Some of my movies are really picky. They are in widescreen, but do not fill the whole screen. On DVD player I could just pan to zoom, but on plex I can’t. Is there a simple zoom functionality?
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Yea, it’s on your TV - in the format settings, mostly called Zoom.
so in my web app there is no option for us PC and laptop users?
add android to the list of not even being able to zoom in.
Not really.
A few folks have issues with letter and pillar boxing, but the vast majority enjoy watching their media in the intended aspect ratio.
I wouldn’t be opposed to a ‘feature’ wherein the user could choose to commit Aspect Ratio Homicide, but given Plex’s track record on Options (fairly non-existent) and their track record on getting those options to actually work correctly (also fairly non-existent) the potential exists where it could all go horribly wrong and the vast majority would then burn Plex HQ to the ground.
So, it would probably be in Plex’s best interest to do nothing.
well, it works fine on iOS (built in OS feature of double tapping). no such thing on android or the web app. on apple devices a simple double tap saves my video experience on a few older movies. no hassle at all.
why does only apple care for usability?
I don’t know for sure, but it could be because they’re taking a bite out of every Apple they sell.
as long as it saves me time and gives me quality I cannot get everywhere else… then I am fine with that.
so when is plex going to implement a basic zoom feature? they could even get the apple feature and take it over their apps. this way they would not have to invent anything at all and no: apple does not have a patent for that zoom feature.
please dear developers, just get a basic zoom into plex. it has been requested for years now.
I’m not for it. Any “zoom” is just wrecking the movie somehow: either you’re chopping off the sides of the frame (lost info) or you’re stretching everything vertically (distorted video). Neither of which is behavior that Plex should endorse.
People just need to get over the fact that 16:9 is just one of several formats that video and movies is shot in, but just happens to be the one that TVs are sold in.
@sremick said:
I’m not for it. Any “zoom” is just wrecking the movie somehow: either you’re chopping off the sides of the frame (lost info) or you’re stretching everything vertically (distorted video). Neither of which is behavior that Plex should endorse.People just need to get over the fact that 16:9 is just one of several formats that video and movies is shot in, but just happens to be the one that TVs are sold in.
Isn’t it a little arrogant to expect everyone else to be forced to watch things according to your personal tastes?
Not only do many of us rather a zoom + crop to fit than a tiny picture (especially on a device with a smaller screen like a laptop or phone), but you’re also pretending there’s no such thing as the many videos which have encoded letterboxing, where you have an ultra widescreen film, letterboxed to fit a 4:3 tv, which on your 16:9 tv results in a tiny picture in the middle of the damn screen.
On android, the solution I’ve found is to use MX Player as an external player, as mx player will let you zoom or crop (it also supports stretched picture, but I can’t imagine ever wanting to use that). I’ve even tried screen mirroring the android device to my chromecast from there. It works, but it results in some dropped frames. I almost (but not quite) prefer the dropped frames to pillarboxed 4:3 content, (letterboxing isn’t so bad when it’s not encoded, but when I’m watching an older 4:3 show or cartoon I really would rather just cut off the top and bottom and zoom in until it fills the screen, regardless of what someone who isn’t watching the show with me would like to see everyone else forced to tolerate).
If/When I figure out how to use MPC-HC as my Plex Player on windows, that’s definitely going to be my go-to for my laptop (it supports cropping, AND I can set my own custom video contrast/color filters, AND volume normalization/regain for when I can’t watch it very loud so that I don’t have to deal with “too quiet talking and way too loud action scenes” - it really is the best - albeit not perfect - video playing app), and when I finally pick up an Android TV Box, I’ll be using MX Player as the external plex player 100% of the time on my TV. As a bonus, for some content, when I’ve got a limited amount of time, I would prefer to speed it up while maintaining sound pitch; a feature which MX Player (and VLC, but not MPC) supports.
So, I’ve found some workarounds and potential workarounds for some devices, but it would be nice to be able to set plex to simply broadcast a cropped 16:9 stream as part of the transcoding process, in the circumstances where that’s how I want to watch it, and make my life much easier.
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@Darkholme said:
Isn’t it a little arrogant to expect everyone else to be forced to watch things according to your personal tastes?
