Quote I’m still using Total Media Theater for Blu-ray playback but since it hasn’t been supported for over two years I need to find a replacement. I have a 75” 4K TV and routinely use the TMT zoom function to modify a 2.35:1 picture into maybe a 2.15:1 aspect ratio. As long as there isn’t a lot of stuff going on at the edges it’s a very nice compromise between letterbox and full screen.

The Zoom function works for both Blu-ray and DVDs. Many other software player programs also have similar functions for Blu-ray video playback. I’d always heard that PowerDVD was the ultimate software player so I recently bought it. It does seem to do a good job and does everything that TMT does EXCEPT zoom a Blu-ray. Why is that?

It can’t be a “black bar” is part of a Scope picture. Probably not a licensing issue since other vendors are doing it. May some fundamental design of the player that won’t change aspect ratios on Blu-ray? Don’t know but if I can’t get a reason for it not working and will never work then I’ll get my money back and continue looking for a solution.

Are you talking about zooming 2.35:1 movie (encoded in 16:9 BD) on a 21:9 display, and cropping all borders for playback?
It's old story.

powerdvd does not support to fully cropping the borders on top and bottom parts on a 21:9 display currently.

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Are you talking about zooming 2.35:1 movie (encoded in 16:9 BD) on a 21:9 display, and cropping all borders for playback?
It's old story.

powerdvd does not support to fully cropping the borders on top and bottom parts on a 21:9 display currently.

No. I'm talking about shrinking the black letterbox bars on a 16:9 display. When I zoom with TMT I lose a little of the image on each side but the picture fills more of the space vertically. Since most Scope movies are composed with a "safe" 16:9 outline on the camera lens it is more immersive to have a wide-screen movie playback somewhere between 2.35:1 and 1.78:1 (the standard AR of a 4k TV.)

I can adjust the AR by zooming on a DVD but not a Blu-ray. I'm trying to find out why the function is crippled on a BD. It doesn't make sense since other players can do it.

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Are you talking about zooming 2.35:1 movie (encoded in 16:9 BD) on a 21:9 display, and cropping all borders for playback?
It's old story.

powerdvd does not support to fully cropping the borders on top and bottom parts on a 21:9 display currently.

No. I'm talking about shrinking the black letterbox bars on a 16:9 display. When I zoom with TMT I lose a little of the image on each side but the picture fills more of the space vertically. Since most Scope movies are composed with a "safe" 16:9 outline on the camera lens it is more immersive to have a wide-screen movie playback somewhere between 2.35:1 and 1.78:1 (the standard AR of a 4k TV.)

I can adjust the AR by zooming on a DVD but not a Blu-ray. I'm trying to find out why the function is crippled on a BD. It doesn't make sense since other players can do it.

If I understand your description correctly, shrinking the letterbox bars on top and bottom side = video cropping.
To place a 2.35:1 video in 16:9 aspect ratio BD, movie disc will plant the letter box in the video as part of video content to avoid stretching distortion on 1.78:1 display.
2.35:1 is very close to 21:9 AR. I think your scenario still matches my description.

powerdvd does not support cropping the video (so called pan and scan or something like that) on BD, regardless of the display AR.
It does not matter "it makes sense or not", just simply powerdvd does not do it on protected BD video.

The feature availability on DVD is greater than a non-decrypted BD in powerdvd, that's what I understood so far.
Video file > DVD >> BD >>>UHDBD.

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No. I'm talking about shrinking the black letterbox bars on a 16:9 display. When I zoom with TMT I lose a little of the image on each side but the picture fills more of the space vertically. Since most Scope movies are composed with a "safe" 16:9 outline on the camera lens it is more immersive to have a wide-screen movie playback somewhere between 2.35:1 and 1.78:1 (the standard AR of a 4k TV.)

I can adjust the AR by zooming on a DVD but not a Blu-ray. I'm trying to find out why the function is crippled on a BD. It doesn't make sense since other players can do it.

If I understand your description correctly, shrinking the letterbox bars on top and bottom side = video cropping.
To place a 2.35:1 video in 16:9 aspect ratio BD, movie disc will plant the letter box in the video as part of video content to avoid stretching distortion on 1.78:1 display.
2.35:1 is very close to 21:9 AR. I think your scenario still matches my description.

powerdvd does not support cropping the video (so called pan and scan or something like that) on BD, regardless of the display AR.
It does not matter "it makes sense or not", just simply powerdvd does not do it on protected BD video.

