Sticky: Zenith DVB318 FAQs - Page 5

Hello all !

I connectedd my LG DV7832NXC DVD player (DVB318) on my BenQ PE8700+ on DVI and the function of upscaling does not seem to work correctly via DVI outpout. I connected the LG on my Sony 32XBR450 on component and the upscaling work fine. My BenQ display: "DVI-D (525p)" at the time of the detection of the signal and the image was very confuse over the image I have on my XBR.

Help !!!

Sorry for my bad english guys...

Thanks... yes, the Momitsu is tempting. But since my Bravo D1 is still working OK, I think I will just wait a while longer for some new DVI equipped DVD players to appear on the market.

thats true it does say it "may"

the law must be hard to uphold when it comes to this. I don't understand it anyway , its not like you can record anything. who would want to ? it would cost more than a reg dvd.

Well I bet you could record a dvd upscaled to 1080i to a dvhs machine if you wanted to.

I just got this player and have it hooked up to a Toshiba HDX Model. I have a couple of questions I was hoping someone could help with:

1. The users manual says that when playing over components or DVI, any copyrighted films will display at 480p only, even if set for 1080i. I am hooked up through Component and I imagine most DVDs are copyrighted? They seem to be playing over 1080i but I want to make sure I understand which DVDs will and will not upconvert on this player?

2. I had heard that people did not like this player for 4:3 material since when displaying over 1080i their TV cannot change Pic Size setting and they get 1 4:3 with bars. My player is automatically stretching 4:3 material for some reason so I do not see it with bars - why is this? Which setting makes this happen on the DVD player and how can I shut it off? I want to make sure the DVD player is not stretching from OAR on its own as I would prefer to handle this with my TV if at all.

Thanks to anyone who has thoughts or ideas on this...

lirong

1 manual says "MAY NOT" with the current firmware the player does upconvert all DVD's copy protected included however in future firmware updates they may disable the upconversion.

Hmmm thought I checked that and it said WILL NOT but I may have overlooked it. I will check again - thanks.

Anyone have any thoughts on item #2 above?

Well I know from personal experience and reading on the main threads about the 318 that it currently does upscale over component on copy protected DVD's. On my TV it does not show the current resolution mode however when switching the resolution on Starwars II ATOC from 480p and watching a scene then switching to 720p and watching the same scene and then switching to 10801 and watching the same scene again that all 3 resolutions over the same component cables into my Sony
KV-40XBR800 that there was a noticable picture improvement as the resolution was increased not much difference from 480p to 720p on my set but the 1080i was a very nice improvment over the 480p

As to number 2, I'm afraid you have it backwards. The DVB318 does *not* put "pillar box" bars on the sides of 4:3 material. No matter what... Ever. Which is a problem for those of us who have TVs that lock into "full" mode when presented with a 1080i (or 720p or sometimes even 480p) signal.

I'm still waiting for someone to tell me how to get rid of the labels the player plasters over each pic in a jpeg slide show. This completely ruins this otherwise great feature

wmallory-

Thanks for clearing that up. But I still dont quite understand - what type of stretching DOES the player do? Which material gets stretched and which doesnt? And if your TV locks into Full Mode, whats the problem with the fact that 4:3 gets stretched for you automatically?

Im getting really confused on this point so if anyone can give me an explanation of the stretching at work here it would be great!

Thanks.

For those of us who play back 4:3 material regularly (kid's stuff, older movies, letterboxed widescreen DVD's) it is a problem if you don't like or need it stretched out like that. I have a DLP so there is no reason to stretch 4:3 stuff to avoid burn-in, and I can't stand watching things that are not in their correct aspect ratio... the stretched look bugs me.

I just bought a 318 & am using it on a new WD-52525 Mitsubishi DLP.

The 318 would not work at all using a DVI->HDMI cable to the tv. It would power on & then be completely unresponsive to all inputs, via remote or face panel. There was no video output at all, no splash screen. I had to pull the power plug just to turn it off.

When I hooked it up with component cables, it worked fine.

I'm using the DVI cable with my Motorola 6200 cable box to the tv & that connection works fine. Not sure what the issue is. Anyone else using this player with the DVI->HDMI cable or just a DVI->DVI?

I'm happy with my setup as is. Doubt I'd be able to see a PQ difference between the two myself, just like the less cables idea. Thought I'd mention it just the same in case someone else might be considering the same DVD/TV setup.

From what I can tell the player does not do any stretching at all it just passes the signal to the TV in the same format as on the DVD it seems that seveal TV's my Sony is one that thinks all 1080i and 720p signals are widescreen format so it stretches the 4x3 format into a 16x9 format. Check your TV's there may be a setting in the user menu or service menu that will control this function. I am able to turn this function on and off at will from the service menu on my 40XBR800 however I really do not like having to go into the service menu all the time to do this so I just watch 4x3 format in 480p since for me my 4x3 DVD's are TV series and are not usally as clean and sharp to start with as a DVD movie.

Despite the logical assumption that the DVI out should always look better than component, it does not with the Zenith player. Component out scaled to 1080i (even if downconverted to 720p by your TV) looks best with the DVB318.

IM still having trouble understanding something here...

As we all have been discussing, 4:3 material and 16:9 non-anamorph material are both stretched by this player - and not particularly well.

