leanfront zoom issue but only on the FireTV Cube?

[jfabernathy]

I use Leanfront v0-207 32bit on FireTV 4K stick and the 64bit version on Nvidia Shield TV. However, when I installed the 32 bit version on my new FireTV Cube I notice a small issue with Leanfront Zoom (Picture size) feature.

On some of my channels using the sub muxes like 5.3, I get old programs that were originally shot in 16:9 HD but are now been sent out 4:3 but still in letterbox, 16:9. So to watch them on Leanfront, normally, I just hit Zoom twice to get 133% and the picture fills the screen nicely. I can also use Mythfrontend and the OSD(m) -> video -Adjust Fill -> Full to get the same effect. The 4K UHD TV does a good job of improving the picture to make it acceptable.

But on the Fire TV Cube the Leanfront Zoom feature only increase the width and not the height of the picture, so it works similar to the Horizontal stretch feature. The mythfrontend Adjust Fill -> Full still works as on the other devices.

I'll try to get some debug logs from both FireTV 4k and Cube to see if there is any info there on the problem.

I'm hoping there is a setting I forgot to set in the Cube, but leanfront has very few of those, thankfully.

[jfabernathy]

Additional information:

using adb connect <ip address>
adb logcat lfe:D *:S

from my linux machine I could not see any log event using the zoom mode, so no help here.

However, I tested all 3 of my view apps on the Cube and Shield TV.

On the Shield TV:
mythfrontend using Adjust Fill -> Full zooms correctly.
Leanfront using Zoom 133% zooms correctly.
Kodi 18.8 using Zoom 133% zoom correctly.

On Cube:
mythfrontend using Adjust Fill -> Full zooms correctly.
Leanfront using Zoom 133% zooms only horizontally.
Kodi 18.8 using Zoom 133% zoom only horizontally.

On FireTV 4K stick:
mythfrontend using Adjust Fill -> Full zooms correctly.
Leanfront using Zoom 133% zooms correctly.
Kodi 18.8 using Zoom 133% zoom correctly.

The fact that both Kodi and Leanfront have the zoom issue may point to a system function on Android that the Cube is no implementing correctly??

[pgbennett]

I have redesigned some of the playback ui. It now uses a dialog with a seekbar to fine tune size. It uses up/down arrows for the previous predefined values. Please try the new version (leanfront-v0-216-g48b40f7.apk) and see whether the problem affects both the predefined values and the seekbar. Also when seeking it will show what it is doing in the title. Check whether when zooming it says "Set Picture Size". If it says "Stretch Picture" it is doing the wrong thing.

[jfabernathy]

I have redesigned some of the playback ui. It now uses a dialog with a seekbar to fine tune size. It uses up/down arrows for the previous predefined values. Please try the new version (leanfront-v0-216-g48b40f7.apk) and see whether the problem affects both the predefined values and the seekbar. Also when seeking it will show what it is doing in the title. Check whether when zooming it says "Set Picture Size". If it says "Stretch Picture" it is doing the wrong thing.

So on Shield TV and FireTV 4K Stick it works correctly. The change I see is instead of multiple clicks to cycle through the available zooms it now has the slider bar that says Picture Size. Odd thing is if I use the up and down arrows I get large jumps in percentages and I can precisely hit 133%. If I use right and left arrows I get more granular jumps in percentages, but it goes from 130 to 135 and skips 133, so for me, I'll use up and down.

However, on the FireTV Cube the Picture Size and Stretch Picture behave the same. So it sounds like the Android version the Cube is using has an index wrong.

[pgbennett]

What is the title you see when doing the zoom on the fire tv cube? Does it say "Set Picture Size" or "Stretch Picture"?

[jfabernathy]

What is the title you see when doing the zoom on the fire tv cube? Does it say "Set Picture Size" or "Stretch Picture"?

Set Picture Size

Second icon on bottom line. Right side of CC icon.

