1920x1072

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BGChicago

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1920x1072

#1

Post by BGChicago » Wed Feb 23, 2022 12:59 pm

I just noticed that one of the TV channels recordings, all of them, when opened in VLC or any other non WMC player has a thin black border on top. Handbrake picks it as 8 pixels. However, WMC doesn't display that border in live or recorded TV from this channel.

I would like to know a bit more about this problem - wasn't able to find any good answer in the search engines. As I am now compacting my recordings, how should I encode them - as 1920x1072 or 1920x1080 with the black fill on top?

BGChicago

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#2

Post by BGChicago » Wed Feb 23, 2022 1:11 pm

When viewing the same channel in HDHomeRun application, I see the live border on top. Every media info app that I run on the original .wtv file shows that it is 1080 vertical. How come WMC doesn't display this border? I doubt that it has built in border detection to stretch it.

A 3rd option in the encoding would be to actually stretch the pixels. How to figure out what is correct is the question.

Space

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#3

Post by Space » Wed Feb 23, 2022 3:46 pm

Perhaps this is due to having overscan enabled? Overscan cuts off the borders of the picture that is displayed by WMC. I posted something about it here a while ago.

But the summary is that you need to have your WMC display type set to "Television" if you won't want WMC to cut off the edges of the video before sending it to your display.

BGChicago

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#4

Post by BGChicago » Wed Feb 23, 2022 4:47 pm

That could explain why WMC is not displaying the black border but why the hell does NBC send such signal?
More importantly, how to handle it when converting it.

Space

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#5

Post by Space » Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:38 pm

I'm guessing your local affiliate is doing that for some reason (probably unknowingly). Most people don't mess with overscan and leave it on (it is usually the default setting on the TV), so they are probably not getting many complaints about it because most people don't see it.

As far as converting it, I guess it's up to you, but maybe you can contact your local NBC affiliate and ask them to fix the issue so that you don't have to make this decision?

EDIT: Note that this may also be a problem with your service provider, and not the affiliate, so you may want to check the signal using an antenna (if possible) or if someone you know has another service provider you can check if they have the same issue (you will have to turn off overscan on their TV to check it).

BGChicago

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#6

Post by BGChicago » Wed Feb 23, 2022 10:09 pm

It is indeed the station, tested with plain antenna and couple TVs.
I have emailed them. I can understand if they are sending a few pixels black borders all around but just on one side seems stupid.
Last edited by BGChicago on Thu Feb 24, 2022 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

Space

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#7

Post by Space » Wed Feb 23, 2022 11:56 pm

Interesting, please post back here when/if you get a reply. Hopefully your message will get to the right people and they will be able to resolve the problem.

Sometimes it's nice to hear there are actually real people behind these TV stations. Hopefully they care enough about the people who notice these things and care enough to do something about it.

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