The explanation I received is that its not actually the player doing the stretching, but my TV which probably automatically stretched any 1080i input.

I can verify I think that this is not the case- when I set my Hughes HD Receiver to 1080i mode, meaning it upconverts everything to 1080i and then sends it to the TV, my TV still shows things with grey bars if its 4:3 without any stretching.

Im pretty sure the player itself is doing the stretching here not my TV(by the way my TV also does not lock into Full Mode - its a Toshiba HDX and it defaults for 1080i to Natural and then lets me switch stretch modes to anything other than FULL mode).

Assuming its the player - does anyone disagree with that? - the next question is whether we can find a way to disable the player's stretching of material or whether its worth mentioning to Zenith for a future firmware release?

deja vu

Ok here is what I think is going on lirong your hughes HD box is taking the 4x3 signal upconverting it to 1080i then adding gray bars to the signal making it into a widescreen signal which your TV sees and therefore since the signal is the correct aspect ratio your TV displays it correctly. If possible check your Hughes box and see if it has a setting telling it that you have a 4x3 TV if it does try switching it to that instead of 16x9 that should remove the grey bars from the signal leaving it in 4x3 format at 1080i and see if your TV also stretches that as it is doing with your DVD output my guess is it will stretch the output to fill the screen giving you the same problem. In other words your Hughes box is adding the bars to the side of the picture to format the 1080i signal into a 16x9 format prior to sending it to your TV so your TV is seeing a signal that will completely fill its screen so it does not need to stretch it to fit the screen.

I wasn't referring to the repeated subjects and complaints. I was referring to people who copy and paste the exact same post in both threads.

peters62-

Thats an interesting suggestion on whats going on.

I tried what you suggested but didnt find any setting on my Hughes box for 4:3 or 16:9. I will keep looking.

I guess its still possible that the Hughes is doing this though...hmmm very puzzling!

You Hughes box may be assuming that everyone is using a 16x9 TV and so it adds the bars to all 4x3 content to get the correct aspect ratio for 1080i and 720p. It would be intersting to find someone with a Hughes HD box and a 4x3 HD TV and see if they can display 4x3 content at 1080i without the gray bars on the side of it there TV just adds additional bars on the top and bottom since it thinks the content is 16x9 ie bars on all 4 sides that would be ugly.

At some point, all that can be said about this player will have been said. We may have reached that point.

The 318 works as advertised, is inexpensive, and is flexible in it's upconverted output choices. The PQ produced is a significant gain over most any 480 player, and it seems to load and unload discs when asked.

Most of the other issues seem to be focused on how this particular player works with different tv brands and types.

This thread has gotten very repetitive, all the complaining about what this player does or does'nt do is a waste of time. Before it's release all anybody wanted was a dvd player that upconverted to an HD rez that was less problematic than what was on the market, and for my money the 318 is the player to beat! White crush? turn your briteness down! 4x3 issues, what the hell does 4x3 have to do with anything HD? If you want to watch tv based content on dvd you don't need a DVI upconverting HD DVD player!
You could've kept your pro scan player. With my sony 51" this player comes damn close to HBO or Showtime HD. Quality does not equal PERFECTION

Not all movies are widescreen, especially the classics. This has nothing to do with TV based content.... although now that I think about it, many TV series were/are shot on film and the DVD transfers made from them probably look great, too. Animation, like the Looney Tunes DVD's, are also 4:3 but benefit from full digital restoration and a state-of-the-art transfer. We're not just talking about playing my kids' Blues Clues DVD's here.

Upscaling to 720p or 1080i does not make a DVD (or any other source image) HD resolution. The original image resolution is never actually increased... that is impossible. Upscaling resizes and creates additional lines by interpolation, that's all. Whether you are watching Lord of the Rings, Citizen Kane, SpongeBob or an old Star Trek episode on DVD, you are starting out with 720x480 pixels.

Look, if you don't mind your 4:3 material stretched, more power to you.

BTW, turning the brightness down does not fix white crush. A professional broadcast video processor might be able to correct that problem.

I understand the source resolution is not changed, it's about perception to the naked eye and how well the upconversion process is done. BTW according to test results done by the tech's of this forum white crush was minimal with either of the 318's outputs and a slight calibration would reduce it to an undetectable level. Unless of course you know of another DVD player with a built in "professional broadcast video processor". There are very few MOVIES that aren't now released in widescreen, classic or otherwise. I can only speak for myself but 98% of my DVD's are movies, and that is what I got the 318 to play, in 16x9.

I'm glad you are happy with the Zenith. It is an impressive player, for sure. Not flawless, but none of them are.

Can you set TV's aspect ratio in this player? I am using SONY GWIII and its 16:9. Zenith is outputting 16:9 material in 4:3 format and Pacino looks really really skinny in Godfather part III. TV and player are connected directly via component at 480p. Please help.

In the setup menu you can tell it what kind of TV you have there are 3 options 1 is widescreen for 16x9 the other 2 are for 4x3 either pan and scan or letterbox.

I see nothing wrong with posting the same question in a related thread if you got no response when you posted it in another thread. Why would this be a problem?

Change the Display Type in the Zenith to 16:9 (setup screen). Set the upscaling resolution to 1080i (button on the front of the player).