16:9 Video = Gray Bars?

[aho]

I just transcoded some video for the Wiz. I cropped it and scaled it down to 320x180 (320/16*9=180). So, everything should be great now, right?

Well, as the title suggest I now get *GRAY* bars at the top and bottom of the screen instead of black ones. Why the f- are they gray instead of black?

Looks pretty dull, doesn't it?

 

[mindlord]

Grey to wear evenly on the leds, so the ones in the middle don't burn out faster than the ones at the top and bottom.

 

[aho]

Grey to wear evenly on the leds, so the ones in the middle don't burn out faster than the ones at the top and bottom.

Nice theory. However, blue ages quicker than red which ages quicker than green. The factor from blue to green is usually around 1:4 to 1:3. (This is OLED by the way - not LED.)

Also, if it's like that, people will add the black bars to the video themselves, because gray makes it look very dull. So, the only effect is that it's somewhat annoying and that the files are slightly bigger. Great.

 

[sam fisher]

I'm going to go ahead and say that you are making a fuss about nothing.

 

[trooper]

What software did you use ?.

Have you played the file on something else (device, Computer etc) ?, What was the result ?.

Trooper

 

[kev256]

I'm going to go ahead and say that you are making a fuss about nothing.

I wouldn't say it's about nothing. Especially if you're watching it in the dark. Everyone raves about the true blacks on the wiz screen, but here's a perfect use for them, and if it's gray instead then it defeats the purpose. If this is true, then I'll be letterboxing my own videos with black bars. It should be at least an option in the player.

 

[aho]

>I'm going to go ahead and say that you are making a fuss about nothing.

It means I have to cut the file again... crop again... resize again... and this time I'll add black bars. This is f-ing annoying.

>What software did you use ?.

The player which was shipped with the device (of course).

>Have you played the file on something else (device, Computer etc) ?, What was the result ?.

The video is 320x180. Of course other players center it and add black when needed.

 

[mindlord]

I know you don't believe me, but it's grey for a reason. My 52" Hitachi TV does the same thing with content that doesn't fit the screen's aspect ratio. There's an option to turn it black in the menu, but it resets if you change channel or the programming changes to a different aspect ratio. I called a service rep about it and asked if there was a way to make the black option stick, and the answer was no. It was made to be grey by default on purpose to help the tv's screen wear evenly. While I get what you're saying, and it is annoying, you should bear in mind that it's that way for a reason.

 

[trooper]

I may not have been clear with my previous question, But what i meant was, What software did you use to do the conversion/re-encoding ?.

The video is 320x180. Of course other players center it and add black when needed.

I`m taking that as a yes, As in, You have tried said video file on other devices, Or are you just taking a guess that it should work as you expect ?.

Trooper

 

[aho]

>What software did you use to do the conversion/re-encoding ?.

ffmpeg (ffdshow-tryouts r2135 via virtualdub 1.9.6 / encoder: mpeg-4; fourcc: DX50)

>You have tried said video file on other devices, Or are you just taking a guess that it should work as you expect ?.

I quickly checked the file right after it finished transcoding. I was checking if the quality is alright and if it's async or anything like that.

The shots in the first post are captures (which are indeed 320x180). I enlarged the canvas to 320x240 and added the black/gray bars myself.

---

Oh and I forgot a small detail. If you press select it adds BLACK bars. Of course doing so is pretty silly if the video got the right aspect ratio to begin with... in which case you get a distorted image with gray and black bars around it.

So, there are 2 options for 16:9 stuff:

a) add black bars to the video
b) resize to 4:3 during transcode, then switch to the 16:9 mode on the Wiz (eww)