C:\Users\Spidey\Videos\Movies & TV\Drama\La Femme Nikita - s02e12 - Soul Sacrifice.avi':
Duration: 00:44:46.08, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1673 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (Main) (H264 / 0x34363248), yuv420p, 716x480 [SAR 8:9 DAR 179:135], 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 29.97 tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (U[0][0][0] / 0x0055), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 160 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 30, 77
---> Frame rate: 29.97
---> Aspect ratio: 179:135

In this case, if I change the TV's settings to "Normal", the picture is viewable (while the original video looks perfect as-is on my computer).

Either the transcoded version has the wrong aspect ratio, or it has the correct one and is communicating the wrong one to the TV (if that makes any sense at all).

I checked and I am using the latest FFmpeg build (Oct 25 2012 12:37:27)

What do you think?

Don

[Paul]

Thanks for the further information, Don.

Right-click on the video in Mezzmo and click Properties. In the Properties dialog, go to the Transcoding tab. Select the transcoded video in the list and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'. Please post that information here and we will know how Mezzmo is transcoding your video.

[dehalley]

OK, here we go:

ffmpeg version N-46003-gfa48da1 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on Oct 25 2012 12:37:27 with gcc 4.6.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-zlib
libavutil 52. 0.100 / 52. 0.100
libavcodec 54. 69.100 / 54. 69.100
libavformat 54. 34.100 / 54. 34.100
libavdevice 54. 3.100 / 54. 3.100
libavfilter 3. 20.105 / 3. 20.105
libswscale 2. 1.101 / 2. 1.101
libswresample 0. 16.100 / 0. 16.100
[mpeg @ 017cb980] max_analyze_duration 60000000 reached at 60000000
Input #0, mpeg, from 'C:\Users\Spidey\AppData\Local\Conceiva\Mezzmo\Tra nscodingFiles\0CBFB70C-D3EB-45da-AB86-480527250879\0CBFB70C-D3EB-45da-AB86-480527250879\Video\5517-mpeg-mpeg2video-ac3-sn.mzt':
Duration: 00:57:58.20, start: 0.994667, bitrate: 5753 kb/s
Stream #0:0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p, 720x400 [SAR 1:1 DAR 9:5], 24000 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
Stream #0:1[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 448 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1

This is a TV show downloaded from Usenet already compressed - this time to mp4 (But I get the same results with the other container types). The picture starts out stretched horizontally, but I can choose the TV setting "Normal" and it looks OK.

ffmpeg version N-46003-gfa48da1 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on Oct 25 2012 12:37:27 with gcc 4.6.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-zlib
libavutil 52. 0.100 / 52. 0.100
libavcodec 54. 69.100 / 54. 69.100
libavformat 54. 34.100 / 54. 34.100
libavdevice 54. 3.100 / 54. 3.100
libavfilter 3. 20.105 / 3. 20.105
libswscale 2. 1.101 / 2. 1.101
libswresample 0. 16.100 / 0. 16.100
Input #0, mpeg, from 'C:\Users\Spidey\AppData\Local\Conceiva\Mezzmo\Tra nscodingFiles\0CBFB70C-D3EB-45da-AB86-480527250879\0CBFB70C-D3EB-45da-AB86-480527250879\Video\5546-mpeg-mpeg2video-ac3-sn.mzt':
Duration: 00:44:46.04, start: 0.994667, bitrate: 2827 kb/s
Stream #0:0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p, 716x480 [SAR 160:179 DAR 4:3], 24000 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0:1[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 448 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1

This I ripped from a DVD and compressed to avi. It displays the same characteristics as the first one.

ffmpeg version N-46003-gfa48da1 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on Oct 25 2012 12:37:27 with gcc 4.6.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-zlib
libavutil 52. 0.100 / 52. 0.100
libavcodec 54. 69.100 / 54. 69.100
libavformat 54. 34.100 / 54. 34.100
libavdevice 54. 3.100 / 54. 3.100
libavfilter 3. 20.105 / 3. 20.105
libswscale 2. 1.101 / 2. 1.101
libswresample 0. 16.100 / 0. 16.100
[mpeg @ 017db980] max_analyze_duration 60000000 reached at 60006300
Input #0, mpeg, from 'C:\Users\Spidey\AppData\Local\Conceiva\Mezzmo\Tra nscodingFiles\0CBFB70C-D3EB-45da-AB86-480527250879\0CBFB70C-D3EB-45da-AB86-480527250879\Video\5551-mpeg-mpeg2video-ac3-sn.mzt':
Duration: 00:44:04.19, start: 1.000000, bitrate: 5846 kb/s
Stream #0:0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p, 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 24000 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 90k tbn, 47.95 tbc
Stream #0:1[0x80]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), s16, 384 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1

This is another downloaded from Usenet already compressed. The transcoded version appears very stretched and none of the TV's settings completely corrects the problem. The closest I can come clips the image right and left, and there still is horizontal distortion.

