Variably-adjustable zoom wanted for TVs and DVDs.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frank Martin
  • Start date Start date
F

Frank Martin

TVs and DVD players have a preset zoom button
where the picture zoom can be increased by a
factor of 2 to 4 (typically).

Are there any TVs or DVDs which have an
adjustable zoom adjustable manually from 1 to
(say) 1.5x.

I watch a lot of old movies and the image
just sits in the middle of the screen with a
large wasted border, and if I zoom to 2 x
times I lose some of the image as well.

A lesser zoom function would allow me to fit
the available area perfectly.

Useful too would be a function to stretch the
vertical and horizontal by desired amounts
depending on the movie.

Are there third-party hardware or software
devices to handle the task?

Please help.
 
Frank said:
TVs and DVD players have a preset zoom button
where the picture zoom can be increased by a
factor of 2 to 4 (typically).

Are there any TVs or DVDs which have an
adjustable zoom adjustable manually from 1 to
(say) 1.5x.

I watch a lot of old movies and the image
just sits in the middle of the screen with a
large wasted border, and if I zoom to 2 x
times I lose some of the image as well.

A lesser zoom function would allow me to fit
the available area perfectly.

Useful too would be a function to stretch the
vertical and horizontal by desired amounts
depending on the movie.

Are there third-party hardware or software
devices to handle the task?

Please help.
Click to expand...

You would think so, wouldn't you?

Sharing your frustration I wrote a VB6 program which calls the
WMP-API and allows the video image to be "zoomed" in increments
of +/- 10%. Alternatively, the Multimedia Control included with
VB6 allows for dragging the borders of the display window
individually, thus enabling me to resize in any way I choose;
the WMP-API only supports zooming in aspect ratio. With this
program I can play MPEG 1/2/4 and simple VOBs which are not
encrypted. I can not play menued DVDs, as the program does not
understand IFOs. 4:3 full screen and letterbox can be "zoomed"
to fill a 16;9 screen while maintaining aspect. or, using the
MMC, the image can be modified without regard to aspect ratio as
well as zoomed.

I've never installed this program anywhere else nor ever written
an installer for it so I'm unsure, all these years later, if it
will run on a machine that does not have Visual Studio 6
installed? I use it still for all videos except DVDs, for which
I use VLC. I use an old 2gp4 as my video player and a 42" 1080p
monitor as its PC screen via an ATI 9250 PCI.

I can make copies of the MMC/WMP, and WMP only, source programs
available to anyone who'd like to compile them.
 
in message
You would think so, wouldn't you?

Sharing your frustration I wrote a VB6
program which calls the WMP-API and allows
the video image to be "zoomed" in
increments of +/- 10%. Alternatively, the
Multimedia Control included with VB6 allows
for dragging the borders of the display
window individually, thus enabling me to
resize in any way I choose; the WMP-API
only supports zooming in aspect ratio.
With this program I can play MPEG 1/2/4 and
simple VOBs which are not encrypted. I can
not play menued DVDs, as the program does
not understand IFOs. 4:3 full screen and
letterbox can be "zoomed" to fill a 16;9
screen while maintaining aspect. or, using
the MMC, the image can be modified without
regard to aspect ratio as well as zoomed.

I've never installed this program anywhere
else nor ever written an installer for it
so I'm unsure, all these years later, if it
will run on a machine that does not have
Visual Studio 6 installed? I use it still
for all videos except DVDs, for which I use
VLC. I use an old 2gp4 as my video player
and a 42" 1080p monitor as its PC screen
via an ATI 9250 PCI.

I can make copies of the MMC/WMP, and WMP
only, source programs available to anyone
who'd like to compile them.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply thought I am not so
advanced in this sort of thing.

I am going to investigate whether I can get a
similar effect by running the movies from
WindowsMediaCentre on my computer.

Regards,Frank
 
Back
Top