Setting up DVD player for 16x9 TV (1 Viewer)

[KyleKeg]

I just recently bought a 16x9 TV and a progressive scan DVD.

In the Sony DVD player set up it gives you 3 options “4x3 Letterbox” 4x3 Pan/Scan” & “16x9.” So I select 16x9.

Now when I turn the movie on. Lets say “Kill Bill” it is suppose to be presented in 2.35. Which would mean in “normal” mode on my TV it should still be letter boxed. But it isn’t. In normal mode it crops off the sides to fit what looks to be a 4x3 TV. If I hit “zoom” it takes the picture and makes it fit my 16x9 but cutting off the front and bottom of the picture.

Now if I set the DVD player up in 4x3 Letterbox and I watch the movie in “normal” it shows the movie in its 2.35 aspect ratio but it doesn’t fill the 16x9 Frame. So I then hit zoom and make it fit the 16x9 TV wile preserving the aspect ratio.

Is this what you’re suppose to do? I would have assumed when you set your DVD player to 16x9 it would still preserve the aspect ratio. Because the only way I found to preserve the aspect ratio is setting the DVD player for 4x3 Letterbox and Zooming it on my16x9 TV.

 

[Matthew-K]

Keep the dvd player set to 16:9. You didn't mention what t.v. you have, but usually the t.v. will have a setting of "full" or maybe "wide" for the aspect ratio for anamorphic movies. I have a Panny widescreen t.v. and I use "full" for the setting.

 

[KyleKeg]

I have a sony 34" KV-34HS420...

And If i do set the DVD player on 16x9 and set the tv on full or wide zoom all that it does is strech out what it considers to be the "normal" picture. But the normal picture is not 2.35(original aspect ratio)... it looks more like 1.78 or 1.85.

 

[Allan Jayne]

Your TV may have a lot of overscan.

As well as cut a little off the sides, this causes pictures that have an aspect ratio greater than 1.78:1 to look as if their aspect ratio is less than it should be after you select "wide" or "full".

Do circles look nearly circular? If so the TV is preserving the movie's aspect ratio with the TV's aspect ratio choice you made.

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

 

[John S]

Cuts off the front and bottom of the picture? I am very confused by this statement....


Some movies are non-anamorphic, these can cause fits for you with a widescreen set.

Something is acting quirky here for sure......

Should be simple, with an anamprphic widescreen movie and a widescreen tv for sure...

Player set for 16:9, and TV in the default widescreen mode....

Usually when you get a non-anamorphic title, you use the vetical zoom on the dvd player to compensate.

Now full 4:3 DVD material, it is pretty much experimental as to which trade off you prefer.

 

[Ted Lee]

i'm confused. why are you watching it in normal mode? isn't that 4x3? shouldn't you be watching it in one of the ws modes?

do you have any dvd's with the thx optimizer? i think one of the video tests checks to see if your dvd player is correctly setup for anamorphic (the perfect circle test).

like john said, as long as you set the dvd to 16x9 and tv is in ws mode, you should be fine.

 

[Joe Maiurro]

If you are watching a widescreen movie on a widescreen TV, shouldn't there be black on top and bottom?

 

[John S]

2.35:1 is wider than 16:9 widescreen which equates to 1.78:1, so yes you still get bars if the material is wider than 16:9 / 1.78:1 widescreen.

From 1.66:1 to usually 1.85:1, there will be either no bars or at least extremely minimal bars.