I have an aspect ratio problem on one front end machine since my upgrade to 5.5 (I have others connected to LCD panels working fine). This front end is connected to a 4:3 HD television (does 1080i in letterbox) with component input. My front end is running an nVidia 6600 (also tried a 7600, a 5200 - same results) VGA cable to a Key Digital VGA-to-component converter. The modelines were generated using Powerstrip 3.73 and have been running perfectly for many releases.

The problem is that in 5.5 when playing ripped ISO files or DVD's Xine, mplayer, and, oddly, pictures in gallery, display with the wrong aspect - scrunched up horizontally. Looks like it is running in 640 X 480. Xorg log says everything is fine. HD television plays perfectly.

see pictures http://s339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/nbdwt73/

I have tried this on a fresh stand-alone machine with different monitors all with the same results (at least it is consistent). What I want to know is anybody else having display problems with generated (or manually written) modelines?

My xorg.conf sections:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Option "DPMS" "true"
Option "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE"
Option "DPI" "96 x 96"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, NoVesaModes, NoXServerModes, NoPredefinedModes"
VendorName "HWP"
ModelName "HWP259a"
HorizSync 30 - 83 # DDC-probed
VertRefresh 60 - 60 # DDC-probed
Modeline "640x480jr" 26.718 640 704 800 848 480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync
Modeline "1920x540jr" 82.125 1920 2040 2232 2432 540 541 548 563 +hsync +vsync

Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
# sw_cursor is needed for some ati and radeon cards
#Option "sw_cursor"
#Option "hw_cursor"
#Option "NoAccel"
#Option "ShowCache"
#Option "ShadowFB"
#Option "UseFBDev"
#Option "Rotate"
Option "UseEvents" "True"
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "false"
Identifier "Card0"
# The following line is auto-generated by KNOPPIX mkxf86config
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "All"
BoardName "All"
# BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "NVAGP" "1"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultColorDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "640x480jr" "1920x540jr"
EndSubSection
EndSection

See if changing /home/mythtv/.mplayer/config helps at all. Specifically, add this line:

monitoraspect=4:3

Thanks for the suggestion - didn't work...

However I have continued testing this issue. Turns out the problem is in the newer nvidia drivers. I have gone back to 1.0-9755 (version on my R5F27 machines) and the problems are gone. I haven't had time to figure out where this was problem introduced or what the specific problem is but plan to roll back one at a time from current version to find out...

I am curious - anybody else with custom modelines seeing this?

I have seen the same problem with Xvid transcodes played via MythVideo. No custom modeline, though, using a 1920x1080p metamode with a 16x9 TV, and GeForce 7025 on-board video. I'm not sure which Nvidia driver I'm using; wait, just checked and it's 173.14.09.

The plot deepens... This problem seems to be related to 5.5 (new Xorg) using separate GUI and Video modes (screen 3 in Appearance) with custom modelines. I have been able to replicate the problem on three different machines all with different video cards (5200, 6600, 7600). Using Options in xorg.conf, I can force only the custom modelines to be used but Xorg doesn't seem to render them properly (or switch to the correct one based on the resolutions identified in the "Appearance" setup screen).

Has anybody else gotten 5.5 to switch between modelines based on video feed as defined in Mythtv (Appearance screen 3)? As reported above, I am able to intermittently get it to work by downgrading to older nvidia drivers but it is not permanent (reverts back to the problem after several reboots).

Fixed - see http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18677