Stored Resolution VS Display resolution

[pewe]

I have a Freeview receiver which records to USB in mpg format.
When I come to play the recordings on a different TV (Via the TV USB input rather than via the recorder) I se that some recordings play full screen and others are full height but narrow (about half screen width).

On investigation I find in Vidcoder that the files have 2 different resolutions 'Storage' and 'Display'.
All files seem to have a display resolution of 1024 x 576, and the mpg that play full screen on the TV have a Storage Resolution of 704 x 576. However those that play narrow have a storage resolution of 544 x 576.

I guess the recorder is recording at the resolution transmitted and I can't change that, and I guess my 1080p LG LCD TV is using the Storage resolution rather than the Display resolution when playing, hence the narrow but full width display, and I can't do anything about that either.

As I can't do anything about the recording or the playback, I wonder if I can alter the storage resolution to a suitable ratio to view properly.

Any suggestions welcomed.

[Baldrick]

You must reconvert if you want to change the storage display aspect ratio.

[Cornucopia]

Likely BOTH of these files were encoded incorrectly (or you are misunderstanding something). Why? Because there is no such thing as "Display Resolution", only "Display Aspect Ratio", which comes in the form of 4:3 or 16:9, etc.

LG TVs don't have a problem with Aspect Ratio (I know, I own one), but this actually falls under the jurisdiction of the PLAYER APPLICATION. For LG TVs, it could be the on-board player app (when using, for example, a USB HDD/Flashdrive) and that has no problem with non-square pixels formats. If you are inputting via HDMI from another device, it is the player app on that device that will determine whether AR is respected or not.

Of course, all that assumes that the DAR is set correctly and the file is encoded correctly, and without hardcoded letterboxing. Very hard to tell in your instance.

If you have a short clip to upload of the 2 files (1 good, 1 bad), that would help. But I'm guessing something wasn't set correctly in the Freeview Receiver/MPG Encoder, and if you can't re-record them, you WILL have to re-encode (with accompanying quality loss).

Scott

[Baldrick]

You could always try set the display aspect ratio in the mpg files with dvdpatcher.

Make a copy/backup of your mpg file first. Then open the mpg file in dvd patcher, set the aspect ratio to 4:3 or 16:9. Test on your TV and see if you see any difference.

[pewe]

Thanks guys.
Sorry for the delayed response - have bot been able to connect for a couple of days - storms in the UK put our telephone out of action.

The files I refer to were recorded on a Scart Freeview receiver recorder which uses a USB stick as the storage media.
I then transfer the stick to the USB port on the LG TV and use the internal player to play the files.

I note the comments about Display Resolution etc, but it is Vidcoder that uses the terms 'Storage Resolution' and 'Display Resolution' as you will see in the screenshots.

What I have since discovered is that it may be to do with the 'resolution' transmitted by the TV channel.
I recorded sample of 6 UK TV channels and this is the resolution recorded

BBC1 - 720x576
BBC2 - 720x576
ITV1 - 704x576
Channel4 - 704x576
Channel5 - 704x576
Film4 - 544x576

What I find is that if I insert the USB directly into the slot on the TV, the LG inbuilt player will play the 704x576 at full screen (no bars), the 720x576 is played full height with slight bars on the sides only, and the 544x576 is played full height but only one third screen.
This applies to both my 42"LG and my 32"LG.

However, if I insert the USB into the scart unit that recorded them, or my external Media Player/Recorder and play on the LG via the HDMI input, the media player signal is displayed full screen for all three formats on the LG screens from both units.

So I guess it is the player in the LG's that does not have the facility to compensate for the different recorded resolutions and will display them all differently, although other players will.

A bit disappointing as the facility to play movies off the USB directly on the TV's would be handy as I wouldn't have to keep moving an external player between them.

Thanks again Guys.

[Cornucopia]

It could be also that the machine stores the AR (aspect ratio) in one place, while the LG expects it in another place. Upon not finding it in that 2nd place, it assumes it is not there (instead of looking elsewhere) and so assumes a 1:1 PAR or something which would account for how it plays all 3 differently.

You say these are all MPG? Have you tried using DVDPatcher? MPGPatcher? MPEGSequenceMaker? MPEGed? ReStream? One (or more) of those may change the flag in the place that LG is expecting (could be in the elementary stream header, could be in the multiplexed stream header, could be in an IFO, might even be in UserData stream).

Scott

edit: note that it could also be affected by what's known as the "Sequence Display Extension" setting.

[pewe]

Thanks again Cornuopia.

I tried using MPGPatcher to alter the resolution to 704x576 and it did.
However the movie display stayed the same size and now has a 'green pixel' bar down the left side to make up the rest of the screen.