If you want this feature, follow the procedures and make a suggestion for it. If there are enough votes for it, the developers may implement it. Personally I have no need for this function, and would rather see other ideas implemented. For every person that wants it (for example, you), there’s a person that doesn’t (for example, me).
Make the suggestion.
@kegobeer-plex said:
If you want this feature, follow the procedures and make a suggestion for it. If there are enough votes for it, the developers may implement it. Personally I have no need for this function, and would rather see other ideas implemented. For every person that wants it (for example, you), there’s a person that doesn’t (for example, me).Make the suggestion.
I had assumed (from all the threads bringing it up) that such a feature had already been requested. I will go make the feature suggestion.
@sremick said:
I’m not for it. Any “zoom” is just wrecking the movie somehow: either you’re chopping off the sides of the frame (lost info) or you’re stretching everything vertically (distorted video). Neither of which is behavior that Plex should endorse.
Utter rubbish, stop making assumptions about what devices people are using.
Some 21:9 aspect HD movie files are encoded as 1920x823(approx) with the letterbox bars cropped out where as some are encoded as 1920x1080 including the black bars.
If I view these on a 16:9 screen then it makes no difference but, if I view them on a 21:9 screen then the former fills the screen perfectly whilst the latter ends up both letterboxed and pillarboxed. This scenario needs a zoom function and it’s ridiculous that Plex is incapable of it.
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@“Toby Groves” said:
Utter rubbish, stop making assumptions about what devices people are using.Some 21:9 aspect HD movie files are encoded as 1920x823(approx) with the letterbox bars cropped out where as some are encoded as 1920x1080 including the black bars.
Stop downloading from Forrest Gump Release Group. Head over to Nose Pickers Release Group. I hear they have some 5th grade dropouts that really know their stuff.
If I view these on a 16:9 screen then it makes no difference but, if I view them on a 21:9 screen then the former fills the screen perfectly whilst the latter ends up both letterboxed and pillarboxed.
Forrest Gump Sez:
“Downloading is a like a box of Chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get, but you eat the whole box anyway then vomit on your shoes.”
This scenario needs a zoom function and it’s ridiculous that Plex is incapable of it.
If your 36 thousand dollar Display can’t zoom that out of it, how in the world do you expect Plex to do it?
I fully support this request. Watching a movie on an iPad is already small, so if you could easily zoom & remove the black bars, it would be beneficial. And video top-notch quality is not that important on a little sized screen.
In addition to that, Apple’s default video app on iOS has this function, and Apple is known to only implement needed features.
“Zoom” and/or other aspect adjustments belong in the display device not in the device/program that supplies the video.
“Zoom” is a display dependent feature and only on the display should any adjustments be made.
The recent update to Plex has changed some of my TV shows to “wide screen” format, which I do not appreciate at all. (Only on my SMART TV)
I’ve traced it back to MKV files that are most susceptible to this.
So I either have to convert all my MVK files to AVI. Or Watch them on PC only. – When I did not have to before.
Yes. I did go into the TV menu and fiddle with the settings. No. That did not fix the problem.
And no, before this last update to Plex, I did not have this problem.
@WhateverWorks1728 said:
The recent update to Plex has changed some of my TV shows to “wide screen” format, which I do not appreciate at all. (Only on my SMART TV)
I’ve traced it back to MKV files that are most susceptible to this.
So I either have to convert all my MVK files to AVI. Or Watch them on PC only. – When I did not have to before.
Hades would form an ice cap 500 miles thick before I would re-code to an AVI file, but it is very likely you’d need to ‘repair/recode’ your MKV file and give it the proper dimensions. DVD material would require the proper ‘Anamorphic’ settings, HD/BluRay material will be fine with no Anamorphic settings at all. A Handbrake Guide is in my signature and that will walk you through the process - or you could just download a version not encoded by The Wombat Squad.
Posting the XML information would help investigate the reason you’re having display issues:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201998867-Investigate-Media-Information-and-Formats
XML info is about halfway down the page - copy and paste to message, highlight and use the ‘Code’ feature from the dropdown under the ‘backwards P’.
The XML info would also reveal a general Plex issue, if an issue exists. I do many encodes daily and have not encountered any issues - but that doesn’t mean no issues exist. There are plenty of issues going around.
zoom functionality (for Android) has been promised for over 3 years. Who are these guys?!?
I also need the zoom function on Android but its not possible… WHY???
