[MarkMSM]

I'm going to be buying the Panasonic 42" EDTV soon.


I've read that some DVD players such as the Panasonic RP-82/91 (I have the RP62) have a feature called "4:3 Shrink Function w/ Letterbox Zoom & Shift". I've also heard the feature called "Image cropping" or "scaling". I believe this is useful for Televisions that cannot Zoom/Scale 4:3 non-animorphic progressive video sources.


Does anyone know if the Panny PT-42PD3-P can can handle this? Or do I need to start looking for a new DVD Player with this feature.

 

[rmcgirr83]

It has four modes. "Just" justifies the 4:3 image (clearer in the middle a little distorted on the edges, "Zoom" stretches the picture, zooms it "fuzzies" appear, "Normal" just what it says 4:3 will be 4:3, and "full" which stretches the image.


I just got mine on Friday and am still tweaking the set. If you are going to get one I would strongly suggest you also purchase the Avia setup disk (do a search at Amazon) you can then set the units color, etc. pretty close to NTSC standard.

 

[MarkMSM]

Thanks for the update Rich,


Is "Zoom" mode the only one that causes picture degredation?


Will you be hooking up a progressive scan DVD player to it? If so, let me know if you still have aspect ratio control with a 480p signal.

 

[Snail's_Pace]

"Just" mode adds a little distortion to the edges of the picture, but it's not much and it's not very noticeable...in fact, this is the best "panorama" type stretch mode I've seen yet in a widescreen TV. I can't honestly say that we find it "degrades" the picture (i.e. amplifies already inherent signal imperfections). And yes, you do have aspect ratio control on a 480p signal (we have a Denon DVD 1600 hooked up to our Panny ED set with the full range of stretch/zoom modes available on the display).

 

[geekd]

Hello!


I have the 37" Panny EDTV, which I believe is exactly the same as the 42" (except for the size, of course).


The manual states that when it recieves a 480p signal, that you can use (if I remember correctly) Normal, Full and Zoom. However, I can use Just mode also, so that's all the modes.


When I get a 1080i signal, it's locked into Full mode, as the manual states.


I've never gotten a 720p signal, nor do I remember what the manual says about that.


Just mode is what I use for 4:3 content.


Any "stretch" or Zoom is going to add distortion. Any mode that displays the image differently than what signal is sending is going to negatively affect the picture.


I find that Just and Full add minimal noise, but Zoom adds a noticable amount.