[jfabernathy]

I copied a 30 second clip of a TV show that shows the problem. If you don't have a TV channel broadcasting in this format. You can download the file and put it in your Video storage group directory, scan for changes, and then use Leanfront on a FireTV and FireTV Cube to show the differences

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TZbh55 ... sp=sharing

Also if you have a way to turn on more logging information I can capture that via:

Code: Select all

adb connect <ip address>
adb logcat lfe:D *:S

[jfabernathy]

FYI, since Amazon support will not help with side loaded app in their forum. I've produced the same problem using VLC Player from their app store.

With VLC Player you use Menu -> resize and cycle through the choices and on the FireTV 4K it works just like Set Picture Size on Leanfront.

But on the Cube, it only stretched horizontally, just like on Leanfront.

So maybe that's a path for getting this fixed by Amazon.

[pgbennett]

I don't have a fire tv cube so I can't test this. If the problem also affects VLC then, as you say, it is likely a problem with the fire tv cube itself. Leanfront uses standard android calls to resize. It is surprising that a basic android method does not work on the fire tv call.

[jfabernathy]

I don't have a fire tv cube so I can't test this. If the problem also affects VLC then, as you say, it is likely a problem with the fire tv cube itself. Leanfront uses standard android calls to resize. It is surprising that a basic android method does not work on the fire tv call.

I posted this issue on the VLC forum in the Android section. Since their app is in app stores, maybe they have a way to notifiy Cube developers at Amazon.

[pgbennett]

The audio on the sample you sent me is awful. Did you put this through mythtranscode or mythcommflag? Those do seem to mess up the audio for leanfront. Of you use those then I recommend putting the file through mkvmerge after the mythtranscode or mythcommflag if you want to use it with leanfront.

[jfabernathy]

The audio on the sample you sent me is awful. Did you put this through mythtranscode or mythcommflag? Those do seem to mess up the audio for leanfront. Of you use those then I recommend putting the file through mkvmerge after the mythtranscode or mythcommflag if you want to use it with leanfront.

I used the edit function of mythfrontend and went 30 seconds into the program and did a cut to end and saved the cutlist.
Then I use mythtranscode to copy the file to another file honoring the cutlist.
Normally I don't do editing this way, but I didn't want to introduce any transcoding. If I have to transcode I use the mythtv user job built from "sendTVtoNAS", which is a script I found on this forum years ago. It does the cutlist removal the same as I did, but it uses handbrake to convert the file to m4v. Those files play fine in Leanfront, mythfrontend, kodi, vlc, etc.

[jfabernathy]

I stumbled into a workaround. Since you pointed out the audio problem on leanfront if mythtranscode was used. I took one of my recordings that needs to be viewed with the Set Picture Size to 133% and just ran it through the sendTVtoNAS script that I installed as a Mythtv User Job viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1261

It produced a H.264 m4v file that already had it picture size adjusted to fill the screen of a 16:9 TV. I can't detect any video quality difference. I tested on a Shield TV where Set Picture Size works in Leanfront. But this method would work for the Cube.

I could turn on the User Job in the Post Processing of the record rule for the programs that would normally need the 133% zoom.

I need to take a better look at the SendTVtoNAS script to see what it did to increase the picture size automatically. Normally I only use the script for full HD programs that I want to save in a more compact and universal format.

[pgbennett]

I use HandBrakeCLI for transcoding. It also will by default eliminate letter box borders. However that takes time and is not useful for Live TV or watching programs still recording.

[jfabernathy]

I use HandBrakeCLI for transcoding. It also will by default eliminate letter box borders. However that takes time and is not useful for Live TV or watching programs still recording.

Interesting about how handbrake eliminated the letterbox borders.

For me, while I wait for Amazon to fix the Cube's resize API problem, I'll just us my Shield TV to run Leanfront on programs that I need Zoom to work correctly.

I still don't know which has a better picture overall; FireTV Cube or Shield TV. Depending on the app or the content my opinion changes. Both are good except for the problem we've discussed in the thread. However during Amazon Prime days this week I couldn't pass up the $80 price on the Cube.