[Malterno]

Hi everybody,


am I correct in assuming that there is no way to watch non-anamorphic widescreen SD-DVDs (like Fincher's "The Game" or the infamous unaltered original "Star Wars" trilogy) without black bars on all four sides of the frame? Or does the player have a zoom option for SD-DVDs that I haven't discovered yet? The only zoom option I have seen is the one that Warner provides on their HD-DVDs.


Greets,

Malte.

 

[bpdunsta]

If you change the maximum resolution setting in the XA2 to 480p, you will lose the pillar boxes (left/right black bars)....but the image is stretched.


If this could be fixed via firmware, that sure would be nice. I know that I personally have quite a few of non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs (not that I watch them often, but you never know). For now, I just use my PS3 to re-watch those discs.

 

[Beastus]

I know some have been complaining about this issue, but I've never encountered any display (apart from older 4:3 TV's) that does not have various functions, like zooming, fixed 16:9 zoom, 4:3 squeeze or widescreen stretching.


I'm not too familiar with Plasma or LCD TV's. But anyway it's strange not to include such functions on a screen today. I've always thought that this was more or less a standard thing.

 

[JOHNnDENVER]

Most displays such controls only work in 480p or lower.... Once 720p, 1080i, or 1080p is encountered it assumes 16:9. You HD cable / sat box generally has modes to handle this, like if you have an NTSC feed that has widescreen it will retain OAR and allow you to view it with no bars on the sides.


You own an HD-DVD player and do not have this issue when running 720p or higher with it?

 

[bpdunsta]

I don't think we should have to rely on the aspect ratio control of the display for these issues. We have widescreen SD DVDs being played on a widescreen display....there should not be any pillarboxes. Every DVD player I've had up to this point plays these movies without distorting the image, and without pillarboxes.


"Enemy of the State" was the first non-anamorphic widescreen DVD that I tried to play. It's a 2.35:1 ratio, so letterboxing on a 16:9 display is expected. On the XA2, you not only get the expected letterboxing, but they throw in the not-so-sweet pillarboxing as well! So, on my 61" 16:9 TV, I can watch the movie as if I had a 30" TV....nice. I can use the aspect ratio controls of my display, but that results in distortion and/or data loss.


When I first got a DVD player, I bought DVDs like it was my job. Realizing that I don't normally go back and watch movies, I stopped buying them after about 80 titles. So, fortunately, I don't have a lot of non-anamorphic DVDs, thus, the issue is minor for me.


This just seems like a huge misstep for a $1000 player not to handle non-anamorphic widescreen SD DVDs as "well" as the cheaper players do.

 

[Tenkaipalm]

On the A2, changing the TV type to "4:3" displays it correctly while still displaying at 1080.

 

[bpdunsta]

Doesn't that stretch the image horizontally, making it distorted?

 

[sharkshark]

...well, at least you don't need to watch the Game in non-Anamorphic now...

 

[JOHNnDENVER]

The Blu-ray players do the same thing though, or at least my Samsung reacts the exact same way.


It just seems for the HD players that non-anamorphic WS is not even considered.

 

[Tenkaipalm]



Quote:
Originally Posted by bpdunsta /forum/post/0


Doesn't that stretch the image horizontally, making it distorted?

It doesn't appear to, actually. I watched "Fist of Legend" the other day, and switched between the settings, and couldn't tell a difference (as far as distortion/streching goes).


EDIT: Watching it again, it is indeed a bit stretched, but it doesn't look really bad or horribly distorted- at least, not enough for it to distract from the movie, personally.


Having the picture chopped down to such a smaller size is a little more distracting, actually. I can deal with either, though.

 

[videonut]

Copies of non-anamorphic titles will play correctly over Component at 720p or 1080I.

 

[Kosty]



Quote:
Originally Posted by videonut /forum/post/0


Copies of non-anamorphic titles will play correctly over Component at 720p or 1080I.

I think copies will also upscale properly over HDMI to those resolutions, and upconverted

. The CSS protected non-anamorphic original versions won't but the backups (*cough * cough*) will. (or so I'm told

)

 

[videonut]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Kosty /forum/post/0


I think copies will also upscale properly over HDMI to those resolutions, and upconverted

. The CSS protected non-anamorphic original versions won't but the backups (*cough * cough*) will. (or so I'm told

)

Good to hear form you Kosty. Long time no see. Hopefully we'll get together for the next HD DVD insider's meet at Scarsdale.

 

[JOHNnDENVER]

So when you copy a DVD you can make a non-anamorphic into anamorphic? If so, I am sold, sign me up.

 

[cswartze]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JOHNnDENVER /forum/post/0


The Blu-ray players do the same thing though, or at least my Samsung reacts the exact same way.


It just seems for the HD players that non-anamorphic WS is not even considered.

Well, it is pretty obscure. There aren't that many non-anamorphic WS DVDs that I'm aware of, so it could have easily been missed. Even in SD-DVD players, it's hit or miss as to how well they handle this. I have a Zenith DV318 upconverter, and it doesn't handle them well either, while a Panasonic upconverter I own does.

 

[SirDrexl]

I think the problem is that the player doesn't have a way of knowing whether non-anamorphic content is letterboxed or not. The bars are encoded as part of the image, so the player just sees 4:3 video which is then displayed with pillarbox bars on the sides. I don't think there's any flag in the video to tell the player or display there are letterbox bars (but there is an anamorphic flag).


Sorry, the display has to handle zoom in this case.

 

[homerx]

All my SD DVDs are played in my samsung HD841. So it a non-issue for me. However the digital audio is starting to fail over both optical and coxial digital. (Audio cuts out 1-4 times a movie a little anoying some times..).


So I may start using the A1 for DVDs as well. Although I may alsl get another DVD player the OPPOs seem good. Or prehaps another samsumg as the newer models now have HDMI...



For me the worst thing is laserdisc playback on a HDTV the tv gets a basic 480i signal and will strech the image so I have to set the TV to 4:3 or use one of the zoom modes with wider screen movies. Although I find it very hard to get it right as I always have to crop somthing to make it work...

 

[Sam S]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JOHNnDENVER /forum/post/0


So when you copy a DVD you can make a non-anamorphic into anamorphic? If so, I am sold, sign me up.

Yes, you can do this with a software called DVDRebuilder Pro.

 

[bpdunsta]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam S /forum/post/0


Yes, you can do this with a software called DVDRebuilder Pro.

I'm assuming the free version DOES NOT offer this capability? I checked the website and do not see any details about the free version (it's free, so I guess I could just download it and play around).

 

[Sam S]



Quote:
Originally Posted by bpdunsta /forum/post/0


I'm assuming the free version DOES NOT offer this capability? I checked the website and do not see any details about the free version (it's free, so I guess I could just download it and play around).

Yes, you can do it via the free version, but your title will be backed up to 4.7GB size only. That is fine if your movie fits onto a 4.7GB disc without additional compression. If your movie is larger, or you want to back up the title uncompressed, you'll need the pay version.