Server Version 1.19.4.2935
Player Version: latest FireTV app
I’m very, very new here and this is my first post.
I have setup a media library and I noticed some movies are stretched vertically to fill my entire TV in the FireTV Stick 4K. I think I should see some black spaces in the top and bottom of the screen. This happened with two movies of mine, because they are 1920x800. I’m not even sure that’s supposed to be considered 1080p. Shouldn’t it be 1920x1080?
In the Plex App I see everything normal. In my FireTV app it streches.
The options in the app are VERY limited and in my server I couldn’t find something to help with that. Changing the aspect ratio of the TV is no good, since subtitles are centered and in the right place with the right aspect.
Media
Duration 2:21:37
Bitrate 2724 kbps
Width 1920
Height 800
Aspect Ratio 2.35
Video Resolution 1080p
Container MP4
Video Frame Rate 24p
Web Optimized No
Audio Profile lc
Video Profile high
Many movies have bars on top/bottom when displayed on a 16:9 screen. It depends on the aspect ratio of the original movie. Example: A movie shot with a 2.35:1 ratio will be roughly 1920x800 when displayed on a 16:9 screen. 1920/2.35 = 817. Old TV shows from when things were 4:3 (tube sets) will have bars on left & right.
Check Playback Settings → Display Mode. You most likely want Letterbox, not original/stretch/etc.
@FordGuy61, thank you! My god, thank you so much. I don’t know why it was set to stretch. I was looking into settings, not in the actual video playback.
For the reference of people potentially being so new to this as I am, here are the steps:
a) Play the “faulty” video.
b) Click the middle button, go right to the 3 dots.
c) Go to the second entry, “Playback Settings”
d) Scroll right to the bottom and change the “Stretch” mode to “Letterbox”.
Yeah. Letterbox is the one to choose. Also, the setting is persistent & global. You set it once and it stays for everything else you play.
The interesting one is Original. It displays the original resolution. For example, if you play a DVD movie on a 4K screen, you see a tiny 720 x 480 video in the middle of a 3840 x 2160 screen. Could be a good way to mess with somebody. Set it to original and see how long it takes them to figure it out.
Also has me wondering what happens if you connect the FireStick to a 1080p display and show a 4K movie. Do you just see the middle 1920x1080 of the movie? Inquiring minds…
Since you helped me so much, I just tested it for you.
The “Original” format shows only the middle of the movie, as you stated.
Letterbox shows the entire video, which also happens with Stretch and Zoom.
Thanks! You saved me some time & trouble. I definitely would have been moving my FireStick to my computer monitor later today to see what would happen.
