General Wide screen 16:9 Question (Sanyo Z-2) (1 Viewer)

[Josh_Fr]

I just bought a Sanyo Z-2 which has a WXGA resolution. Since it has a native 16:9 aspect ratio I assumed when I played Widescreen movies I would lose the Horizontal black bars but they are still there. It also horizontally stretches the image. I think that I have a setting wrong in the projector or maybe I am confused about aspect ratio.
Please help me:frowning: I just enough about home theater to be dangerous.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jason Charlton]

Sounds like your DVD player needs to be set to output in 16:9 format. There should be a menu setting on your DVD player that will let you change the video output from "4:3" or "Letterbox" to "16:9".

The black bars will not completely go away. Movies are filmed in a wide range of aspect ratios - from slightly rectangular (1.85:1) to very rectangular (2.40:1). The 16:9 ratio equates to 1.78:1 - a compromise. Due to overscan, movies shot in 1.78:1 up to 1.85:1 ratio usually don't show any bars (or they're VERY small). Movies at higher aspect ratios will still show black bars, but they won't be as large as they would be on a 4:3 display.

The only time you may still get distortion when watching movies is if they aren't enhanced for 16:9 displays - in that case, your projector will treat the signal as it would for typical 4:3 programming and use a stretch mode to fill the screen. I don't have firsthand experience with your projector - but I imagine you can fiddle with the settings so that 4:3 material is displayed natively, rather than stretched. That should do the trick.

Hope that helps!

-Jason

 

[Josh_Fr]

Jason,

Thanks for the info I think that you are right it makes sense that I need to adjust my dvd player to 16:9. The movie that I was playing was the widescreen version 16:9 I checked that on the back of the dvd case (T2). I also noticed that when I play 4:3 material it fills the entire 16:9 screen. So tonight I will check my dvd players settings (Sony 400 disc DVD). Thanks for your help. I also checked the projectors picture setting and am using the Normal setting which is recommended by sanyo.

Thanks,

Josh

 

[John S]

When you play widescreen movies that are non-anamorphic and/or not enhanced for widescreen TV's, see if your DVD player has vertical zoom, this will nearly completely eliminate any downside of the non-anamorphic / not enhanced for widescreen tv thing.

On full 4:3 stuff, your on your own there... You need to experiement some to see what is best.

 

[Josh_Fr]

John,

This is new to me. So not all movies that say Widescreen on the outside of the DVD case are meant for widscreen tv's? Can you explain

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Josh, read the explanation of anamorphic (aka "Enhanced for widescreen/16:9") DVD's here:

Primer

There is also a wealth of other material in the Primer that may interest you.

 

[Josh_Fr]

Jeff,

Thanks this looks like some good info!!

Josh

 

[Josh_Fr]

Jason,

That worked now the picture looks perfect. I am very impressed with this projector. The Sanyo z-2 is definitely worth the money! My movie room is complete. Now when the entire house shakes from the SVS CS-Ultra it is a much different experience on an 80" screen than a 27" CRT!!

Thanks,

Josh

 

[John S]

Glad you got it all worked out for sure....

The non-anamorphic widescreen throws many for a loop at first. I have more of these types of titles on DVD than I realized really.

You will know it is not anamorphic widescreen as everything will look squishy.