[Mark McQuaide]

I was hoping someone could give me some advice here...I've been renting some widescreen "classics" DVDs and noticed that the image is larger horizontally than my TV screen (I have a 16:9 65" Mitsu TV).


Last night it was "The Big Country", which is Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1. My DVD player (578a) is of course set to widescreen and I'm using progressive output with component connections to the TV. The image filled the screen horizontally but it looks like it's stretching a 4:3 image to fill the 16:9 screen. There is no option I could find within the DVD menu to set the screen size.


So asuming it was a problem with the 578a, I hooked up my trusty RP91, and it had the same problem. I went through all of the configuration settings on both the players and the TV with no luck.


Am I missing something simple? I don't recall having this problem until recently.


Thanks!


Mark

 

[Bob Pariseau]

The odds are you have your *TV* set to the wrong "stretch" or "zoom" mode. This may not be a configuration setting in the TV's menus but simply a button on the remote that you have to hit to cycle through the available modes.


It's possible that your TV has excessive overscan causing you to lose portions of the image off the sides, but if it was immediately noticeable like this that's pretty unlikely to be the cause.


Scrutinize your remote for a button labeled "Wide" or "Zoom" or "Ratio" or the like and hit that puppy a few times to see what happens.


------------------------------------------------


Another possibility is that you have your DVD player (BOTH OF THEM!) set to think it is connected to a conventional 4:3 TV instead of a wide-screen 16:9 TV. Most players ship with 4:3 set as the default. However this WOULD be a setting in the player's menus so it's likely you've already checked this.

--Bob

 

[Mark McQuaide]

Those are the first things I checked. Went through all of the TV modes, the TV should be in "standard" mode and it is. The DVD players are config'd for 16:9. Vexing!


Mark

 

[Ja Phule]

Could it be a problem with DVD themselves? Maybe they were incorrectly mastered.

 

[Jordan420]

Did The Big Country have bars on the top & bottom of the screen? If not it should, due to the fact that it is 2.35:1 aspect. If it did not have bars on the top & bottom, then as Bob said your TV is in the wrong mode.

 

[cybersoga]

Have you got an LCD? Is it 1280x768? If so, it isn't actually 16:9 it's 16:10, not as wide as a 16:9 screen, so more of the picture gets cropped from the sides than the top/bottom.

 

[Mark McQuaide]

The movie has the bars at the top and bottom. Somehow the image is not shrunken enough to fit side-to-side.


It's not an LCD, it a rear screen projection Mitsu Diamond.


Thanks for the thoughts - keep 'em coming!

 

[cybersoga]

might be non anamorphic, in which case you'll need to put the screen in "zoom" mode rather than "16:9/anamorphic"

 

[Mark McQuaide]

When I got home from work I put The Big Country DVD in my other cheapo player hooked to a 4:3 TV, and it does the same thing - it apparently is the way the DVD is made. I guess I need to calm down a little and not assume there's a problem in my system next time!


Thanks anyway,


Mark

 

[Joxer]

Sounds to me like your TV just has excessive overscan. Some DVD players do crop some pixels too. Have you tried reducing horizontal size with your TV's service menu?

 

[Mark McQuaide]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joxer Sounds to me like your TV just has excessive overscan. Some DVD players do crop some pixels too. Have you tried reducing horizontal size with your TV's service menu?

Not sure how to do that.....