[MPlayer-users] Re: [-] Re: [-] XV display too wide

[Matthias Wieser]

Am Mittwoch, 2. Februar 2005 08:59 schrieb RC:
> On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 22:28:01 +0100
>
> Matthias Wieser <mwieser at gmx.de> wrote:
> > Sales breakdown between LCD and CRT is roughly 70:30 (->IDC, 2004
> > (worldwide)).
> > ~50% of those LC-displays do not have an aspect ratio of 4:3.
>
> This is a bogus argument.  As Rich pointed out, there is a HUGE
> installed base of CRTs, as decent ones keep going for many years.

Of course there are many CRTs. But this is not a decision between
CRT vs. TFT.
The question is:
Are there more people with
* (a 4:3 CRT) AND (a non-4:3 resolution) AND ((a wrong XF86Config entry) or (a use case without X11))
or
* a non-4:3 CRT/TFT

I think, the second group is already much larger (and it gets larger
each day). That's why i said, that it might make sense, to look into
XF86Config/xorg.conf to get the real aspect ratio. If there is no
XF86/xorg.conf, squared pixels should be assumed.
If someone was able to configure a non-standard resolution with his
4:3 CRT, he might be able to figure out that MPlayer does have a
"monitoraspect"-option.

> I've 
> personally got one still going strong which was made in 1993.

And you are probably using a 4:3 resolution, aren't you?

> > On those LCDs MPlayer shows distorted videos.
>
> Only if those users are too lazy to add a single option.

Of course. But why should someone, who is runing his 17" TFT with it's
native resolution of 1280x1024 think, that MPlayer needs a special
command line switch. All other player do just fine.
But If I have configured my 4:3 Monitor to show 2000x1000 pixel, I would
not be surprised if I had to tell MPlayer about my non-standard resolution.


> Personally, I like programs to be as dumb as possible.

KISS.

> The "smarter" 
> they get, by trying to guess what settings are appropriate, the more
> difficult it generally is to get them to work right.

A really dumb, simple, stupid program qould assume squared pixels. At
least that would work for more people than the current situation.
A not so dumb, but simple program would just get the aspect ratio from
XF86Config. What MPlayer does is: "Let's guess an arbitrary aspect ratio
and hope that it's the right one".

Regards,
  Matthias