What are the possible disadvantages to overall picture quality on a 4:3 TV set when the display is compressed or squeezed in order to viddy anamorphic DVD's on a regular basis? I'd like to do this with my 32" set but I'm not sure all that squeezing and resetting to default values will go unpunished. Can I do any lasting damage to my TV?
This is a fair question, since I'm now doing the squeeze on my Toshiba 32A41. If there was a way to exit the Service menu WITHOUT turning off the TV, that alone would make me feel a lot better than turning the set on...squeezing...turning it off...and on again, every time I want to watch anamorphic. Any suggestions, folks?
Blaine, do you mean set your set up to display 16by9 all the time Not quite sure if that was what you were asking. I can tell you that I have had my 36" Sony XBR for about 2 years & 80% of the time I'm watching movies like this & have noticed no damage. I have always thought it would start to burn in lines from the edge of the bars but I haven't noticed the first sign of it yet
Matt Everything that I have read about the Toshiba says that the only way to exit the service menu is to turn off the TV. I don't think there is any other option.
Thanks for the responses. I currently only do the squeeze about once or twice a week. It is heartening to hear that Joe has been doing it for about two years without doing any harm. I thought perhaps burn-in would be the biggest culprit but at approx. four hours a week I'm not too worried. My other concern was the possible screwing up of picture geometry because of always resetting to defaults after viewing enhanced DVD's. I also have to turn off my Panasonic 32" to exit service menu and then reset all picture values, but that's a small price to pay for being able to do. . . (dramatic pause) "the squeeze".
As long as the contrast control is set to a reasonable level below maximum, there shouldn't be a significant problem using vertical compression mode. By the time it does become an issue, most TV will probably be 16:9 anyway (-: And just to keep everybody on their toes... there is a movememt to wipe-out the incorrect use of the term "anamorphic" to describe widescreen DVDs. Even though some studios use the word on their packaging, it is WRONG. DVDs either have the images on the disc encoded as 4:3 or one of the widescreen aspect ratios - nothing is squeezed on the disc and the image is not distorted when it is transferred to the DVD. When you have a 16:9 display and a widescreen DVD, the DVD player just sends exactly what is encoded on the DVD - no stretching or anything to fit the 16:9 screen. So help the cause and stamp out the use of "anamorphic DVD" - "widescreen DVD" is the correct terminology.
Simply making the service mode adjustments will not shorten the life of the TV. Of concern is the need to turn the TV off after making the changes, and turn it back on to watch your movie. Repeated turn off and turn on actions shorten the life of just about any electronic device compared with a continuous usage. You may find a screwdriver adjustment (pot) in back that squeezes the picture. If you can make a compromise service mode adjustment that adjusting the pot hits both 4:3 and 16:9, then you can have a serviceman install a pot in front that duplicates that function without the need to go into service mode or take off the back cover each time. Enhanced for 16:9 TV --> Optimized for 16:9 TV. When the source material was committed to video, the pixels, or samples, were taken from a (n approx) 720 x 480 grid in a 16:9 shape; therefore the picture when displayed with no alteration, downconversion, formatting, etc. looks correct when spread out over a 16:9 shaped space. What is now called an "anamorphic" DVD is equal to this. "Anamorphic" is a misnomer here because video does not possess any aspect ratio. Whereas you can see the squished image on anamorphically shot film frames. Subject to the available adjustments, the picture on the TV screen can be stretched or squeezed to any aspect ratio with no change in the video input supplied by the DVD player. When the DVD player is in 16:9 mode, it does no formatting, alteration, downconversion, etc. when playing any disk. You adjust the TV to what looks right. Some day DVD's may be enhanced for other ratios, for example 2.35:1 which is approx. 20:9. Since that is not in the DVD player standard, the player will not downconvert this properly for 4:3 screens and it will be up to the TV to have an aspect ratio or height adjustment with enough range to squeeze the picture to the correct shape. Video hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm
