Video options - Light Alloy Guide

# Video options

## Video pucture size changing

### Aspect ratio

- Shift + ` - aspect ratio as is, i.e. original т.е. original width/height ratio, video picture fit to screen;
- Shift + 1 - aspect ratio 16:9;
- Shift + 2 - aspect ratio 4:3;
- Shift + 3 - aspect ratio by width: picture size trying to fit by video panel width with keeping source ratio;
- Shift + 4 - aspect ratio by height: same as above, but uses video panel height;
- Shift + 5 - aspect ratio you set manually via Shift + 6;
- Shift + 6 - open a window where you can set custom ratio;
- Shift + 7 - aspect ratio free, in this mode you can move video frame with Alt press&hold key + pressed&move left mouse button;
- Shift + 8 - aspect ratio "pixel-to-pixel": always keep original video picture size, not depending on window size.

### Zoom

For zooming you can use:

- "+" and "-" on main keyboard;
- mouse wheel with hold right mouse button;
- mouse wheel with hold Alt, Ctrl, Shift (in any combinations, can be changed to way you like in mouse wheel options);

Also you can change picture ratio/zoom in Video Options window.

## Video Options window

You can open it by clicking on Video Options button:

This window allows you:

- set desired aspect ratio; if uncheck "fixed aspect ratio", you can adjust aspect ratio with Alt + Left Mouse Button on the video image and moving it horizontally and vertically;
- apply misc post-processing filters
- change brightness/contrast/saturation of an image; adjust image zoom;

### Processing filters (shaders)

Shaders - it's a graphical effects, primary purpose which is, in terms of 2D video, is to enhance quality of image. Shaders are proceed via DirectX, so CPU consumption remains pretty low when you use them. What effects exactly to use - it's up to you. Among them you will find shaders for sharpness, denoising, LCD brightness correction, and others. Shaders work on following renderers:

- WMR-9 RL;
- EVR CA;
- EVR Sync.

Actually, shaders is just simple text files in Shaders sub-folder which you can find in Light Alloy installation directory. You can add new, delete, rename and change them the way you like, and even write your own shaders (they are written on high-level shader language - HLSL ).

### Color settings

It worth to pay a special attention on "Use DXVA for color control" checkbox.

If checked, color control will be made by using videocard interface. It allows change color and use DXVA in same time. But, it works only on Windows Vista and newer. For Windows XP - you can have DXVA or no color control only, otherwise uncheck this option.

If unchecked, color control is made through LA Video Processor filter. It guarantees that you can adjust brightness, contrast and saturation. But, you can forget about DXVA. Besides, its a software processing, so CPU load can be a little higher.

## Additional Video Options

You can find it in Preferences \ Video.

### Renderer choice

On first tab of Preferences \ Video page you can set one of 8 available renderers, and in expert menu view you also can adjust them a little.

You can also set mode, which disable any video decoding. Could be useful for playing audio clips on background, also combining sound from one media file with video from another.

Attention: to select a MadVR you have to install it. To select a EVR family renderers on Windows XP you have to install .NET Framework 3.5 or newer.

### Seek options

Other global settings you can find on second tab.

For seek you can set how much you would like to seek in seconds, and enable seek by keyframes.

### Default aspect ratio

Default aspect ratio option could be useful, if you have a lot of video files with bad/wrong aspect ratio. For example, most horizonal stereo pairs have ratio 16:9 instead of proper 32:9.

### Impact on "On top" mode

You can set forced "On top" mode, which helps you watch movie and do some serious business in the same time: work in some program and watch movie, but when you need to focus, and movie set on pause - LA window fade to background.

Also it can help if in fullscreen mode Window's start menu do not disappear.