I sure hope all this is making sense to you! I still consider it a minor miracle that I can send a video from my computer, over the air, to my TV at all!

Thanks,

Don

[Paul]

Thanks, Don. We'll reproduce this here with our Sony Bravia TVs and try to fix it. I'll report back once we're done.

[dehalley]

Great! Let me know if you need any other component (such as a video or transcoded file). I have Dropbox so larger files don't present a problem. Thanks - Don

[Paul]

Just an update - We've reproduced the problem here. Unfortunately, we did not get enough time to add the fix into the new Mezzmo v3.1, but we'll look into it next week.

[p4yn3]

I think another thread makes no sense so i post it here:

I got the same problem with a Panasonic TX-P50VT30E
If i stream Videos without Transcode the Aspect Ratio is untouched but the TV wont play 1080p Perfectly.
When i Transcode them, the 1080p mkv's plays perfectly on the TV, but the Aspect Ratio is messed up, but if i play the transcoded .mzt file on the pc the aspect ratio is untouched and good.

If some information from the files is needed i could post them

[Paul]

Thanks for the information. What you are experiencing is similar to what is happening on some Sony Bravia models. We know what's happening (i.e. the way certain TV models want to decode and play MPEG-2 video) and we'll fix it after we try different ffmpeg encoding settings to try to get these models to play them correctly. We'll report back here once we have a fix next week.

[mezzmo@mvg.za.net]

Hi Paul

I am also having some odd aspect ratio results on my Bravia KDL32EX600.

I seem to think it has something to do with what FFMPEG is reporting. The following is the output from FFMPEG for one of my files:

ffmpeg version N-50460-g393dcbf Copyright (c) 2000-2013 the FFmpeg developers
built on Mar 4 2013 17:38:17 with gcc 4.6.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-zlib
libavutil 52. 17.103 / 52. 17.103
libavcodec 54. 92.100 / 54. 92.100
libavformat 54. 63.102 / 54. 63.102
libavdevice 54. 3.103 / 54. 3.103
libavfilter 3. 41.100 / 3. 41.100
libswscale 2. 2.100 / 2. 2.100
libswresample 0. 17.102 / 0. 17.102
Input #0, avi, from 'C:\Users\Mark\Videos\Rise.avi':
Duration: 01:37:11.90, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1006 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg4 (Advanced Simple Profile) (XVID / 0x44495658), yuv420p, 624x352 [SAR 1:1 DAR 39:22], 23.98 tbr, 23.98 tbn, 23.98 tbc
Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (U[0][0][0] / 0x0055), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16p, 32 kb/s
Metadata:
title : MP3
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 5, 15
---> Frame rate: 23.98
---> Aspect ratio: 39:22


I am sure that in previous versions of FFMPEG the Aspect Ratio was "corrected" to for example 16:9, which is what the above comes to (approx).

When you have a patch or a fix I would love to try it as well.

Even though this file is in 16:9, when played on my Bravia I get black lines at the top and bottom.

BTW, I notice that the transcoded format has changed again for the Bravias... It was M2TS, and is now MPG?

CHeers
Mark

[Paul]

Thanks for reporting this, Mark. We're working on the solution now.

We did change the Sony Bravia KDL (2010 models) device profile's preferred transcoding video format from MPEG-TS to MPEG-2 to fix the audio sync issues that were occurring when transcoding video files. But, this change has introduced the aspect ratio issue for some video files. We'll fix it shortly & report back when done.

[p4yn3]

any progress?

[Paul]

Not as yet.

As a workaround, for the files that have a poor aspect ratio, you can pre-transcode them to MPEG-TS instead of MPEG-2 and that should fix the aspect ratio problem. Right-click on the video in Mezzmo and click 'Pre-transcode Files'. On the Pre-transcode Files dialog, select your device and click 'Choose Formats'. On the Pre-transcode Formats dialog, choose 'mpegts' and click OK. Next select the "Pre-transcode files even if they match the device's supported formats" checkbox and click OK. Wait until the file has been full transcoded (you can monitor progress in the Transcoding pane) and then try streaming the video to your TV.

[mezzmo@mvg.za.net]

Hi Paul

Using MPEG-TS does fix the aspect ratio, but I am worried that the audio sync issues will be back???

Will test a movie and see, did not have a chance this evening.

EDIT: Did notice though that the Aspect Ratio as reported by Windows is odd:Width - 624, Height - 352, which gives 39.111:9 ??? Should be 16:9

Cheers
Mark

[Paul]

Hi Mark,

You are right - the audio out-of-sync issue may occur with MPEG-TS, so bear with us while we correct the MPEG-2 aspect ratio problem.

