My DVD player dispays 2:35 as 1:85

Unless your TV is capable of doing anamorphic squeeze to take advantage of the increased resolution, you need to use the 4:3 letterbox mode of your DVD player, not the 16:9 mode.

What kind of TV do you have, Rich? Because, as Joe says, if you don't have a 16:9 set, or a 4:3 set with a 16:9 mode, you need to tell your JVC player to output in the 4:3 letterbox mode.

Rich,
All TV's employ some sort of overscan - essentially cropping off some of the picture on all 4 sides. Ideally, this will be 3-5% on each edge, and can be verified with one of the calibration DVDs (AVIA, Video Essentials, etc.). You don't want 0% overscan, as you may see some unintended things on the edges (uneven edges, closed-captioning information on the top, and other anomolies).

As such, on a 16:9 (which equals about 1.78:1) set, a 1.85:1 anamorphic DVD will completly fill the screen (i.e., the very thin black bars you might be expecting will be beyond the edge of the screen. Similarly, a 2.35:1 image will have black bars on the top and bottom.

Rich, if your set is a 16:9 set, then there should be no "black bars" on the top or bottom when playing a 1.85 movie, like Saving Private Ryan or AI. 1.85 is roughly equivalent to 16:9, so there should be no black bars whatsoever on the top or bottom. The image SHOULD fill the entire screen. Now, with 2.25(or greater) film ratios, like those found on Panic Room and Ben Hur, there should be small "black bars" running on the top and bottom of your screen. The whole idea of the 16:9 set is to accomodate 1.85 and greater ratio formats, such as those found on Film and on new HDTV signals. There should be as little "black bars" on the tops and bottoms as possible. I think that you are equating the size of the letterbox "black bars" as the proper ratio, which is simply not the case. If I were you, and you are sure that your TV is a 16:9 set (more rectangular than square), then I would put the Saving Private Ryan, or any other 1.85, dvd in you player. If you have a 16:9 set, then the image should fill the entire screen.

And, it depends specifically on what brand TV you have. I have an "older" Pioneer (i.e. ~2 years old) that locks into full screen mode with a progressive signal. On the JVC deck I have there are 2 16:9 modes, if I don't use the proper one for the Pioneer, the image won't display correctly--if I remember, a 2.35 image fills the screen instead of being "letterboxed"--just like your problem...

Rich, it sounds like your TV may be set to one of it's 'zoom' modes. If the 2.35:1 displays with no wierd stretching, your TV is probably in the 'zoom' mode used for non-anamorphic DVD's. Switch your TV to 'Full' mode and you should see the black bars for 2.35:1 movies. The clue to the problem is that when you played the non-anamorphic trailer for Panic Room, it displays correctly (I am assuming the trailer is non-anamorphic, correct me if I'm wrong). So more than likely the non-anamorphic zoom mode is in use.

Rich,

The DVD player is more than capable of displaying the correct aspect ratio.

When viewing a film in 4:3 mode, do you see more pictures on the side when compared to 16:9 mode? If so, there's definately an overscan issue on your set.

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Rich, you are essentially correct (although I have not seen anywhere near 10% black masking bars on my 1:85:1 DVDs.) I think there is much confusion on this thread, and a lack of specifics.

For starters, can you describe the approximate size of the masking bands you are currently seeing and please _name the DVD_ to better help us make comparisons?

On my 16 X 9, with my DVD player set to dislay the picture properly (since it must be "told" that I have a 16 X 9 set), I see the following:

1:85:1 Anamorphic (or 1:85:1 enhanced for widescreen TV)-- I barely see ANY black masking bars. Barely. I have a 65" Mits, and we are talking perhaps less than an inch in height. I realize that part of the reason they are so small is that my set does have about 5% overscan (it is a Mits, and they ship that way on purpose). These masking bands at the top and bottom are so tiny that you are never quite certain if they are there unless the room light is extremely bright, on my set... it just appears to be a part of the black trim surrounding the picture, it is so small. I have to literally get up from my chair (11" away) and walk toward the set to actually see that there are masking bands.

