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Vidoe playing 'windowed', with black borders on all sides, in MBT


DevonLad

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DevonLad

Firstly, I apologise if this has already been covered elsewhere, but I have been away for six weeks and have only just discovered this problem.

 

I am running MBT version 3.0.5287.42414 and MBS version 3.0.5289.18702.

 

Before I went away, everything was playing fine.  When I returned and first used MBT, presumably with it having received one or more updates during the six weeks that I was away, most of our video plays at a reduced size with a black border on all four sides.  The attached screenshot shows what I mean.

 

This occurs with our ripped TV Series, which are all in MKV format and a resolution of 480p.  The majority of our movies are in the VIDEO_TS format and also at 480p resolution, and they play in exactly the same way. 

 

We have a small number of movies ripped to MKV, but at a resolution of 1080p, and they play as expected, just with letterbox borders top and bottom.

 

I have tried this on two different systems, both using MBT, with the same results.  I assume it is either an MBT display problem, or a problem with the way MBS is 'serving-up' the video.  I have checked all of the obvious settings in MBT and MBS.

 

Any thoughts please?

post-3363-0-51446800-1404816245_thumb.png

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Aphid

Does the video play correctly in other media software? It looks like a 16:9 video has been recorded as a 4:3 video.

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DevonLad

Does the video play correctly in other media software? It looks like a 16:9 video has been recorded as a 4:3 video.

They are all rips that I have had for some time, and they play fine in Windows Media Player/Media Center, as they did in MBT, before I went away.

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Harblar

This is the 3rd thread on this issue now.

 

Two things to try...

First, try turning MadVR either on or off. For some, turning it on solves the problem. For me, turning it off fixes it (but not really an option because I want MadVR on).

The other fix is to resize the video window and then go back to full screen.

 

I've been having this issue since December and, so far, have not seen or heard from any devs on the cause or if a fix was in the works.

 

Hopefully you're one of the lucky ones where enabling MadVR fixes the problem. Good luck.

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DevonLad

Hopefully you're one of the lucky ones where enabling MadVR fixes the problem. Good luck.

 

MadVR was the problem. I had to enable it, but why it should suddenly start doing this is a bit odd.

 

Thanks for your help.

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DevonLad

MadVR was the problem.

OK, I spoke too soon. 

 

When I enabled madVR on my Desktop PC, it solved the problem.

 

However, when I do the same on my main MBT setup, I get massive amounts of picture juddering, which I can't stop despite trying the various settings in madVR and MBT.  I also tried the window resizing tip, but that didn't work either, so I have had to go back to watching with black borders.

 

Just in case it helps the Devs to find the cause, the two setups are:

 

Both are Windows 7 Home, running MBT from MBS on a WHS 2011 Server

The Desktop, where enabling madVR works, is playing the video on an Asus 1920 x 1200 LCD monitor

The HTPC, where enabling madVR does not work, is playing the video on an Pioneer 1920 x 1080 Plasma

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Aphid

What are the specs of your desktop and HTPC? Have you tried turning the MadVR quality settings down, such that it is enabled but hardly doing any upscaling?

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The Baron

I've seen the same issue in MBT on two occasions, rebooting the host that MBT was running on resolved the problem (in my case). I don't use MadVR, I never has. So it may be that the issue is nothing to do with madVR in your case.

 

I don't know if there is an relevance in mentioning hardware, but I was wondering what CPU and GPU is in the PC? I have a i3 2120 and a Geforce 610 on the host running MBT. 

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DevonLad

What are the specs of your desktop and HTPC? Have you tried turning the MadVR quality settings down, such that it is enabled but hardly doing any upscaling?

I have tried all of the MadVR settings, but none of them make any difference.

 

I'll check the problem PC's specs and post them separately

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DevonLad

Specs for the 2 PCs are:

 

Both running on Windows 7 HP 64-bit

 

MBT IS playing properly WITH MadVR enabled

CPU: Intel i7 4770 3.40GHz

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 8400GS

RAM: 4GB

Display: Asus ProArt 1920 x 1200

 

MBT IS NOT playing properly WITH or WITHOUT MadVR enabled

CPU: Celeron E3300 2.5GHz

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 8400GS

RAM: 4GB

Display: Pioneer Plasma 1920 x 1080

 

The 'problem' PC is old, BUT, it was playing MBT, from MBS, absolutely fine for a long time, so presumably something in MBT or MBS has changed?

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Aphid

MadVR does most of its work on the GPU, so the juddering is probably not just performance related if you have it running fine on another PC with the same GPU... although the CPU could still be causing a bottleneck there.

 

Regardless, we shouldn't be having those borders with or without MadVR.

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DevonLad

My DVD rips are windowed with the black boarders. Blurays are fine.

 

But, what I don't understand, is why would my setup (dedicated HTPC) be fine for months on end, and then suddenly start playing with black borders? 

 

The only thing that has changed on this minimum-setup HTPC, apart from Windows Updates, is MBT

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DevonLad

Problem solved, at least as a temporary fix. 

 

I have restored my HTPC to an image on my Server taken before we went away.  This has put an old version of MBT on, and with MBT updates turned off, I am back to full-screen watching again.  I will have to update MBT at some point of course, but hopefully this problem will be fixed by then,

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  • 4 weeks later...
Sparrowlogins

Can we get an update on whether this is going to be fixed please? I am trying to use mbt as my only media player but am having to use external players as this issue is spoiling playback of 480p content

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  • 2 years later...

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