[samwise]

Hi Paul,

Any update on when the aspect ratio issue will be resolved?


Hi Mark,

You are right - the audio out-of-sync issue may occur with MPEG-TS, so bear with us while we correct the MPEG-2 aspect ratio problem.

[Paul]

We're still looking into it. As I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread, a workaround for the moment is to pre-transcode to MPEG-TS to not get the aspect ratio problem.

[mezzmo@mvg.za.net]

Hi Paul

Any news on this issue? Don't like the incorrect aspect ratio, but really do not like the lip sync issue.

Thanks
Mark

[Paul]

Sorry, Mark - no progress. I'll bump it up on our development task list.

[dehalley]

Either this wasn't as easy to squash as you thought or bigger issues have gotten in the way (probably the latter). Can you give us any idea of an ETA? Watching everything slightly distorted or with significant portions of the picture chopped off is getting kind of old. About where is this in the queue?

[Paul]

You are right, dehalley. This issue is in the queue & we've been fixing a few other important issues in the past few weeks. We are about to get to the aspect ratio issue. Hopefully next week. Sorry for the delay.

[mezzmo@mvg.za.net]

Hi Paul

Just wondering if you have a solution to this one yet? I am caught between audio sync issues or bad aspect ratio...

Thanks
Mark

[Paul]

Sorry, Mark. We're about to start back on it after just finishing up other outstanding/important issues.

[mezzmo@mvg.za.net]

Hey Paul

Just checking in for some news... If any. Would really love a solution.

Cheers
Mark

[Paul]

Hi Mark,

Good timing. We've just finished working on this and have tested on various devices here with good results. Please email us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com and you can try a patch to confirm it is working for you before we release the new version of Mezzmo.

[dehalley]

What a heartbreaker! After 5 months of waiting and many promises, I install 3.3 and it displays the exact same problems. TV-aspect videos display OK after I reset the TV settings, but almost everything else has some sort of problem which resetting the TV only partially solves. To enjoy any movie at all, I have to lose the left and right portions of the picture and still live with some stretching. Again, everything displays perfectly fine on the computer with a variety of players, so the incompatibility has to be in the transcoding. Yes, it could be that the Sony Bravia has some sort of quirk, but there are a heck of a lot of them out there, and it seems that it would be worth your time to compensate for this. I guess I'm wrong about that. I'm going to start testing alternate solutions, and I'll report any success here for the other Bravia owners.

[Paul]

Hi dhalley,

Did you try the new "Adjust video aspect ratio" checkbox in Mezzmo v3.3? This helps correct aspect ratios for devices that do not display videos correctly. Go to the Media Devices dialog in Mezzmo and edit your device. On the Device Settings dialog, go to the Performance tab and select the "Adjust video aspect ratio" checkbox so it is fully selected. Then go to the Transcoding tab and delete your transcoded files. Try streaming some videos now. Let us know how you go.

[dehalley]

To answer your question, no, I had not tried the new check box. Now I have. Doing so solves 75% of my heartache. No more stretched pictures. However, whatever tells my TV how to display the videos is not doing the job. Television programs start out stretched left to right, and I have to change the TV's display setting and then it looks fine. Most TV program videos downloaded from the Internet display fine (fill the screen top to bottom & left to right). Any widescreen video requires a change in the TV setting, but none of the available settings displays as expected (fills the screen left to right, with a black band at the top and bottom). Instead, I have to choose between a setting that makes the picture too small (with black bands on all sides) or that fills the screen top to bottom, but chops off the picture's left and right extremes. By contrast, Netflix videos display fine, so I'm pretty sure the TV isn't the culprit. You probably have your hands full with your latest release, so I'm not holding my breath that this can get some attention any time soon, but I'd still like it to stay alive as a sort of "wish list". Not having to watch stretched characters now makes Mezzmo usable again, so thanks at least for that.

[Paul]

Thanks for letting know. I'm glad it has improved your viewing experience. We'll keep this issue open for further improvement.

[spudraleigh]

Thanks for letting know. I'm glad it has improved your viewing experience. We'll keep this issue open for further improvement.


This problem is still occurring on my KDL-55HX800 after all these years. I still need to go MPEG-TS to get the correct aspect ration. I am using the very latest version of Mezzmo. Please advise.

Thanks,
David

[Paul]

Hi David,

What device profile is assigned to your TV? Go to the Media Devices dialog to see this. Next, right-click on a video (that has the wrong aspect ratio on your TV) and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'. Post that info here or email it to us at support [at[ conceiva [dot] com.