1:85:1, but NOT anamorphic -- Now, I can actually see the masking bands, but they are still rather small. Never a distraction, even. Perhaps 3 to 4 inches in height, for each masking band.

2:35:1 Anamorphic -- NOW, the masking bands becomes obvious. Now, I see it, at the beginning of each and every film, until the content begins to "take me away."

2:35:1, but NOT Anamorphic -- Now, the horizontal aspect of the picture seems actually emphasized. Those bands appear, and they appear quite wide.

Now, let us know some DVD titles, and tell us specifically what you see. And, it may be important to know the model of your set, your DVD player, and what the names of the various "aspect formats" are on your set (i.e., "standard," or "stretched" or "zoom" or "natural" or "enhanced" or "expanded," etc.

-Bruce in Chi-Town

Bruce,

It sounds like your set needs to be calibrated. There are probably hight and width settings that can be set for each individual mode that the TV enters.

Rich,

What make and model tv do you have, and what aspect ratio selection are you using on it?

On your JVC player you should be using 16/9 Normal, not 16/9 auto. 16/9 Normal enables it's scaling feature, 16/9 Auto turns it off. I know this sounds backwards.

When you play the movie Panic Room, you should have black bars at the top and bottom of screen if you have the tv's aspect ratio set to Full or whatever the equivalent is on your brand of tv.

If you have to, get out the manual for the tv and check to see which aspect ratio selection they tell you to use for anamorphic dvd.

It sounds to me like you have the tv set to Zoom for the aspect ratio which will stretch the picture vertically and horizontally, and will make the black bars not appear when playing a 2:35 movie with the player in 16/9 mode.

You said that the picture in the special features section of the Panic Room disc was filling the screen correctly, but not the movie itself.

The movie part of the disc is anamorphic, but the special features sections aren't. If the player was set at 16/9 Auto as you stated, it's scaling feature was turned off. This would make a non-anamorphic 2:35 image appear severely stretched horizontally with fairly large black bars if the set is in the correct aspect ratio for anamorphic dvd. Since you report that the special features fill the screen side to side and have smallish black bars, and don't report noticeable "short fat people" effect, I strongly suspect your tv is set to the wrong aspect ratio for anamorphic dvd.

The fact that you get a normal appearing picture on your tv by setting the player to 4/3 letterbox also indicates to me that the set is zooming the picture.

The only way a widescreen tv will present a properly proportioned picture when the player is in 4/3 letterbox mode is if it's zooming it.

Please double check the aspect ratio setting on your tv.

Rich, the reason why the image looks "wider" for the trailer is that the trailer is not anamorphic, and therefore the whole pixel information of each frame includes the black bars on the top and bottom. In other words, the regular movie is encoded anamophically, which means that the information of the moving picture is all that is stored on the disk. But the non-anamorphic trailer has the picture information and the information for the black bars, so the dvd player and/or the tv sees the black bars of the trailer as part of the whole image, so it puts in the full 4:3 information into the 16x9 screen, causing a "widening" of the image. But when you watch Panic Room the movie, there should be small (about 2-4" high, depending on the size of your set) bars on the top and bottom of the image. If these bars are larger, then your tv or dvd player is set up wrong. With 1.85 movies, like Saving Private Ryan and AI, there should be almost no black bars.

After RTFMing for a few minutes on Toshiba's website, I think I discovered you are using the wrong viewing mode.

You said you have the 65HX81, right? According to the manual, there are 5 modes:

0. Normal
1-3. Theater Wide 1-3
4. Full

According the the manual, the FULL mode should be used only to stretch a 4x3 picture proportionally to the width of the 16x9 set. In this mode, it assumes the signal it is receiving is non-anamorphic (what the manual calls "conventional"), which is why your 16x9 image appears too tall. Remember that a 16x9 anamorphic image output in 16x9 mode to a 4x3 TV will look too tall because a 4x3 TV assumes the singal is 4x3. In FULL mode, your TV also assumes the signal is 4x3.

