Do all DVD players display 4:3? (1 Viewer)

[Rich G]

I want to get my dad a DVD player for Christmas. For sure he will be watching it in 4:3 mode to start with. He has a 35' 4:3 TV. I want to get him the Panasonic DVD-56 and would like to know if this player allows you to view a DVD in 4:3 mode (pan and scan?)??
Thanks for your help,
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Rich G.

 

[Kevin. W]

There should be no reason why the player will view in 4:3 mode. Or are you asking will the DVD player play Pan/Scan movies and fill the TV screen? How the DVD player displays the picture will depend on how you set it up, if you set it to 4:3 in the setup menu. Now if you buy him a widescreen movie then you'll get the blackbars on top and bottom. Now if you set the DVD player to 16:9 on a 4:3 and put in a widescreen movie it will fill the screen. Buy him full screen movies you won't get the bars in 4:3 mode. Hope this helps.
Kevin

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Make sure that the dvd player is set to 4x3 in the set up menu, then it will correctly display dvd's the way they are intended.
But, if a dvd is in widescreen, that's the way it will appear on his monitor. If I were you, I would try my best to educate him on widescreen and OAR, it's never a good thing setting a dvd player up incorrectly, and having the films composition destroyed just to fill a 4x3 screen, never a good thing.
You'll be helping our cause to stop pan n scan if you teach him, that way you won't have to give any of your money to that vile format.
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[Rich G]

Thanks guys. I thought I read somewhere that the 56 will not display a full image on a 4:3 TV. I totally agree on widescreen is best! But he thinks different and this has kept him from persuing a DVD player. I say, get him the player and let him change over time. I also like the p-scan for only about $50 more so if his TV croaks he can go to a widescreen.
I have the Panasonic RV-80 and for a while was watching DVD's in full screen 4x3 mode (don't know how that happened). Then I thought all these DVD's cant be recorded this way and changed back. I must have had it set like Kevin W. said.
Anyway, thanks again for the clarification. I'm almost more excited than he will be to get him a player.
Later,
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Rich G.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

However, the Panasonic DVD-56 seems to have a flickering problem.
If the DVD player is set to 4:3 TV mode it will display properly on a 4:3 TV.
OAR education is best.
Dan
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[Ken Seeber]

I need to clarify a couple of points:
1) DVD players theoretically have the capability to pan-and-scan a widescreen DVD, but they can only do so if the DVD itself is encoded to allow this. Virtually none are. In fact, I can't even think of a DVD that will allow this. Some players can simply zoom the picture, filling the screen and getting rid of the black bars, but the zoom will be arbitrary, cutting off significant parts of the picture at random.
2) You can incorrectly set a DVD player as if it's outputting the picture to a widescreen TV. With DVDs that are "enhanced for widescreen TVs," the picture will appear vertically stretched by one-third. With movies shot at 1.85:1, there will be no black bars. With 2.35:1 movies, the bars will be much smaller. Still, the picture will be distorted, as if you're watching it reflected in a funhouse mirror. Some people actually do this, but for the life of me I can't understand why.
There are really only two solutions here. Either only buy full-screen DVDs or educate your dad about why widescreen is better. You might make some headway by going to www.widescreen.org/examples.html and clicking on a couple of titles. Print out the pages and show them to your father.

 

[Rich G]

Dan, what is this flicker which you speak of???
Is this during play mode??
Thank you,
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Rich G.