16:9 Enhanced & settop box (1 Viewer)

[DanMaz]

Hey everyone, new to the site, and trying to get a better idea of things before making my purchase.

My question involves using an TV that has 16:9 Enhanced capabilities with a digital settop box.

A) Does the TV have an option to switch this on / off or is it automatic depending on content? (Based on some reading on this site, it seems to be a user config option, but wanted to confirm).

B) Is there any setting on the settop box that would need to be adjusted to take advantage of this 16:9 Enhanced feature?

C) Is 16:9 Enhanced only available for 4:3 TVs regardless of ED or HD? If you have a true 16:9 Widescreen TV, whether ED or HD, than this feature is not needed, correct?

Thanks in advance! This looks to be a great site with lots of info!

Dan

 

[John S]

Right if you have a 16:9 Display of course there is no option for it.

On mine, I have a single button that gives me aspect ratio control, same button for all sources, but it doesn't react the same on all sources.

I only get native widescreen using 1080i. I hit the button and then I have 1080i 4:3.

If I am using the native widescreen mode, all my devices must put out 1080i and be set that I have a real 16:9 display. I currently run my DVD and ATSC Tuner this way, if I put in a 4:3 disc, I only need to hit the button and instant 1080i 4:3....

You can play some games with it to for experiementation. I can set my STB for 480p and 4:3 display then watch HD in widescreen, psuedo pan and scan, or some of our DTV stations like to run this stretchy terrible 4:3 within the 16:9 framming then I can choose Stretched this is all on the STB though when feeding my set 480p from the ATSC tuner.

On my DVD Player if I set it to 4:3 display at 1080i, I can zoom any widescreen DVD to fill my 4:3 screen (once again psuedo pan and scan) Of course the button on the display then has to be set for 4:3 also.

I hope this helped, different displays handle all this quite differently, but that is how my display works.

 

[DanMaz]

Thanks John, may I ask what type of TV and settop box you have?

 

[John S]

Phillips 60PP9202 Rear CRT RPTV Display and a Zenith HDV-420 STB.

I was pretty upset when I 1st realized the native widescreen mode was not available for 480p sources, but then the Zenith DVB-318 DVD player came out, and gave me that most sought after capability.

My display also has NO DVI/HDMI input, and no 720p support, so not very reccomended by most here. But it got to my door at only $1250 and so far so good at about 13 months of ownership and heavy use.