The feature availability on DVD is greater than a non-decrypted BD in powerdvd, that's what I understood so far.
Video file > DVD >> BD >>>UHDBD.

You understand my description correctly. PowerDVD calls shrinking the letterbox bars on the top and bottom side – Instant Zoom. You call it cropping. The result is the same. As the picture grows vertically the sides are “cropped” and no longer display.

You state that PowerDVD does not support cropping (zooming) on BD video. Well, yes. I know. That why I asked the question.

You also imply that a DVD can be zoomed but not a Blu-ray because DVDs have more “feature” availability whereas Blu-ray has stronger encryption or something that prevents zooming. This is not true. Total Media Theater can play a 2.35:1 movie on a physical DVD from my PC BD drive and I can zoom it to any aspect ratio I like until it fills the entire 16:9 screen. I can also do this with a Blu-ray disc that has not been decrypted. Both physical media react exactly the same.

So the question remains, why can I zoom a DVD and not a Blu-ray. There is no technical reason preventing it since TMT does it with ease.

I have sent the question to tech support. We shall see what they have to say.

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You understand my description correctly. PowerDVD calls shrinking the letterbox bars on the top and bottom side – Instant Zoom. You call it cropping. The result is the same. As the picture grows vertically the sides are “cropped” and no longer display.

You state that PowerDVD does not support cropping (zooming) on BD video. Well, yes. I know. That why I asked the question.

You also imply that a DVD can be zoomed but not a Blu-ray because DVDs have more “feature” availability whereas Blu-ray has stronger encryption or something that prevents zooming. This is not true. Total Media Theater can play a 2.35:1 movie on a physical DVD from my PC BD drive and I can zoom it to any aspect ratio I like until it fills the entire 16:9 screen. I can also do this with a Blu-ray disc that has not been decrypted. Both physical media react exactly the same.

So the question remains, why can I zoom a DVD and not a Blu-ray. There is no technical reason preventing it since TMT does it with ease.

I have sent the question to tech support. We shall see what they have to say.

I have no idea if TMT does it with "ease" by their engineers, but TMT let user adjust it during BD playback.

To be clear, what I said is that DVD playback has more feature availabilities in "powerdvd", and cyberlink doesn't implement what you want (that legacy TMT has it) for BD in its program. Then, my conclusion: Video file > DVD >> BD >>> UHDBD .

Technical reason is not needed, as they jusy didn't implement it on BD.
So, if you want a 2.35:1 BD movie to be seamless displaying on 16:9 monitor by cropping, it is not available in powerdvd currently.

Just search the old topics on forum for users who own 21:9 monitor, you will get cyberlink conclusion without further asking.
They were talking about the same/similar feature you mentioned in TMT.

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To be clear, what I said is that DVD playback has more feature availabilities in "powerdvd", and cyberlink doesn't implement what you want (that legacy TMT has it) for BD in its program. Then, my conclusion: Video file > DVD >> BD >>> UHDBD .

Technical reason is not needed, as they jusy didn't implement it on BD.
So, if you want a 2.35:1 BD movie to be seamless displaying on 16:9 monitor by cropping, it is not available in powerdvd currently.

Just search the old topics on forum for users who own 21:9 monitor, you will get cyberlink conclusion without further asking.
They were talking about the same/similar feature you mentioned in TMT.

Hi,

Features like the current instant zoom feature not being implemented are usually due to copyright and BDA restrictions on Blu-rays, not a CyberLink choice.

There is a rumour out there that version 18 will have a crop feature for Blu-rays on 21:9 monitors. Will have to wait until the release to see.

Dave

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Hi,

Features like the current instant zoom feature not being implemented are usually due to copyright and BDA restrictions on Blu-rays, not a CyberLink choice.

There is a rumour out there that version 18 will have a crop feature for Blu-rays on 21:9 monitors. Will have to wait until the release to see.

Dave

Dave, thanks for the feedback. I got a nice response from Tech Support that sheds some lumens on the subject:


“To encode a 2.35:1 produced video (that manufactured by movie studio) in a standard 16:9 container without video distortion, the movie disc's video will be planted with black bars at top and bottom side. They are part of the video content natively.

