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Why is DVD 4x3 skinnier than cable 4x3?

#1
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5/24/09 at 5:10pm
  • Joined: May 2001
  • Location: North Central Texas
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I've got a 30" CRT 16x9 set, and when I watch cable, the 4x3 measures 26", with 2" of black bar on either side. When I watch a 4x3 DVD, the screen measures 24" with 3-1/2" bars on either side. I hadn't watched one in a while, so the picture looked really tiny last night. I got used to it, but is there a setting somewhere that can adjust that? I think it's the TV, because I noticed when scrolling through my input selections that all of them natively measure 24".
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#2
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5/24/09 at 5:42pm
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  • Location: New York City Area
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Re: Why is DVD 4x3 skinnier than cable 4x3?

Could be a few different reasons.

What are the output settings for your DVD player and cable box? Your TV may be handling the signal differently depending on that -- and may or may not use different overscan for th 4x3 image for instance.

If your cable box is set to output 720p or 1080i/p -- and would thus probably upconvert 4x3 480i/p content -- could be that your cable box is slightly stretching the 4x3 image horizontally during the upconversion. I've noticed that w/ upconversions from certain cable boxes, etc.

On my previous Panny CRT-based 16x9 RPTV, its 4x3 mode (for 480i/p content) would also add extra overscan to the side bars it generates for that mode. So it's possible your CRT is doing likewise in that scenario.

A combo of the 2 cases above would yield a pretty noticeable diff.

_Man_

Just another amateur learning to paint w/ "the light of the world".

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#3
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5/24/09 at 6:04pm
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Re: Why is DVD 4x3 skinnier than cable 4x3?

It looks like upconversion is the answer. I got into my cable box's settings and when I set it to 480i, it was the same size as the other inputs. 480p, 720p and 1080i are all wider. I wonder if an upconverting DVD player would have the same effect.

Thanks for the answer!
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#4
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5/25/09 at 10:12am
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Re: Why is DVD 4x3 skinnier than cable 4x3?

the question is, while one is narrower than the other, is the geometry the same, and one is being masked more, or are they both showing the same picture "content" but either stretching or compressing it?
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#5
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5/25/09 at 1:05pm
  • Joined: May 2001
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Re: Why is DVD 4x3 skinnier than cable 4x3?

Things look normal to me. People don't look distorted in any way. It's just like a proper 4x3 picture in a bigger amount of space. I could be wrong and things are stretched a little, but it's one time where it doesn't bother me. It can't bother me, unless I want to leave my box in 480i, which I don't.

I need to get one of those whiz-bang "upscales to almost HD!" Toshibas (I think it was) I read about here at the HTF, not only to see if it has the same effect (I'm sure it will) but because DVDs are looking ugly on the ol' Denon. I don't have a lot of faith in upscaling, since I don't see how you can get "near HD" when the picture information doesn't exist on the disc, but we'll see.
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