I have a recording that is 4:3 but at start of recording is the end of another show that is 16:9
If I start watching this before the 4:3 show has started, channels plays at 16:9 for duration of the recording. However, if I start in middle of the 4:3 show, it correctly sets to 4:3
So it looks like channels is only checking aspect ratio when playback starts. Is it possible to improve on this behaviour?
If you can send me a recording where this happens I can take a look.
Thanks. Uploading āEastEnders 1985-10-10 2018-09-21-1237.mpgā now. Do you still have access to the One Drive folder I shared previously?
This recording has 16:9 content at start & in the ad break at about 16min. The main show is 4:3
Edit: message sent with link
Did you have any luck with this?
Thanks
The latest beta app on the Play Store (getchannels.com/beta) adds a Stretch To Fit setting for the Video Player. With it disabled, it should detect the aspect ratio change in the middle of the video stream.
Would it be possible to add the ability to FORCE an aspect ratio?
There is a channel in the Los Angeles area, Laff that appears to be run by utter morons, so they ENCODE all their 4:3 material (which is pretty much everything they show) as 16:9.
Having an app "correctly" track the aspect ration doesn't help, given that the aspect ratio is set incorrectly...
You may be able to see this for yourself
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Laff_affiliates
but I don't know if the idiocy occurs at the root of all distribution, or is a particular incompetent choice made by the LA station.
What's really needed is a way to FORCE the display to override the encoded aspect ratio (either on per content basis, or [preferably for my use case, anyway] for everything recorded from a particular channel).
I'm not sure there would be a reliable way to detect that the broadcaster is setting the wrong aspect ratio for the original content. (It's ridiculous that there are still some US broadcasters doing this nearly 20 years on from the start of HD/widescreen broadcasting.) However, don't most TVs have the option to manually change the aspect ratio? You should be able to squish the 16:9 picture back down to 4:3.
Regarding the new 'Stretch to Fit' open in the Channels beta app: it works beautifully with software decoding, but when using hardware decoding it still has trouble detecting ratio changes mid-stream. 
Well, sure, I wouldn't expect Channels to auto-detect an incorrectly set aspect ratio. That's why I'm asking for the ability to set such a fixup manually.
As for display, I watch most material on my iPad...
Channels really is the correct locus for the fixup, rescaling during the transcoding.
Ah OK, I was thinking just about TV and not mobile devices.