Normal mode is for viewing 4x3 or non-anamorphic widescreen with bars on the sides.

The manual for your TV recommends using Theater Wide 1 mode for viewing anamorphic material.

So try Theater Wide 1.

Joe is absolutely correct if you have a toshiba set, you should not be using the Full mode. That is most likely your problem.

I don't know why it says use Theater Wide 1 for anamorphic in the manual, but this is completely wrong. I have a Toshiba 56H80 and unless they completely changed the modes (I doubt it) the correct settings are the following:

Full - anamorphic widescreen (with your JVC player, this should be the setting for all except the odd non-anamorphic DVD that is not flagged correctly, i.e Titanic or the first Stargate, widescreen and 4:3 included)

Theater Wide 1 - Full height (almost) with progressive stretch (less in middle, more stretch to the sides)

Theater Wide 2 - No stretch, crop only, used for non-anamorphic DVD's that are not scaled by the player

Theater Wide 2 - combination stretch and crop

Normal - 4:3 with grey bars on the side

Anamorphic DVD's are mastered to fit a full 16x9 frame, with black bars for anything above 1.78:1. Why would you have to stretch, crop or otherwise distort the picture? Theater Wide 1 distorts the picture by progressive stretch. This is definately going to distort an anamorphic signal. Same with the other TW modes. Full being the only mode that fills the screen without crop or distortion is definately the mode for anamorphic DVD's

To the original poster - I would try another DVD that is 2.35:1 and anamorphic. If there are no small black bars top and bottom, you are in the wrong zoom mode on the JVC player or in the wrong mode on the TV. This would eliminate any problems specific to Panic Room, which the JVC may be choking on (i.e. the JVC may think the DVD is non-anamorphic and is zooming by mistake). I had a JVC 723 and I liked it, but it had many quirks and died less than 3 months after I bought it. I now own an RP91.

No, Joe is absolutely wrong.

Toshiba's widescreen modes, and their correct usage, haven't changed in the 3.5 years that I've owned a 65" Toshiba widescreen set. For anamorphically enhanced DVDs, the correct mode on a Toshiba widescreen set is FULL.

For letterboxed images without anamorphic enhancement, the correct setting on a Toshiba set is THEATERWIDE 2, which is a straight zoom with no change in geometry.

The main feature on Panic Room should be played in FULL mode. The trailer should be played in THEATERWIDE 2.

M.

It's closer to 4%. And that 4% is divided between top and bottom. So you'd have to have less than 2% overscan to get letterbox bars on a 1.85 film.

M.

OK. Well I'm aparently absolutely wrong. If that's the case, then the manual needs to be a little more clear on this.

I don't think Toshiba has updated their manual since the first Theaterwides hit the market. Their entire description of the "wide" modes is geared toward someone who watches only 4:3 material, which makes zero sense.

But they do make great RPTVs!

M.

Rich, I've been doing this for a very long time. I'm sorry, but your statements are simply inaccurate.

For an image that's anamorphically enhanced (e.g., the main feature on Panic Room), regardless of its aspect ratio, the only correct screen setting on your set is "FULL". You're perfectly entitled to watch in whatever mode you like, but the geometry will be wrong with any other setting.

For an image that is not anamorphically enhanced, but is letterboxed (e.g., the trailer on Panic Room), the correct screen setting on your set is Theaterwide 2. This setting does not change the aspect ratio. It simply enlarges the image to fill the screen horizontally, while the aspect ratio remains the same. It's a bigger image, not a different AR.

M.

Michael, I couldn't have said it better. With "Full" mode the whole screen of the television diplays the whole amount of information in the frame, either being anamorphic or letterboxed, but with theaterwide, only the actual image frame, not the letterbox bars, are shown on the screen