[vdr] Re: problem with vcd-plugin -> OSD-design considerations

[Klaus Schmidinger <Klaus.Schmidinger@cadsoft.de>]

Guido Fiala wrote:
> 
> On Saturday 05 June 2004 18:38, Klaus Schmidinger wrote:
> > Guido Fiala wrote:
> > > If someone can confirm this maybe its something to consider in the new
> > > OSD too...
> > >
> > > if one plays a VCD with NTSC-format parts of the OSD lay beyond the
> > > screen coordinates:
> > > The replay-bar is completly below outside and the main-menu is vertically
> > > stretched.
> > >
> > > At least here with vdr 1.2.6 - is this already being adressed using the
> > > new vdr-1.3.x OSD?
> > >
> > > For the replay-bar one can simply move it up, but for all other plugins
> > > accessing the OSD during NTSC-replay ???
> > >
> > > Maybe its possible to use video-format independend coordinates for the
> > > OSD-interface
> >
> > The cDevice::GetVideoSystem() function can be used to determine whether
> > PAL or NTSC is being shown. I guess it should be sufficient to have a
> > function that returns the value of Setup.OSDHeight, adjusted to the
> > current tv system.
> 
> Yes, sounds good. I read the value would be pixels for vdr 1.3.x ?

Yes, that's correct.

In light of this PAL/NTSC problem, maybe it would event be better (as you suggested)
to define the OSD offset and size as being given on a scale of 0...1000, where
(0, 0) is the upper left corner of the video image, and (1000, 1000) is the
bottom right corner (both of which may be outside the visible screen area).
This would mean that it would no longer be possible to set the OSD size to an
exactly defined number of pixels, but would have the advantage that VDR could
automatically decide how large the OSD should be, depending on the current
video format.

Comments?

> > > (and very likely a different font) ...just an idea.
> >
> > Why a different font?
> 
> At least in current vdr the OSD-height is specified in lines.
> If one assumes the number of lines to be equal in both/all video-modes the
> font-height would have to be adjusted (by sacrifying quality of the font).
> 
> The other way would be to use the currently available number of text-lines
> that the plugin can change its contents accordingly.

Since the OSD size is now given in pixels, a skin will be "asked" how many
items it can display. So it can react dynamically to changes in OSD size.

> Another reason for different fonts required might be different aspect-ratios -
> a 4:3 font displayed at 16:9 looks compressed horizontally i would assume?

Well, using different fonts here would immediately double the number of font files.
Since we already have four different character sets with three different font
sizes/types each, I'd say lets wait and see...

Klaus