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Newbie question and anamorphic DVD's

post #1 of 5

1/18/07 at 3:57pm

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I bumped into this area by accident and am intrigued by the concept. I think I understand what's going on but just some clarification would be great.

Currently I watch movies on a 100" (width) screen using a modest (SVGA) Sanyo projector. For anamorphic DVD's I have my DVD player set not to stretch the image (which I think in fact drops video content to achieve the stretch) but to send the image as is. My projector has a standard and a wide mode. I of course use wide mode so that the image is stretched horizontally to the correct AR.

I guess my questions are:

1. If the projector is set to normal mode and then switched to wide mode, the image actually doesn't actually, stretch of course but the height is reduced. In this case is there a potential for the full resolution of the projector to be lost? I guess this sort of like asking the DVD player to stretch the anamorphic video for watching on non widescreen capable devices?

2. Putting aside screen masking issues etc. is the way for me to achieve CIH and its advantages?

i) always send an anamorphic picture to the projector
ii) horizontally stretch the image from the projector using a lens rather than let the projector do it
iii) remove the lens or enable some sort of bypass when watching non anamorphic content (in this case I am guessing that the image would reduce in width but stay the same height?)

I am thinking of upgrading to the Panasonic PT-AE900 projector. Would this be a good unit for the basis of a CIH system?

Thanks

Larry

post #2 of 5

1/19/07 at 6:08am

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Quote:

Originally Posted by lchiu7

I am thinking of upgrading to the Panasonic PT-AE900 projector. Would this be a good unit for the basis of a CIH system?

The Panny 900 has a mode called "zoom1" which will provide the needed "scaling" when fed a 16:9 enhanced source...

Mark

post #3 of 5

2/28/08 at 2:10pm

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With the panny 900 the only way to do 2.35:1 and zoom is over component - you can't do this over HDMI correct?

post #4 of 5

2/28/08 at 2:47pm

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You should set your player to "Display = Widescreen TV" permanently, as that is what your projector is (effectively, although it's not actually a "TV"). "Widescreen" allows the picture to be passed out of the projector without any geometric alteration... "as is recorded" on the disk.

When you change the player setting to "Widescreen", all images are output as they were recorded on disk, squeezed or not-squeezed. The player makes no judgements at all. IT just plays. Here's what will happen:

4x3 Aspect Ratio Programs
These will be output from the player normally, at full picture height. Set your projector to 4x3 mode and they will be displayed full height with pillar box bars at the sides.

16x9 Programme Material (includes 2.35 movies)
These will be passed out of the player squeezed horizontally, but at full height. The projector will widen them. You will end up with a full height, wide image in 16x9 ratio.

*************

The way you are doing it at the moment the player is scaling any 16x9 anamorphic pictures to fit a 4x3 image area before outputting to the projector. You get letterbox bars (larger with 2.35 movies) and the projector can't get rid of them as they're part of the signal out of the player.

(I hope I haven't misunderstood your questions).

post #5 of 5

2/28/08 at 3:11pm

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Even when sending an anamorphic signal to the projector you still need to Vertically strech the image before you use the anamorphic lens which will horizontally stretch it, otherwise you don't have the proper geometry in the finished image. Also vertically stretching/scaling the image allows you to use all of the pixel panel of your projector for the image and non in projecting black bars.

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