To play the aforementioned video type in full screen and eliminate the black bars on the top and bottom side, it requires further video cropping features.

Currently, PowerDVD does NOT support the video cropping (crop and zoom) feature for Blu-ray movie playback.

We have escalated the support suggestion to product team as feature development reference. Thanks you for the feedback.”


This seems to imply that it’s not a BDA/copyright restriction and also affirms QC2.0’s thesis that the feature has never existed. It also gives optimism that a future release will support it. I’m currently testing six players and all, with the exception of PowerDVD, will zoom/crop a BD. I will revisit Cyberlink’s effort when the next release appears. Hopefully the product team will work on an implementation of Instant Zoom for Blu-Ray and make the rumor about its support in a future release come true.

John

Quote Dave, thanks for the feedback. I got a nice response from Tech Support that sheds some lumens on the subject:


“To encode a 2.35:1 produced video (that manufactured by movie studio) in a standard 16:9 container without video distortion, the movie disc's video will be planted with black bars at top and bottom side. They are part of the video content natively.

To play the aforementioned video type in full screen and eliminate the black bars on the top and bottom side, it requires further video cropping features.

Currently, PowerDVD does NOT support the video cropping (crop and zoom) feature for Blu-ray movie playback.

We have escalated the support suggestion to product team as feature development reference. Thanks you for the feedback.”


This seems to imply that it’s not a BDA/copyright restriction and also affirms QC2.0’s thesis that the feature has never existed. It also gives optimism that a future release will support it. I’m currently testing six players and all, with the exception of PowerDVD, will zoom/crop a BD. I will revisit Cyberlink’s effort when the next release appears. Hopefully the product team will work on an implementation of Instant Zoom for Blu-Ray and make the rumor about its support in a future release come true.

John

Thanks so much for your diligent Q & A here about those BD player features we both find of great value-and, I would add, we rightly deserve to enjoy, at least with BDs from our own collections. https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/65530.page

Actually, I use zoom on my Pioneer Elite LX500 BD player for one and/or two reasons with some movies: First, with movies like “Blood on the Moon” (194 or “Whirlpool” (1949),which were shot in something other than what was, prior to 1953, the standard “Academy” 1.33:1 AR. Consequently, they will have a relatively smaller image when viewed on a 16:9 (or 4:3) screen, AND with boarders around the entire image. I can find watching this fatiguing enough to sacrifice image content by cropping the image slightly by zooming.

My other use for zooming in on movies with no AR problems when viewed on my screen’s native AR, even if only used temporarily, is that zooming offers a dimension of intimacy with the characters, landscapes and other objects of the scene.

FYI: My Oppo 95, like all Oppos, has zoom, though only the discontinued Arcam BD players and most Pioneers, like my LX500, let you move and center the zoomed image on the screen.

Unfortunately, the BD Assn somehow finds it necessary to endorse and promulgate the use of BD authoring software which disables player zoom control either unconditionally or at least by default but optional zoom enabling. Thus, all of my Criterion Collection, Universal and ScreamFactory BD titles are zoom disabled, though none of my Warners, Kino and almost none of my Twilight Time BDs are.

You said that Total Media Theater player will let you zoom on both DVD AND BD movies. But will it also let you do slow motion?

However, while my new desktop will have a six or 8 core xeon rocket lake processor and at least 16GB of ECC RAM, this review says that TMT is "resource hungry". https://totalmedia-theatre.en.softonic.com/]https://totalmedia-theatre.en.softonic.com

Does this mean that even a Rocket Lake processor with a TDP of 105 watts and a modern-but NOT gamester level-video card fan noise could be especially noticeable?

In any case, there doesn't appear to be a recent version of TMT available online. Apparently, developer ArcSoft had ended support for it. https://www.arcsoft.com/]https://www.arcsoft.com

JRiver player is superb in many ways. While I’m not yet set up to use it zoom is apparently very easy to do via one or more handheld learning remotes.

I’m zoom + slo mo here. https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,130385.msg911732.html#msg911732

But it’s upsetting and surprisingly to learn from tzr916 here that JRiver can’t do slow motion-and that its developers are not apparently working to add that feature, which is common on most hardware BD players.