VLC Scales Video when Windows UI scaling is not 100%
Have found something peculiar happening in VLC. Have created a post in Videolan forums and was advised to add an issue here. Post is here: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=162667 (Note: The formatitng of this issue in the forum post works better with the pictures)
I am using VLC 64bit for Windows version 3.0.18 Vetinari.
We use a Windows 11 PC (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060), connected to a 4K 75inch TV via HDMI, with a corldess keyboard. We have the Windows 11 'Display Settings>Scale & Layout>Scale' set to '300% (Recommended)'. This enables us to actually read the windows menus etc while sitting on the couch 3.5 meters away.
When I play a 4k video (3840x2160 h264), VLC seems to scale the source down by 300%. (Same value as windows scale) It still displays it full screen, the resolution of the display is still 4k, but the image is pixelated. I have been able to qualify this by pausing video, taking a screen grab using 'ctrl+windws+s', pasting into GIMP and zooming in. Here is an image of that zoomed in, showing the video only processing pixels to a 3x3 pixel area.
If I set the Windows 11 'Display Settings>Scale & Layout>Scale' set to '100%'. VLC displays a 4k video (full screen) with the correct resolution. This is great for video watching, but renders Windows 11 completely unusable due to tiny font menus.
The VLC menus in my situation are working fine and scale correctly with the windows settings.
Here are some more details to help possibly diagnose the issue.
These following pictures are all the same single screen capture - just the later ones are zoomed into so that you can see the pixel display density.
Windows Title bar and VLC Menubar with 4K Video - Not Zoomed in - 100%
Windows Title bar and VLC Menubar with 4K Video - Zoomed in - 1600%
Windows Title Bar - Zoomed in - 12800% Shows pixels at correct size. 1 pixel of image is same as display resolution
VLC Menubar - Zoomed in - 12800% 1 pixel of image is 3 times display resolution i.e. 9 pixels
4K video - Zoomed in - 12800% 1 pixel of image is 3 times display resolution i.e. 9 pixels
As mentioned above - this is not a problem when Windows Scaling is set to 100%
Note: This problem does not occur when using the Kodi player or the Windows Media Player. Only seems to be a problem with VLC.
Is it possible this is occuring for everyone, and nobody is noticing it? I hadn't spotted it for at least a year. Is this possibly a VLC problem that only occurs on Windows 11?