Built in overscan on Panasonic players that can not be disabled?!

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin 

I've discovered recently that my Panasonic BDT110 has some sort of built in overscan that I cannot turn off. I was zooming an open matte 4:3 DVD yesterday to create a faux 1.85 presentation (the correct OAR) and I discovered that all 4:3 DVDs are losing picture on the sides until I zoom them. See:

http://i.imgur.com/GVRYIcD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/NPSQfqF.jpg

Overscan is off on my TV. Those are the exact same frames, yet when I am not zooming, the image is being cropped on the sides. If you measure the first image, the AR is about 1:29:1, when obviously it should be 1.33:1. I figure the BD player does this because it expects your TV to be overscanning as well. Since TV Overscan only affects the top and bottom of a 4:3 image, it will make a 1:29:1 image into 1.33:1. But that way I'm losing information on all 4 sides. I would much rather turn this feature off and be able to see the 1.33:1 image that is actually on the disc, but I cannot find any options relating to it in the set up menu or manual. My Panasonic BD65 does the same thing too.

Is there any way to turn it off, or perhaps a known brand of players that does not do this? Can anyone check to see if they experience the same thing? This only works with player zoom function, not TV zoom. I have tried turning off the upscaling and sending the DVD data to the TV as 576i (the native resolution of the disc) instead of 1080p but this makes no difference.

TV is Panny GT30 via Onkyo SR508 receiver

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin 

I have 6 ways to play my DVDs. My two Panasonic BD players, my PS3, my XBox, my PC and a spare DVD player from elsewhere in the house. The first 3 are connected through my AV, the latter 3 are not. When I play a 4:3 DVD through any of the first 3, I get a cropped 1.29:1 image. When I use any of the latter 3, I get an uncropped 1.33:1 image that shows the missing information on the side. So obviously at this point I'm 99% sure it's the AV. I'd have bet my life on it.

But I just hooked up my BD player directly to the TV, bypassing the AV and it STILL gives me a 1.29:1 image! So it's just a coincidence that the 3 players that f*** with the image are connected through my AV?!

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin 

4:3 DVD through PS3, Panny BDs:

http://i.imgur.com/F9Vki38.jpg

4:3 DVD through Xbox 360/DVD player/PC:

http://i.imgur.com/FiL1V0A.jpg

To be clear, the AV is bypassed, and turning upscaling off makes no difference.

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin 

...you don't say

What I'd like to know is a) can it be fixed? b) if so, how?

If someone with a Panny BD player and a 4:3 DVD could replicate all this and see if they experience the same thing, that would at least allow me to know if a solution was even possible.

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin 

I think I've tried everything to be honest. I just want someone else to tell me they have the same problem and nothing can be done about it.

16x9 FULL only stretches the image, it does not reveal the missing info. There are four scaling options on the PS3:

"Normal" is what I'm getting from the other players, i.e. a crop on the sides. "Double scale" crops the top and bottom in addition. "Full screen" stretches the image (and reveals the missing info, but said info disappears again when I squish back to 4:3 using the TV aspect ratio feature). "No upscaling" makes the image 480p/576i, but also stretches the image for some reason, but does not reveal any additional info. Turning off upscaling also does not help on the Pannys.