[jnug]

Having grown used to the way that the Digital leeza describes things and functions, I am just having some difficulty finding that same functionality in the HD Leeza.


For example, I am having some difficulty with the DSX (Dynamic Stretch eXtreme) and the V LTRB (Vertical Letterbox) (on or off), H LTRB Horizontal Letterbox) (on or off), LTRB Letterbox (on or off) and Zoom functions.


These all in some sense go beyond and are different than the overscan functions and the source and output Aspect ratio Controls that exist in the Digital Leeza.


For example, with the digital Leeza, if i wanted to fill the screen with either my Pio 50" plasma or now my Fujitsu P50, I would just fool the system by choosing the same source and input Aspect Ratio. Hence choosing 2.35:1 for both source and output would fill the screen as an example. That option does not exist with the HDL. However, the functionality appears there (I think) by other means.


Anamorphic as a choice seem gone in the HDL as compared to the digital Leeza as well.


If anyone has had their HDL in service Long enough to have figured the H & V LTRB, LTRB, Zoom and DSX functions out I would appreciate your comments. if you had been using a digital Leeza and can offer some comparisons relative to the overscan and output and source aspect ratio functions in digital leeza, that would be much appreciated.


What is the equivalemnt of the Anamorphic choice function from digital Leeza in the HDL?


This is a lot to ask I know so feel free to take small bits of the whole as any input is appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

 

[pciav]

jnug,


From my short experience with the HDL, DSX is a non linear stretch mode for SD 4:3 material, similar to the wide mode on your old Pio 50". The V LTRB and H LTRB are used for upconverted HD broadcasts that need to be stretched from a letterbox (V) or Pillarbox (H) perspective. I believe the equivalent of the anamorphic mode in the Digital Leeza on the HDL is 16:9 in and 1.78:1 out. I could be wrong on this, but this is what I recall from memory. Hopefully others will jump in an provide more help.

 

[oferlaor]

jnug,


I think you simply did it wrong on the Digital LEEZA (why set 2.35 output aspect ratio on a plasma?!)...


If I remember correctly, you need to set your display output aspect ratio as 16:9 (after all, that's what your display's aspect ratio really is!). Then, when you don't use any of the letterbox/DSX settings - you get anamorphic when you select 16:9 input aspect ratio (which is correct).


The DSX and letterbox features come in when you select an aspect ratio that's either more squarish (4:3) or more rectangular (2.35). DSX works when you use 4:3.


I, myself, do not like non-linear stretch modes, as they take some getting used to.

 

[jnug]

Actually I got the idea of tricking or fooling the digital leeza system from Mark Ridjione (whose last name I probably just massacred in the spelling). I think you know who I mean though. He was the fellow who I believe wrote the code for the original digital Leeza.


Anyway he posted one day in a response to someone else's thread that this is what he did if he just wanted to "fill the screen" quickly using a digital Leeza. Granted AR is off among other things but you could fill the screen very quickly if you wanted to.


Ofer, if I understand you correctly and using Leeza speak choosing 1.78:1 as both the input and the output aspect ratio which I think is the only way that you can select 16:9 will yield anamorphic output to the screen. Yes??


Thanks guys.

 

[asinshesq]

Actually, I was the person to whom Mark Rejhorn (I'm sure I am butchering his name too, my apologies) was replying when he described that trick. But it is actually the same trick that Ofer is describing in saying that you should set the input to 16:9 and the output to 1.78 (which is, of course, 16/9).


What was called 'overscan' in the digital Leeza is now called 'horizontal size' and 'vertical size' in the HDL. I use the HDL with a pio at a NR of 1280x768, and I set the horizontal size in the picture adjustments to 1296 rather than the default 1280 for 1280x768 resolution. That does not change the output resolution of the HDL -- it still goes to my pio at 1280x768 and the pio still reports it is being fed 'dot by dot' -- but it does in effect overscan like the old leeza.


I tried playing with the nonlinear stretch and never was very happy with it -- I like the pio wide mode much better and for that reason I don't typically use the HDL for regular tv or replaytv.

 

[asinshesq]

It's actually a shame that HDL gets so close to implementing non-linear stretch but ends up missing the mark enough so that for me that feature is irelevant.


I've spent some time trying to figure out exactly what pioneer's wide mode does, since it is amazingly amazingly easy to get used to and truly does not look distorted. I think that mode takes a 4:3 image and does the following to it:


1. Linearly zoom the picture a little bit -- but not so much that you get significant amounts chjopped off at bottom or top or lose too much resolution). (To give an idea of how much zoom: when I watch CNN, I can still read the scrolling text at the bottom but almost half of it gets chopped off.)


2. Stretch horizontally to fill the remaining screen. Because of the little zoom I referred to in (1) above, the stretch doesn't have to go so far so it doesn't distort the picture as much as a conventional stretch from 4:3 to 16:9.


3. To improve things even more, the stretch I refer to in (2) above is non-linear...in the sense that the stretch leaves the middle part of the screen more or less unstretched and then stretches the outer part more to compensate. Since most of the action and fous is on the middle of the screen, that helps fool the eye into disregarding the stretch. And while you would think that as people or objects move from the center to the side of the screen the change in stetch would be annoying, it turns out to be subtle enough so that it really isn't annoying at all.


So, while I would never watch a DVD in anything other than OAR, I am much happier watching plain old TV with wide mode (and my plasma is a whole lot happier as well in terms of avoided burn-in).

 

[oferlaor]

jnug,


It's Mark Rejhon and he's the creator of the Digital LEEZA, Rock, Rock+ and more recently the H3D.


16:9 on both input and output will yield a perfect anamorphic image on all scalers that support input and output aspect ratios properly.


Alan,


100% agreed.